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  Chapter 3

  Amber was looking forward to Saturday very much, and the whole of Friday seemed to be dragging on forever. In the morning, she caught the bus with Hannah as usual, and greeted Darren and Eva in the classroom. The weather was better today, and Amber had gotten a good night’s sleep, so she found she could deal with their messing about better. She noticed Matthew Pryer walk into the form room at about half-past-eight, and obstinately kept her back turned to him, throwing herself further into conversation with Eva.

  “So what are you doing this weekend?” she asked Amber. “Do you want to go shopping tomorrow?”

  “I can’t, sorry, I’m meeting up with a friend.” While she did want to go shopping, Amber wanted to see Will more. He was the first real friend she’d made in York, and he was nice to her. If she went shopping with Eva, she got the feeling she’d have to have the whole ‘does my bum look big in this’ conversation. Though she was nice, to Amber, Eva came across as slightly vain.

  “Who are you meeting up with?” she asked.

  “Just a boy from my street,” said Amber.

  “What does he look like?”

  “Does it matter?” Amber asked.

  “Yes, obviously,” she said.

  “Um…blonde hair, green eyes, pretty tall.”

  “I approve,” said Eva.

  “Um…thank you?”

  “You’re welcome, I hope you have a nice time.”

  Eva got up and went to sit with the other two girls who accompanied her everywhere, Sarah and April. Amber was still monitoring Matthew Pryer out of the corner of her eye, which she knew she shouldn’t be, but she couldn’t help it.

  “Are you ready for English?” Darren asked.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Have you done the essay yet? It’s so hard!”

  “Oh, I did it last night,” Amber felt slightly smug saying, but then added to give him credit, “My friend Will helped me with it; he’d already done Romeo and Juliet.”

  “Alright for some,” Darren muttered.

  Someone coughed behind Amber, who turned around to meet a pair of sapphire blue eyes.

  “Can I help you?” she asked coolly, folding her arms. Normally, she would be perfectly nice to people, and even now being mean to someone who seemed to hate her caused her pain.

  “Not if you’re going to be like that,” said Matthew Pryer, narrowing his eyes.

  “Well then, you may as well go back to your friends.”

  “Yes, I may as well,” he said coldly. Matthew turned around and went back to where his friends were sitting, and Amber turned back to Darren.

  “What was that about?” he asked.

  “Nothing, I just can’t be bothered to even try to be nice to him any more.”

  “What did he do?” Darren asked.

  “It’s a long story,” she said. “I’ll tell you later.” She couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the people surrounding her had gone quiet to hear what she was saying. Amber felt embarrassed thinking that they had watched her encounter with Matthew Pryer. He really was making her life difficult.

  After registration, Amber walked with Eva, and her entourage, across to the English block. Amber was pleased when she got to tell Mrs Dole that not only had she done all the catch-up work she’d been set, but also the two page essay on Romeo and Juliet. She wasn’t s please when Mrs Dole smiled and handed her another pile of books to study over the weekend. At this rate, Amber was going to have no social life whatsoever.

  After English, it was break, and then PE, and before she knew it Amber was sitting at the lunch tale eating a tuna sandwich. Maybe the day wouldn’t drag so much after all.

  It was.

  The morning may have gone quickly, but in the evening it was as though time slowed twice as much to make up for it. Amber found herself checking the clock every few minutes, and being disappointed when she saw how little time had passed.

  But, eventually, the bell rang and all the students started to pour out of the school gates, Amber included. But, just before she was free of the horde of people, someone tapped her on the back of her shoulder.

  She turned around.

  “Hi,” said Matthew Pryer. He looked at the friendliest Amber had seen him in all her time at the school.

  “Hi?” she said uncertainly. She wasn’t sure why he was stopping her in the middle of the street, with people shoving past them constantly, when he had refused to talk to her for the whole week. It was almost annoying, which is why Amber’s voice may have come across a little bit hostile when she asked, “What’s up?”

  “I wanted to…apologise for my behaviour,” said Matthew. Amber wasn’t quite sure what she was hearing.

  “You’re sorry?” she repeated.

  “I acted like an idiot, and I was rude to you when I had no reason, so I’m sorry.”

  “Oh, um…you’re forgiven?” she said timidly.

