Stay Another Day by Juno Dawson

Author:Juno Dawson [Dawson, Juno]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786541109
Published: 2021-10-13T23:00:00+00:00

ROWAN

I jab a fag in Syd’s face. ‘This is very not acceptable. How could you tell her?’ It’s so cold in the garden I can hardly breathe between drags.

‘Mate, I am so sorry … she was listening to you upstairs and kinda guessed. But I did fill the gaps. She swore, man. I thought she was cool.’

‘Syd! She’s certifiably insane. Literally.’

Now they scowl at me. ‘Get fucked, Rowan, you have no idea.’

‘All you had to do was lie. Just a little one.’

‘I don’t lie, bruv.’ They finish their cigarette. ‘But I’m sorry. I messed up.’

I can’t be mad at Syd for long, and I’ve done much worse. I once stole their debit card to pay for Lana Del Rey tickets because I knew I was overdrawn. ‘Dear god, you owe me one.’

‘I owe Fern one.’

No one does sanctimony like the queers. We’re so evolved. ‘Fair. I better go clean up my mess, hadn’t I?’ I throw my cigarette butt into the bushes. ‘Will you do me a favour?’

‘Yes.’

‘Just keep an eye on Will while I look for Fern? She’s a dickhead, but I bet she feels like shite.’

Syd nods. Ride-or-die.

I head back to the house and Kara is in the kitchen, picking at a mince pie. ‘Ye didnae really shag—’

‘Not now,’ I snap, and continue straight past her into the hall.

Thom is halfway up the stairs, cleaning up puke. God, it reeks, and the lavender scented disinfectant isn’t much helping. ‘Do you need a hand?’

‘I’m good,’ he says, not looking up.

Where to even start? ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Not your fault.’ This time he does look at me. He looks slightly hollow. ‘I think your little sister is a bit of a twat, though.’

I wince, because we’re all so used to protecting Will, but I’m not going to deny that right now. That said, I’m fairly evil when I’m hungry too, and she’s been starving herself for about five years.

Thom gets to his feet and picks up the bucket by the handle. ‘OK, I’m done. I wanna go find her. Do you know where she’s gone? Has she texted or anything?’

I check my phone again to be sure. ‘No. But I think I’m the last person she’d text right now.’

‘Second to last.’

‘No,’ I say, following him downstairs towards the utility room off the kitchen. ‘This predates you, I’m afraid. Fern believes, unfairly I feel, that I am the favoured twin.’

He gives me serious side eye as he tips out the vomitty bucket water.

‘I’m not! If anything, Fern is the overachiever! I’m the mutant flamer they keep locked in the attic like Quasimodo!’

‘That’s not the way she tells it.’ He washes his hands and shakes them dry. ‘Do you know where she might have gone?’

I rack my brain for a coffee shop; a special bench in the park; even a best friend. I don’t really know who she’s still in touch with. ‘She had a few friends at school. She was like B-List, not the scary girls, but she was on the netball team, if you know what I mean.

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