Diary of a Lottery Winner's Daughter (17 page)

Friday 3rd December

It’s nearly midnight and the police have just left. Mum’s in tears and Dad is pacing. He never used to pace and I don’t think it’s because there wasn’t enough room in the old house. I’ve never seen Mum cry like this before either and it’s really upsetting.

It all started this morning. I was having breakfast when Mum asked me to take some up to Chelsea. I noticed that she waited until Dad had left the room before asking me to do it, because he would have said Chelsea could come down to the kitchen if she was hungry. Mum, on the other hand, is basically too kind-hearted. I could see she was fretting so I took the glass of orange juice and the plate of hot buttered toast without protesting.

When I knocked on Chelsea’s door there was no reply, but then it was a bit early for Chelsea. She’s always been a late sleeper. I was tempted to just leave the food outside her bedroom door but I was pretty sure Mum hadn’t meant for me to do that so, carefully balancing the plate on top of the glass to free up one hand, I opened the door. I hadn’t been in Chelsea’s room since we looked round the house. The curtains at the big windows were closed so I couldn’t see much. I could make out the bed though. ‘Chelsea, I’ve brought you some breakfast,’ I said as loudly as I dared. I felt as though I was entering the dragon’s lair.

There was no response so I stepped bravely into the room. I was going to leave the food on the bedside table and maybe give her a bit of a shake if I dared. What I hadn’t counted on was the piles of clothes and magazines all over the floor. You’d have thought I’d be prepared after sharing a room with her for so long, but my feet got tangled up and I lurched forward. The toast disappeared under the bed and the orange juice plummeted to the floor, falling silently onto a layer of clothes. My first instinct was to put the light on and then I braced myself for the onslaught of bad language I was certain would follow.

Nothing. The bed was empty and the wardrobe door hung open.

I checked the sofa in the sitting room and the new spa bathroom downstairs before I went to Mum. If I thought she’d looked fretful before, that was nothing to how she looked when I told her. She went white and sank into the nearest chair, then jumped straight back out of it and disappeared out the door calling to Dad. A quick search of the house failed to find Chelsea and Mum and Dad ended up in the kitchen trying to think where she would have gone, or when. We tried her mobile but it went straight to voicemail.

Nobody had seen her since the row yesterday. I was kicking myself for not checking on her yesterday afternoon, but I didn’t mention how ominously quiet her room had been and how she could have left while Spencer and I were in his room discussing her because Mum looked worried enough as it was.

‘She won’t have gone far,’ said Dad optimistically.

‘You’d better get off to school, or you’ll be late,’ said Mum. ‘Perhaps you could ask around and see if anyone’s seen her,’ she called as I headed out the door.

I had to leg it down the hill so I didn’t miss the bus. The last thing I needed was a detention.

Lunchtime was a nightmare. Because of looking for Chelsea this morning and then leaving in a hurry, I’d forgotten my packed lunch. I grabbed a plate of chips in the canteen and looked around for Chelsea’s friends. I couldn’t see any.
They’ll all be in the Sixth Form common room, I
thought dismally. I’d just have to brave it and go in there. The thought was terrifying but I didn’t have any choice. I wished I had someone to go with.

Resentment against Lauren built up in my chest. Where was she when I needed her? She wouldn’t be terrified of going to the Sixth Form common room. She’d see it as a great excuse for ogling all the Sixth Form boys. I was standing staring madly round, trying to see an empty seat but also trying not to see Lauren and Stacy having their lunch together because I thought that might just tip me over the edge and I’d start crying right in the middle of the canteen.

Then I saw Annabel waving madly. I turned round to see who she was waving at but there was no one behind me. She was definitely waving at me. I went over to her table.

‘What’s up?’ she said.

‘I thought you weren’t speaking to me.’

‘You look really upset. Are you okay?’

I sat down thankfully next to her and started stuffing chips into my mouth.

‘I thought you never came in here,’ I said to Annabel. Not that I wasn’t pleased to see her.

‘Sometimes I do, if we’ve run out of bread at home or I just fancy a change. Where’s the fire?’she said, watching my chips disappearing at an alarming rate.

I explained as briefly as possible about Chelsea disappearing. I didn’t tell her about Chelsea stealing from my mum because that was too embarrassing, but I explained that I was going to have to go and find her friends to see if anyone had seen her.

‘Do you want me to come with you?’ asked Annabel. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to go on my own but what if the Sixth Formers started picking on her? I noticed that her glasses were held together with a bit of sticking plaster - she must have broken them - and her hair was especially greasy today. I could just imagine some of those enormous boys yelling,’ She should have gone to Specsavers’ when they saw us coming. I wouldn’t know what to do.

I groaned inwardly. No, the Sixth Formers were far more likely to make fun of me because of my size. They’d probably point out it was the Sixth Form block not the Year 6 block or something equally stupid.

I put the last chip in my mouth to give myself time to decide but Annabel had already decided for me.

‘Come on,’ she said, grabbing her bag,’ let’s go and get it over with.’

In the end it wasn’t the ordeal I thought it was going to be. Lower School pupils aren’t meant to go into the Sixth Form block unless they’ve got a really good excuse and we had, so I ignored the stares and concentrated on finding Chelsea’s friends. Some of the girls from the estate recognised me and said hi, but none of them had seen Chelsea.

‘We thought she’d left,’ said Cerys. I didn’t know how much to let on. I didn’t want wild rumours going round the school that Chelsea had run away. Not that they were wild. Still, Ididn’t want everyone talking about it and asking me questions, so I said lamely,’ I was just wondering if you’d seen her at all, you know, around the estate or anything.’But no one had.

