Curfew by Jayne Cowie

Author:Jayne Cowie [Cowie, Jayne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Cass

The next day, Cass skipped school again. She’d dithered and delayed until it was impossible to get there on time and then told herself that there was no point in going as she’d only be late. The truth was that she didn’t want to face the other girls. She didn’t have the energy for it. Things were still difficult after the Curfew lesson the previous week, when Amy had asked all those questions about men in prison and Cass had walked out.

She’d reminded them that they could get to her if they wanted, that she had a weak spot that they could poke at. She didn’t want to face their fake interested questions about her birthday. She didn’t want to tell them what presents she’d got, if she’d been out for dinner. The new slate was good but not good enough for them.

Anyway, her birthday had not ended well, despite the chain of messages from Bertie. She’d returned to the Motherhouse just before lunch and had managed to sneak into the flat without being seen. Sarah had come home at the usual time and lectured her about being polite to the other women in the building. Then they’d gone downstairs to the communal dining room. Cass was expecting the usual midweek meal, but instead there was a pile of presents laid out for her, and the tables had been decorated, and someone had made a banner with the number “18” painted on it in sparkly blue.

The food had been lovely. There had been a big chocolate cake with candles on it. In the middle of it all Cass had realized that she was enjoying herself, and that had ruined the entire evening, and then she’d realized that she hadn’t had even so much as a card from her dad. When she’d asked Sarah if Greg had sent her anything, Sarah had gone very red in the face and then rooted in the bin and fished out a torn bundle of brightly colored paper, wrapped around a bottle of perfume and a pair of earrings. Sarah spent the rest of the evening shut in Mrs. O’Brien’s flat, leaving Cass to her own devices, which Cass thought was a pretty crappy thing for her mother to do to her on her birthday.

She hadn’t seen Billy at the bus stop this morning because she had deliberately waited around the corner until their usual bus had been and gone. She didn’t want to talk to him. She got the next bus but didn’t go to the town center, getting off at the park instead. The geese rushed over to shout at her as she circled the lake. Cass hissed right back, and the geese opened their wings and then backed off. It put a little bounce into her step.

When her slate buzzed, she checked it, hoping for a message from Bertie. But it was a message from Billy.

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