Page 129 of Good Sisters

‘How do we fix this?’ Julie asked. ‘I’ll do anything.’

‘Liam needs to play that semi-final. He’s a hero,’ Gavin added.

‘Jess is the priority, not some bloody rugby match.’ Jesus, did Gavin not understand this was Jess’s reputation on the line? That photo would follow her around for the rest of her life.

Louise sat forward, her face in business mode. ‘We do not want to go to the police because you will have no control once they get involved, and who knows what could happen? If we send a legal letter to Victoria about the photo, she’ll just come back saying Jess consented to it. It’ll be his word against hers. You do not want to get dragged into a legal battle. If we approach the coach and the headmaster, it will be the same kind of thing: Sebastian will deny he said anything and claim that the photo was consensual. Jess will have to come in and say they weren’t and it will be pretty humiliating for her. Let me talk to a few colleagues – completely confidentially – and see what their advice is. We need to be very careful with how we approach it. But, don’t worry, I’ll have a plan in place by tomorrow lunchtime and we’ll talk it through. I’ve got you, Sophie. We’ll resolve this mess and protect Jess.’

‘Thank you, Louise. At least one of my sisters is going to protect my daughter.’

‘Sophie, I’m sorry. Iwastrying to protect Jess.’ Julie’s voice shook.

‘Really? Well, you did a pretty shitty job of it,’ I hissed.

I couldn’t bear another second of this, or of Julie’s face and voice. I got up, grabbed my bag, turned on my heel and stormed out.

I stood outside Jess’s bedroom door, trying to get my thoughts straight. Thank God Jack was at the cinema with Robert. I couldn’t handle them right now. I needed to clear my head and talk to Jess. I needed the truth, the whole sordid, unvarnished truth, from my daughter.

It was important that I remained calm. Even though my siblings had saidpoor Jesswasn’t to blame, I did blame her. I blamed her for getting drunk. I blamed her for going out with such a dickhead. I blamed her for going into a bedroom with him and taking her top off and …

I closed my eyes, took four long breaths, and opened the door. As usual, she was sprawled on her bed, face in her phone.

‘OMG, can you knock? I could have been naked in here.’

Speaking of naked, I wanted to shout, you don’t seem to have a problem with it.

Another deep breath. ‘Put down your phone. We need to have a serious chat.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, God, here we go … You need to study more, Jess, you need to do better in your exams, Jess, blah blah blah. I’ve heard it all before, Mum.’

I sat down on the edge of her bed and gripped the duvet. Stay calm.

‘Hang up.’

‘Fine. Talk to you later, Suzie.’ Turning to me, scowling. ‘What?’

‘Actually, Jess, this isn’t about school. This is about something a lot more serious. This is about … this is about Sebastian.’

‘Oh, my God, I know you don’t like him. I told you it’s over. We barely speak any more. Let it go.’

I looked at my naïve almost-sixteen-year-old. She was so beautiful and so sure she knew everything there was to know, yet she was completely clueless as to how cruel boys could be. I was about to shatter her illusions.

‘Okay, Jess, there’s no way to sugar-coat this so I’m just going to tell you what Sebastian is doing and saying.’ I paused, then gave it to her straight. ‘He has been showing a topless photo of you in the locker room at Castle Academy.’

Jess frowned. I could see her trying to take in the information. She shook her head as if to rid herself of what she’d just heard. ‘I … What are you talking about?’

I gritted my teeth. ‘Apparently, the night I left you at Julie’s rugby party, you got drunk, went into Tom’s room with Sebastian, took your top off and allowed him to take a photo of you. He is now showing that photo in the rugby dressing room.’

Jess gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. ‘No. No way.’

‘Yes way.’

‘But he said … he said …’

‘What? That it was just for him? That it was private? And you believed him?’

‘Yes, and I didn’t want him to take the photo but I … I was … I …’

‘You were drunk and you made a really bad decision, Jess, which is why I told you not to drink. Which is why I wanted you to come home with me that night, but you begged to stay.You promised you’d behave, and Julie, my own sister, told me she’d look after you. That didn’t work out so well, now did it?’

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