Free Six Steps to a Girl by Sophie McKenzie

what Eve would think looked good. I badly wanted to ask Chloe, but a) she would have totally sussed me if I had and b) she hadn’t yet emerged from her own bedroom.
    In the end I settled on a blue T-shirt, a thick, black jumper and jeans. I put it all on, then – remembering something Ryan had said weeks ago – took off the T-shirt and ironed it, just in case.
    When Mum walked into the kitchen and saw me bent over the ironing board she blinked with surprise.
    “Oh, Luke.” She sat down at the kitchen table with a sigh. “Why is it you’re coping so well and Chloe’s gone to pieces?”
    I hate it when she asks me questions like that. I mean, there aren’t any answers, are there?
    I shrugged and unplugged the iron.
    Once I was ready, I mooched round the house for about half an hour. It was only going to take about fifteen minutes to get down to the gallery.
    At last I decided it was time to go. I yelled goodbye to Mum, but before I was out the front door, she appeared in the hall.
    “Before you go out, sweetheart,” she said, “there’s something I’d like you to do.”
    Crap.
    “Mum, I’m busy. I’m meeting someone.”
    She twisted her hands together. “It won’t take long. It’s just . . .”
    “What?”
    “It’s Chloe. I’ve been banging on her door and she’s not answering. And she’s locked it again. Even though I’ve told her not to a hundred times.”
    Mum’s eyes were filling with tears. I put my arms round her and hugged her, silently cursing Chloe for being such a pain in the arse.
    “She’s probably still asleep, Mum. Look, I’ve really got to—”
    “Will you get up on the porch and look through her window?” Mum asked.
    I stared at her. “ What . . . ?”
    “It’s just occurred to me,” Mum sniffed, “she could be getting out of the house without me knowing, then leaving her door locked from the inside, so that I’ll think she’s still in there.”
    “And you want me to get on the roof and spy through her window?” I said. “Jesus, Mum, that’s going a bit far, isn’t it?”
    “Luke, she’s totally out of control. I wish to God I hadn’t grounded her for as long as I did. I should have realised that that party of hers was just a reaction to Dad dying. Maybe if I’d gone a bit easier on her, she wouldn’t have gone off the rails like this.”
    “I don’t think—”
    “Please, Luke. You know I’ll get all dizzy if I go up there myself. I could ask Matt, but if—”
    “No, I’ll do it,” I said.
    Anything to keep Uncle bloody Matt out of our business.
    I checked my watch. Twenty to ten. It would only take a couple of minutes to get onto the porch roof. Still plenty of time to make it down to the gallery by ten.
    I clambered onto the porch wall, then hooked my arm over the roof. I heard a rip as the jagged edge of a tile caught in my sleeve and tore up a line of wool. Excellent. I hauled myself onto the roof, thinking there was no way Chloe would ever consider doing this. She goes nuts if she chips a nail.
    “Be careful, sweetheart,” Mum called up from the front garden.
    The roof sloped upwards slightly, and I had to lean into it so as not to slip down. I took two tentative steps across to Chloe’s window. It was open just a finger’s width at the bottom. I grabbed the ledge with my hands and peered into her room, convinced she would still be asleep. But the bed was empty. It wasn’t a large room and I could see every corner from where I was standing. Chloe wasn’t there.
    “Well?” Mum called.
    I thought quickly. If I told her the truth, Mum would totally lose it. She’d almost certainly call the police – after all, Chloe could have been gone all night. I looked round the room again. No, I was sure she’d at least slept in the bed. The duvet was all ruckled up and a pair of pyjamas lay strewn across the floor between the bed and the wardrobe. Anyway, Chloe could look after herself. But Mum wasn’t likely to see it that way, which meant there