Secrets at St Jude's: New Girl Read Online Free Page B

line of questioning would be. ‘I guess . . . my mom was at this school and she wanted me to come here too, for a little while ,’ she added with emphasis.
    Unfortunately this comment seemed to spark more interest than she’d expected.
    ‘Your mum was here?’ Niffy chipped in. ‘Your mother is a St Jude’s old girl?’
    ‘Yeah.’ Gina wasn’t sure why this was quite so interesting.
    ‘My mum was here too,’ said Niffy. ‘How old is 29
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    yours? Maybe they knew each other! That would be freaky.’
    ‘Your mum came here all the way from California?’
    Amy sounded surprised.
    ‘She’s English,’ Gina explained. ‘Well . . . and half German.’
    ‘She’s German?’ Amy asked in such a scornful way that it made Gina flush with annoyance.
    ‘My mom’s forty-four.’ Gina looked at Niffy and pretended not to have heard Amy.
    ‘Mine’s forty-three. They must have known each other because the school was much smaller then. Was your mum a boarder?’
    Gina nodded.
    ‘What’s her name?’ Niffy asked
    ‘Lorelei Winkelmann,’ Gina said grudgingly, hating the idea that there might be some sort of connection between her and this weird girl.
    ‘Lorelei Winkelmann! Yes, I’ve seen her!’ Niffy exclaimed. ‘Definitely! In one of Mum’s old school photos. You don’t forget a name like that. Plus she looked really out of place: crazy bleached blonde hair and masses of eyeliner. That’s her, isn’t it? Stuck out like a sore thumb and was obviously way too cool for school.’
    30
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    Now Gina was relieved. Niffy didn’t know anything about her or her mother. She was totally wrong, and Gina was going to enjoy telling her so. ‘No way,’ she said. ‘Not my mom. No way.’
    Gina thought of the school photos she’d seen of her mother, all mouse-brown hair and plaits. ‘She was your regular straight-A student,’ she added. ‘She’s real clever and I bet she was real boring at school.’
    But Niffy looked back at her defiantly and asked,
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Of course I’m sure! She’s my mom, isn’t she!’
    ‘Well, there must be loads of things I don’t know about my mother,’ Niffy said. ‘I think we’ll have to do a search of the Banshee office archives one day – find out more about the intriguing Ms Winkelmann.’
    ‘ The Banshee? ’ Gina had to ask, although she felt slightly outraged that this girl could look up her mother.
    ‘Banshee Bannerman, our headmistress. Banshee: a wailing Irish fairy, harbinger of doom. Don’t worry –
    you’ll catch up.’ Niffy was unfolding her long legs, but her interest in Gina did not seem to be waning. ‘So your mum now lives in California – doing . . . ?’
    ‘Computer stuff,’ Gina filled in.
    ‘Cool. And she’s decided to inflict St Jude’s on you, 31
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    maybe so you can get some idea of what she went through.’
    ‘Maybe.’ Gina was not going to offer any further explanation about her home life to this irritating stranger. ‘I’m only going to be here a term,’ she reminded them all, certain in her mind that this was true. She’d do nothing but work and work. Get the grades and be out of here – maybe even by half term.
    ‘So, to recap on the Daffodil dorm Easter holiday experience,’ Niffy began, a grin spreading across her face, ‘Min went home to Durban, wore her sari and her hair long . . .’ This brought a laugh from Min, who was now in jeans and sweatshirt, plaiting her hair together.
    ‘She ate fantastic curries twice a day,’ Niffy continued, ‘and listened to lectures from her doctor dad about how great it is to be a doctor and what a great doctor she’d make.’
    ‘And doctor mum,’ Min chipped in, rolling her eyes.
    ‘Plus I babysat. I did a lot of babysitting. I have four little brothers and sisters,’ she added for Gina’s