Free Peer Pressure by Chris Watt Page B

alternative to lying. In the end she told a half-truth. It was a risky half-truth but a half-truth just vague enough as to warrant no serious investigation on her mother’s part.
    Or so she thought, anyway.
    “There’s this boy.”
    “I thought so.”
    Jodie looked up at her mother, who had a faint smile playing across her lips, surprised.
    “You know? How do you know?”
    “Well the make up for one thing and your eating habits over the last few days for another.
    You’ve got something on your mind. That and I am your mother, I can just tell.”
    “Really?” asked Jodie, a slight panic setting in at the back of her mind.
    “Sweetheart, I’ve got a headache and I have an eight hour shift ahead of me, I’m incapable of lies at this moment, so yes, really.”
    Jodie didn’t trust her honesty and was already concocting scenarios in her head as to how she had found out, most of them involving her mother running into Laura at some point.
    Laura never did know when to shut her mouth. But in spite of Jodie’s flights of fantasy, Katy was in fact telling the truth. She could tell and one day, when Jodie had kids of her own, her daughter would understand just how easy she had been to read just by an expression or a change in habits.
    “So who is he?”
    This was the question that had helped Jodie decide that lying was probably the smarter option in this instance.
    “Oh, he’s just some boy in my English class.”
    “Is it our new neighbor?”
    “What?”
    “What’s his name? Sean? ”
    “No, what makes you think that?” asked Jodie, with genuine puzzlement.
    “Your windows face each other. I thought maybe you two had been talking.”
    Jodie thought on this, but the idea seemed preposterous, even if, to Katy, it made a certain amount of sense.
    “It’s not Sean Lewis.”
    “Sure?” asked Katy, with a distinct raise of her eyebrows.
    “It’s not Sean Lewis. Trust me.”
    Katy nodded at her daughter, the smile still playing on her lips. Jodie tried to ignore this, but the silence didn’t last long.
    “The skirts a little short too” her mother whispered. Jodie rapidly shot her down with a
    “Mum...”
    Katy, teasing all the way, held up her hands in a ceasefire gesture.
    “I’m just saying. I’m your mother, what do you expect me to say? ”
    Jodie was starting to feel ill, surprised that this conversation had lasted as long as it had.
    She put her toast down and closed her bag.
    “I’d prefer it if you said nothing at all.”
    Katy nodded and began rustling through her work papers.
    “Fine, it’s your life.”
    There was a pause, but Jodie knew her mother wasn’t finished. She was right, as Katy slowly brought her gaze back up to meet her daughter’s and added
    “Is he good looking?”
    Jodie stopped what she was doing and stared at her mother, now really annoyed.
    “Leave it. Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for work?”
    Katy shrugged.
    “I’m just waiting for the tumble dryer. Some moron spilled his drink on me last night.
    Aren’t you supposed to be on your way to school?”
    “I was just leaving.”
    And with that, Jodie slung her bag over her shoulder and walked down the hallway. Katy called after her.
    “Good. Go and learn, have fun...but no tongues.”
    Jodie opened and closed the front door, simply shouting
    “I’m leaving!”

SIXTEEN
    During the course of Jodie’s walk to school, the rain went from a light drizzle to what one could only describe as a torrential downpour. The first bell had already gone and she was running late, jogging with her bag above her head, desperately trying to protect her freshly made up face from the downpour. Her feet, however, were not quite as well protected and as a car sped past, it splashed the rain across her legs, before pulling in to the staff car park.
    Jodie slowed down to survey the damage. She would have probably cursed had she not noticed that the driver behind the wheel was Mr. Peer.
    With his car juddering to a halt, he