Worse Than Boys Read online

  Lauren beamed at her. ‘Hello, Mrs Driscoll. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.’

  I could see my mum didn’t quite know how to handle this, so I changed the subject immediately. ‘You’ve made some shortbread, Mum.’ I turned to Lauren. ‘My mum makes the best shortbread. Try some.’

  I took the tray from Mum’s hands and held it out to Lauren. Lauren picked a piece, already cut into triangles, and popped half of it in her mouth. ‘You’re right, Hannah. That is the best shortbread I’ve ever tasted.’

  ‘I know it is, but Mum doesn’t think she’s a very good baker.’

  ‘You could sell that.’ Lauren looked at me. ‘You should take it to the next school fête. Some of the baking people bring would poison you. I don’t know how they’ve got the nerve to try and sell it.’

  Mum shrugged. ‘I’m sure my shortbread’s not that special,’ she said, but I could tell she was pleased.

  Lauren rattled on. ‘My mum gives me baking to take to the school every year. Doesn’t know I throw it to the birds as soon as I’m out of the house. Mind you, the birds turn their noses up at it as well. Or should that be their beaks?’ She giggled, and I could see Mum wasn’t sure how to take that. Lauren saw it too. ‘My mum’s brilliant, but she’s the world’s worst baker.’ Lauren bit into the other half of the shortbread. ‘Maybe you could give her lessons, Mrs Driscoll. Can I have another piece?’

  When we were in my room I asked her, ‘Is that why you came? So you could suck up to Mum?’

  ‘Maybe I thought it was time I met her. She’s nice by the way. She’s really pretty.’

  I thought about that. She was nice. And she was pretty. Always trying to better herself, Lauren had said. And I had never given her any credit for that. Never gave her any credit for anything. Looking after Junior since his mother died, always working hard, always there for me. I felt suddenly ashamed of myself. ‘Suppose she is,’ I said.

  Lauren wandered about my room. ‘This is nice. And you’ve got a room to yourself. Lucky!’

  ‘Are you going to go for the show then?’

  Lauren shrugged. ‘I’m thinking about it.’

  That made me happy. ‘While you’re thinking about it, you should practise. I’ve got the Grease DVD. Want to see it?’

  I pulled it from my rack and slipped it in the machine.

  ‘Just one thing …’ Lauren said seriously. ‘I don’t want Wizzie to know – not till I’ve really decided. OK?’

  That was OK by me. I wanted this to be a surprise to everyone. We’d tell Wizzie soon enough, and Grace and Sonya, but as for the rest of the school … the first time they found out would be when Lauren paraded into that auditorium, dressed as Sandy.

  Halfway through the film, Mum came in with tea and more shortbread, and sandwiches too. She was showing off, and usually it would embarrass and annoy me. But not this time. Lauren had her laughing, telling her about her mother’s cooking.

  ‘Please … give my mum the recipe for this shortbread.’ Then Lauren waved her arms about madly. ‘No! Don’t bother. She’d probably add one of her strange ingredients … anchovies or something.’

  ‘What are you watching?’ Mum asked.

  ‘Grease,’ I said.

  ‘Your daughter thinks I should go for a part in it. Me?’ Lauren held up her multi-coloured bunches. ‘Can you imagine me!’

  ‘Not a part. The main part. She’s a brilliant singer, Mum.’

  Lauren blushed. ‘How could I look like that?’ We had paused the film right at the scene where Olivia Newton John is singing and looking as sweet as an angel.

  ‘I think you should go for it,’ Mum said. ‘It’s amazing what a change of clothes and hair can do. In fact, I’ll look out some clothes I’ve got that just might be useful. Never fit you, of course.’

  ‘My mum’s really handy with a needle. She’d fix them.’ Lauren laughed. ‘You really think I could look like that?’

  ‘Well, they’re always doing makeovers on television. Why couldn’t you have one?’

  And I knew then Lauren would definitely go for the part. Thanks to Mum. They seemed to genuinely like each other!

  By the end of that night Lauren had my mum eating out of her hand.

  Later, when Lauren had left I went into Mum’s room. She was reading her book in bed. I sat beside her. ‘Thanks, Mum,’ I said. ‘For the shortbread and everything.’

  She laid down her book. ‘She seems a nice girl,’ she said.

  ‘She is. They are, they all are.’

