Strawberry Sisters Read Online Free Page A

are going to be solos and duets. I thought that you and me c—’
    ‘Amelia? Sorry, my mum’s calling. I’ll phone you at the weekend, OK?’
    And she hung up before I’d finished telling her my ideas about which solos we should try out for. I was a little bit hurt. Normally, Lauren is the one person who’s happy to listen to
me going on about singing and performing all day long. But she was ill and tired and her mum is one of those demanding mothers that expect you to actually pay attention to every tiny little thing
they say. We’d be able to have a proper talk about the concert when Lauren came back to school.
    ‘You walking home?’ Milly called across the hall to me.
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Come on then.’
    I struggled into my coat and we walked out through the gates with the last few stragglers from rehearsal.
    ‘It’s a shame Lauren wasn’t there,’ Milly said. ‘Do you think Mr Garcia will say she can’t be in the concert now she’s missed a rehearsal?’
    Milly’s my friend and I do like her, but she’s got this habit of saying really provocative things. She loves stirring up trouble.
    ‘Of course he won’t. It’s not her fault she’s ill.’
    ‘I suppose it’ll be all right if she comes back soon. She was off a lot last half-term, wasn’t she?’
    ‘Not really,’ I said, although now I thought about it Lauren had missed quite a few days. ‘She had to go to Scotland for her cousin’s wedding and then she had problems
with her brace.’
    Milly shrugged. ‘I thought she might be getting glandular fever again.’
    Lauren had glandular fever in the summer and she was off school for ages. I’d really missed her.
    ‘You don’t get it twice,’ I said, even though I wasn’t sure if that was true. ‘Did you see Mr Garcia’s face when that little Year Seven scraped his chair back
when he was in the middle of explaining the harmonies?’ I added, trying to change the subject.
    I kept the conversation away from Lauren until it was time for us to go our separate ways. I watched Milly’s back for a moment. I really hoped Lauren would get well quickly. I wanted her
back at school so we could moan about teachers and enjoy the concert rehearsals together, like we always do.

I was walking down the corridor to chemistry on Monday morning when Chloe grabbed my arm.
    ‘What is it?’ I asked. She was pink in the face and out of breath.
    ‘It’s Thunder. He went to those youth squad trials on Saturday and they’ve picked him for the team.’
    I wasn’t especially concerned about getting to chemistry on time so I stopped and pulled her to one side of the fast-moving flow of students.
    She was scowling; I wondered if she’d pulled that face when Thunder told her.
    ‘Did you congratulate him?’ I asked.
    ‘It’s completely not fair. He’s not even as good as me at rugby. Would you congratulate someone that got a singing part that you knew you’d be much better at?’
    She had me there. ‘No. But everybody knows that you’re a nicer person than I am so people expect more from you.’
    ‘Well, I don’t feel very nice at the moment.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Clo, but it’s not Thunder’s fault that they won’t let you on the squad. It’s not worth falling out over.’ I suddenly felt like Mum when I
said that. ‘Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be somewhere?’
    ‘Aren’t
you
supposed to be somewhere?’
    ‘Yep, chemistry. Can’t you see I’m rushing to get there?’ I mimed an ultra-slow walk.
    Chloe turned in the opposite direction and shuffled forward with tiny steps. ‘I’m off to French. Running all the way.’
    I laughed and Chloe managed a snort.
    ‘I’m not happy though,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘Not happy at all.’
    Which worried me a bit because Chloe is usually always happy.
    Mum had a staff meeting that night so, by the time she’d picked up Lucy from her After School Club and brought her home, I had almost finished making spaghetti bolognese
for our tea.
    Mum