Star Reporter (12 page)

I am starting to wonder if my mother IS secretly a witch. Firstly, she conjured up a mug of hot chocolate exactly when I needed one and then she cast some kind of magic spell on me because not only did I sleep for the whole night without waking up once, but her prediction that everything would seem clearer in the morning was right too. At the very least, she has been watching too much Derren Brown and did some weird hypnotism thing on me.

I lay in bed for ages, thinking things through. There is no getting away from the fact that I vommed on Nathan's feet, and Shenice and Hannah think I totally ruined their lives, and the rest of the school thinks I pretended to wash my hair in a frying pan. What I need is a way to put everything back to how it was a month ago but, short of getting my hands on a time machine, I can't see what I can do to turn the clock back. It would be easier to start my life again under an assumed name.

When I did go downstairs, Mum wasn't impressed by my plan.

“Changing schools isn't the answer,” she said firmly, as she changed Ethel's nappy. “You'd be better off facing up to whatever the issue is. Can Liam help you sort it out?”

I stared at her, bouncing Joshua on my knee and wondering how to break it to her that her first born wasn't in the running for Big Brother of the Year.

“Not unless he's discovered the secret of time travel,” I said.

“Here,” she said, handing me Ethel's used nappy in a little peach-coloured sack. Wrinkling my nose, I wrapped my arms around Joshua and tied a knot in the bag. They don't tell you about the pure evilness that comes out of babies' bottoms when you learn about reproduction at school. If they did, the human race would be doomed.

Mum sat back and looked at me. “I think it's about time you told me what's been going on, don't you?”

And just like that, I did.

When I'd finished, she pressed her lips together the way she does when she's trying not to explode. Nervously, I eyed Ethel gurgling merrily in her arms – surely she couldn't lose it with a baby on her lap?

“Are you really angry?” I ventured, after a while.

Her eyes flashed. “Not with you. I'm angry with this Kelly girl for being a nasty piece of work. I'm angry that the school aren't aware that it's happening.” She let out a long, slow breath. “And I'm angry with Liam – he should have told someone what was going on.”

And that's when my heart started thudding so fast that I thought I might have a heart attack. “Don't have a go at Liam,” I begged, picturing what he'd do to me if he got into trouble over this. “He hates it just as much as I do, especially since WOLF BRETHREN was on JOJ so much.”

Mum shook her head. “That's the problem, Cassie. He's old enough to know what to do in situations like this. Bullying is bullying.”

“He's going to kill me,” I said in a dull voice. “I won't need to change schools. I'll already be dead.”

“Don't be silly, of course he won't. And you're not going to change schools,” Mum said briskly. “Deep down, I think you already know what you have to do.”

The really depressing thing was, she was right. I was the one who'd worked out that Kelly was masterminding JUICE ON JUDE'S, which meant I was the one who'd have to report her, even if it did mean owning up to my part in the whole mess. Bleakly, I nodded. “I'll speak to Mr Bearman on Monday.”

“Good girl,” she said, patting my knee. “You know it makes sense.”

She got up and carried Ethel into the kitchen, leaving me reeling in unhappy silence.

“Learn from my mistakes,” I whispered into Joshua's fuzzy head. “Never trust Mum with anything.”

Seriously, I'm not sure I even know what just happened. One minute we were discussing the possibility of changing schools and the next I was spilling my guts.

I'm telling you, Derren Brown could learn a lot from her.

E-PETITION Number of signatures: 1458

It is done. First thing this morning, I went to see Mr Bearman and even though I felt like the biggest grass in the history of grasses (and I don't mean the wavy, green stuff), I told him everything.

He listened without saying much, then thanked me for telling him and asked me to leave it with him. I overheard someone say that ten minutes after I spoke to Mr Bearman, the entire press gang except me was sitting outside the Headteacher's office and then he and Mrs Pitt-Rivers called them in one by one to do Good Cop, Bad Cop with them. Apparently Mel, Kieran and Toby were sent back to class pretty quickly, because it became totally obvious they weren't involved. The rest of them were sitting on the seats of shame for most of the morning. Meggie Defoe swears she heard screaming when she was monitoring the late book but I think she made that bit up. Anyway, their parents have been called into school, the website has vanished and someone said that Kelly might go to court but I think that's probably an exaggeration.

The other thing is that HEY JUDE'S! has been closed until further notice, which I'm kind of sad about as I never actually got anything published. Then again, I didn't even finish my Year Seven Outward Bound article so maybe I'm not cut out for journalism after all – I'm fairly sure it shouldn't be as hard as I found it. And I paid a pretty high price for my time in the press gang – Shenice still isn't talking to me and I avoided looking at Nathan in registration. I suppose he knows who the real Juicers are by now but I'm too embarrassed to talk to him – I did vom on his shoes, after all. The news of my innocence will reach him eventually, I guess.

Call me stupid but after speaking to Mr Bearman, I didn't think about what Kelly might do afterwards. I was so relieved to get the weight of the website off my shoulders that for a blissful few hours I thought I might be able to put it all behind me. But when I saw Kelly waiting by the school gates at the end of the day, her two gum-snapping mates beside her, I knew I was in deep, deep trouble.

