Free More Flirting Games (The Flirting Series - Young Adult) by Stella Wilkinson

felt
that at least she was the one who was taking the high ground.
    “Hi.” Diana
sat up on her bed “Where are the others?”
    Rose was a
little taken aback. “They said something about a birthday bash in the North
Tower Common Room. I can’t remember who. I wasn’t in the mood.”
    “No. I
know. And that’s my fault isn’t it?” Though Diana’s words seemed accusing, Rose
realized that Alex was right, her tone was more sad than anything.
    “I don’t
know, Diana. Why don’t you tell me?” Rose pulled off her boots and sat down on
her own bed, looking at Diana.
    Diana
looked acutely uncomfortable. Keeping her head bent so her hair masked her face
she said “Yes, actually I was planning to tell you.”
    Rose
couldn’t hide her surprise “Really? Why?”
    “For Leo,”
Diana spoke quietly “He’s so unhappy, and I would do anything to make him happy
again, even if it’s you that makes him feel that way.”
    “Charming!”
Rose hadn’t meant to sound so acerbic. Softening her tone she asked “He still
likes me?”
    “Yes.”
Diana confirmed.
    Rose
managed a small smile. “Are you going to tell me why he isn’t talking to me
then?”
    Diana
nodded and Rose realized that behind her hair, Diana was crying. Rose was too
soft hearted to stay angry. She bounded off her own bed and on to Diana’s.
    “Whatever
it is Diana, it can’t be that bad!”
    “It’s a bit
of a long story,” Diana blew her nose.
    “Well, I
think we have a few hours. I’ve just remembered it’s Jerry Doury’s birthday,
his friends will have organized some major carnage.” Rose smiled at the memory
of last year’s party being closed down by the Deputy Head at nearly two in the
morning.
    Diana
nodded and pulled her pillow into her lap. Rose crossed her legs under herself
and bounced a little till she was comfortable, settled facing the other girl.
    “My mum
came over from Dublin when she was just nineteen and married my dad within
weeks of their meeting. He says she was so full of life and happy back then.
But after I was born, she began to get what she called ‘black thoughts.’ She
would get terrible low for weeks at a time and then seem to bounce back to
being herself. My grandmother in Ireland was worried sick, she said there were
others in her family who had been that way and it could go on for years. She
bought us a house in the same village where the Flanagans lived, because she
knew the family well and she hoped Leo’s dad would keep an eye on us, which he did.
My father didn’t really know how to cope with my mother, he said he found it
even harder when she was madly happy then when she was down. He said it was her
‘Irish temperament.’
    “They began
to fight all the time and my father drank more and my mother seemed to get
depressed more often and sometimes she’d get really hysterical. They used to
send me over to the Flanagan’s every time things got too loud between them.
Eventually, my dad got fired from his job because of his drinking and we lost
almost everything but the house, which he couldn’t sell as it belongs to my
grandmother.”
    Diana
paused to collect herself. Rose was stunned, she had always thought Diana was
loaded, not poor!
    “I think
Mum was very relieved when Grannie insisted on paying for me to go to Compass
Court with Leo when I was eleven. Mum secretly saved to make sure I had nice
clothes to bring and everything, so no one would know what was going on at
home. Maintaining an image was important to her, and she didn’t even tell Mr
Flanagan how bad it was. Though I think he suspected - they were really kind to
me and bought me one of almost everything they bought Leo.
    “Then in
November of my first year here your parents put Mr Flanagan’s brother in
prison. But he wasn’t the only one was he? Nobody thought much about the second man, Sean Mathrey, he was just an accountant. But he was also
my mother’s Godfather. She was very close to him and took it really badly.
    “My