  “So, truce?” asked Matthew. He looked at her with those sky blue eyes, beneath that mess of midnight black hair, and Amber was suddenly reminded of night meeting day.

  “Um yeah…truce,” she agreed.

  “Great, I’ll see you on Monday.”

  “Yeah…bye.”

  Amber was still slightly unsure of what had just happened, and whether it really did happen, or if she’d just imagined it. Maybe she ate too much sugar at lunch or something.

  “What was that all about?” Hannah asked when Amber got onto the bus. For the second time, she had only just made at the closing of the doors.

  “Matthew Pryer just called a truce with me,” said Amber, whose voice was a lot higher than usual.

  “Matthew Pryer, as in the Matthew Pryer you’ve hated since your first day, has called a truce with you?” said Hannah.

  “Yeah.”

  “Next thing pigs will be flying,” she said sarcastically. Amber got the feeling that Hannah thought the whole thing with Matthew Pryer was a bit over the top, and Amber understood why she would think that, because only she knew the extent of their argument.

  “So who’s this guy you’re going out with tomorrow?” asked Hannah.

  “Oh, like I said, he’s just a boy from my street. He’s really nice, he’s called Will.”

  “Nice name.”

  “Yeah, well he was the first person I really met here and he’s been so good, it was him who helped me with all my work that I had to get done.”

  “And you’re just friends?” Hannah asked suspiciously.

  “I think so,” Amber said.

  “The question is, what does he think?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t mind what he thinks, if he’s a friend, he’s a great friends if he’s more, he’s a nice guy.”

  “Amber likes Will,” Hannah chanted.

  Amber ignored her and sat facing forwards, gradually growing redder, and praying no one within earshot knew Will.

  When Saturday morning came, Amber was up at sunrise, and found herself unable get back to sleep. So, when she had gotten dressed, washed and eaten breakfast, Amber had about six hours to wait until she me up with Will. Her mum had gone out to her new job, and she was all alone in the house. It was moments like this that Amber found herself very please to own a large DVD collection.

  She plucked out a film at random and put it in the player. It turned out to be one of her all time favourites, so she sat for two hours and watched the movie. After that, she switched on the television and started flicking through channels. You know you spend too much time watching the TV when you know the starting times of all the decent programs.

  After lunch-which consisted of a ham sandwich and a packet of crisps-Amber thought she should probably do something constructive, so she got out all her books so she could make a start on the work Mrs Dole had set her. She almost wanted to ask Will to help her with the work again, but that wouldn’t be fair on him. Amber really did need some help with all the work though.

  When she was halfway through her analysis of Acts one
to five of Romeo and Juliet, the doorbell rang. Amber jumped up. Her auburn hair was all over her face from where she had been leaning over the paper on the floor, and she thought she probably looked tired from waking up so early and working so hard on all her English and Geography.

  It was Will, who was exactly on time. The clock struck three as Amber opened the door, his timing was so good. As usual, when she opened the door, Will was leaning casually against the wall. He looked like the most relaxed person in the world, then a few moments after the door was opened, he straightened up at smiled at Amber.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Hey,” she replied. “Thanks for helping me with that work again.”

  “Like I said, it was really no problem. I’d done it before anyway. Are you ready to go?”

  “Yeah,” said Amber. She hopped through the door and locked it behind her, then walked down towards the café beside Will.

  “So how’s things with Matthew Pryer?” he asked.

  “Oh, actually it’s all a bit weird,” said Amber. “I mean, we were arguing on Thursday, and then yesterday morning he tried to talk to me, but I told him to leave me alone, and then last afternoon he caught up to me as I was on my way to the bus and apologised for the whole thing.”

  “So what, you’re…friends now?”

  “I really don’t know. We might be at the minute, but by next weekend things will probably be twice as bad,” she said grimly.

  “Well, I hope things turn out well. An old friend used to say to me that everything happens for a reason.”

  They were just turning down the road towards the café.

  “And as my cousin once said to me, I have had a perfectly wonderful conversation, but this wasn’t it,” Amber came back with.

  “Well, as a teacher who had a vendetta against me once said, I need what only you can provide: your absence.”

  “Below the belt,” said Amber.

  “Come on, you asked for it,” Will playfully punched her on the shoulder. “So what will it be?” he asked as they walked through the little red door to the counter.

