Read Diamonds Are a Teen's Best Friend for Free Online Page B

night! Way better than Dad’s develop-your-cellulite-while-you’re-young repertoire of lasagna, sausages and pork chops.)
    ‘It’s fine, really. It looked a lot worse than it was.’
    Silence. Except for on the other side of me where my dad cackles loudly. I look at Marc. ‘Holly must be bored out of her mind.’
    I’m expecting him to agree with me when he shakes his head and takes a mouthful of his lamb shank. ‘No,’ he says when he finishes chewing. ‘I don’t think so.’
    I pause. ‘How do you know?’
    ‘Er …’ Marc pauses as well, his fork halfway to his mouth.
    I can see I’ve caught him out. ‘What? What is it?’
    ‘Er, nothing.’ He takes another hasty mouthful.
    I wait for a moment before I decide I’ve had enough. Who does this guy think he is? One minute he’s sticking up for me, the next minute I’m no-one. ‘Look. You’ve been ignoring me all evening. You may as well tell me what you think. How do you know Holly isn’t bored?’
    Marc finally meets my eyes. ‘Fine. Okay. I know because she’d send me the signal if she was bored.’
    Now I really pause. ‘The signal?’
    Marc looks cagey. As if he shouldn’t be telling me this. ‘We have a “Save me” signal. You know, for the weirdos and the freaks who don’t look like weirdos and freaks initially. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Anyway, Holly can signal me and I’ll know to come and rescue her.’
    ‘Oh. So, what’s the signal?’
    Marc’s busy buttering another roll. ‘Well, I can’t tell you that. She might want to use it on you.’ He laughs slightly at this.
    Complete and utter silence follows his comment. Marc continues buttering until, mid-buttering stroke, he realises what he’s just said, freezes and looks over at me. ‘Sorry, Nessa, that was an awful thing to say. I didn’t mean …’
    I almost want to cry. I’d thought Holly and I had hadsuch a great time together earlier today. I thought I was her new best friend and now …
    ‘Nessa.’ Marc reaches out and touches my arm. ‘It was just a joke. Holly’s not going to use any signal on you, believe me. She was raving about you all afternoon.’
    I perk up a bit on hearing this. ‘Raving? About me?’
    Marc laughs. ‘Yes, you. She thinks you’re quite a character for a sixteen-year-old. That’s why I was coming to see the maitre d’. To see if he knew who you were. Holly wanted you on her table for dinner.’
    So that’s how … hang on. Holly Isles wanted me on her table? Me? My brain takes a while to register what Marc’s just said.
    ‘You don’t need to look so surprised.’
    ‘But I am surprised.’ Not including the fact that I’m surprised everyone’s buying the sixteen-year-old thing.
    ‘What? No-one’s ever wanted to sit with you before?’
    Now I laugh. ‘Maybe it’s happened once or twice in the school cafeteria, but it hasn’t happened with an Oscar-winning actress before, that’s for sure.’
    Marc shrugs. ‘That’s not all she is …’ And there’s that gruff tone again. I watch as he returns to his roll.
    ‘You’re pretty protective of her,’ I say slowly, watching him.
    Marc pauses, sizes me up and then nods. ‘Everyone around Holly’s protective of her. Sometimes I wonder who’s looking after whom, really. I guess we’re looking out for each other. And, look, I’m sorry if I seemed a bit into myself this afternoon, and just now, but you have to be careful. Holly’s very … trusting , I guess, is the word. She lets people into her life too easily sometimes, and certain types of people take advantage of that.’
    ‘Well, I’m not trying to.’
    He sighs. ‘I know. I know. It’s just hard to tell sometimes. And when it happens, you just get so angry. Like the maitre d’ this afternoon. I mean, he didn’t care that you’d hurt yourself. And he wouldn’t have cared if I had either, except that he knows I’m travelling with Holly Isles.’
    Now there’s a question I’ve been meaning to ask. I place my