Free Mumnesia by Katie Dale Page B

me.
    ‘Isn’t that the one you tried on yesterday,
Megan?’ Cara says.
    ‘When did you get this?’ Megan asks, her voice
sugary sweet.
    ‘Um . . . it’s new,’ I gulp, feeling all the
blood drain from my face.
    ‘Obvs!’ She pulls the receipt out of the bag.
‘Yesterday afternoon. Four o’clock.’
    Viv gasps. ‘But that’s just after you tried it on,
Megan!’
    ‘OMG, were you
spying
on us, Lucy?’ Nicole
rounds on me.
    ‘No! I—’
    ‘Lucy wouldn’t do that, would you, Luce?’
Megan says lightly. ‘You wouldn’t watch me try on a
dress for the ball and then buy it yourself,
would
you
?’
    ‘No! I didn’t even—’
    ‘Because you’d know we can’t
both
wear it, right?’ Megan walks towards me, the expensive
dress dangling from her fingertips. ‘That’d be
MEGA-lame. For both of us.’ She smiles icily.
    ‘Right,’ I mumble, my cheeks burning.
    She steps closer. ‘So . . . who gets to wear it to the
ball?’
    ‘You should, Megan – you saw it first!’ Cara
says.
    ‘And you looked so good in it, Megan!’ Viv says
quickly.
    ‘So much better than Lucy would,’ Nicole adds.
‘No offence.’
    Yeah, right.
    ‘Now, girls –’ Megan smiles –
‘there’s only
one
way to decide.’ She
tosses the dress to me. ‘Put it on, Luce.’
    ‘What?’ I shake my head quickly.
‘No!’
    ‘Come on, we just want to see who wears it best –
like in the magazines!’
    ‘No!’ I back away from them, my legs trembling.
‘I don’t want to!’ I fall backwards on to the
bed, surrounded by all my rejected clothes.
    ‘But, Lucy –’ Megan tilts her head to one
side as she looks down at me – ‘how will we know who
looks best in it?’
    ‘You will,’ I mutter, desperate for the
humiliation to end.
    ‘Sorry?’ She leans closer, a hand to her ear.
    ‘You’ll look better in it,’ I say,
swallowing hard, desperately struggling not to cry. ‘You
look better in everything.’
    Megan beams. ‘Aw, that’s so
sweet
of you,
Lucy! Isn’t it, babes?’
    The Megababes smirk.
    ‘So you won’t mind if I borrow it, right?’
Megan plucks the dress from my hands.
    I look up. ‘What?’
    ‘Well, you see, I was going to buy this dress too . . .
but now we’ve agreed we can’t
both
wear it to
the ball, that seems an
eensy
bit wasteful, doesn’t
it? I mean there’s no point it just sitting in your
wardrobe, right?’ Megan steps back and flicks her hair
triumphantly. ‘In fact I could take it now, while I’m
here! I do need to change out of my dirty dress, and you
did
say I could borrow your clothes . . .’
    I sigh heavily, utterly beaten. ‘Fine,’ I mumble,
my eyes stinging as I glare at the floor, wishing it would just
swallow me up.
    ‘Great!’ Megan squeals.
    ‘Lucy!’ Shazza calls, poking her head round the
door. ‘Could you put some more music on in the lounge,
please? Megan, sweetie, the sooner I wash your dress, the more
likely that stain will come out.’
    ‘Just a minute, Shazza!’ Megan smiles.
‘I’m just gonna get changed. Lucy’s loaned me
the most beautiful dress. She’s SUCH a great
friend.’
    ‘Takes one to know one!’ Shazza says, winking at
me.
    If only she’d been here five minutes ago.

30 SHAZZA
    Ugh! What a mega-mean, mega-bogus mega-jerk
Megan is! I wanted to storm in five minutes ago when I overheard
them being majorly nasty to poor Lucy, but then I had a
much
better idea . . .
    I wait until Megan’s changed, then give it
ten minutes before heading into the lounge to find her flouncing
around in Lucy’s beautiful new dress, her clones cooing
around her while Luce watches miserably from the corner.
    I plaster on a sickly-sweet smile. ‘OK,
everyone, the limo’s ready to take you home!’
There’s a chorus of groans, but Lucy looks relieved.
‘Thanks for coming!’ I call as the girls gather their
bags and coats. ‘Take care now.’
    ‘Thanks, Shazza!’ Megan cries as the
others collect their