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door.
    ‘Mum!’ Josh shouts as we squeeze into the hallway and step over several pairs of trainers and wellies.
    ‘In the kitchen, darling!’
    The kitchen is light and cosy, the radio blaring and the smell of toast in the air. I expect Josh’s mum to be like a mum from TV – baking, Boden, Nigella-ish. I’m taken aback when I see a woman with bright pink hair in an Elvis quiff, wearing a leopard-print dress and purple high heels, dancing along with a hip-hop track on Radio 1.
    ‘Hiya, sweetie – I didn’t realise you had a friend with you,’ she greets us, not really looking, and then her face falls as she catches proper sight of me. ‘Oh my God, what happened?’
    In one swift move, she turns down the radio, puts the kettle on and puts her arm around me as she ushers me into one of their mismatched kitchen chairs.
    ‘Joshua, don’t just stand there – make a cup of tea for… Sorry, what’s your name, darling?’
    ‘Lexy,’ I say in a tiny voice.
    ‘OK, Lexy. I’m Josh’s mum; call me Tina. Lexy, what’s happened to you? It’s all right, just have a sit down.’
    ‘I… I don’t know. Someone grabbed me when I was walking back from school; I didn’t see who it was. But I was trying to tell Josh in the car just now, I think it might be something to do with these girls at school who’ve been kind of ganging up on me and my friends. It’s not that big a deal; I’ll be fine. Honestly.’
    ‘This is very serious; look at the state of you. You poor thing.’
    ‘Here,’ Josh says, putting vast mugs of tea down on the table. ‘That’s yours, Lex – I put two sugars in it. She’s not fine, Mum – this
is
serious. I was meant to be meeting Lexy in the park, and someone attacked her on her way there and they’ve obviously really beaten her up.’
    ‘Lexy, darling, I know you must be really shaken up, but I think we need to talk to your parents. Are they at home?’
    ‘No,’ I lie, feeling worse with every word I say. ‘My dad’s at work and my mum is probably out. In fact, she definitely is.’
    ‘Well, of course you can stay here until they get home – you can stay for dinner or whatever you’d like. But we really ought to talk to them. Perhaps I can give them a ring?’
    ‘No!’ I blurt out, and then try to tone down my visible panic. ‘They’re hardly ever around, to be honest. I don’t think they’ll be much help. It doesn’t matter. I’m fine.’
    ‘Sweetheart, I think you must be in shock; you’ve had a really nasty experience. This is not OK; you have been assaulted and you’re obviously hurt. Let’s get you cleaned up – finish your tea and we can go up to the bathroom. Then I really think we should talk about telling the police. Whoever did this, schoolgirls being attacked in alleyways on their way home from school is no small matter.’
    She sounds so sure, so comforting – so like a mum. I should do what she says. After all, it’s fate. Here I am at Josh’s house and he can’t just ignore me now. I want to stay here; I should just do as I’m told.
    I finish my tea and let Tina lead me upstairs while Josh stays in the living room with his brother. She’s so kind, I am starting to believe that everything she is saying about me is true. Poor me, I’ve had a terrible time and I should be looked after. I’m just relieved not to be going home.
    I relax into it as I let myself believe that I have no choice in what happens from now on. This is not my fault. I catch Josh looking at me as I walk up the stairs after his mum, and I knowthat everything is going to be all right.



CARINA™
    ISBN: 978 1 472 05475 3
    GEMINI FALLING
    Copyright © Eleanor Wood 2013
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