In Ecstasy Read Online Free Page B

was so angry with myself. I felt like I’d knifed my own mother in the back.
    â€˜Your bra,’ I said. ‘I don’t want it.’
    â€˜Oh,’ Kylie said, opening the bag and looking at it. ‘I thought you did. I thought it fitted you really well. You said it was so much nicer than the ones your—’
    I cut her off. ‘Shut up. Don’t you dare talk about my mother.’
    Her face went bright red and she looked at me, shocked. ‘I just thought, after what you said—’
    I jumped up and pointed my finger at her. ‘Don’t,’ I said. ‘I told you to shut up.’
    And then I ran to the bedroom Jordie and I shared when we stayed over. I didn’t want to hear the mean things she was going to say about my mum, about her awful taste in clothes, and how she tried to dress me like a little girl. I didn’t want to hear her repeat the things that I’d told her when we’d laughed, like friends, about my mother.
    Now Dad came on the phone.
    â€˜Hi honey,’ he said. ‘Tell your mum to bring you over in an hour or so. I’m just ducking up the shops. Choc chip or caramel?’
    When I hear my dad’s voice like that it makes me realise how much I miss him. I knew he was going to be disappointed, but he’d left so he could ‘have a life’—it was only fair I should have one too.
    â€˜I can’t come this weekend, Dad,’ I said. ‘I’ve got a party to go to.’
    He was silent. Don’t be pissed off with me, I thought. This is your fault anyway. ‘It’s a huge one, I can’t miss it,’ I said to break the silence.
    â€˜But it’s our weekend.’ He sounded hurt.
    â€˜I know, sorry. But Dad, this is like the event of the year. You wouldn’t want your daughter to be the biggest loser of the century, would you?’
    â€˜As if you could,’ he said. ‘When will I see you?’
    â€˜I’ll come next weekend. I’m sure Mum won’t mind,’ I said quickly. ‘I’ll get her to call you.’
    When Mum got home after dropping Jordie off, I heard her rattling around in the kitchen. She was slamming cupboard doors and ferociously wiping the bench tops.
    â€˜What’s up?’ I asked her as I came out of the bathroom with my hair in a towel.
    â€˜Your bloody father wasn’t even there,’ she muttered, grabbing the phone. ‘He knows I don’t like leaving Jordie on his own with her.’
    For the first time Mum was expressing how she felt about Kylie. I guess she knew I was jumping camps, and finally she had an ally.
    â€˜Maybe you should phone him later,’ I suggested. In this mood Mum was walking straight into a massive fight.
    â€˜I can handle your father,’ she said, waving me away. And I didn’t know if that was meant to be ironic.
    I didn’t have to eavesdrop to hear her conversation. I reckon the neighbours three doors down heard it too. She berated him for not being there and then moved onto me. ‘No Matt, you can’t force her. She’s nearly sixteen. She’s entitled to her own social life.’
    There was a pause, for a second. ‘Well, whose fault is that? If you’d cared about spending time with her four years ago you wouldn’t have left her for that slut.’
    She screamed the last word and slammed the phone down against the kitchen bench. It’s the fourth handset we’ve had in as many years. I never heard Mum and Dad fight so much when they were together. It seems like a lifetime ago we were this happy family, the four of us, doing family stuff together. And then it ended. In one afternoon Dad announced he was in love with another woman and walked out the door.
    From the first day they tried to hide their animosity from me and Jordie but they must think we’re stupid. Every phone call, drop-off and pick-up has been tainted by their obvious hostility. She makes nasty