  She wasn’t sure about that. But Lauren had made a difference. Mum liked her. Maybe she was thinking – I was sure of it – that if she met the others, she might like them too.

  All except Wizzie.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Wizzie was a softie, Lauren had told me. That was even harder to believe just a few nights later when we met at the Mall. One more scar, looking raw. ‘Were you in another fight?’ Lauren asked her.

  Wizzie only shrugged. ‘Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.’

  Wizzie and her scars. Yes, I decided. I would have to pluck up a lot of courage to bring Wizzie home.

  We were still laughing when I saw Erin coming out of Top Shop, doing some late-night shopping. She saw me too. She glanced at me, then just as quickly looked away and kept her eyes straight in front of her. My gaze never left her. She was on her own, clutching her bags close. Nervous. It would have been so easy to confront her, to surround her, make her scared the way she’d made me scared. But all I did was stare. She was bold enough, finally, to look back, and there was something in her eyes that looked like hate.

  I felt Wizzie’s hand on my shoulder. ‘Not worth it,’ she said.

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘But I’m going to get her. I’m going to get them all.’

  And I was, one by one.

  ‘And the first one’s going to be Rose,’ I said. ‘I can’t wait to see her face when you win that audition, Lauren.’ It was out before I could stop myself.

  There was a sudden silence. I was still staring at Erin’s back as she hurried out of the Mall. I realised at once that I had put my foot right in it. Not just one foot. Both of them. I turned quickly to see Lauren blowing out her cheeks, Grace and Sonya standing back. And Wizzie. She had one hand on her hip, and she was glaring at me.

  ‘What’s all this about an audition? I thought that was all forgotten.’ She swivelled round to Lauren. ‘Are you doing this behind my back?’

  She didn’t wait for Lauren’s answer. She swung right back to me. ‘Your idea? Using us to get back at your old pals.’ She looked round at them all. ‘Come on, can you not see that’s what she’s doing?’

  I saw Lauren swallow before she answered her. ‘Well, we want to get back at them too, Wizzie.’

  ‘So let’s start a fight with them. But we don’t get them back like this.’ She put on a little girlie voice. ‘Ooo, we’re so bad, we’re going to sing better than them.’ Her voice became harsh again. ‘That’s really going to scare them to death, that is.’

  ‘Lauren’s a r-really good singer,’ Sonya said.

  To my surprise it was Grace who spoke out boldly. ‘So why shouldn’t one of the Hell Cats get a part in their daft show? Lauren’s the best singer in the school.’

  That only made Wizzie madder. ‘So every one of you knows about this … except Wizzie. What else are you doing behind my back?’

  Lauren tried to protest. But there was nothing any of us could say. Wizzie was right. We had talked about it and decided it behind her back, because we knew this would be her reaction.

  Lauren touched her arm and Wizzie pulled away. ‘Come on, Wizzie. We knew you wouldn’t like the idea … I didn’t like it at first, but I’m up for it now.’

  Wizzie turned on her. ‘No, you’re not, Lauren. She’s making you do it.’ She pointed a black-nailed finger at me. ‘You wouldn’t have thought about it if it wasn’t for her.’ Then she turned to me and poked her finger into my chest. Her little wh
ite face was red with anger. ‘You’re every bit as manipulative as that Erin.’

  That really hurt. ‘Don’t say that, Wizzie.’

  But she wasn’t going to stop. ‘You’re trying to turn us into the Lip Gloss Girls, and I don’t like it!’

  Chapter Forty-Six

  The night before the auditions we all gathered at Lauren’s house. All of us except Wizzie. We waited and waited and she didn’t turn up. She’d been annoyed since she’d found out that Lauren was still going to audition, no matter what she said.

  ‘Is Wizzie mad at me?’ I asked.

  Grace answered. ‘I think she’s just mad.’

  ‘She’ll be fine,’ Lauren said. ‘She told me today I’d get that part for sure.’ Then she laughed. ‘Said she’d punch Hammond’s lights out if I didn’t. She’s for it, she just doesn’t want to admit it, because it wasn’t her idea in the first place.’

  But I couldn’t help wondering, where was Wizzie? Since the night at the Mall she’d missed a few of our meetings. I kept remembering those horrible Black Widows and hoped she wasn’t with them.

