The Ugly Stepsister (13 page)

Tom joined them in the pool with a grin for his brother. “I’m surprised you didn’t try the old, I was just giving her mouth to mouth.”

“I’ve obviously got poor timing,” Lauren said.

“Depends on your point of view.” Tom drew Ellie close to him.

“How did you do today?” Ellie leaned back against Tom.

“Not too bad. We won.”

“Of course you did,” Sam said. “You always win.”

“It helps we’ve got a good team,” Tom said.

Sam shook his head. “No need to be so modest, brother. You know you’re the best swimmer.”

Tom shrugged. “So what did you all get up to today?”

Tom was filled in on their day and then it was time for them to shower as the dinner hour was rapidly approaching. The start of the meal was filled with large silences and awkward pauses, but as the meal progressed things got better. After dinner, Sam promised to make dessert and bring it down and Lauren offered to help him. Tom and Ellie both retreated to Tom’s bedroom.

“Are you going to tell me what you were dreaming about?”

“Hmm. That was so long ago it’s hard to remember. I guess it couldn’t have been too important since I can’t remember a single dream.”

“Not a single one, hey? How about two dreams? Or multiple dreams?”

Ellie lay stretched out on Tom’s bed. “I’m glad you were already seventeen when I met you. It’d drive me crazy waiting for you to be old enough to have a girlfriend. Don’t your parents realise that’s a long time to wait? Poor Lauren.”

Tom sat beside her on the bed, his hand capturing hers. “I would have snuck you in anyway rather than leave you at your place on a weekend.”

“Does that mean I would have had to stay in your room all weekend?”

Tom grinned. “I can’t see any problems with that idea. You want to pretend I’m still sixteen and hide out in here with me for the rest of the weekend?”

“Nice try.” She reached out and pulled him to her so she could kiss him.

The rest of the world ceased to exist until there was a knock on Tom’s bedroom door. When Ellie tried to push him away, Tom protested.

“That’s probably dessert waiting for me,” Ellie said.

Tom groaned and rolled over onto his back beside her. “Maybe after another few weeks of coming second to food I will have a self esteem problem.”

Ellie laughed and leaned over to kiss him quickly. She pulled away when he reached out to hold her. “Dessert.”

“Then we continue?”

Ellie shook her head. “Then we remind ourselves it’s getting close to bedtime and I’m staying the night and expect you to behave yourself.”

There was another knock on the door before Tom could say anything. He sighed and dragged himself off the bed, helping Ellie up. “Okay. You win. Dessert.”

“Of course I win.” Ellie rolled her eyes. “We’re talking pancakes!”

Tom slid his arm around her waist and pretended to frown. “You think you should have them? I’m finding it a little harder to wrap my arm around you.”

“If those pancakes weren’t calling my name you’d have to die.”

“I already am.”

Ellie paused at the door to meet his eyes. She smiled when she saw the heat in his gaze. “Good. I wouldn’t want to be the only one.” She opened the door before he could answer her.

Lauren had her hand raised to knock again. “Finally. I was beginning to wonder if you’d checked out of reality.”

“Forget that pancakes, vanilla ice cream and maple syrup are waiting for me? Never!”

Ellie sat quietly in the car beside Tom on Sunday afternoon. He’d given up trying to talk to her. Her grunts and single syllable answers hadn’t been very helpful in keeping the conversation going. But she couldn’t do anything about that. She was worried about what she’d find. Worried she might not even have a home left. And then where would she go? It wasn’t like she could move in with Tom permanently. Their relationship was still too new to even expect that. Besides, who would look after her mum if she wasn’t there?

“You want to tell me what’s wrong, Ellie?”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about anything right now.”

“It’s a really annoying habit you have.”

“What?”

“Shutting everyone out and ignoring the rest of the world when it’s not going according to your plan.”

Ellie looked out the window. What could she say? It was true. She did have a tendency to clam up when life went to pieces around her. That was her way of dealing with it. He was just going to have to get over his problem with it.

“Come on, Ellie. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Maybe I don’t need your help. You don’t have to play knight rescuing a damsel in distress every minute of the day. I can look after myself, you know.”

“Of course I know. But that doesn’t mean you have to. You can accept help from other people without being weak.”

Ellie continued to look out the window, watching as the neighbourhood deteriorated. “I’m worried my house might be more trashed than usual.”

“So we’ll deal with it.”

“What if it’s burnt to the ground?”

“We see if there’s any coals left to toast marshmallows on?”

Ellie laughed weakly as they turned into her street. “Well, I guess I can’t see any smoke in the sky. But that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Whatever it is, you’ll deal with it. I have complete faith in your ability to deal with anything.”

“Thank you.” Ellie fell silent again, but this time it didn’t seem as uncomfortable. Her eyes focused on her home when they pulled up in front of it. The front door was closed and the verandah light was still on. It looked as dilapidated as it always did. There were several empty bottles in the front yard, that usually didn’t get left there. Other than that, everything looked normal. “Pull up in front of the neighbour’s house.”

