Free Dead Gorgeous by Malorie Blackman Page B

mumbled, her cheeks bulging.
    Nova and the twins exchanged a long-suffering look. Nova shook her head as she took another bite of her sausage.
    ‘Can’t you two stop arguing for two seconds?’ Jake asked.
    ‘Yeah! You’re giving us a bellyache,’ Jude added.
    ‘And you’re both giving me a headache,’ Nova put in her twopence worth, glaring at her mum, then at Raye in turn.
    ‘Fine! Right!’ Raye piled creamy-white mashed potato onto her fork so that the fork was no longer visible beneath the huge mound. Then she pushed the whole lot into her mouth.
    ‘Good idea, Raye,’ Mum said sarcastically. ‘Choking on your food will really show me!’
    Raye sat in stony silence and continued chewing her food. Her eyes shot daggers at anyone who dared to look in her direction. Nova cut carefully into her second sausage, dissecting it into four
equal pieces, before pushing one of the quarters into her mouth. She had a set routine. Peas, beans or tomatoes first, then the meat – whatever it might be, then the energy food (as Mum
called it), or stodge (as Raye called it). Stodge like chips or rice or mashed potatoes or pasta. Nova never argued about eating her food. And she always finished what she was given. She looked
down at her plate. Nearly there. She popped another quarter of sausage into her mouth.
    ‘Mum, can I have some more milk?’ asked Jake.
    ‘Me too!’ added Jude.
    Mum turned round to get the milk out of the fridge. Nova spread some mashed potato over her last two pieces of sausage. She popped one into her mouth before pushing the remaining mashed potato
into a miniature volcano-shaped heap in the middle of the plate.
    ‘Mum, while you’re in the fridge, can I have something fizzy to drink?’ asked Nova.
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘Got any ginger beer?’
    ‘There’s one left,’ Mum replied.
    ‘I’ll have that then. Thanks.’ Nova put the last lot of mashed potato and sausage into her mouth before putting her knife and fork together in the middle of her plate.
    ‘I see you’ve finished all your food – again. Creep!’ Raye hissed.
    ‘What’s your problem?’ asked Nova. ‘Not enough fibre in your diet?’
    ‘Crawly creeper!’ Raye mustered as much venom as she could to inject into her words.
    ‘I think you mean creepy crawler! You’re such a pleasure to be around – really,’ said Nova. ‘I’m so proud you’re my sister.’
    ‘Bog off!’
    ‘You first,’ said Nova.
    ‘That’s quite enough of that,’ Mum snapped.
    Nova and Raye glared at each other. Jude and Jake shared a grin. Meal times were such fun, with everyone arguing and saying rude things.
    ‘I’ll help you to serve the dinner later, Mum,’ said Raye, reluctant to tear the full force of her filthy look away from her sister.
    ‘Catch me, someone,’ said Mum, swooning. ‘I’m fainting!’
    ‘You’re always going on about me helping around the hotel more and when I do volunteer, you just mock me,’ Raye fumed.
    ‘You need a sense of humour transplant,’ Nova muttered so she could be heard.
    ‘And who was talking to you?’ said Raye.
    ‘Sorry, Raye.’ Mum straightened up. ‘You’re quite right. I shouldn’t have made fun of you. Thanks for volunteering.
    ‘She just wants to be with whatshisface – Andrew,’ said Jake.
    ‘Are you going to snog him?’ asked Jude in all seriousness.
    After one last razor-sharp look which scythed around the table, Raye flounced out of the room. Mum shook her head and handed a can of ginger beer over to Nova.
    ‘I can’t wait to be a teenager.’ Jude grinned at his brother.
    ‘Me too!’ agreed Jake.
    ‘Just drink your milk, you two!’ said Mum, placing a full glass before each of the twins.
    Nova drank as much of her ginger beer in one go as she could, until her stomach was full to the point of being bloated. She sat back and stared at her empty plate. Totally empty. Only a little
tomato sauce from the beans showed there’d been anything on it. Nova rubbed her