The Ugly Stepsister (11 page)

Ellie set her status as offline and returned to the page she still had up of the swearing cockatoo.

“Hello? Elizabeth? Are you in there?”

Ellie unplugged the headphones and pressed play. She smiled as she listened to the cockatoo squawk. She made note of the time on the bar and took it back to there once it was finished. She paused it. Heather was silent outside. She played the squawking section again. Still quiet.

Was she gone or did she wait to see if Ellie would give herself away. She didn’t know. She plugged the headphones back in.

Ellie says: There’s a woman out the front of my house that wants to put me in a foster home. I’m trying to pretend I’m not here.

Miaow is cat for PLEASE says: Your life is never dull!

Ellie says: I want dull
:(


Miaow is cat for PLEASE says: lol. I’ve g2g now. That woman has ruined my night too. Had so much to tell you. And it’s not like I can talk about Sam in front of him
:D


Ellie says: Tell me one thing then.

Miaow is cat for PLEASE says: He turns seventeen in January! Won’t have to hassle his brother for a lift then and his parents will buy him a car.

Ellie says: Nice.

Miaow is cat for PLEASE says: Yep. But have to go now. Catch you at school tomorrow. And hop online earlier tomorrow night. Pleeeaaase.

Ellie says: Will do. Buh-bye.

Miaow is cat for PLEASE says: Bibi.

Ellie unplugged the headphones and played the cockatoo squawking. Just in case. She hadn’t heard any more knocks at the door, but that didn’t mean Heather wasn’t out there. Whatever happened to people working from nine to five? She didn’t think she knew a single person who did. She plugged the headphones back in and was about to slip them on when she heard a phone ringing. It wasn’t hers, but it reminded her to set hers to silent.

“I know I’m late.”

Ellie grinned when she heard the annoyance in Heather’s voice.

“Look, I’ll be there in about an hour. Surely you can wait that long.”

Ellie wished she could hear the other end of the conversation.

“This one is different. I know I can’t save every kid, but I’m also not going to sit back and let another one die either. There’s not enough funding to catch each one before they slip through the cracks.”

Ellie glared at the covered window, wishing she could tell Heather that she was fine. That there was no need to worry about her.

“I can’t expect you to understand. You haven’t read all the reports I’ve read. You haven’t talked to her father and stepmother. Kids don’t always know that they don’t have to accept the situation they’re in. They feel obligated to stay. This kid can’t even cook for herself. I spoke to one of her teachers after talking to her father and she confirmed it.”

Ellie was torn between anger and amusement. Heather should mind her own business. So should her old Home Economics teacher. It had been years since the woman had been forced to teach her. You’d think she’d be over her near nervous breakdown by now.

“I don’t need to talk to anyone. There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s these kids that need help. If I’d only put in more hours, not thought things could be left until I had more time, then he’d still be alive. So don’t try and tell me that sixteen is old enough to look after yourself. He was a month off sixteen and that didn’t help him at all.”

Ellie rested her head in her hands. Great! She was stuck with some guilt ridden crusader. Why couldn’t she have gotten someone who wasn’t interested? She was fine. The only problem she currently had was Heather.

“Look, I have to go. I promised this one’s father that I’d ring him back and let him know she was okay. Maybe I can convince him to come and see her.”

Grinning, Ellie listened to the retreating footsteps. Heather would be a miracle worker if she could manage that. She slipped her headphones back on.

Ellie says: Sorry I took so long.

TW says: What’s going on? I’ve been sitting here worried.

Ellie says: Heather, the one who wants to put me in a foster home, was banging on my door. I accidentally made a noise just before she knocked. Had a swearing cockatoo that I’d been listening to. Someone sent me the link to it on Youtube. I’ll send it to you. I played that to make her think it was only an animal she heard.

TW says: Nice save. She fall for it?

Ellie says: I don’t know. I guess.

TW says: lol.

