about feeling that smooth skin. Maybe at the completion night party, if I don’t end up with Jasper. Or maybe I could hook up with Drake as well as Jasper. Dot would probably like that. Hooking up as much as possible would be a dotly thing to do, I’m pretty sure. I notice Drake’s kind of looking at me with that hooking-up expression, so I figure he’s thinking about it too.
‘Wren?’ says Gil. ‘Are you listening to me?’
All around us, people are drifting up from the gazebo in pairs and threes. Except for Blaze who (gigantic surprise) is walking by himself. When I see him, of course I end up thinking about the pond and what he said there, that prenormal rhyme.
Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.
But I shove it away pretty fast. I don’t know how I know it and I don’t know how Blaze knows it, but I do know I don’t want to think about any of it. It’s not like it matters or anything. Going to the gazebo reminded me that all that stuff ’s for Dot to handle, not me. End of story.
But I guess Blaze doesn’t get the message that I feel this way because he keeps trying to get my attention. You know, catch my eye or something superawkward like that. So what I do is turn around to Drake and Gil and Brook and start chatting the way I always do. As bright and up and fun as it’s possible to be.
‘I’m totally listening. I was just thinking about the completion night party at the same time. Who’s looking forward to it? Drake?’
I flick my spiralling hair then let it fall so it covers one eye. Now Drake definitely knows I’m interested. As a bonus, I can’t see Blaze’s face and he probably can’t see mine.
As Blaze goes past, Gil untangles my bag from the tree. Before he hands it to me, he makes this big point of checking the fruit underneath is okay. Newfruit are Dot’s fruit, so it follows that no-one would ever want to bruise or damage one. And the fruit is fine, thank Dot. Round with thin, silver speckled skin, exactly the way Dot created it. Perfect.
Gil hands me the bag and walks off deeper into the grove, leaving me and Fern to find two trees side by side. We need trees with enough ripe newfruit to fill our picking bags, but that isn’t exactly hard. Like everywhere else in creation, the trees in the newfruit grove are covered with fruit pretty much constantly.
When I find a tree, I climb into the lower branches. Beside me, Fern’s in her own tree humming ‘We Belong 2 Dot’.
I reach for the nearest branch and pull it closer to me. Then I scan the newfruit dangling down. It says in the Book of Contribution that newfruit has to be picked at the exact right time. Too firm and Dot might find it sour. Too ripe and it could drop from the branch overnight and split, and that would mean one less newfruit for Dot to enjoy. So I look hard till I find the ripest, most perfect fruit. Supergently, I press around the stem with the pad of my pinky finger. Newfruit skin is so thin that it bruises if it isn’t handled the proper way. I mean, if you even breathe on a newfruit wrong it could bruise.
I turn to Fern. ‘What do you think about this one? Does this look ripe to you?’
Fern’s holding a branch herself but instead of picking, she’s cupping a newfruit in both hands. Then she strokes it against her cheek. She holds the newfruit up to her nose and does this great big sniff.
‘Um, Fern?’ I say, all chirpy. ‘Pretty sure Dot wants us to pick the newfruit, not smell them.’
‘Oh, I know,’ Fern sighs.
She starts stroking the newfruit against her cheek again.
‘I just love thinking about it. This newfruit, the one I’m touching right now … Dot’s going to eat it. Isn’t that incredible?’
An actual tear spills out between Fern’s lashes and rolls down her cheek. I guess you could say Dot created Fern sentimental. Everyone loves Dot, obviously, but Fern really shows it on her face. As in, the whole time.
Everyone agrees she’s probably going to be one of
‘Wren?’ says Gil. ‘Are you listening to me?’
All around us, people are drifting up from the gazebo in pairs and threes. Except for Blaze who (gigantic surprise) is walking by himself. When I see him, of course I end up thinking about the pond and what he said there, that prenormal rhyme.
Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.
But I shove it away pretty fast. I don’t know how I know it and I don’t know how Blaze knows it, but I do know I don’t want to think about any of it. It’s not like it matters or anything. Going to the gazebo reminded me that all that stuff ’s for Dot to handle, not me. End of story.
But I guess Blaze doesn’t get the message that I feel this way because he keeps trying to get my attention. You know, catch my eye or something superawkward like that. So what I do is turn around to Drake and Gil and Brook and start chatting the way I always do. As bright and up and fun as it’s possible to be.
‘I’m totally listening. I was just thinking about the completion night party at the same time. Who’s looking forward to it? Drake?’
I flick my spiralling hair then let it fall so it covers one eye. Now Drake definitely knows I’m interested. As a bonus, I can’t see Blaze’s face and he probably can’t see mine.
As Blaze goes past, Gil untangles my bag from the tree. Before he hands it to me, he makes this big point of checking the fruit underneath is okay. Newfruit are Dot’s fruit, so it follows that no-one would ever want to bruise or damage one. And the fruit is fine, thank Dot. Round with thin, silver speckled skin, exactly the way Dot created it. Perfect.
Gil hands me the bag and walks off deeper into the grove, leaving me and Fern to find two trees side by side. We need trees with enough ripe newfruit to fill our picking bags, but that isn’t exactly hard. Like everywhere else in creation, the trees in the newfruit grove are covered with fruit pretty much constantly.
When I find a tree, I climb into the lower branches. Beside me, Fern’s in her own tree humming ‘We Belong 2 Dot’.
I reach for the nearest branch and pull it closer to me. Then I scan the newfruit dangling down. It says in the Book of Contribution that newfruit has to be picked at the exact right time. Too firm and Dot might find it sour. Too ripe and it could drop from the branch overnight and split, and that would mean one less newfruit for Dot to enjoy. So I look hard till I find the ripest, most perfect fruit. Supergently, I press around the stem with the pad of my pinky finger. Newfruit skin is so thin that it bruises if it isn’t handled the proper way. I mean, if you even breathe on a newfruit wrong it could bruise.
I turn to Fern. ‘What do you think about this one? Does this look ripe to you?’
Fern’s holding a branch herself but instead of picking, she’s cupping a newfruit in both hands. Then she strokes it against her cheek. She holds the newfruit up to her nose and does this great big sniff.
‘Um, Fern?’ I say, all chirpy. ‘Pretty sure Dot wants us to pick the newfruit, not smell them.’
‘Oh, I know,’ Fern sighs.
She starts stroking the newfruit against her cheek again.
‘I just love thinking about it. This newfruit, the one I’m touching right now … Dot’s going to eat it. Isn’t that incredible?’
An actual tear spills out between Fern’s lashes and rolls down her cheek. I guess you could say Dot created Fern sentimental. Everyone loves Dot, obviously, but Fern really shows it on her face. As in, the whole time.
Everyone agrees she’s probably going to be one of
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