Then I spotted Josh. I knew I had to go and ask him, but he was playing pool with a particularly huge and scary-looking boy. It doesn’t matter, I thought, I’ve got this far;I can’t give up now. Then Josh looked up and saw me. He appeared puzzled, sort of frowning at me, then he smiled and came sauntering over. He had the most gorgeous smile and I could see what Chelsea saw in him.

‘Aren’t you Chelsea’s little sister?’ he said to me. I cringed at the ‘little’ but let it pass.

‘Yes,’ I said. I was about to follow up with,’ Have you seen her at all?’ when he said,

‘Listen, I haven’t seen her for ages. Could you do me a favour and give her this?’

He borrowed a pen and some paper off a girl sitting nearby, then scribbled something on it and handed it to me.

‘I lost my phone with her number on it. Is she okay? I haven’t seen her around.’

‘Yeah,’ I mumbled noncommittally. ‘I’ll give her this.’

On the way out I saw Sophie and Amber. Chelsea would hardly have gone running to
them
so I walked straight past.

As Annabel and I made our way across the playing field there was an awkward silence. I was about to apologise to her for the clothes when she got in first.

‘Look, I’m really sorry I got so mad when you brought those clothes round.’

‘No, it was my fault. I should be saying sorry. It was a stupid thing to do.’

‘No, I definitely overreacted. I know you were just trying to be nice. The thing is, I’ve been thinking about it and you could be right. It might not be the end of the world if I made a bit more of an effort. You know, ditched the long socks or something.’

I couldn’t help smiling.’So what happened to “I like the way I am”?’ I asked.

‘Well, I do like the way I am, it’s just that maybe I don’t like the way I look.’

Now I felt guilty. I bet she’d never thought about it until I’d said what I did.

‘No one likes the way they look,’ I told her,’ and I think you look fine. Very, you know . . . you.’

Annabel laughed. ‘Okay,’ she said,’ point taken. But what about the socks? Do you think I should go for tights?’

Now it was my turn to laugh. ‘I am the last person you should be getting fashion tips from, believe me.’Then I had a great idea. ‘Oooh, I know. I’ll introduce you to my neighbour, Belinda. She’ll know exactly what to do!’

‘Okay, but don’t expect miracles. I don’t want a full makeover or anything. But you know . . . it’s just there’s this boy,’ she said, blushing,’ and I think I like him.’

I don’t know how I know, but I’m positive she was thinking about Spencer.

‘Thanks for helping me,’ I said as we entered the main school building.

‘That’s okay,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry we didn’t find anyone who’s seen Chelsea. Your mum must be going spare.’

That reminded me and I sent a quick text to Mum.
No 1s seen Chels is she home yet?

I got a reply straight back, which meant Mum must have been practically sitting on the phone.
Not yet but I’m sure she’ll be back soon. I
knew Mum wasn’t sure at all but was just trying to put my mind at rest.

Annabel and I went into the form room together for afternoon registration and I had to sit in my usual place at the same table as Lauren and Stacy.

Stacy said,’ I see you’ve got a new friend, then,’ and smirked at Lauren, who giggled. I’d had more than enough for one day so I glared coldly at Lauren and said,’ She’s a damn sight better friend than some people.’I noticed that Lauren blushed and looked away and I don’t know what Stacy did, because I’d decided that I was never going to look at her again if I could help it and she could go to hell as far as I was concerned.

I hurried home hoping that Chelsea would be there, sitting on the sofa watching telly. But the house was horribly quiet when I got in and I found Mum sitting at the kitchen table with Pam. Pam had obviously come over to give Mum some moral support. I couldn’t help thinking that, if things were different, she would have brought Lauren with her and then I’d have had someone to talk to as well.

‘Hi, Pam,’ I said as cheerily as I could manage. I didn’t want to hang around in case they asked me why Lauren and I had fallen out, though I guess they had more important things on their mind.

Dinner was horrid. No one really wanted to eat anything, so Mum did pizza and Spencer and I ate it in front of the telly while Mum and Dad sat in the kitchen with the phone between them on the table. Mum had been ringing Chelsea’s phone all day, but every time it went straight through to voicemail.

By ten o’clock Mum was crying again so Dad decided it was time to involve the police. He rang the station and told them that his daughter was missing, then spent ages giving them details.

A policewoman turned up and took some notes and asked Mum and Dad for a photo.

Spencer and I hung around in the hall, listening in.

I couldn’t understand why they weren’t being more urgent about getting out there and finding her. Spencer explained that, if it was me that was missing they’d be taking it more seriously, but Chelsea was sixteen and had clearly run away and not been abducted or kidnapped.

‘Oh my God,’ I said, clutching his arm. He winced. ‘What if she has been kidnapped? What if someone kidnapped her because Mum won the lottery?’

Spencer removed my hand. ‘She hasn’t been kidnapped,’ he said firmly. ‘Besides, we’d have had a ransom demand by now if she had. She’s just gone off in a huff. She’ll be back.’ He sounded very certain but it didn’t help.

‘What if she’s run off and then someone sees her wandering around and they abduct her?’

‘Stop it!’ said Spencer. ‘She’s fine. No one’s abducted her.’But I was crying then. I couldn’t help it. It was the not knowing that I couldn’t stand. Why didn’t she just ring up and say she was okay? I’d kill her when she got back for putting us through this.