Ellie says: I wish she’d just leave me alone.

TW says: Why not stay at your father’s for the couple of weeks your mum will be in hospital?

Ellie says: How much attention have you been paying to what goes on in my life?

TW says: Surely he’d take you in an emergency.

Ellie says: Do you still believe in Santa and the Easter bunny too?

TW says: Ha ha.

Ellie says: 1st problem- will miss out on too much school.

Ellie says: 2nd problem- he’d jump at the foster home option.

TW says: Would that be so bad?

Ellie says: YES! I’ve heard of kids going in temporarily and being a foster kid until they were old enough to leave home.

TW says: That wouldn’t always happen. Besides, I’ve met foster kids that liked their foster home. And you’re sixteen, leaving home wouldn’t be that long away.

Ellie says: Not if Heather had anything to say about it. She thinks I’m completely incompetent so I’m not risking it. Can we drop the subject?

TW says: Do you have a list of subjects I’m allowed to discuss?

TW says: You still there? I’m sorry. Forget my last comment. Please.

Ellie says: Only if you do some heavy duty grovelling tomorrow.

TW says: Do I get to use my own style of grovelling?

Ellie says: Hmm. Maybe.

TW says: I promise you’ll enjoy it
:D


Ellie says: Deal.

Ellie yawned as she walked along the corridor to her mum’s hospital room. It had been nearly one before she’d finished chatting to Tom. She wondered if he felt as tired as she did. Although he probably felt worse since he’d been up hours before her so he could go to the pool. After a long and boring day at school she wanted to curl up somewhere and sleep. Instead she was stuck making a delivery to her mum. She turned a corner and then quickly jumped back, pressing herself against the wall.

Heather was standing near her mum’s door. At least Heather faced the other direction and hadn’t seen her. She swore under her breath, wondering what to do. No way could she go another round with Heather. It was like trying to run through a field full of landmines. She sent a text to Tom
. Need help. Guard at the door. Need you to make the delivery.

She headed back to the ground floor as she waited for Tom to reply.
Back in five.
She grinned when she read his text. She was beginning to think he could always be counted on. Which was a nice change. When she stepped outside he waited for her in his car. She hopped in and told him about Heather while he found a park in the multistorey car park.

Tom shook his head as he put the bottles of alcohol in his schoolbag. “Why do I suddenly feel like I’m in a movie about prohibition?”

Ellie grinned. “Make sure you get that moonshine through. No stopping for anything.”

“I think this will cancel out the grovelling I was meant to do.”

Ellie pouted. “But I was looking forward to it. You sure you don’t want to show me, as a teaching exercise? Just in case I need the skill sometime in the future?”

Tom reached out and, with his hand at the back of her head, pulled her close to him. His lips met hers, deepening the kiss before he ended it. “Wait here for me.”

Ellie nodded. She wasn’t going anywhere near the hospital while Heather was prowling around inside. She wasn’t crazy. Well, not that crazy anyway. She looked out the window and watched cars slowly drive past as they searched for a spot to park. Pulling out her phone, she checked the time. Then she tried to get more comfortable.

A sigh escaped and she now wished Sam hadn’t wanted to be dropped home. Sitting by herself was boring her senseless. She checked the time again. Why did it move so slowly when you wanted it to go fast? Another car crept along, the backseat filled with blue balloons. Her foot tapped impatiently and she looked at the ignition. He had the keys with him. She should have asked him to leave the stereo on.

Anything would have been better than being left alone with her thoughts. She kept thinking back to when she was five-years-old and two strangers had entered their house, taking her away. Her father had been away at a conference and a busybody neighbour had rung the police because she was still playing outside late at night, with no supervision. It had taken her father two months to sort everything out and she hadn’t seen her family once in all that time. She never ever wanted to go through that again.

Sleeping in a stranger’s house, not knowing what to expect. Worrying about her mum. That had been the hardest part. Not knowing if her mum was okay. Knowing that there’d be no one there to look after her and worried she’d never see her again.

