Page 15 of The New Girl

‘I’m so sorry,’ Ruby said.

‘Me too,’ Denise said.

‘Me three,’ Clara said. ‘But you’re safe here. Ireland is a very peaceful country.’

‘Hopefully your dad will get here soon,’ Denise said.

‘I hope so. We’re still waiting for him to get his papers.’

‘I hope he gets them soon,’ Ruby said. She felt a bit sick looking at Safa’s sad face. Safa tried to smile but Ruby could see the memories of home and of her father hurt her. She decided to change the subject. ‘Orla has a big date today.’

‘With who?’ Denise asked.

‘Some guy called Conor Levy in St Gabriel’s school.’

‘OMG!’ Denise exclaimed. ‘He’s in my brother David’s class. He’s, like, a total football star. Apparently, every girl in town likes him.’

Ruby sighed. ‘Well she’s hyper about it. She got up at half six this morning to wash and curl her hair and put on her make-up and she made me do her fake tan last night.’

In fact, Orla had come down the stairs humming. Dad had looked shocked. ‘Is she sick?’ he asked Ruby.

‘No, she’s got a date.’

‘I knew something was going on – she’s never in a good mood!’

Orla came into the kitchen.

‘I hear you have a date,’ Dad said.

Orla spun around. ‘Ruby!’

‘What? He asked me why you were in a good mood.’

‘So who’s the lucky boy, then? Does he have any idea what he’s in for?’

‘Very funny, Dad. I’m not telling you his name because you’ll just start all that – “I think I know his dad, he used to play football with me,” or “I knew his mother’s cousin ... blah blah blah.”’

‘I’d like to know the name of the boy who is taking you out.’

‘He’s not taking me out, we’re just meeting up after school. Jeez, don’t make a big deal out of it.’

Dad picked up his glasses and peered at Orla. ‘If you don’t mind my saying, love, you’ve gone a bit overboard with the tan and the make-up. You look like you’ve rolled in mud and then stuck spiders on your eyelids.’

Orla glared at him. Ruby tried not to laugh.

‘Dad, you are the last person in the world I would take fashion advice from. Ever.’ Orla stormed out of the kitchen and went to put on even more make-up.

‘She looks ridiculous. I presume Mrs Oliver will go mad when she sees her arriving into school with all that muck on her face,’ Dad said.

‘I think she tries to stop them but all the older girls wear make-up now. They get notes from their parents saying they have to wear it because they have spots and the spots make them depressed and they need make-up to cover up.’

‘Are you serious?’ Dad was shocked.

‘Yep.’ Ruby shovelled a spoon of cornflakes into her mouth. ‘Orla told me.’

‘But she doesn’t have a letter, so I presume she’ll get told to take it off,’ Dad said.

Ruby filled her mouth with cornflakes, so she didn’t have to answer. She knew Orla had faked a letter from her parents saying she needed to wear make-up because of her spots, even though Orla barely had any spots. Mum and Dad were so taken up with Robbie that they didn’t really keep up with what was going on with Orla at all.

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