Free Family Fan Club by Jean Ure Page B

pity. Laurel had been stupid, no doubt about that. She had brought it all on herself. But then, if you were in the throes of love, thought Jazz, striving to be broad-minded, it probably frazzled your brain.
    “Mum’s going to be so mad at me!” wailed Laurel. “They were her favourite earrings!”
    “They were the ones Dad bought for her,” said Jazz. “The time he got that film part. When he went to Spain.” Dad had come home loaded with presents for all the family. Mum had scolded him for spending his hard-earned money.
    Laurel suddenly brightened.
    “Maybe she won’t mind that I’ve lost one!”
    “Why? Just because they were from Dad?”
    Laurel nodded, happily. “She probably won’t ever want to wear them again. She mightn’t even notice they’ve gone!”
    “You must be dreaming,” said Jazz.
    “Well, then, she might think she’s gone and lost them herself.”
    Jazz sucked in her breath. “That would be the meanest thing ever!”
    “What?” Laurel lay back, sullenly, against the pillow. “Not telling her?”
    “Yes, ’cos just suppose one day she and Dad make it up and Dad says where are those earrings I got you and Mum goes to look for them and they’re not there … he’d think she’d got rid of them!”
    There was a silence.
    “D’you really think they’ll ever make it up?” said Laurel.
    “Well … they might,” said Jazz.
    “But Mum says she doesn’t ever want to see Dad again!”
    “People say things like that. They don’t always mean them.”
    “Mum does!”
    “How do you know? She might just be saying it ’cos she’s hurt.”
    “So what am I going to do?” bleated Laurel.
    “If you really want my advice,” began Jazz, and then stopped as Rose’s voice came bellowing up the stairs.
    “Jazz-it’s-Theo-on-the-phone!”
    “Wait there,” said Jazz. “I’ll be back.”
    Laurel groaned. When Jazz and Theo got talking, there was no stopping them. Laurel couldn’t imagine what they found to talk about. She and Simon hadn’t really talked at all.
    Simon was hateful! She didn’t want to think about him. And she most
certainly
wasn’t ever going out with him again.
    She burrowed back down beneath the duvet. Perhaps she could go into a decline, like Victorian women used to. She would just stay in bed and gently fade away. Anything would be better than facing Mum’s wrath!
    Jazz was back again almost immediately. Laurel heard her bounding up the stairs.
    “You’ve gone to sleep again!”
    “Don’t feel well,” mumbled Laurel.
    “Stop being cowardly! You’re just trying to avoid things. If you want my advice—”
    Laurel wasn’t at all sure that she did.
    “If you want my advice, you ought to go to Mum andthrow yourself on her mercy. You should say, I’m deeply humbly sorry, I’ve behaved like a total idiot, I lost my heart to slimy Simon.” Jazz clasped both hands to her bosom. “I gave him my love and he let me down.”
    Laurel stared at her, revolted. “I can’t say that!”
    “Why not? It’s true,” said Jazz. “You went completely gaga over him. I told you he was a slimeball! Anyhow—” She yanked at the duvet. Laurel screeched, and yanked it back. “It’s all right, you don’t have to hide,” said Jazz. “You’ve been lucky. Guess what?”
    “What?”
    “Theo’s found the earring! It was in his dad’s car.”
    “Oh!” Laurel gave a great squeal of joy and jumped out of bed. She hurled herself at Jazz. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
    “He’s going to bring it round right away, so if you really want to slurp over anyone,” said Jazz, shoving at her sister, “you can slurp over him.”
    “No!” Laurel shook her head. “I’m through with men.”
    “Until the next time,” said Jazz.
    “There isn’t going to be a next time! Oh, I do hope Mum doesn’t want to wear her earrings before he gets here!”
    Since Mum had just finished washing her hair and was in the middle of giving herself a facial, there didn’t seem