By the time Tom returned to the car, Ellie had been about to go and look for him. “What took you so long?”

Tom slid into the driver’s seat and pulled the door shut. “Pounce on me why don’t you?” He slung his bag onto the backseat.

“Don’t keep me in suspense.”

Tom started the car and reversed out. “Good thing you warned me about the cockatoo. She was trying to grill your mum about pets. I said you were looking after a friend’s cockatoo while they were away on a camp.”

“Good save.”

“Your lies must be contagious.”

“Yeah right. I bet you tell them better than me. Did you give Mum her bottles?”

“That’s what took me so long. I had to play twenty questions with Heather before she’d leave. I wasn’t going to make the delivery while she was watching.”

“What did she ask you?”

“Did I know you? Had I seen you? Did I know where you were staying or how she could get in touch with you?” Tom shook his head. “That woman fired questions faster than Sam kills the enemy on his games.”

“Thanks for doing that for me.”

“Your mum said she’s finally ready to grade my tests but she’s not telling me the results.”

Ellie grinned. “That means she likes you.”

“Or she doesn’t want to chase away the delivery boy.

Ellie laughed. “Nope. She likes you.”

“So where am I taking you now?”

“Home.”

“Sure you don’t want to go somewhere.”

Ellie hesitated, then shook her head. “Nah. I’ve got an assignment due on Friday and I haven’t even started it.”

“Need any help?”

“Do you think I’d get much work done?”

Tom grinned. “Maybe.”

Ellie snorted. “Yeah, right. Not a single chance.”

Friday night Ellie huddled at the head of her bed, her arms wrapped around her legs that were drawn up so her chin rested on her knees. She flinched when there was more pounding on the front door.

“Come on, Sharon! Come out! Where are you, babe?” The shouted words were slurred and accompanied by echoes from other people.

“Sharon!”

“Where you at, girl?”

“Are we playing hide and seek?”

There was the sound of glass smashing and someone swore. “Sharon!”

Ellie rocked back and forth as she tried to block out the sounds. She’d been listening to people turning up since six. With each hour that passed they seemed to be getting drunker. Some of them were the same people, but mostly it was different ones. She’d thought about pinning a note on the door to say parties were cancelled till next year due to a hospital stay, but each time she’d thought it was safe, someone else had turned up. It was now half past ten and the flow of people seemed to be increasing rather than dropping off like she’d hoped.

Her mobile phone beeped and she reached out to check who had sent her a message. It was from Tom.
Where are you? I’ve been online for ages.

Ellie closed her eyes. She’d forgotten her promise to chat with him online at eight. He was supposed to be getting an early night as he had a swim meet tomorrow. She forced herself to move over to the laptop and turn it on. She jumped when there was a bang against the front door. It sounded like something had been thrown against it. It was probably a good thing the neighbours were accustomed to noisy parties every weekend. Otherwise they might have called the police and Heather didn’t need any more ammunition in her campaign to take over her life.

Ellie pulled her legs up under herself as she sat in front of the laptop. As soon as she was online she signed into her messenger as offline. She clicked on Tom’s name.

Ellie says: Sorry.

TW says: What’s up?

Ellie says: Nothing. Didn’t mean to forget.

TW says: Why do I feel like you’re lying to me?

Ellie says: Do you think I deliberately forgot?

TW says: No. And you know perfectly well what I meant. Should I come over there?

Ellie says: No.

TW says: Because…

Ellie says: You need to get some sleep.

TW says: How can I sleep if I’m worried about you?

Ellie says: There’s nothing to worry about.

TW says: Liar.

Ellie says: Did you poke your tongue out when you said that?

Ellie’s phone rang and she quickly picked it up. She frowned when she saw it was Tom. She sighed when she looked at her laptop screen.

TW says: Answer the phone!

TW says: What are you trying to hide?