  “No, I’ll get this, I’m supposed to be paying you back for helping me with my homework,” said Amber.

  “No, go and sit down.”

  “Will,” she said stubbornly.

  “I invited you to come with me. Now sit please,” he said. Amber thought she would try to slip some money into his coat pocket to pay him back.

  Will sat down with two cokes and some crisps.

  “How did you know what I wanted?” Amber asked, surprised.

  “You ordered it last time,” said Will. “I happen to have a very good memory, otherwise I would never have know enough to help you with that Shakespeare thing.”

  “Yeah, about that,” Amber said, leaning forwards. “How much do you know about the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets?”

  Will laughed.

  Amber was actually awed by Will’s vast amount of knowledge. It was like he knew everything, but he didn’t look like one of those kind of guys, what with his smooth blonde hair and lounging personality. He was so chatty, and the conversations Amber had with him were actually interesting, rather than the time-filling stuff you got with other people sometimes.

  “So it’s just a long-time feud?” she asked. She wished she could be the kind of person who could pick up something when it had been explained only once, but Amber had to know every detail and tiny piece of information before her brain could take in the whole thing. Will had been incredibly patient with her so far, but she thought even he must have some sort of breaking point.

  “I think I have an idea of how to make you understand the whole play pretty quickly,” he said suddenly. “I’ll meet you back at your house.”

  He jumped up and before Amber could stop him was out the door and jogging quickly down the street. She finished off her food and put her coat on too. It was the second time Will had run off from her mysteriously.

  Amber had no idea what to expect when she got back to her house. Will had said he would meet her back here, but she had no idea what he was planning. The doorbell rang.

  “What do you think of Leonardo de Caprio?” Will asked. He was holding up the film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in his hand.

  In the next few hours, Amber cried, laughed and cried again. She could not believe that with all the films and TV shows she’d watched in her life that she had never sat down to watch this. It was one of the best movies she had ever seen.

  “So do you understand the plot now?” Will asked as the credits rolled across the screen.

  “It’s so sad,” she said with watery eyes.

  “You think it’s sad?”

  “Don’t you?” She stood up and picked up the two empty glasses.

  “Well yeah, but they kind of brought it on themselves. Romeo killed himself and his love out of sheer stupidity. It really makes me wonder how he managed to become one of the classic heart-throb kind of people.”

  “Because it’s romantic.”

  “No,” said Will. “Romantic is when the guy stands up,” he stood up. “Takes the girl by the shoulders,” he put a hand on each of Amber’s shoulders. “Looks deep into her eyes,” he looked down into her dark eyes with his own, oak leaf green. “And kisses her,” he whispered.

  Will bent down slowly and kissed Amber lightly.

  He straightened back up and she opened her eyes.

  “Ok, that was romantic,” she said.

  “I have my moments.”

  “Apparently so.”

  “Still think Romeo’s the ultimate heart-throb?” he asked.

  “For now,” said Amber.

  “I guess I’ll just have to try harder next time.”

  “Next time?”

  “Next time.”

  “Like maybe Tuesday?” asked Amber.

  “Like maybe Tuesday,” he said.

  Amber smiled.

  Will smiled back and looked around the room. He caught sight of the CD player in the corner.

  “Who’s your favourite band?” he asked.

  “I don’t have one,” said Amber.

  “Come one, everyone has a favourite band.”

  “Not me,” she said. “I like pretty much everything.”

  “But how do you choose what music to buy?” he asked.

  “The charts. I like pop music.”

  “Pop music is what people who can’t sing make for people who are unable to tell the difference between real music and the trash that claims to be so.”

  “I like pop music, it’s catchy,” said Amber simply.

  “Yeah, so’s the flu.”

  “Ha-ha,” she said sarcastically. “Go on then, who do you like?”

  “Other than you?” Will looked at her.

  Amber raised an eyebrow.

  “Too cheesy?” he asked. “I’m still working towards beating Romeo.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get there,” said Amber. “Eventually.”

  Will laughed.

  “Favourite food?” he asked.

