Free Clean Break by Jacqueline Wilson Page A

too. It meant nothing very much at all recently.
    â€˜Vita wants to be an actress,’ I said.
    Vita heard and gave a little twirl.
    â€˜Yes, she would,’ said Sarah. ‘Do you want to be an actress too?’
    I wondered if she was mocking me. ‘I don’t know what I want to be,’ I said.
    â€˜Well, what are you good at?’ said Sarah.
    I thought hard. I started to panic. I wasn’t really good at anything. I could make up stories but that didn’t really count. My stories weren’t anywhere near as good as Dad’s, anyway. I liked colouring in my books but I was rubbish at drawing my own people. I liked dancing when I was all by myself but I’d never been taught. I’d have died if I’d had to wear one of those skimpy little leotards.
    â€˜I’m not good at anything,’ I said, sighing.
    â€˜Yes, you are. Em’s good at looking after us,’ said Vita, glancing over her shoulder.
    Sarah didn’t look impressed. ‘Do you
like
looking after people?’ she said.
    I thought about it. I wasn’t really that good at it. I wished I could
really
look after everyone. I’d give Vita a starring part in a TV programme. I’d stop Maxie being so scared of everything and make all the little kids who teased him want him as their best friend. I’d make Dad a Hollywood movie star, though he’d fly back home to us in his own personal jet every weekend. I’d give Mum her own hairdressing salon and she could develop her own range of Julie haircare products.
    â€˜Hello?’ said Sarah rudely, waving her hand in front of my face.
    â€˜Goodbye!’ I said.
    I dodged past her, caught hold of Vita’s hand, and we ran together. Maxie left Dad and clutched my other hand. We all three ran like crazy people, yelling at the tops of our voices.
    We ran and ran and ran, along the gravel path and round the pond and right up the hill. I thought Dad would get scared and come rushing after us. I waited for him to start shouting our names.
    There were no thudding footsteps, no calls.
    When we were almost at the top of the hill Maxie stumbled and fell over again. He lay there, panting. Vita stopped too, clutching her side, her face scarlet. I turned round, the blood drumming so hard in my head there was a red mist in front of my eyes. I blinked. I saw Dad far away below us, a little doll’s house father. He had his arms round Sarah. He was kissing her. It wasn’t the sort of kiss he gave Mum. It was a real filmstar kiss.
    â€˜Yuck!’ said Vita.
    â€˜Yuck yuck yuck,’ said Maxie, sitting up. Then he saw what we were looking at. His bottom lip stuck out. ‘Why is Dad kissing that lady?’ he said.
    I swallowed. ‘Because he likes her.’
    â€˜Well, we
don’t
,’ said Vita. ‘And now we don’t like Dad either. We want to go home.’
    â€˜We want to go home,’ Maxie echoed.
    I wanted to go home too. I hated this cold bleak stupid park.
    We walked back down the hill holding hands. They were
still
kissing when we got right down to the bottom.
    â€˜He looks like he’s eating her, yuck yuck
yuck
,’ said Vita. ‘Let’s creep up on them and give them a big push right into the duckpond.’
    We all laughed in a weird high-pitched way.
    â€˜Let’s do it now,’ Vita urged.
    I didn’t know if she was serious or not. I didn’t care. I was suddenly overwhelmed by this image of Dad and Sarah shrieking and splashing. I saw Sarah dripping with green slime, ugly and ridiculous.
    â€˜We’ll run at them,’ I whispered.
    But at that moment Dad spotted us. They broke apart. Sarah laughed at our faces. Dad smiled anxiously.
    â€˜Hey, you three. Having fun?’
    â€˜No, we’re not,’ said Vita. ‘We want to go home.’
    â€˜Back to Sarah’s?’
    â€˜That’s not
home
,’ said Vita in disgust. ‘
Our
home.’
    â€˜Not yet,