Free Black Heart Blue by Louisa Reid Page B

the older guys and is seeing him this weekend. She’s full of it and I’m glad, at least it means she’s not after Craig any more and maybe I’ll have more of a chance.
    ‘So will you bring him to Craig’s party, then?’
    ‘What?’ For a second Daisy looks unsure, then smiles widely, tosses her hair and shrugs. ‘Maybe, if we can’t think of anything better to do.’
    I eventually go to class and sit daydreaming through the experiment we’re supposed to be doing in Physics. Luckily I’m partnered with Jack and he’s such a keeno that he’s more than happy to do all the work for me. It’s easy to keep him sweet. I only have to smile and he blushes to the roots of his hair. He probably fancies me, most science geeks are lucky if a girl gives them the time of day, let alone tells them how great they are, so I keep on ladling out the compliments and he keeps on doing the hard graft. I think the relationship’s working well for both of us. Rebecca disapproves of course, she says I’m taking advantage and that it’s OK to do it to her but I should have more respect for other people. She can be such a bore sometimes. No wonder she’s got no friends.
    Anyway, I find Samara and Daisy at lunch in the common room and they’re bitching about Craig’s party.
    ‘So how come you got invited and we didn’t?’ Samara folds her arms and looks at me hard with her head tipped to one side.
    I shrug. I actually have no idea.
    ‘D’you reckon you could get us an invite, then?’
    Again I shrug. ‘I suppose I could ask.’ I can’t help the reluctance creeping into my voice and I know it’s really obvious that I don’t want to.
    ‘Don’t you want us there or something?’ Now Daisy sounds mad, and that’s the last thing I need.
    ‘Of course I do, it’s just that I’m not sure I know him well enough to, well, you know, ask for favours.’
    ‘But Craig knows me!’ Daisy is still cross. ‘I’m not just any old person, it’s not like you’re asking to bring that mongy sister of yours, is it?’
    For a moment my head reels and spins. I thought that Daisy was my friend. I thought she liked me. I don’t know why this hurts so much, I knew what she thought, of course I did. But she shouldn’t have said it. I can’t laugh it off.
    ‘You ask Craig yourself if you know him so well, Daisy.’ I stand up, just about, and walk away. Sorry, Rebecca. That was the best I could do.
    Crying in the toilets doesn’t help much. I make it through the afternoon without talking to anyone and I can’t look Rebecca in the face as we walk home. She thinks I’m still upset about the weekend.
    ‘One day things’ll be better, Hephz,’ she says.
    I manage a laugh. ‘Oh, yeah? When’s that?’
    We’re nearing the vicarage and she stops and stares up at the house. It looks meaner than ever.
    ‘When they die. Or when we do, I suppose.’
    She mutters the words quietly but her anger’s like a storm.
    I reach out and put my arm around her.
    ‘Don’t be daft. We’ll be OK.’ Suddenly I’m the one doing the comforting and I wish I could give her a hug, but if our parents spot us there’ll be trouble. We go inside and get on with our chores – the dishes, the laundry, the never-ending homework – and then, just when we thinkwe can relax, he summons us down. It’s one of the nights he wants us to sit with him. I try staring into space, forgetting I’m there, but he won’t leave me alone tonight. I kneel on the floor in front of him and he brushes my hair. I guess this is weird, it was sort of OK when I was little but now I wish he wouldn’t. He quizzes Rebecca about college but her answers are monosyllabic and I silently urge her to say a bit more because I can feel his body tense behind me. The less she says, the more she winds him up, and he digs the brush more firmly into my head with each word she
doesn’t utter. I try to signal to her but she’s not looking at me either.
Oh, Rebecca, save me, save me
, I scream in