Tom drove along a bit further and turned the engine off. He took her bags and a full plastic grocery bag off the backseat, waiting until Ellie was out of the car before he locked it.

Ellie tried the front door and found it unlocked. She swung the door open and was relieved to see everything looked normal. Well, normal for a Sunday afternoon. “What’s in the plastic bag?”

Tom shook his head. “I’ll tell you later. You want to unlock your room so I can put this stuff down. There doesn’t look to be one clean spot out here today.”

As soon as they’d put Ellie’s gear in the bedroom and Tom had stashed the plastic bag in the fridge they began to clean up. The first thing they did was close all the curtains in case Heather turned up unexpectedly. Once the house was back to normal, Tom glanced around the living area.

“Where do you eat your meals?”

Ellie pointed to the small space near the kitchen that was empty. “Occasionally I throw a picnic blanket on the floor in the dining area, but mostly I either sit on the island bench or at my computer desk.”

“Do you want to grab the picnic blanket?”

“It’s not a real picnic blanket. It’s a normal blanket that’s too thin to be much use in winter.”

Tom shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. It’ll do.”

Ellie grabbed the blanket out of her room and laid it on the floor. She watched as Tom took the plastic bag from the fridge and set containers on the blanket. In the bottom of the bag was a candle in a holder. He lit it with a lighter he drew from his pocket.

Ellie laughed. “Do you think it’ll burn better now it’s cold?”

Tom grinned. “I didn’t want you to see it.”

“So what’s all this in aid of?” Ellie’s hand gestured towards the blanket.

“Sam made us dinner. There should be enough food here for breakfast and lunch tomorrow.”

“I should be annoyed he thinks I can’t feed myself.” She opened one of the containers and inhaled. “But I can’t resist his food.”

“He made sure it was food that could be served cold.”

Ellie grinned as she grabbed cutlery. She handed some to Tom. After a mouthful, she turned to him. “Sometimes I swear I could compete against Midas.”

“I’m not following.”

“Everything he touched turned to gold. This is better than gold. And to think picking Sam was a half random act. Sometimes I’m amazed at my luck.”

“And what do you call having an alcoholic for a mother?”

Ellie glared at him. “Don’t ruin the evening.”

“Come on Ellie, I’m curious.”

“Balance.”

“What?” Tom frowned then shook his head. “No, I still can’t comprehend that.”

“Everyone has good and bad in their life. They balance each other out. With how extremely lucky I am in other things there has to be some major crap in there somewhere.”

Tom stared at her for a minute. “I have told you how odd I think you are, haven’t I?”

Ellie nodded. “Yep.”

“Just wanted to make sure.” He picked up another container and sank his fork into the food.

At the end of lunch on Thursday, Lauren dragged Ellie to the toilets so she could talk to her without Sam overhearing them. As soon as she’d made sure the room was empty, Lauren turned to Ellie.

“I need you to talk Tom into taking us all to the beach on Saturday.”

“Why can’t you ask him?”

“Because I’m being horribly shallow and you know what I’m like when I have an ulterior motive.”

“What’s going on Lauren?”

“Michelle’s been making comments about how much Sam has been hanging around us. You know how they all call him Baby Face. If it wasn’t for Tom I bet they’d hassle him worse. But Tom’s really popular so they kind of leave his brother alone. It’ll probably be different next year when Tom’s at uni. I worry about what’ll happen then. I’m trying to work out how to make Sam more acceptable before that happens.”

“And how are you doing that?”

“I’ve let a few people try his cooking and I need to get him to the beach on Saturday.”

Ellie frowned. “I’m not sure how the beach is going to help.”

“Because Michelle has organised for everyone to meet up at the beach Saturday.”

“Why didn’t I hear anything about it?”

Lauren grinned. “Gee, I don’t know. Might have something to do with how focused you’ve been on a certain person.”

Ellie returned her grin. “Can you blame me?”

Lauren shook her head. “No, but I need you to use some of that focus to help me with Sam. I want us to make him… well not popular, but at least so no one wants to pick on him.”

“Hmm. I guess. But how is getting him to the beach going to help?”

“Seriously. I worry about you sometimes. That boy has a chest to make your heart stop beating. If only I could keep his shirt off all the time. Not a single female would even notice his baby face.”

“The guys would.”

“Only if they weren’t gay.”

Ellie laughed. “You are getting desperate with your plans.”

“There isn’t much time left-” Lauren broke off as the door opened and two girls walked in.

“We’ll sort it out,” Ellie said.

“I hope so.”

The bell went and they stepped outside. Ellie froze when she heard her name over the PA system.

“Would Elizabeth Malloy please report to the office?”

“I haven’t done anything. Why would they want me?”

Lauren shrugged. “You don’t think it’s something to do with your mum, do you?”