  The conversation went on like that for a while, with Amber answering simple questions with simple answers, and then Will criticising what she said occasionally because it was either cliché or obvious. In all fairness, at least he knew what she was talking about, whenever he answered a question, it seemed to be with a name of something that sounded like a terrible illness. It was when he finally answered what music he liked listening to with what sounded like the name of a complicated French dish that she drew the line.

  “You made that up,” she said. “There is not a band called-“ Amber tried to repeat the name.

  “I will prove it to you. I’ll bring you their CD on Tuesday.”

  “Fine,” said Amber. “But if I’m right you have to make the tea,” she said.

  “You’re on,” said Will.

  Amber smiled.

  “Why are you smiling?” he asked.

  “Because now you have a reason to come back,”
she said.

  “I think I already have one,” he smiled too. “But now, to ruin the moment-I have to go.”

  “Again? You always go,” Amber complained.

  “I’ll see you on Tuesday,” he smiled.

  “Bye,” she hugged the tall boy briefly and followed him to the door.

  “See you later,” he said.

  Amber shut the door, turned around and slid down the back of it to sit on the floor.

  Today had been a good day. She knew things with Matthew Pryer were getting better, she finally understood what she needed to know for her Shakespeare homework, and Will had just left with the promise to see her on Tuesday.

  She would see him on Tuesday.

  That was just three days away. Three days-it would fly by and then he’d be explaining the inner workings of sixteenth century England for her next essay. She could last that long.

  Amber went back into the living room and pulled the pile of books, which she had pushed to one side earlier, towards her. She reread what she’d written so far for the character analysis. It was rubbish. There wasn’t even one salvageable part. She sighed; she was going to have to rewrite the whole thing, and it was due in on Monday. On the up side, Mrs Dole had said that because of the understanding she showed in her synopsis essay, this would be the last piece of catch up work she would have to do. Maybe then Amber could finally get a social life.

  She heard a key turning in the door.

  “Hi mum,” she said as she heard footsteps heading towards her on the soft carpet floor. “How was work?”

  She tilted her head backwards from where she sat on the floor, so she got an upside down view of everything in the room. Her mother was standing there, blonde hair pulled into a sleek bun, her slim figure clothed in a grey skirt-suit. She’d never seen her mother in a suit in her life.

  “I never want to see another cup of coffee in my life,” she said grimly.

  “Tea?” Amber asked. Her mum didn’t pick up on the joke.

  “If I’d wanted to make drinks all the time, I’d have gotten a job in a coffee house. I thought I’d be writing up notes and organising meetings, but no. Do you know what the most exciting part of my day was?” she asked, then continued without giving Amber time to answer. “Sharpening a pencil. A pencil!”

  “How come you weren’t doing any proper stuff?” Amber asked, whilst at the same time picking up her pen and beginning to rewrite her analysis of the Capulet family in for Mrs Dole.

  “There’s another girl there, Angela. She thinks she owns the place just because she’s been there for a few years.” Her mother pointed a hairpin at Amber violently as she undid the bun. “She was all like ‘Remember to put two sugars in Mr Rawshift’s coffee’.” Amber found it quite amusing to watch her mother acting so childish.

  “Why don’t I make you a cup of tea?” she offered.

  “No, it’s fine,” said her mum. “I’ll make it, it’ll be a nice change from coffee.” She turned around and walked back into the hallway.

  “Two sugars for me,” Amber called after her sarcastically.

  She heard her mum mutter something about respecting elders.

  “A biscuit wouldn’t be bad either,” Amber shouted and returned to her homework.

  Before she’d finished the last paragraph, however, the phone rang.

  “Hi Amber,” said a girl’s voice. “It’s Eva, I was wondering if you wanted to meet up tomorrow at around lunchtime?”

  “Um, sure,” said Amber. “Where?”

  Somehow, even though Hannah had started off inviting Amber over to her house, the exact opposite result occurred, and it was now planned the Eva was coming over to hers the next day. Amber was having a very busy weekend.

  “Ok, what happened?” Eva asked the next morning.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” said Amber elusively.

  “Yes you do now tell,” she said without even trying to sound tactful.

  “Nothing,” Amber said.

  “Nothing?” Eva repeated.

  “Nothing.” For some reason, Amber didn’t want the other girl to know what had happened with her Will. She didn’t even know why, but she listened to the part of her brain that told her to keep quiet for now. She could always update Eva on Monday, which was fast approaching. Her whole Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

  “I’m bored,” she announced. “This weekends gone too fast, let’s do something.”

