The Imaginary by A. F. Harrold Page B

girl up and down, using her eyes like hands to indicate just where the mistake she wasn’t going to point out had occurred.
    The red-haired girl in the wardrobe looked down at herself, lifted the frills of her skirt, ran a finger through her long curly hair, picked a foot up to look at her pink glittery trainer.
    â€˜I’m a girl ?’ she said, staring at Julia. She sounded shocked, surprised, stunned.
    â€˜Duh!’ said Julia, as if the fact were obvious, which it clearly was.
    â€˜But I’m…’
    â€˜Veronica,’ Julia finished for her. ‘And you’re my new friend.’

    Rudger hadn’t noticed it happen. You’d’ve thought, he thought, you’d notice something like that, wouldn’t you?
    He’d made his way through the library to the Corridor holding Julia’s photo, just as he and Emily had done with John Jenkins’ picture. He had felt perfectly normal then. He’d pushed through the half-real door and walked down the passage lined with the wallpaper peppered with those small blue flowers. He had felt perfectly normal then . He’d pushed through the door at the other end and…
    Julia had opened the wardrobe door and found him.
    Except she hadn’t found him .
    She’d found her .
    The answer was simple: Rudger was Julia’s imaginary friend now, so he looked the way she wanted him to look. In this case she wanted him to look like a girl called Veronica.
    Emily had never warned him this could happen.
    Somehow it didn’t seem quite fair.
    He still felt like Rudger inside. He could remember all the Rudgerish things he’d done. He still remembered climbing trees and descending into the bubbling mouths of volcanoes with Amanda, but now his long red hair kept getting in the way of his face and his legs were already getting cold under his skirt.
    But Rudger had to face the facts. He’d become a girl.

    Julia led Rudger down to breakfast.
    â€˜Mum,’ she said. ‘I want you to meet my new friend.’
    â€˜A friend, dear?’ her mother said over her shoulder, from the sink where she was doing some washing up.
    â€˜Yes, she only arrived this morning, so she’s probably hungry.’
    â€˜What do you mean, dear? A friend?’
    â€˜I found her in the wardrobe. It’s okay, she’s called Veronica.’
    Her mother put a freshly washed mug carefully down on the draining board and turned round.
    â€˜Julia, I don’t think you should be bringing friends home without telling me beforehand. I’ve not vacuumed and your father needs to clean the pond out. What would people think?’
    â€˜ Oh, she doesn’t mind. She used to live at Amanda’s house and her mum never vacuums, everyone knows that.’
    Julia’s mum stood there for a moment, letting the words her daughter had said sink in. There were quite a lot of words and not all of them belonged together.
    â€˜What do you mean, “she used to live at Amanda’s house”?’ she asked.
    â€˜Well, she used to be Amanda’s friend Roger, but now she’s my friend Veronica.’
    â€˜Amanda? Amanda Shuffleup? From your class at school?’
    â€˜Yeah,’ Julia said. ‘But she’s too weird so Veronica had to find a new friend, a better one. That’s why she came to me. Ow!’
    â€˜What happened?’
    â€˜Veronica kicked me.’
    â€˜She’s here?’
    â€˜Of course she is. She’s stood right there.’
    Julia pointed at Rudger.
    Her mother looked very carefully at the empty space.
    It was definitely space and definitely empty.
    â€˜Darling,’ she said, slowly.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜There’s no one there.’ (She said this in a tiptoeing half-whisper.)
    â€˜Well, you can’t see her, can you? She’s imaginary.’
    â€˜Imaginary?’
    â€˜Duh!’

    Rudger didn’t get any breakfast from Julia’s mum.
    She didn’t seem to