Read Megan 3 for Free Online

wide-eyed. ‘He’s only a friend. He just came in for a cold drink.’
    ‘Is that what you call it? Only a
friend
!’ I said. ‘I should hate to see what you’d get up to if he was your boyfriend.’
    ‘Do leave off. You sound just like Mum.’
    I put Jack down on the floor in the hall and he immediately pulled himself up using the legs of the hall table, and began to make his way unsteadily into the kitchen, holding on to the walls.
    ‘Mum would go mad if she knew that boy had been in here,’ I said.
    Ellie just shrugged.
    I heard a faint squeak as a kitchen door was opened. Then came the noise Jack made when he was greeting the saucepans. I looked at Ellie closely. ‘You wouldn’t, would you?’
    ‘Wouldn’t what?’
    ‘Sleep with him.’
    She gave a short scream. ‘Of course I wouldn’t. D’you think I’m mad?’
    ‘Only …’
    ‘You don’t have to tell me anything,’ she said. ‘I’ve got no intention of sleeping with anyone yet. For years and years. Give me some credit!’
    ‘Yes, well, that’s what I said, and then things happened and everything got sidelined.’
    ‘Apart from anything else, I think two babies in this flat might be a bit too much,’ Ellie said.
    There was a crash from the kitchen and I ran in to see Jack sitting on the floor surrounded by two colanders and an assortment of saucepan lids.
    I looked round: the place was a mess. The worktops were covered in a sea of bottles, feeding cups, dishes, packets of this and that, things to be washed up and things washed but not put away. An enormous pile of washing was strewn in front of the machine and on the worktop sat a basket full of ironing. Mum had already had a fit about the state of things before she left for work and I’d said I’d tidy up, but I hadn’t had time to do anything before I’d left.
    ‘Look at this place!’ I wailed.
    ‘I’ve got to do my homework,’ Ellie said.
    ‘So have I.’ I looked round again. ‘Mum will go mad if she comes in and sees it like this.’
    Ellie shrugged. ‘What’s new? She’s always going mad.’ Sticking her Walkman in her ears she went into our bedroom. I leaned over Jack, put the kettle on for a cup of tea and then noticed that the milk hadn’t been put back in the fridge that morning. I sniffed it and realised it had gone off.
    Jack saw me looking at the milk and stretched his arm up, making a noise that meant he wanted some.
    ‘There isn’t any,’ I said, turning the kettle off. I sighed heavily.
Now
I’d have to go down to the corner shop and get some milk. Mum always liked a cup of tea as soon as she came in from work.
    I picked up Jack and took him in to Ellie, who was sprawled on her bed reading a magazine. ‘I thought you had homework to do.’
    ‘This
is
homework.’ She smiled at me sweetly. ‘We’ve got to write a short story.’
    ‘Look after him, can you? I’ve got to go down for milk.’
    Jack lurched towards her, trying to grab the magazine with sticky fingers, and Ellie pulled a face. ‘Do I have to? I can’t do anything if he’s around.’
    ‘Join the club,’ I said, shutting the door on themboth. I found a few coins in the bottom of my bag and went out. OK, maybe I wasn’t being fair to Ellie, dumping Jack on her, but (as Mum never tired of telling us) life wasn’t fair, was it? And she
was
his auntie. If I’d had to take him with me it would take ages just to get him and the buggy ready and the shop would probably be closed before we got there.
    As soon as I was down those stairs and out of the flats I felt better. I was in the world again, normal, free of everyone:
child free
. I could be me for ten whole minutes.
    I dawdled in the shop, spending a luxurious amount of time looking in the chill cabinet for the right sort of milk, then made the happy discovery that I had enough money left over for some sort of sweetie treat. I spent another few moments choosing chocolate buttons – normally I would whip past that counter in double-quick