  What else were we doing behind her back? she had asked. But I wondered, what else was Wizzie doing behind ours?

  ‘Oh well, her loss,’ I said, trying to be cheery.

  Lauren’s mum brought in toasted cheese sandwiches for our supper. ‘I’ve added some cinnamon and garlic tonight,’ she told us, as she brought in a plate piled high. ‘I think it brings out the flavour of the cheese.’

  ‘I don’t know about bringing it out, but I’m bringing it up in five minutes,’ I whispered.

  Lauren’s brother sent us all a really rude text message that sent us into a fit of giggles. Her dad popped in with funny stories about strange objects that got stuck in drainpipes. Her sister Ellen was all nervous because she was going out on a first date with a new boyfriend. No wonder we always loved coming to Lauren’s.

  Wizzie wasn’t here and I felt we were all more relaxed. We lay along the beds and laughed and fixed our hair, tried on each other’s clothes and did all the things I used to do with the Lip Gloss Girls. Maybe Wizzie was right. Without her, we were turning into them.

  ‘I’m really nervous about this daft audition,’ Lauren said. ‘I don’t know why I’m even trying for it.’

  ‘Because she said so,’ Grace said, giving me a push. ‘And it’s getting to the stage where we seem to be doing everything she wants.’ I looked at her quickly, sure she was getting at me. But there was a smile on her face. Grace was enjoying it too.

  ‘You’ll be brilliant,’ I told Lauren – couldn’t have her backing out now.

  Lauren took one look in her mirror. ‘Look at me. This Sandy is supposed to be sweet and innocent.’ She held out her topsy-turvy hair. ‘I look like a scarecrow. I’m a mess. How am I ever going to convince anybody I could be Sandy?’

  ‘My mum’s told me exactly how to do your hair tomorrow. It’ll be fine.’

  ‘Or you could just shave your head,’ Sonya suggested. ‘You’d look great in the school play bald.’

  The idea seemed to appeal to Lauren. ‘Hey, do you think that would look funky?’

  ‘That’s what I love about you, Lauren,’ Sonya said. ‘You’ve got the guts to be different. You would shave your head just to see what it looked like!’

  ‘And that’s what I really like about you,’ I said, suddenly wanting them all to know how I felt. ‘About the whole lot of you.’ I looked around at them. Sonya, with the stutter; Grace, who never got a joke and with her long horsey face (well, let’s face it – that’s the only way you could describe her); Lauren, with her idiot hairstyles. And I thought about Wizzie, with her rings and her scars. ‘I like how you are all different, and you bump each other up all the time.’

  They all looked at me as if I’d said something really stupid. ‘I hope you don’t expect a group hug next,’ Grace said solemnly.

  ‘Not like your old pals,’ Sonya said.

  I felt so far away from those ‘old pals’ now, as if all that belonged in another world.

  ‘No,’ I said. Me and my ‘old pals’ hadn’t wanted to be different. I could see that now. We had all wanted to be the same. We had all wanted to be like Erin.

  Erin. I hated her more at that moment than I ever had before.

  ‘You’ve got them back anyway. You’re one of us now.’

  I was, and I was glad of it. But it wasn’t enough. Not by a long way.

  ‘It’s going to be the icing on the cake when Lauren gets that part tomorrow. I’m dying to see their faces!’

  The thought of the audition set Lauren off in moans and sighs once again. ‘What am I doing this for? I’m so nervous.’

  ‘You will get the part.’ I was sure of it. Mr Hammond was a fair man. He would give the part to the best singer, and that was Lauren. Anyway, he’d never had any time for the Lip Gloss Girls either.

  I lay in bed that night and I couldn’t get to sleep. Thinking over everything, thinking especially about Erin.

  Manipulative. The word repeated itself over and over in my head. That was Erin. Manipulating me, manipulating us all. She’d made a fool of my mum, and I had let her. She’d made a fool of Heather that night at the wedding, and I had laughed too. Why had I never realised that before?

  My mobile rang at midnight. It was Lauren. ‘I can’t sleep, Hannah. I’m dead nervous. What am I doing this for? They’ll all laugh at me.’

  ‘Because you want to,’ I told her. ‘And because you’re good. It’ll be a laugh. And I’ll be there with you.’