Ellie shook her head. “I doubt it. Tom said she looked heaps better when he visited her yesterday. Guess I better get it over and done with.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“Thanks, Lauren.” They were nearly there when Ellie stopped suddenly. “Oh no. What if it’s Heather? Mum said she hasn’t been at the hospital for two days. Not that I’m counting on that to continue. But what if she’s decided to track me down here?”

“I’ll go and see for you.”

“You don’t know what she looks like.”

Lauren pulled out her phone. “I’ll take a photo of every stranger hanging out in the office. Unless she’s not at the front desk. I’m definitely not going inside.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to. Just take photos of anyone you can see through the windows.”

“Back in a sec.”

Ellie moved off the path and stood close to the trunk of a tree. The grounds were rapidly emptying as students headed to their next class. She didn’t want to be questioned about why she was hanging around doing nothing. When she saw Lauren running towards her, she stepped away from the tree.

“Only two strangers.” Lauren handed her phone over.

Ellie swore. “This one. This is Heather.” She turned the phone so Lauren could see the woman in the second photo she’d taken. Panic raced through her, making her feel five-years-old again. And helpless. “I’ve got to get out of here.”

“You’ll be sprung for ditching school.”

“I’ll figure something out.”

“Like what?”

She wasn’t five and she wasn’t helpless. Panic receded and she hatched a plan. “Any teacher asks, my period came unexpectedly and someone noticed the blood on my skirt and was paying out on me. Tell them I took off home, embarrassed.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to tell male teachers.”

Ellie nodded. “You’ll live.”

“Not if I die of embarrassment.”

“I’ve got to run.”

“Be careful.”

“I will. And this will be all over Monday. Mum comes home then.” At least she hoped it’d be over then. Surely Heather wouldn’t have any reason to keep hassling her once her mum came home.

Lauren rolled her eyes. “Until the next disaster.”

“But something good always comes out of them.” Ellie waved as she ran to collect her schoolbag and head home. She sent a text to Tom the moment she was safe at home. He didn’t take long to reply.

Want me to drop around when school’s over?

No. All good. Staying home tomorrow.

I’ll catch you online later.

Ellie smiled and put her phone on the bedside drawers. She guessed she might as well kill some time catching up on her assignments.

Hurry up January says: You are in so much trouble at school.

Ellie says: What happened?

Hurry up January says: They dragged me out of class since they somehow know we hang out together. Makes you wonder if there are spies at our school reporting on everything we do and say.

Ellie says: Might be bugs.

Hurry up January says: And spy cam.

Ellie says: lol. Get back on track. What happened?

Hurry up January says: Heather was there and she had a million questions for me. Seriously, I was wondering if she was planing on torture next.

Ellie says: She’s obsessed. I really hate that woman.

Hurry up January says: Me too.

Hurry up January says: You still there?

Ellie says: Thinking.

Hurry up January says: About?

Ellie says: Options.

Hurry up January says: And?

Hurry up January says: Stop killing me. Tell me everything. How long do you need to figure out a plan?

Ellie says: Give me a minute.

Hurry up January says: I’m still waiting. It’s been over a minute.

Ellie says: I’m not coming to school tomorrow.

Hurry up January says: That doesn’t sound like much of a plan.

Ellie says: I’ll go see my doctor and get a certificate. Tell him I’ve got really bad cramps.

Hurry up January says: Let’s hope he doesn’t expect you to prove you’ve got them.

Ellie says: Nah, he thinks I’m the sweetest kid out.

Hurry up January says: I swear you could trick a lie detector.

Ellie says: Who me? *looks angelic and innocent*

Hurry up January says: *while kicking her forked tail behind her with her cloven hooves*

Ellie says: lol.

Hurry up January says: How will that help you get out of trouble at school?

Ellie says: Because I’ll see the vice principal. He’s not good at dealing with tears.

Hurry up January says: Harsh.

Ellie says: Yep and I’ll tell him how stressful it’s been with Mum in hospital and how it all got too much for me and then I was in dreadful pain from cramps and wasn’t thinking clearly… he’ll be telling me to take a week off before I’m finished with him.
:D


Hurry up January says: Should I get a sympathy card ready to send to him for when you’re finished with him?

Ellie says:
:D


Hurry up January says: Well, if anyone can pull it off, it’d be you.

Ellie says: Yep.

Ellie says: Hey, I’ve g2g. Tom’s trying to chat to me.

Hurry up January says: That’s ok. Sam’s chatting to me
:D


Ellie says: Oh, before I forget, don’t you want a kitten anymore?

Hurry up January says: Yeah, but it isn’t my number one priority
:D


Ellie says: lol. I don’t think January is going to come any quicker even if you do your ‘think positive’ trick. It hasn’t worked for a kitten.

Hurry up January says: I know, but I’ve gotta try something.

Ellie says: Luck.

Hurry up January says: Thanks.

Ellie says: Buh-bye.

Hurry up January says: Bibi.