It was too late to run – she'd seen me. A cruel smile crossed her face as she nudged her friends. Frantically, I looked around for backup – Liam, Molly or even Nathan – but although I was surrounded by people, no one was meeting my eye and I knew I couldn't count on any of them for help. Most of them suspected I'd been involved in JUICE ON JUDE'S somehow and it was going to take time to set them straight. Quaking in my navy blue ballet pumps, I trudged towards the gate and prepared myself for the worst.

“Look who we have here,” Kelly sneered as I got closer. “It's Judas Bond.”

A wide circle cleared around me, as though everyone knew what was coming and no one wanted to be caught up in it. I started to wish I'd gone for the swapping schools option after all.

“I'm not scared of you, Kelly,” I called, and my voice only wobbled a little bit.

Kelly bared her teeth. “You should be. I got in a lot of trouble because of you.”

I drew level with her and screwed up as much courage as I could. If I had to go down, I'd go down fighting, or at least scratching.

“No, you got in a lot of trouble because you wrote horrible things about people who couldn't answer back,” I said, and all the misery of the last few days turned suddenly into furious rage. My hands balled into fists. “You're nothing but a coward, hiding behind a computer screen and thinking you're someone important because you know how to twist the truth. Well, here's some breaking news, Kelly – no one likes a big fat liar.”

Kelly's mouth dropped open in shock and a flicker of uncertainty crossed her face. I guessed she'd expected me to roll over and beg for mercy but I was way too angry for that.

We'd attracted a big audience now and they watched in uneasy silence as we squared up to each other.

Kelly stepped forward and stuck her face up close to mine. “It's three against one, Cassie,” she said, in a low, menacing tone. “We're going to make you pay.”

“Leave her alone!”

The shout rang out from the back of the crowd. I looked up to see Molly pushing her way through, her face twisted with anger. Shenice was right behind her, panting as though she'd just run the cross-country course. My heart leaped with happiness as they came to stand next to me, and we glared at Kelly together.

She looked them up and down and laughed. “I'm supposed to be scared of three Year Seven brats, am I?”

I couldn't help it – fear forced its way through the cracks in my bravado. They were Year Tens and much bigger than us.

I didn't even know Nathan was there until he joined us. “Make that four.”

The breath caught in my throat – did that mean he DIDN'T hate me after all?

Kelly let out a cruel-sounding cackle. “Oh, please. I can easily turn your life at St Jude's into a living hell, Cassidy. And none of your little friends can stop me.”

There was a rustling in the crowd and a voice called out, “How about a group of Year Tens, Kelly?”

Liam stepped forwards, the rest of WOLF BRETHREN behind him, and a wave of absolute relief washed over me. I couldn't wait to see Kelly try to stand up to THEM.

“Get lost, Liam. She's a dirty little sneak who needs to be taught a lesson,” Kelly spat.

Liam glanced at me briefly and I tried not to cringe – it looked like he'd have plenty to say to me later. But right now, he had my back. “Yeah, but the thing is, she's my dirty little sneak,” he said, standing protectively in front of me. “So if you want to teach her a lesson, you'll have to go through us first, okay?”

The mood of the crowd had shifted. WOLF BRETHREN were the closest thing St Jude's had to rock stars and they had a lot of fans. And now that Kelly had made it clear she wasn't PRINCESS PERFECT after all and I wasn't the one who'd been behind JOJ, the tide of opinion seemed to be turning my way. A long silence crackled as Kelly weighed up her options. Then she wheeled abruptly away.

“Losers!” she called over her shoulder.

The word broke the spell and everyone started to talk at once. As the crowd started to thin, Liam turned to me.

“I'll see you at home,” he growled, before I could thank him, and sloped off down the road.

Puffing out a shaky breath, I glanced at Molly and Shenice. “Thanks for trying to help.”

Molly smiled. “I thought we were dead. Until our knight in shining armour turned up.”

WHICH ONE? I wondered, turning to thank Nathan, but he'd vanished. And who was I trying to kid? Molly had meant Liam and this time, I couldn't argue.

“Nah, we had her running scared long before he showed up,” Shenice said, and we all laughed.

We ambled slowly down the road.

“Look, I'm sorry about your mum and Mr Ramirez,” I burst out. “It really wasn't me who told Kelly.”

Shenice's cheeks went a bit pink. “Yeah, I know. I found out this morning that Jimmy Nelson overheard me talking to you about it in the playground and told Kelly everything.” She squinted at me. “Sorry I accused you.”

I couldn't really blame her for putting two and two together and coming up with me – I'd have probably done exactly the same in her shoes. And the truth was, I had dropped Hannah in it – I owed her a huge apology. “It's okay. Does your mum know her secret is out?”

She nodded and looked even more embarrassed. “Yeah, that's the other thing. It turns out Mum ISN'T dating Mr Ramirez at all. She's booked this big surprise holiday to Spain for the summer and he's been giving her Spanish lessons.”

I stopped walking, my eyes wide. “Shut up! So he's not going to be your stepdad?”

Grinning, she shook her head. “Nope.”

Linking my arms through hers and Molly's, I let out a deep groan. “We're complete idiots, aren't we?”

“Speak for yourself,” Molly objected. Her gaze slid sideways. “Nice of Nathan to stand up for you. I think he feels bad for the way he treated you.”

Now that my problems with Kelly were out of the way, I had two bits of unfinished business. Making it up to Hannah was one, getting over my embarrassment with Nathan was the other.