  After I’d spoken to her I snuggled down under the duvet. I was filled with a warm feeling of friendship for Lauren. Who would ever have thought that? I’d once thought she was hard and tough and common. And here she was, phoning me because she was nervous about an audition for a school musical. Had she phoned any of the others? I hoped she hadn’t. I wanted to be Lauren’s friend. Anyway, I didn’t think she had. It was me she’d turned to. I was nervous too. She just had to get that part. It would bug Rose so much if she did.

  It had been a good night. One of those nights you imagine you’re going to remember for the rest of your life.

  But where had Wizzie been? Was she annoyed because Lauren was going in for the school musical? Annoyed at me? Was she moving away from us towards one of those other gangs? The Black Widows?

  It was as I was drifting off to sleep that I realised there was something else. Something kept repeating itself in my head. Something that I was sure was significant. Something about Wizzie.

  Everyone’s got secrets, Wizzie had said that first night we went to the Mall … and I wondered, what was Wizzie’s secret?

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  The auditions were to take place after school. No one knew that Lauren was going in for the part of Sandy. No one would ever expect one of us to even consider such a thing. It had to be a complete surprise to everyone. I had decided that we were going to make an entrance. My mum had sorted out Lauren’s wardrobe for the audition and Lauren’s mum had fixed the clothes so they were just right for her. After school we headed for the girls’ toilets to change. Lauren and I went into one of the cubicles while the others waited outside.

  Wizzie stood guard at the door, to stop anyone else from coming in.

  ‘Better use the toilets on the bottom floor,’ she told a couple of girls who tried to get in. ‘Sonya’s got a bad case of diarrhoea in here.’

  Sonya almost screeched. ‘What did you tell them that for? Why me?’

  Wizzie only shrugged. ‘Had to tell them something, didn’t I? Nobody’ll want into this lavvy now.’

  In the cubicle, I brushed and brushed at Lauren’s hair, just the way Mum had shown me. I pulled it back into a ponytail and held it with a ribbon. I had brought wipes and by the time I’d finished, Lauren’s face was shining, and so was her hair. Lauren was really pretty, I thought, and once she put on the soft pink skirt and the blouse my mum had supplied her with I was really amazed at the change in her. She
stepped out of the cubicle like a model at a fashion show.

  ‘Tara!’

  It wasn’t just me who gasped. Grace almost swallowed her chewing gum. Sonya shrieked. Wizzie drew in her breath.

  ‘What do you think?’ Lauren said. She saw all their astonished faces. ‘Do you think I look daft?’

  Sonya suddenly burst out laughing. ‘You were born to wear a ponytail.’

  ‘You look just like her in the film,’ Grace said.

  I laughed. ‘She means Olivia Newton Mearns.’

  Grace giggled. We all did. The only one who wasn’t laughing was Wizzie. She was leaning on the wall, watching Lauren sullenly.

  ‘What’s wrong with your face?’ I asked her.

  ‘She definitely looks like one of the Lip Gloss Girls now.’

  I could see what she meant. Lauren did. The fierceness had come from that wild hair of hers, and her crazy clothes. This was a different Lauren. She looked sweet and innocent. She had the fresh face of a cherub, scrubbed and rosy cheeked.

  ‘Weird what a change of hair can do, or clothes,’ Sonya said.

  ‘Or a good wash,’ I added, and Lauren gave me a push that sent me flying.

  ‘I’m sure I can remember having a bath once,’ she said.

  Wizzie might not have liked it, but she was a mate. She linked her arm in Lauren’s and we marched along the corridor together towards the auditorium, striding it out, with Lauren in the middle of us.

  ‘I hope you know we haven’t a hope,’ Wizzie said. ‘Everybody hates us.’ Then she grinned. ‘Who says we’ll trash the place if she doesn’t get the part?’

  What an entrance we made. Wizzie pushed through the double doors, making such a clatter I was sure the doors were coming off their hinges.

  I walked after her, with Grace and Sonya. We left Lauren to glide in behind us, like a queen. Everyone turned to look. I clocked them. There was big Anil, folded over a seat – probably didn’t even have to audition, big show-off. Zak Riley was there too. Surely he didn’t expect a part? But the ones my eyes searched out – the only ones I was interested in – were Erin and co. They were right at the front, no surprise there, and Erin got to her feet to watch us. She stood rigid, the way she always did when she was spoiling for a fight. The rest stood up too and turned to look at us.