CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Somehow, I forced my legs to move. My heels clacked loudly on the parquet flooring announcing my arrival.
They both turned towards me and froze. My heart lurched as I saw the horror on both of their faces.
I hesitated, my legs feeling like jelly.
Then I was pitching forwards into darkness . . .
*****
I came to, feeling disorientated, to find Ada and Skye crouched anxiously beside me.
‘We should call an ambulance,’ Skye was saying.
‘She’s awake. Blossom? Are you okay?’
I struggled to a seating position, as the memory of what they were saying came flooding back. ‘What were you talking about?’ I gasped, pulling my arm away from Ada and glaring up at them both. ‘You were fighting about my dad and whether you should tell me. Weren’t you?’
Their eyes slid away from mine. Skye got to her feet. ‘I’ll get her a glass of water. Is there a doctor here?’
‘There is, actually. My friend Alice. Perhaps she could come and check her over?’
‘So you’re just going to ignore my questions, then?’ I could feel a tide of anger rising inside me and I slapped Ada’s hand away. ‘I can get up myself. And I’m perfectly fine. No need for a doctor.’
‘Are you sure?’ Ada looked white as a sheet as she stared at me, and Skye didn’t look much better. ‘What can we do?’
I gave a bitter snort. ‘Well, you can stop lying to me and tell me the truth for starters!’
Skye threw Ada a look filled with... what? Anger? Despair? Dislike? Every last drop of colour had faded from her cheeks and I could see she was trembling. She wanted Ada to tell me but Ada had turned away stubbornly. Without another word, Skye turned and hurried from the room.
‘Oh, that’s great!’ I shouted after her. ‘Run away and hide from me. Just like you’ve always done. Both of you.’
I turned and glared at Ada, who was leaning against the window-frame, staring out.
Marching after Skye, determined to pin her down, I was just in time to see her disappearing into the toilets. Not that this was going to stop me.
She was standing at one of the mirrors, gripping the sides of the basin, her head bowed, and her posture stopped me in my tracks. She looked as if she was going to be sick.
Looking up, our eyes met in the mirror and for all her carefully applied makeup, she seemed like a ghost to me, her face pale and transparent, all her vibrancy gone. And it occurred to me then that keeping Ada’s secret had taken its toll on her.
‘So are you going to tell me, then?’ I whispered.
The silence stretched on as we stared at each other. At last, Skye looked away. ‘It’s not my secret to tell. You’ll have to ask Ada.’
‘But surely you must know the agony I’m in, not knowing? Can’t you just tell me?’ I shook my head in despair. ‘I can’t believe I’m the only one who doesn’t know who my father is! Does Rori know?’
Skye shook her head. ‘Absolutely not.’
I snorted. ‘You know, I can believe that. Because Rori wouldn’t be so heartless. If she knew, she’d tell me. I know she would. Because she would understand what it feels like, something that you clearly don’t. Or maybe you do and you’re just so cold-hearted, you really couldn’t give a shit about how I’m feeling in all of this... deceived on such a grand scale by the very people who are supposed to love me!’
Skye swallowed and dipped her head to the basin. ‘You don’t understand,’ she muttered. ‘Bloody right. I don’t. So why can’t you enlighten me?’
She didn’t reply and I knew she wasn’t going to. She just turned and looked at me with tears in her eyes for a moment. Then she walked out.
*****
I couldn’t stay at the party after that, and Ada seemed to understand. She pulled some chairs together and sat me down and told me to put my feet up while she went for a glass of water. She said she’d tell everyone I wasn’t well and had to go home, and for that at least I was grateful.
She wasn’t far off the truth. I was feeling sick and exhausted, and I just wanted to be away from there. I didn’t want to face everyone, though, so I stayed where I was, and by the time Ada came to say the transport had arrived and we went outside, everyone had gone, including Skye.
As I got into the taxi, Ada held the door, leaning in and grasping my hand, as if she was appealing for my understanding.
But I pulled my hand away, shut the door and ignored her as we drove away.
When I got back to the flat, Skye and Saul were nowhere to be seen. And I was glad. I knew she’d just refuse to answer my questions, anyway.
The one person I needed to talk to was Billy. But I couldn’t call him, even though he’d left text messages for me, wanting to know if I was all right. I knew that if I phoned him, Jenna would be there earwigging our conversation and trying to get in between us.
I gritted my teeth. What on earth did he see in her? She was awful! Then I checked myself. I didn’t like Jenna much, but she made Billy happy so I should like her for his sake, shouldn’t I? And for the sake of our friendship. But for some reason, I was finding that really hard.
Was I jealous of Jenna?
The idea popped into my head, but a second later I laughed it off.
Of course I wasn’t jealous! Billy was a good friend and that was all. I’d never once seen him in a romantic light and I knew I never would.
It was puzzling, though, how much I couldn’t stand Jenna. I usually tried to see the best in people, even if I didn’t particularly like them, and logically, I knew that if I looked hard enough, I’d see that she had her good points. She thought Billy was amazing, and that was a big tick in her favour. But there was something about Jenna that really set my teeth on edge.
I couldn’t bring myself to destroy that cracked brown teapot at Smash-’Em-Up. And yet every time I saw Jenna cosying seductively up to Billy and whispering in his ear, I had this scary urge to physically prise them apart and knock her stupid lights out!
It was because I was worried about Billy. That was all.
I had an awful feeling Jenna was just using him, and that once she got bored with him, she’d be off, leaving poor Billy broken-hearted...