Free The Trouble with Love by Cathy Cole

coldly. “It’s my door, after all.” She lowered her voice so that only Polly could hear. “This is all your fault. Spouting off the way you did.”
    Polly’s heart thumped uncomfortably. “ I wasn’t kissing Max!”
    Eve’s eyes glittered like steel. “Rhi would never have caught us if you hadn’t made her suspicious. I’ll get even,” she said in a silky whisper. “Don’t think I won’t.”
    â€œAre you still here?” Lila said pointedly from the other side of the cabin.
    Eve stalked out, her jewelled sandals clinking on the wooden steps leading back to the deck. Polly swallowed. In that moment, even California didn’t feel far enough away from Eve and her madness.

THIRTEEN
    â€œSo the train for London leaves at nine-thirty, OK?” Lila instructed Polly down the phone the next day. “We’re going to have a total girly day, just you, me and Rhi. I’m going to take you to all my favourite London places, so you can forget about Heartside drama for a while. I have so much to show you. We’re going to—”
    â€œCan you hang up now?” Polly interrupted, half laughing. “It’s already eight o’clock and I haven’t thought about what I’m going to wear yet, let alone had any breakfast, so I need to get started. I’ll see you at the station at nine-fifteen. Are we done?”
    â€œI really want you and Rhi to relax today,” Lila said earnestly. “We’re going to find some cute boys for Rhi to look at and talk about so she can wipe that loser Max from her head, and we’re going to steer clear of any conversations about parents, and we’re going to do some serious shopping, and we’re going to catch up with each other properly. There are some awesome vintage shops that you are going to love . We are going to have so much fun!”
    For the first time in ages, Polly felt genuinely excited. She didn’t go to London very often, and with Lila and Rhi – both from London themselves – she knew she was going to have a really good time. “Understood, Captain, sir,” she said, saluting her bedroom wall.
    â€œDon’t tease me, I’m serious,” Lila insisted. “Nine-thirty, Polly! Don’t do what you did on the dock yesterday and make me catch you from a moving train.”
    â€œI’m hanging up.”
    â€œNine-thir—”
    â€œHanging up now!” Polly put down her phone, smiling.
    Â 
    The familiar dread began as she opened her wardrobe. Dress or trousers? Heels or flats? She wished she’d dyed her hair last night. She should have gone blond.
    After fifteen minutes, Polly ran down the stairs in pink cigarette pants, a slim-fitting black jumper and her favourite faux-leather brogues. As she stood by the toaster, she studied her shoes. She could see her reflection in their shiny tips, and it wasn’t good. She would have to change.
    She took her toast back upstairs and started her outfit again. Mustard-yellow skirt this time, and a slightly sheer white shirt, and the yellow and white daisy earrings from the party on the boat. No sooner had she put the earrings on than she took them off again. She couldn’t wear them today. They reminded her too much of that horrible afternoon.
    The only other earrings she liked right now were a big pair of blue triangle ones. They didn’t match the yellow skirt, or the pink cigarette pants, or the black jumper. They didn’t match anything. Why had she bought them?
    At nine o’clock, Polly was paralysed in the middle of her room, wearing her underwear, her triangle earrings, her make-up and nothing else. The nasty little voice was clamouring in her head: nothing matched, nothing suited her.
    She forced herself to pull a long dark blue maxi skirt from the cupboard, and a silvery T-shirt. She slipped her feet back into her brogues and headed purposefully for the top of