  “Ok, like what?” asked Eva, whose light blonde hair bounced as she jumped to her feet.

  “Why don’t we go shopping?”

  “Shopping? Sure, sounds like a plan.”

  “I’ll just go ask my mum,” said Amber. “Mum,” she called. “Mum!”

  She checked in the kitchen and poked her head out the back door.

  “Mum,” she shouted again.

  Amber jogged upstairs and walked into her mum’s bedroom. There she was, her mother, watching television with a bowl of ice cream.

  “You still feeling sorry for yourself?” she asked. “I’d go easy on the ice cream.”

  “What’s wrong?” her mum asked. She put down the tub on the bedside table. Amber felt sorry for her; she’d clearly had a bad day, and now she was going to feel guilty leaving her.

  “I was wondering if it was alright for me to go into town with Eva on the bus.”

  “Now?” asked her mum.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I mean, it’s fine if you want me here-“

  “No, you should go,” her mum smiled. “It’s nice to see you making friends.”

  “Ok, well do you need anything?” Amber asked.

  “No, off you go. Have fun.”

  “Bye, love you.”

  Amber discreetly swiped the ice cream off the table on her way out. She thought it would probably be better if her mum pity-ate on fruit or gum. Amber had always been the health nut of the family.

  “Are we going?” Eva asked.

  “Yeah, we’ll go now. Do I need to check the bus timetables?”

  “No, there should be one every ten minutes,” said the smaller girl.

  “Ok then, let’s go.”

  Amber grabbed her coat off the peg by the door. Though it was late autumn, there was a mid-winter’s chill in the air, and Amber didn’t want to be cold around town. As she and Eva walked up to the bus stop, she could see each of their breath making little clouds in the air. Amber liked the winter, because it made everything look sparkly and glossy with frost and ice-however, it also made everything slippery and treacherous-but she thought that it seemed to be coming very prematurely this year. Maybe that meant there would be a better summer.

  Both girls must have sat at the bus stop for half an hour in the cold with no bus arriving.

  “I thought you said it was every ten minutes,” Amber said. She was very cold-perhaps she didn’t like winter so much after all.

  “Maybe it’s every thirty minutes,” said Eva sketchily. “I could have sworn it was every ten.”

  “Right, that’s it, I’m going in to check the bus timetable,” Amber sighed and stood up. Literally at the same moment, the bus pulled round the corner.

  “I guess it was every half hour,” Eva smiled guiltily.

  Amber gave her a sombre look.

  On the up side, they were on the bus now, and therefore only about five minutes away from town.

  “Where do you want to go first?” Eva asked.

  “I don’t know,” Amber said. “I’ve never been into the city centre before.”

  “Never?” she asked. “I’ll have to give you a tour.”

  “I think I’ll be alright without one,” Amber said as kindly as possible. “Thanks anyway though.”

  There really wasn’t much time for the conversation to move on any further before the bus was pulling up to their stop in the town. From what Amber could see, it wasn’t that busy; the cold weather must have made people decide to stay at home.

  “I
’ll take you to where most of the clothes shops are,” said Eva. “My favourite shop’s round the corner from there, you will love it Amber.”

  Amber had never really been able to go shopping, not properly. She’d always wanted to, but no one ever really took her, after what had happened with her dad, and then none of her friends would talk to her, let alone be seen out with her.

  “Heads up,” Eva muttered.

  “Huh?” Amber looked up. There, straight across from her, standing in the doorway of a men’s clothing store and looking right at her was none other than Matthew Pryer. He seemed to be waiting for one of his friends, who must be still inside the shop. Matthew smiled when he caught her eye. She half-smiled back; Amber wasn’t sure how much of this so-called truce she really believed.

  “Come on,” she said. “You can show me this shop you like.”

  Eva steered Amber away from where Matthew Pryer stood and down a street paved with wide grey flagstones and into a new shop. It was painted black on the outside, and a deep red on the inside, though most of the walls were covered with varnished wood shelves. The clothes were all laid out beautifully on tables and hangers, and posters of bands and cities were plastered on every other wall. Heavy music was playing loudly out of the overhead speakers.