She didn’t have much choice other than to answer. “What?” She kept her voice low, but would have been surprised if anyone heard her with the amount of noise they were making outside.

“What the hell is going on in the background? Are you having a party there?”

“Not likely. I’d planned to have an early night. Someone’s been keeping me up every night this week chatting online. Pretty sad when all I want to do on a Friday night is sleep.”

“What’s going on, Ellie?”

She sighed. She couldn’t blame the television considering he knew she was aiming for total silence and no lights visible. She was just glad Heather had stopped trying to catch her at home.

“Ellie?”

“Mum’s drinking mates have been turning up all evening looking for the party that’s normally here.” She jumped when there was another crash at the front door.

“What was that?”

“Hopefully not a battering ram.”

“That’s it, I’m coming to get you.”

“No. I’m fine. Honest. Come on, Tom, you’ve got to get an early start tomorrow.”

“Pack a bag. You’re staying the weekend.” He hung up.

Ellie swore and turned to her laptop.

Ellie says: Don’t you dare come over here.

TW says: Not listening.

Ellie says: I’m not packing.

TW says: Then I’ll drag you out of there in what you’re wearing and you can live in it all weekend.

Ellie says: TOM!

TW says: Do you think I’m going to be able to sleep knowing you’re putting up with that racket? What happens if they break the door down?

Ellie says: I’m locked in my room.

TW says: Too bad. I’ll be there ASAP.

Ellie says: Please Tom. I’m fine.

TW says: I’ll knock on your front door until you answer it.

Ellie says: Tom!

She glared at her screen when he logged out. Closing her laptop down, she put it in her overnight bag. Next she grabbed a handful of clothes, stuffed them in, slung her handbag over her shoulder and grabbed her schoolbag, just in case. She let herself out of her room and locked it again. She froze as the front door shuddered. The party was definitely on and it seemed like it was going to happen in the front yard and on the verandah if they weren’t going to be invited in. That was as long as the front door held.

Ellie moved the curtain slightly and looked outside. She recognised some of the faces. She tensed when her eyes fell on a group of three men. Her eyes were drawn to one man in particular. Not good. She didn’t want Tom here. She didn’t even want to be here. Especially now she knew who was about. As much as she was glad Tom was coming to get her, she didn’t want to constantly have him rescuing her. She knew she didn’t need someone to rescue her every other day. Well, normally she didn’t. Life was just completely screwed up lately. More so than usual.

When Tom pulled up in front of the house, Ellie unlocked the front door before he was even out of the car. There was no way she wanted him walking through the crowd on her front lawn. Before the door was barely open, people started pouring inside. Someone turned on the light. Ellie sighed. There was no way she was going to get them out of the house. She pushed her way through the door and into the yard.

“Well, if it isn’t little Elizabeth.”

Ellie tensed. “Scott. Been a while.” She tried to walk past him but he grabbed her by the arm. Ellie glanced nervously at Tom who strode angrily towards them. Could things get any worse?

“Where you been hiding, Elizabeth?”

Ellie shrugged. “Oh, you know. Here and there. Life gets busy. Did you know Mum’s in hospital? I bet she’d love to have a visit from you.”

Tom reached her side. “Is there a problem here, Ellie?” He took her bags.

Ellie shook her head. “If you want to put my stuff in the car I’ll be with you in a minute.” She stared at him, willing him to do what she asked. She could deal with this on her own. She didn’t need to be rescued.

He nodded abruptly and strode back to his car. Ellie turned to Scott who still held her arm tight. She forced herself to smile. “Like I said, life gets busy. I’ll leave you to it. Got places to go.”

“That your boyfriend, little Elizabeth?”

“Yeah.”

“And here I thought you liked them a lot older.” Scott smirked.

