Page 82 of Our Secrets and Lies

‘Yeah, he is, very cool. Right, I’d better go up to Shannon. See you later, Ollie.’

‘See you, Kelly, and I hope you make a friend soon.’

‘Me too, Ollie.’

Shannon leant into the mirror and plucked an eyebrow. ‘Ouch. God, boys are lucky they don’t haveto do this. Mindyou, Kevin O’Loughlin should pluck – he has a full-on monobrow. He looks like that one, the painter, Fioda Kaloo.’

‘Frida Kahlo,’ Kelly said, laughing.

‘Whatever. How are Melissa and all the witches of St Jude’s?’

Kelly raised her thumb to bite her nail, but the big plaster stopped her. She hadn’t realized how much she was biting it until the skin had started to bleed yesterday.It was completely raw. She pulled her jumper down to hide it. ‘Same. Horrible, nasty, bitchy WhatsApp messages all day long, constantly making comments and putting me down.’

Shannon cursed as she plucked another hair. ‘How do you stand it?’

Kelly shrugged. ‘I don’t have a choice. I can’t let Mum and Dylan down. It’s his dream to train under Jordan. I have to stay and stick it out.’

‘Yeah, butit’s your life too. Does Lucy know you’re being bullied? I think you need to tell her. Seriously, Kelly, it’s not right that you have to suffer.’

‘No.’ Kelly’s voice was firm. ‘I don’t want her to know. The happiest I’ve ever seen her is when we got into that school. She knows I don’t exactly love it there. She took me shopping last weekend and bought me a cool parka. She said she’s really proudof me for getting such a good report. She’s had a tough time and sacrificed a lot for us so I don’t want to let her down. Anyway, it’s only four weeks to the Christmas holidays. I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve found a new place to hide at lunchtime so at least I’m left alone then. And I have Sean.’

Shannon blasted her head with hairspray. ‘He is pretty fab. It’s so stupid that you have to lie aboutseeing him, though.’

‘Jenny tried talking to Mum, but she said the fact that Sean’s brother went to prison just freaks her out. She thinks Sean will lead me down a path to drugs and doom. It’s easierfor everyone if Mum doesn’t know. Sean is the best thing in my life. He’s just …’ Kelly trailed off. She didn’t want to admit how crazy she was about him. Being with Sean was keeping her sane. Meetinghim after school, even though it was only for ten minutes sometimes, was the highlight of her day. When he put his arms around her and kissed her, she felt happy and safe. He was her sanctuary from all the bullying. She was nuts about him.

Shannon grinned. ‘Ooh, Kelly’s in love! But you need to do something about that Melissa one. If I could get my hands on her, I swear I’d kill her. You needto stand up to her more.’

‘I’ve tried, Shannon. I’ve told her she’s a rotten cow, but she has two best mates who literally follow her everywhere. I can’t fight them all. Besides, I’m afraid to get into trouble because it might affect the scholarship.’

‘Feckin’ scholarship, it’s the worst thing ever. They shouldn’t be allowed. No one should ever get a scholarship. People should be left aloneto go to the school they want and hang out with normal people and have friends they grew up with and not be forced to go to some la-di-dah place full of bitches. It’s not right. We should start a campaign – Stop Scholarships Ruining Kids’ Lives.’

Shannon applied eyeliner to her left eye. ‘I’m telling you, we could get rid of them so other kids don’t have to suffer. You could be the spokespersonfor the group and go on radio and TV and tell everyone how crap scholarships are. You could send out loads of tweets and get everyone to follow you.’

Kelly took her hair out of its ponytail and shook it out. ‘You’re mad, Shannon.’

‘Look at Donald Trump. He’s a thick eejit and he won the election by tweeting and getting loads of people to follow him. Sure he can’t even spell.’

‘You’d think he’dhave someone to check his spelling.’

‘I heard he has people to, like, polish his shoes and taste his food in case it’s poisoned, and staff to hairspray his big boofy hair and all, so you’d think they’d get someone to check his spelling.’

‘Well, he can’t ask his wife to check cos her English sounds crap.’ Kelly giggled. ‘Do you think she has sex with him?’

‘Who?’ Shannon said. ‘Melanie or Melianaor whatever her name is?’

‘Yeah.’

‘No way.’ Shannon was adamant.

‘But they have a kid.’

‘Yeah, but he’s, like, eleven or something and I’d say she just did it the one time. Sure Trump is only shocking-looking. Imagine that big fat tangerine yoke lying on top of you.’

They both cracked up laughing.

‘He’d crush her to death. Sure she’s tiny.’

‘I suppose the money helps her put up with him.She’s from some mad country that no one’s heard of and now she’s married to the president of America,’ Shannon said.

---