Tanya, you know, the girls who were supposed to be her best friends? The ones sheâd been in class with since Reception.â
âVile indeed! Girls can be so cruel. And is she eating okay?â
âWeâre up and down with that too. Sheâs so small, like a bird.â
âWe can work on that,â my mum said, and I imagined her rubbing her hands in glee. She loves nothing more than feeding people, and she has passed on her love of food to my sisters and me. Laura is tall and slender and she seems to stay that way even if she works as a chef; Anna eats like a horse but sweats all the calories off with her love of sport; and I happily accumulate them on my five-foot-two frame. You only live once, after all.
âI hope Lara will relax a bit, up there. Sheâs not sleeping well. She never did, but recently itâs got worse. I think she should see someone. I really do.â
âI think the summer in Glen Avich will do her a world of good. And you too. And after that, you can decide what to do about Lara.â
âYes. Leo doesnât know yet. Iâll speak to him later, but heâs so young, Iâll just tell him weâre going to see Nonna and heâll be happy. Six weeks is a long time to be away from his dad, but he never really sees him anyway.â
âIs Ash still coming round every weekend?â
âNo. Something always comes up. Itâs been every two weeks for a little while, now itâs if and when. He wasnât involved at all with Laraâs school either. Itâs so sad to see, you know . . . Every time Ash is around Leo follows him like a little shadow. He tries to catch his attention and never quite manages.â
âWell, heâll get plenty of attention here; weâll give him a really good time, I promise. There are quite a few kids his age in Glen Avich and thereâs a really good play park just across the road from our house, heâll have plenty of little friends to play with.â
âThatâs good,â I said in a shaky voice, and took a sip of my cappuccino. The caffeine was slowly waking me up after the sleepless night.
âMargherita?â
âYes?â
âYou told me something happened at Laraâs school, but never the details . . .â
I swallowed the coffee through the lump in my throat. âShe shouted at her English teacher. Apparently she was about to hit her.â It was horrifying to say it aloud.
â Lara? â
âYes.â
âMy poor little girl . . .â
âYes. Sheâs been through a lot.â
âI meant you ,â my mum said. âDonât worry, tesoro . Weâll sort things out, okay?â
âOkay,â I whispered, feeling like a little girl for real. And a lost one, at that. I was a thirty-eight-year-old mother of two, but I wanted my mum.
6
Roots
Lara
Dear Kitty,
I can safely say that things have been a bit rubbish recently. Iâm not sure whatâs up with me, but I canât sleep. I get these night terrors, theyâre called, and this makes me grumpy during the day. Extremely grumpy. As in, shouting-at-people grumpy. I get so angry, and I donât even know why. I ended up screaming at Mrs Akerele and it was horrible. I have no idea what comes over me. Maybe in a way I know myself whatâs wrong with me, itâs that it feels like Iâm boiling inside, and every once in a while it spills over. I was always able to keep it locked inside me, but itâs coming out and I canât stop it. Itâs scary.
In less freaky but still distressing news, I think Ian likes Polly. Itâs okay because I donât fancy Ian any more. Iâm over that kind of thing now. Nobody wants to hang out with me in school anyway. Since the incident with Mrs Akerele, Polly and Tanya have been avoiding me. Pollyâs mum said to Tanyaâs mum that Iâm not the best influence on their
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes