My Sister Jodie (32 page)

I backed away and went to find Jodie. She was lying on her bed reading a magazine, flicking the pages every so often, seemingly absorbed. Her cheek was still bright pink from the slap. It contrasted oddly with her purple hair, making her look like a clown.

‘Oh, Jodie, I'm sorry she went for you,' I whispered.

Jodie shrugged. ‘So what else is new?'

‘It's so unfair. I
said
it was, I tried to explain, but she wouldn't listen,' I said miserably.

‘Don't look such a saddo. I was the one who got slapped, not you. And
I
don't care.'

‘Mum was going on about lesson time.'

‘Yeah, yeah, I heard. She was shrieking her head off.'

‘Won't you try a bit harder, just in the lessons you like?'

‘Shut up about it, Pearl,' said Jodie.

She said it nicely enough but I knew the subject was closed. I got into bed and started reading
Heidi
. It was a strange story about a little girl living with her scary grandfather up a mountain in Switzerland. It was good to escape all the worry of Melchester College and run bare-footed through the flowers with Heidi. I wasn't sure why Mrs Wilberforce had chosen it – until Heidi got carted back down the mountain to be a little companion for Clara, an invalid in a wheelchair.

I flicked through to the end of the book and found a picture of Clara standing upright, miraculously recovered after breathing in the fresh air of the mountainside. I could see why Mrs Wilberforce got so irritated by all the old storybooks.

Jodie was asleep now, her magazine tossed to one side. I put the light off and read several chapters by torchlight but I got worried when I reached the haunted house part. Jodie had made the ghost in the tower too real.

I put the book on the floor and went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and heard little whimpering sounds. I bit my lip, listening intently. I leaned up on my elbow, peering over at Jodie. She had the duvet over her head.

I slipped out of bed and pattered across to her. ‘Jodie?' I whispered.

She didn't answer.

I wriggled under her duvet and cuddled up to her. She was very hot and her face was wet with tears.

‘Oh, Jodie,' I said, cuddling her close.

She didn't say anything, just wept on my shoulder. I held her and stroked her while she sobbed a little more. Then she sniffed fiercely, wiping her face with the sheet.

‘I've got a tissue somewhere,' I said, mopping her.

‘Thanks, Pearl,' she whispered, her voice still all jerky with crying.

‘Are you crying because of Mum or the badger or Jed?'

‘I don't know,' said Jodie. ‘I just felt like crying, OK?'

‘But you hardly ever cry.'

‘Yeah, well, I see why. It just gives you a splitting headache. Let's curl up and go to sleep, Pearl. Sorry, I've got the pillow all wet. Do you want to go back to your bed?'

‘No, let me stay with you a bit.'

I stayed holding her in my arms until she went to sleep. I lay listening to the sound of her breathing. She was still a little wheezy from sobbing. I needed to go to the loo so I eased myself carefully out of her bed and crept to the bathroom.

As I tiptoed out of it again, my bare foot touched a little scratchy edge of paper caught between the bath and the mat. It was just a tiny scrap, part of an instruction sheet that had obviously been torn into shreds. But it still had two words clearly showing.

Pregnancy test.

I ASKED JODIE
outright the next morning.

‘Do you think you might be going to have a baby?'

‘What?' She stared at me as if I'd gone mad. ‘Of course not, idiot!'

‘I found this little bit of paper in the bathroom. I think it's from a pregnancy testing kit.'

‘Well it's nothing to do with me,' Jodie snapped.

I peered at her. I was never sure when Jodie was lying, she was so good at it.

‘I just thought maybe you and Jed . . .?'

‘You
have
to be joking!'

‘Well, you kissed him, you said you did.'

‘Oh, Pearl!' She took hold of me by the shoulders and gave me a little shake. ‘You are such a banana! You don't get a baby from
kissing
.'

‘I know that,' I persisted. ‘I was just scared you and Jed might have done more than kissing.'

‘Will you shut up about me and Jed! You're
getting boring. I don't want to talk about him any more. You're giving me a headache going on about him.'

‘You've got a headache because of all that crying in the night,' I said.

Jodie stuck her chin out at me. ‘What crying?' she said.

I gave up. There was no point persisting. I kept an eye on her for a while, peeping at her stomach, but it stayed as flat as always. I listened hard when she was in the bathroom. She was never sick. I realized it was a ridiculous idea. Of course she wasn't pregnant. No wonder she'd been cross with me.
Someone
had used a pregnancy test kit, but maybe it was a while ago, before we came to Melchester College. Or maybe it was Tiffany, slipping into our bathroom for privacy.
She
had a big stomach all right – and great big boobs and bum too.

We saw her sitting on the back wall with Jed. He was cupping her hand, lighting a cigarette for her. She was looking up into his eyes, laughing. Then they both saw us. We were in our school uniform. Mum had forced Jodie to scrape her hair back into plaits, as if an old-fashioned style could somehow counteract the purple.

‘Oh my Lord, what a sight!' said Tiffany, rolling her eyes.

She whispered something to Jed. He roared with laughter and then deliberately put his arm round her plump shoulders. Her black bra strap was showing beneath her tight sleeveless T-shirt. Jed fingered the strap. Jodie marched past, pretending not to notice.

‘I'm sorry, Jodie,' I said, when we were in the bedroom together.

‘What do you mean?' said Jodie angrily.

‘Well, Jed was being horrible, playing up to Tiffany. He doesn't really fancy her – any fool can see that. He was just doing it to annoy you,' I said.

‘As if I care,' said Jodie.

She stalked off. I tried to follow her but she yelled at me to leave her alone.