  The shop sold boy’s clothes on one side, and girls on the other. Amber was just musing over a top when the door opened again. She turned around briefly, a reflex reaction, and saw the black-haired head of Matthew Pryer walking around in the men’s section with a few other guys Amber recognised from school.

  “Are you ready to go?” she asked Eva.

  “I was just going to try this top on.”

  “I don’t really like it,” Amber said quickly.

  “Why not?” Eva sounded slightly offended.

  “I just don’t think it does you justice,” she said more slowly ad with a smile.

  “Oh, alright then,” said the blonde girl. “We can go.”

  Amber followed Eva out of the shop and into the one next door, which was painted white like a beach hut. They didn’t spend long in there long; the shop assistant kept looking at them like they were going to steal something.

  Eva led the way back to where they had started to get some food and a drink. They went into a cheap pizza place that was already fairly full, and were seated by a waitress with fiery red hair.

  No more than a minute after they had picked up a menu, Matthew Pryer walked in with his friends. There were four of them in total, and they were all laughing and joking. Matthew Pryer didn’t look once in Amber’s direction, but she got the feeling he knew she was there.

  “What can I get you?” asked the waitress.

  “Actually, you know I think we’re going to go someplace else,” she said.

  “Wait, Amber what?” said Eva.

  “Sorry, I just don’t fancy pizza any more,” she shrugged.

  “Ok then,” Eva said. Amber saw her roll her eyes at the waitress.

  They picked up their coats of the stand by the door and left. In the end, Amber bought a sandwich for each of them from a tiny deli on a corner.

  “Oh, can we go to the pharmacy please,” said Eva. “I need to get a new toothbrush.”

  “Yeah, sure. Where is it?”

  Eva laughed, “Follow me.”

  The ‘pharmacy’ was one of those big chain stores that also sold makeup and perfumes and nappies and food and loads of other stuff. Amber couldn’t understand why it was called a pharmacy, when it was really more like a supermarket.

  She was just looking through one of the aisles of makeup when she was a head of jet-black hair moving across the other side of the store. Matthew Pryer. At least, she thought it was Matthew Pryer, it would certainly be a first if it wasn’t, considering that he seemed to be in every shop she went into. Amber moved closer quickly to the aisle next to his. It was Matthew Pryer.

  “Are you following me?” she asked.

  “Excuse me?” he turned around. “Am I following you?”

  “Are you?”

  “What the-no,” he said.

  “Then why are you in every shop I go into?” Amber asked.

  “I don’t know, why are you in every shop I go into?”

  He had her there.

  “I think you have it the wrong way round,” she said. “I came into this shop with Eva so she could buy a toothbrush, and I was just looking at the makeup when I saw you.”

  “If you were looking at makeup, then why are you in the men’s aisle?” Matthew asked.

  Amber looked around. She was in the men’s aisle. She hadn’t noticed when she’d walked up because she’d been focusing on Will.

  “I’m…getting some shaving foam for my brother,” she said.

  “I didn’t know you had a brother,” said Matthew. Amber could see he thought she was lying-which of course she was. “What’s his name?”

  “Antopher,” she said at random. She was going to say Andrew but then Christopher came into her head out of nowhere, and the two seemed to merge together. She blamed Matthew for this.

  “Antopher?” Matthew repeated. “Original name.”

  “Yes, it’s a cross between my father’s and my grandfather’s,” said Amber. Other than her mistake with the name, she thought she was doing quite well so far. “So yeah, he just wanted a can of shaving foam.” She picked up one of the cans in front of her.

  “Amber, that’s deodorant,” said Matthew. He looked at her like it was a feat that she was able to talk.

  “Oh, well yeah he wanted that too,” she said, nodding. She wasn’t sure why she was nodding, but nodding seemed like convincing thing to do.

  “Sure he did.”

  Matthew turned around and carried on down the shop, leaving Amber feeling very stupid holding a can of deodorant, which she quickly put back on the shelf.

  That wasn’t the last time that day she saw Matthew Pryer walking around town, but she didn’t have the nerve to go up to him and argue again. Somehow, he had managed to outwit her when she knew she was the one who was right, and Amber didn’t like being outwitted. Especially by Matthew Pryer. She would redeem herself on Monday with a clever remark, if she felt like it.