She nearly groaned when she saw Tom headed back towards her once he’d put her gear in his car. She smiled sweetly. “There’s something to be said for youth, Scott. They can at least manage to do the deed when they try.” She pushed hard against his chest with her free hand and pulled away from him when he stumbled. She spun and raced towards Tom, grabbing his hand as she reached him. “Get in the car and get me out of here,” she hissed.

They drove off to shouts from Scott and a beer bottle thrown after them. It smashed on the road. Ellie faced forward and closed her eyes for a second as she tried to push the scene with Scott from her mind. It was impossible. She buckled up.

“What was going on, Ellie? Who were you talking to?”

“Just someone I don’t get along with.”

“Try again, Ellie.”

“What do you want from me? To spill my guts about every little thing that has ever happened to me?” When he didn’t answer, she yelled, “Well?”

Tom slowed the vehicle and pulled over onto the side of the road. He turned off the ignition and faced her. “Who was he?”

“I’m tired and I want to go to sleep.”

“Elizabeth-”

“Don’t ever call me that,” she snarled. “Ever!”

“Ellie-”

“Do you understand? Never!” She pulled away from him when he reached for her.

Tom dropped his hands. “That man-”

“Scott. The bastard’s name is Scott.”

“Did Scott ever… ” Tom looked away and swore.

“Having trouble asking? Is that because you don’t want to know the answer?”

“I want to know.”

“He never raped me. But not for lack of trying. He has a few drinks and thinks he’s god’s gift to women regardless of their age and believes no really means yes.”

“How did you… that is…”

Ellie laughed bitterly. “Nice to see you at a loss for words for a change. It’s usually your brother.”

“Ellie-”

“I made avoiding him a talent. He’s only ever there on weekends. And I’m never home then.”

“You were today.”

Ellie shrugged. “That was a mistake. I thought they’d get the message if there were no lights on. Seems like most of them are too thick to realise the party was cancelled.”

“I guess it’s no longer cancelled. You left the front door open.”

“I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could kick them out. There’s nothing worth stealing. The TV is on the way out, the sofa probably should have gone to the tip years ago and not a single piece of cutlery or crockery matches. I locked my room. Hopefully that’ll keep them out. But just in case, I brought my schoolbag and laptop.”

“You shouldn’t have to-”

Ellie pressed her fingers to Tom’s lips. “Stop right there. This is my choice. Remember? It’s the price I pay to run my own life. And I’ve been running it since I was thirteen. I’m not about to give that up.” Not to mention someone had to look out for her mum. There was no one else to do it. But she doubted Tom would accept that reason.

Tom pulled her fingers away from his lips and linked his through them. “You’re crazy.”

Ellie tried to grin. “Lisbeth crazy?”

“Nah. Maybe Lizzie crazy though.” He pulled her close, pressing her head against his chest. “You’ll stay at my place every weekend.”

“What about when you have swim meets?”

“Sam will be there. He only goes along to them if I beg him.”

Ellie pulled back so she could meet his eyes. “Is this the same person who threatened to call the police if I didn’t leave.” She couldn’t resist smiling.

“That was because Frankie’s bride was at my place. I don’t mind having you about.” His lips met hers and the conversation was forgotten. He eventually pulled back slightly. “Ready to go? Or are we going to sit on the side of the road all night?”

Ellie laughed softly. “These bucket seats are killing me. Probably time to go. Beside’s you’ve got an early start tomorrow.”

“Do you want to come too?”

“Ahh… well, who’s going with you?”

“Mum.”

“No.” The word burst from her.

Tom laughed. “Chicken.”

“Oh definitely. Your mum scares the hell out of me.”

Tom shook his head. “You’ll stand up to a complete bastard like Scott yet you shake at the thought of spending a day in my mother’s company.”

“Yep.”

“And you call my brother odd.”

“Shh. That’s a state secret. No one but you and Lauren knows I’m odd.”

“Good thing I get along with odd people then.”

Ellie smiled, reaching out to rest her hand on Tom’s thigh. “Yeah, good thing.”