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maybe it was a birthday present from his folks. I don’t know, and I don’t care. I simply want one myself. Super cool was walking up our drive with our folded paper in his hand. When he reached our front door, he smiled suddenly behind his designer shades, puzzling me.
    As I leaned over the banisters at the top of the stairs in my rock print top and blue stripe shorts that I sometimes wear to bed, their voices drifted up. What were they saying? They were secret whispers, confusing me. What did it all mean? Who were they? I didn’t know them, did I? I tried to understand this alien language but couldn’t make sense of it. Then I heard Wendy giggling. I suddenly understood. I smiled wickedly.
    I wore an amused look on my face as I sat on the stairs watching Wendy snogging our paperboy in her little pink nightie. She was wearing bed socks too. I remained puzzled. How long had this doorstep romance been going on? I didn’t know anything about it. It was news to me. Although I knew she fancied the paperboy, I was surprised that it had reached this stage. This was more than just fancying. She had kept this little secret from me, and I was suddenly a little annoyed with her for keeping it from me because we normally shared everything including secrets. We weren’t just good friends; we were sisters too. The doorstep snog lasted awhile before they both came up for air.
    Wendy was closing the front door. She was startled when she turned around because I was standing right behind her with a knowing smirk on my face. I’d caught her snogging the paperboy in her nightie on our doorstep. I winced when she grabbed my arm and yanked me into the kitchen.
    I sat in a chair in the kitchen rubbing my bruised arm. Wendy stood over me darkly with her arms folded. Although I was in trouble, I wasn’t bothered. I had a hold over my big sister. I knew her sordid secret. I considered briefly blackmailing her into buying me the Electro Scoot MK2 for my birthday till I remembered that she had only 350 euros in savings. On the other hand, it was enough for the deposit. Yes, I thought brightly, she’d be my slave. She’d have no choice in the matter because I knew her dirty, little secret. HAHA!
    She was suddenly worried. “You won’t tell mum, will you, Jade?”
    “I’m not a grass, Wendy.” I felt a little hurt by her suggestion. “How long have you and…Super cool been an item?” I tried not to giggle, though I wanted to.
    “We’re not.”
    I was confused. “You’re not?”
    She fidgeted nervously. “It’s-It’s a doorstep sort of thing, Jade.”
    “You haven’t dated?”
    “No.”
    I rose from the chair and put my arm around Wendy reassuringly. I sensed that she needed it. Doorstep sort of thing? Oh, dear…
    “Wendy,” I began earnestly, squeezing her shoulder, “your little secret is safe with me.”
    “What secret would that be?” asked mum as she entered the kitchen at that moment.
    “Wendy’s marrying our paperboy, Mum,” I announced cheerfully.
    Mum shook her head amused as she looked in the fridge. Then I felt Wendy’s elbow in my ribs.
    It was before class. Wendy had gone upstairs, taking history, and I was alone reading the school notice board in the lobby, looking for something interesting to do after class. I needed something more than class to stimulate my mind sometimes. The usual stuff was there: School trips, nature rambles, music classes, yoga, volunteers wanted etc. etc. Then I found it hidden in the corner by a notice for railway modellers. The notice had been written on a computer.
    I read it curiously:
    Group Discussion
    Parallel Universes
    Fact or Science Fiction?
    See Mr Whitehouse, Room 100B, for more details
    I smiled.
    I smelled him behind me. It was a horrid mixture of stale tobacco and sweat that mingled with cheap scent filling my delicate nostrils.
    “Hi, Jade,” said Kevin Willis.
    “Kev,” I sighed, trying not to vomit.
    I started to walk away, hoping he’d vanish into a