Page 9 of Ask Another Day

Holly laughed. ‘Thanks, Mum,’ and with a playful glare in her dad’s direction she added, ‘Not necessary, Dad.’

With a small ream of paper in hand, Holly took the stairs two at a time to get back up to her room. Muffled giggles had resumed from the office, and Holly wanted to get as far away from her parents as she could.

‘Got some pa–’ the words died on her lips as she saw Sloane riffling through her desk.

Sloane stilled, and took a few seconds before she turned to face Holly.

‘Just looking for a pen,’ she threw her explanation out, taunting Holly with the ridiculous excuse. Holly’s pens were strewn across the carpet that Sloane would have stepped over to reach Holly’s desk. As her mind processed the lie and what it could mean, she made a decision. It would have been easy to call her out, to scoff at the blatant fabrication. But the fallout would be too much. Holly didn’t want an argument today. Arguments, with anyone other than her older brother, sapped her happiness and she avoided them at all costs. Instead, Holly chased joy with every fibre of her being. As she took in Sloane’s tight stare, any ember of fight in her shrivelled back, not wanting to be drawn out. Whatever was going on between her and Sloane would pass. And then she’d have her friend back. So she nodded.

‘I just caught my parents in their Sonny and Cher outfits for later,’ Holly distracted them both from Sloane’s lie with her own confession.

‘Urgh. They are so embarrassing.’

Holly laughed along, but it hurt her to do so. Each forced laugh was a little stab in her chest. It was a betrayal to her beautiful parents. When she’d called them weird, minutes earlier, it had been said with love, in the way only a child can say to their parents, when not actually meaning it. When what she actually meant was, God I love you, don’t ever change. Sloane, however, meant it.

‘Are you coming to the karaoke tonight?’ Holly asked to steer the conversation away.

‘That would be a no. Who wants to sit in a pub and listen to bad singers murder songs all night? I’ve rented The Departed. Oh you could join us if you want?’

‘Us?’

‘Yeah. Didn’t I tell you? Seb is home for the weekend too. When he heard I was coming back, he tagged along. Something about wanting to see Dylan.’

‘Danny.’

‘What?’

‘Danny. Seb’s brother is called Danny.’

‘Oh, you knew who I meant.’ Sloane dismissed Holly’s correction with a flick of her wrist.

‘How is Seb doing?’ she asked, trying to sound aloof, but obviously failed if the gleam in Sloane’s eyes were anything to go by.

‘Oh you’re not still crushing on him are you?’ When Holly didn’t reply, Sloane laughed. ‘Oh God, you are? Holly, he is so out of your league. You should see the girls who are into him at Uni.’

Tears stung at the apex of Holly’s nose at Sloane’s cruel words, but she willed them away. She told herself Sloane’s mocking tone was rooted in something else, and she was just on the receiving end. But no matter how firmly she told herself that, those taunting words cut deep.

She chose to ignore the jab about Seb, instead replying, ‘I’ll pass on the film, I read the reviews and it sounds a bit intense for me.’

Without allowing Sloane an opening to say anything else disparaging, she added, ‘And anyway, it’ll be busy in the pub tonight, so I’ll probably have to help out anyway.’

‘Suit yourself.’ And with that, she peeled away from Holly’s desk and made her way out of the room. ‘See you later,’ she called from the doorway without looking back.

Now alone, Holly looked through her desk to try and work out what Sloane had been looking for. And then it struck her. She always kept her diary in that drawer. Just this last week though, she’d spilt hot chocolate on it and had ruined it - not only were the pages stained, but stuck together. Right now, it was somewhere in the depths of the Spital Bridge Recycling Centre. Holly breathed a little easier in the knowledge Sloane wasn’t in possession of her diary. She’d been brought to tears when throwing it away - but if the alternative was Sloane reading it, she was much happier with it being where it was. The pages weren’t only filled with her feelings for Seb, she used the blank page to work through her insecurities about her friendship with Sloane and her disappointment with her failed A-Levels. With Sloane behaving how she was right now, if she had read Holly’s words, she didn’t think she’d recover from how they’d be used against her. A shudder ran down her neck at the near miss.

*

Elton John, Mariah Carey, and someone who could have been Robbie Williams stood outside The Smuggler’s Inn, smoking, as Holly settled herself at the door waiting to collect the £2 entrance fee. She had called her parents weird earlier, but honestly, she loved that they and everyone else dressed up for the monthly karaoke night. Tonight, Holly had transformed herself into Avril Lavigne - complete with fishnet tights, a tartan skirt, white t-shirt, and her converse high tops. She hadn’t had to do anything with her hair; her long blonde locks were perfect for the look. But although she looked the part, she was freezing. Her dad had offered her his Del Boy style sheepskin coat, and even though it would have kept her warm, it would have ruined her look. So she’d refused; happy instead to suffer for her fashion choices. With each bite of the chilly February wind though, she was reevaluating that decision.

‘Shall we go and say hi to Holly?’ Seb’s warm voice reached Holly before she saw him, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose in anticipation of seeing him. He was pushing Danny’s wheelchair up the sloping path towards her, bending his head to speak directly into his brother’s ear.

‘Danny, my favourite Walker brother,’ she said, smiling at him as he turned his face towards her voice.

Seb laughed at her words, but the sound spluttered out as he took her in.

‘Holly,’ he gulped, ‘that’s some outfit you’re wearing.’

‘Not every day you get to wear fishnets - you have to make the most of all the opportunities.’