Gaudete Read Online Free Page B

need to worry. Then, with a smile, he sent them back outside. “Make sure you keep warm enough. I don’t want any sore throats next week.”
    They bundled out again, laughing, and Callum went with them, shaking his head in amazement. If he’d gone charging into the staffroom with a daft question like that, it would have been another angry phone call to his mum. Posh schools were weird.
    When they got back outside, the igloo building had turned into a snow fight, with the half-built walls now forts. They hurled themselves into the fray and had pretty much scraped every bit of snow off the grass before they were all called back inside for more cocoa and biscuits. It was then Callum remembered something Jonah had said the day before, and he demanded, “Why don’t you have a house in England?”
    The others had all wandered off, so it was just him and Jonah stuffed into a corner of the refectory (which was what they all called the lunch hall, and Callum was starting to think they were just weird for the fun of it). Jonah put his mug down and looked sad and serious for the first time all day. “My parents don’t live in England.”
    “But you do?”
    “In term time, yeah. Mummy’s in Singapore, and Dad and my stepmum are in Dubai.”
    “But they come and visit, right?”
    Jonah shrugged and didn’t meet Callum’s eyes. “We spend the summer together. Usually in a hotel somewhere.”
    Callum narrowed his eyes. He might be a bit hyper sometimes, but that didn’t mean he was stupid. “What about Christmas?”
    Jonah looked uncomfortable again. “Well, I have to be here for most of the Christmas and Easter holidays, which makes them too short to be worthwhile, so I stay with my Auntie Carrie in Oxford.”
    It took a heroic effort, but Callum managed not to say anything, though he had to bite his tongue to stop himself, which hurt. “Ow.”
    “Are you okay?” Jonah asked hurriedly, his eyes getting that worried look.
    “Bit myself,” Callum admitted, and took a hearty swig of hot chocolate to wash away the pain. “So, what’s up now?”
    The whole conversation niggled at him for the rest of the day, though, right up until he got home that evening. Sitting at the kitchen table, kicking the chair legs to help himself think, he poured it all out to Mum and Leanne. His sister, proving to his surprise that she was probably only 90 percent a monster, was almost as indignant as he was. Mum, who’d had another long chat with Dr. Andrewson that evening, sighed a little and said, “Every family has its own little ways, Callum. You mustn’t judge them.”
    “He doesn’t get to see his parents at Christmas,” Callum repeated furiously. “Can we adopt him?”
    “He might fit in the spare room,” Leanne suggested, which was a sacrifice, because she’d taken over all the wardrobes in there months ago.
    Mum laughed at them both. “No, my loves, but Callum here can be a good friend, can’t you?” She shook her head and added softly, “No wonder he’s such a solemn little thing.”
    “What’s solemn mean?” Callum asked.
    “Serious.”
    “He’s not! He laughed all day today!”
    Mum smiled at that and scooped him up to give him a tight sideways hug. “You’re a good boy, Callum James, and don’t let anyone tell you different.”
    He made a face but hugged her back this time. They were broke, and Dad hardly ever came home, and he had to put up with Leanne, but on reflection, he’d pick his family over Jonah’s any day.

2013
     
    J ONAH ’ S GOOD mood lasted all afternoon, that warm sense of certainty lodging in his chest to warm him through. It made him want to sing, and he kept having to catch himself as the music slipped out of him and he began to sing as he worked.
    The third time he stopped and apologized, Janice laughed at him. “Sing away. There’s no one else here to distract, and at least you’re coming up with something more tuneful than that rubbish my daughters listen to. Had a nice lunch,