Page 84 of Our Secrets and Lies

But whenever Shannon gave out about it to her mum, Sarah said that Lucy had been on the road to a huge career and would have been seriously successful, but then the guy left her, broke Lucy’s heart and crushed her dreams.

Shannon felt for her, it was a crap thing to happen, but surely seventeen years later Lucy should be over it and Kelly shouldn’t still have to be doing everything to be theperfect child to make up for her dad being a loser. Why couldn’t Lucy go to therapy or take Xanax, chill the hell out and stop putting so much pressure on Kelly? She thought the whole thing was way too unfair. Mind you, it did make her really thankful for her great dad. Although Darren could be embarrassing at times, he was a brilliant dad and Shannon knew how much he loved her.

All through herchildhood Darren had told Shannon she was his princess, he was proud of her, she was gorgeous and funny, and any boy would be lucky to have her. He was a terrific hugger too. Shannon knew Darren adored her and that he’d do anything for her. It made her feel all warm inside. She felt bad for Kelly that she had never had that.

Shannon put more eyeshadow on. ‘Thank God I have you, Kelly. You’rethe sister I’ll never have.’

‘Me too. Brothers are great, but there’s a lot you can’t talk to them about.’

Shannon snorted. ‘I can’t talk to Ollie about anything. He’s deranged.’

‘Dylan’s good usually, but since he met Taylor he’s just been out with her all the time. I’m worried – he’s drinking and sneaking out at night. Mum said he played badly last week. I know it’s because he got home reallylate. I had to let him in. If Mum finds out, she’ll absolutely freak. If he plays badly and gets dropped from the team, he could lose the scholarship and Mum will die. Literally. You know how much she adores Dylan and how perfect she thinks he is.’

Shannon turned away from the mirror. ‘For the love of Jesus, Kelly, will you stop worrying about everyone and obsessing about losing that bloody scholarship?Dylan is allowed to have a good time and you’re allowed to defend yourself from bullies. From what I can see, this scholarship is ruining everyone’s life.’

Kelly looked out of the window into the garden, where Ollie was digging a huge hole in the middle of the grass. The scholarship did feel like a noose around her neck, but her mum was so happy and proud. She had to make sure that neither shenor Dylan ruined it. They owed this to Lucy. She’d stick out St Jude’s for her mother’s sake, but she wasn’t giving up Sean. No way.

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