Free Living a Lie by Josephine Cox

think I want a label pinned to my arse,” Kitty spluttered. Georgie was so shocked at hearing her friend use bad language she erupted into a fresh bout of giggles.
    When the laughter had run its course and they were calmer, Kitty remarked, “I expect you want to know who sent the other letter?”
    “Let me guess.” Lying back on the bed, Georgie pretended to be thinking. Presently she said, “Is it to do with money?”
    “No.” Kitty was enjoying the game.
    “You’ve won a car and you’re going to swap it for a blue minibus?”
    “No. But if I had won a car, I would let you have it, and you could swap it for whatever you wanted.” Lying on her tummy she watched Georgie’s changing expressions with twinkling dark eyes. How she loved it when it was just the two of them and they could tell each other their darkest secrets.
    “I know! The Connors are bribing you with a trip to Disneyworld in Florida?”
    “I wouldn’t go if they did… at least not until I knew them better.”
    “All right then… that letter is from a tall good-looking sex-starved bloke, with dark smouldering eyes and shoulders like a bull elephant… and he’s looking for someone like me?”
    “You’re wrong… and right.” Now Kitty was teasing.
    “Ah! I’m getting warm then?” Georgie sat up.
    “Go on then. Which bits are right and which bits are wrong?”
    “He’s tall and good-looking.” In her mind’s eye Kitty could see him so clearly her heart was pounding.
    “He has broad shoulders … and dark smouldering eyes.”
    “But he’s not sex-starved, eh?” Georgie winked. She knew exactly who Kitty’s letter was from.
    “And he’s not looking for someone like me?”
    “He might be. How would I know?”
    “Well, gal, put it like this… why would he be looking for someone like me when he can have a raving beauty like you?”
    Kitty blushed to the roots of her hair. The and Harry are friends, that’s all,” she protested. But her face told another tale.
    “Listen, gal. I’ve seen the way he looks at you on visiting day, and I can tell you that is not the look of a friend.” Georgie winked cheekily.
    “More the look of a lover, I’d say.”
    “Oh, Georgie. You know Harry isn’t my lover.” In her dreams he was, but she would never tell.
    “Anyway, I’d need to be two years older or he’d be arrested.” She summoned the courage to mention something that had lately been on her mind.
    “Does it hurt?” Blushing pink she persisted, “You know … when a man does that… is it very painful?”
    Georgie was visibly surprised; she was also wary.
    “You’re asking me, Kitty gal, and you know I’m not quite sixteen, so I shouldn’t have done it either.”
    “But you have, haven’t you?” Lowering her voice to a whisper. Kitty leaned closer.
    “You can tell me. I won’t say anything. It’s just that I’d like to know.”
    Glancing up and down the room and seeing that they were still alone, Georgie admitted softly, “All right then, yes, I have done it, but I don’t know if it hurts first time because I was pissed out of my mind it was when I ran away from the first foster home and got mixed up with this bloke. A fairground helper, he was, and ooh! You should have seen him, gal… muscles like Popeye and golden hair down to his waist. He looked like one of them Greek gods.” She took a moment to savour the memory then went on, “Anyway, he took me to some party and we all got drunk. I woke up the next morning with my legs covered in blood and a used French letter lying on the bedroom floor … ‘course I knew what had happened straightaway.”
    “Have you seen him since?”
    “Naw. The bugger were gone when I woke up, and I ain’t seen hide nor hair of him since.” She giggled and lowered her voice until it was almost inaudible.
    “I was scared stiff the woman of the house would come home and call the police … I was on the run, remember? There were people lying all over the place, some of ‘em