So I wandered off by myself and met up with Harley. We went for a little walk in the woods, though neither of us had the heart to try badger-watching. I told Harley I was worried about Jodie.

‘How's she doing in class now?' I asked.

Harley sighed. ‘She's weird. Sometimes she joins in and suggests stuff and she's fine, but other times she still messes around and takes the mickey out of everyone, especially Mr Michaels.'

‘And she hasn't made any friends?'

‘Well. She's got me, sort of. I sit next to her now, and I always get her to be my partner if we have to work in pairs, but she's not exactly thrilled about the situation. Whenever I say stuff, she starts yawning like I'm sending her to sleep. I sometimes see why all the others can't stick her.'

‘They're so mean to her.'

‘Yes, but she asks for it, she really does.' Harley took a deep breath. ‘Still, I'm not going to go on about it. I don't want to fall out with you again, Pearl.
We
're still friends, aren't we?'

‘Of course we are.'

‘Even though I didn't punch that prick Jed for killing our badger cub?'

‘What?'

‘I keep replaying it in my head. When Jed throws back his head and grins, I stride over and go
whambiff-bash
like a comic book. Jed's front teeth fall out and he grovels away from me, saying, “Don't hit me any more, Harley, I swear I'll never hurt another living creature ever'' – yeah, as if!'

‘I think
you
'd probably lose your front teeth if you tried to punch Jed,' I said gently.

‘I think you're probably right there. And I don't actually see the
point
of being violent, even to idiots like that. But there's still a bit of me that hankers after being Superhero Harley, this tall geeky kid who can suddenly swoop upwards and fell a hundred Jeds with one blow.'

‘Maybe your feet could grow big and you could just go splat and trample all the Jeds into the ground.'

‘Or my head could blow up like a giant balloon and I'd pucker my lips and spit on all the Jeds and drown them in the torrent.'

‘What about me? Can I be a comic-book hero too? I'll be Pearly Girly and I'll do the opposite. I'll shrink down down down until I'm like a tiny insect but I've got this big big
sting
. I fly through the air and sting Jed on the end of his nose so that he gets this big pus-filled spot, and every time any of that AnnaSophiaRebecca crowd say the slightest thing mean about Jodie I'll sting them too, right on the mouth so their lips swell up and they can't speak.'

‘Is this you then?' said Harley, fumbling for the notebook and pen in his pocket and drawing a weeny mosquito creature with little fangs and a ferocious expression.

‘Yes, yes, exactly! Now draw you.'

He drew a huge foot with a totally flattened Jed underneath. We sat at the side of the lane inventing a story as we went along, dividing the notebook into squares like a proper comic. It was great fun, and very distracting – but I still couldn't help worrying about Jodie. I didn't have any idea where she'd gone. I was sure she hadn't gone chasing after Jed. And yet I worried about her even more if she was moping in a corner somewhere, all by herself.

It was a huge relief to find her back in our bedroom looking much cheerier.

‘I took Old Shep for the longest walk. Frenchie was
so
pleased to see me. She said Shep's been really pining for me, not at all his usual self. As soon as he saw me, his ears went up and he absolutely
leaped
at me and licked me all over. So I took him for his run, and then when we got back, Frenchie made us baked beans on toast. She had a glass of red wine with hers and she gave
me
half a glass too.'

‘What was that?' said Mum, putting her head round our door.

It was obvious she was still furious with Jodie.

‘That Frenchie gave you
wine
? Is she mad?'

‘She says the French give their children small glasses of wine on a regular basis. She says it's a very civilized habit.'

‘Oh, she does, does she? You didn't act very civilized that time you went out with that awful Shanice and came home drunk. You were sick all down yourself. And it doesn't sound very civilized to me, drinking wine with
baked beans.
Why is she taking it on herself to feed you tinned muck
anyway? Doesn't she think I make a proper tea for you?'

‘If you could just hear yourself sometimes, Mum,' said Jodie. ‘Nag nag nag. I'm amazed Dad can stand it.'

‘You leave your father out of it.
He
's got no complaints!'

‘Well, I wish
you
'd stop complaining.'

‘I'm not the only one. That Frenchie might make a fuss of you, but she's not a proper teacher. I asked Mr Michaels if you're making more of an effort and he said . . .' Mum quivered, hardly able to get the words out. ‘He said that when he was trying to teach you algebra, you screwed up your paper and said you couldn't be bothered and that you thought it was a load of old rubbish. Did you
really
say that?'

‘Not in those
exact
words,' said Jodie. ‘I might have used one or two expletives too.'

‘How could you! I suppose you think you're clever! I'd have given anything to learn algebra and geometry and trigonometry and all that stuff. I was always good at sums and yet I was only ever taught the basics. When I was your age, my mum kept me home half the time to mind my little brothers. You've no idea how lucky you are!'

‘I think your record's got stuck, Mum,' said Jodie.

‘If I'd spoken to
my
mum like that, she'd have knocked me into the middle of next week,' said Mum.

‘Well you're a bit slap-happy yourself,' said Jodie. She held her head out at an angle. ‘Go on, have another slap now if it'll make you feel better.'

Mum raised her hand. I gasped. Mum looked at
me, looked back at Jodie, and then burst into tears. She ran out of the room sobbing. We heard her calling Dad.

‘Oh God,' said Jodie. ‘Now she's telling tales on me. Why can't she just leave me alone? You wait, Dad will lumber in here in a minute, all solemn, and he'll start, “Now, Jodie, I'm not having you upsetting your mother like this.''

There was a knock on our door. Dad came in, sighing, running his hands through his hair.

‘Now, Jodie. I'm not having you upsetting your mother like this,' he said.

Jodie rolled her eyes at me. I couldn't help giggling.