More of Me by Kathryn Evans

Author:Kathryn Evans [Evans, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
Published: 2016-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

twenty-one

I struggled to get out of bed again the next day. All night I’d been waiting for something to happen, hyper alert to any tiny change in my body. But in the morning, there I still was, more or less in one piece.

I sat on the edge of my bed for a bit, dread weighing me down. On top of that, like a heavy cloak of evil, I knew school was going to be horrible. Everyone would be asking about me and Ollie. Kristal would be gloating her head off.

What even was the point of going in? I gave myself a telling-off. It got me out of the house while I still could. It made me feel like I was still alive.

Come on, Tee, get some breakfast, you’ll feel better then.

The kitchen was unusually quiet. Mum was pottering about and the others were reading or colouring or eating. I think Mum may have told them not to stress me out. It made me squirm; I didn’t want to be treated like a thing that was about to break. I wanted some real actual help to get through this.

Mum noted my uniform.

“You’re not going in again?” She took my hand, stroked the back of it, carefully avoiding my fingers. “Why don’t I call in sick for you?”

“Good plan,” I said. “We can go to the doctor.”

She dropped my hand.

“Don’t start, Teva.”

“Don’t start? Why not?”

“You know why not. No one will believe you.”

“They will if Fifteen comes with me.”

Mum’s face went white. “Don’t, please don’t. You don’t understand…”

“No. You are so right, I don’t understand. How you can let this happen to us over and over and do nothing, nothing at all to stop it? Sometimes,” I said, “I feel like it can’t be real, that I’m going just a little bit mad.”

A warm tear splashed off Mum’s cheek onto my hand. For half a crazy second I thought of the phoenix in Harry Potter, thought her tears would cure me. But no, this was real life. My ugly, splitting finger stayed exactly the same. Her tears helped nobody.

She wiped the wet gleam from her pink cheeks and turned away. So much for being a team.

My phone bleeped a text message. I glared at Mum for a second then I checked my phone. My heart leaped. It was from Ollie:

Maybe we just need some time. x

What? Was that a question? I scrolled up and saw a line of texts. Texts I hadn’t sent. Fifteen. She’d sent him pictures of them together, before me, having fun. Super subtle, not. Oh god. How had the sneaky cow even got hold of my phone? This I didn’t need. I read his text again.

Time, eh, Ollie?

Well, that’s a luxury for you and all the other normal people. Not for the likes of me. I was debating whether to text back when my phone rang in my hand and Tommo’s name flashed up.

My thumb hovered. Talking to Tommo would only make things more complicated. Still, almost of its own accord, my thumb pressed green and the call connected.

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