Clean Break (27 page)

WE STAYED UP
very very late on Christmas Eve. We huddled on the sofa, Mum, Vita, Maxie and me, eating our way through the huge tin of Christmas Quality Street. I knew Mum had bought me a pair of seriously cool kids' designer jeans for my Christmas present. They were a large size, but I was still thrilled to be able to squeeze into them. It was going to be more of a squeeze tomorrow, after all the chocolate, but I didn't care. I kept shoving one sweet after another into my mouth, even though I didn't really like chocolate so much nowadays.

Vita and Maxie were half asleep, cuddled up like puppies, chocolate drool round their mouths. I'd made us all little wine glasses out of the coloured cellophane on the sweets, and they wore theirs on their fingers.

Mum had a real wine glass in her hand, and had got through most of a bottle by herself. ‘Don't you tell your gran!' she said, as I poured her the last little slurp.

‘She's probably swigging back the vino too with old Eddie,' I said. ‘I don't want to be mean but it's soooo much nicer having Christmas without her.'

‘Yes, it's great, just the four of us,' Mum said, though her voice wobbled a little. Maybe it was the wine.

‘Not four. Five!' said Maxie. He flipped his fingers, counting. ‘One, two, three, four, five.'

‘Shut up, Maxie,' I said quickly. I couldn't bear him to keep on hoping.

‘Four of us . . . and Father Christmas,' Mum said. ‘So you kids had better go to bed in case he doesn't come in the night.'

Vita sat up, stretching. ‘Is there really a Father Christmas?' she said.

‘Of course there is. Who do you think leaves your presents at the end of the bed?' said Mum.

Vita's little face screwed up. ‘I know who leaves the presents,' she said. ‘I know who gave me Dancer.'

I put my finger to my lips and nodded at Maxie. Mum and I held our breath. Vita thought it over, and then decided she liked being one of the big
girls with us. She put her own finger to her lips. She cuddled Dancer, rubbing her nose against her soft velvet.

Dancer had been posted back in a pink-tissue lined jiffy bag, as good as new, her antlers straightened, a perfect pink nose at the tip of her snout. She was wearing new pink striped pyjamas and a rose fluffy towelling dressing gown with a tiny handkerchief in the pocket. She had a little suitcase carefully packed with a party frock and a pinafore and her special pink ballet dress.

Maxie had a padded parcel too, with a brand-new set of felt pens, and a special pack of letters and envelopes and a booklet of first-class stamps.

I had a little parcel, specially registered. My emerald ring had been sent back to me in a jewellery box studded with green sparkly jewels. When I opened the lid a little ballet dancer twirled round while music played.

Dad had sent Mum a red beaded purse in the shape of a heart, stuffed full of money.

He hadn't come to see us – but he hadn't forgotten us.

It was silly to hope for anything more. These were our Christmas presents this year.

We still hoped, all the same.

We sat up until we heard midnight striking.

‘Happy Christmas, darlings,' Mum said, kissing
us. ‘Come on, into bed, all of you. Help me, Em, I'm all woozy. Oh dear, I'm a terrible mum.'

‘No you're not, you're the best mum in the whole world,' I said, giving her a hug.

I picked Maxie up and herded Vita in front of me. We all three tumbled into bed, and Mum lay down on the covers beside us, kissing us all goodnight.

‘Are the socks still empty?' Maxie mumbled.

‘So far,' said Mum sleepily. ‘Oh, dear Lord, Mother Christmas is going to have to get busy.'

‘
Father
Christmas, silly,' said Maxie.

‘Whatever,' said Mum. ‘Night-night then, sweethearts. Sleep tight.'

She stood up and staggered a little.

‘Are you OK, Mum? Hey, I'll put you to bed, shall I?' I said, sitting up.

‘No, no, I'm fine. I'm just so stupid. I'm like you, Em, wishing and wishing. How stupid is that?'

‘Wishes never come true the way you want,' I said.

Then we heard a noise downstairs. A tapping at the door. Then the letter box banging.

‘Who's that?' Mum called, her voice high-pitched.

‘Ho ho ho!' someone called.

We all four sat up, and then we jumped up and started running downstairs. It looked like there was a Father Christmas after all. Maybe it was going to be the best Christmas ever.

Jacqueline Wilson is an extremely well-known and hugely popular author who served as Children's Laureate from 2005-7. She has been awarded a number of prestigious awards, including the British Children's Book of the Year and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award (for
The Illustrated Mum
), the Smarties Prize and the Children's Book Award (for
Double Act
, for which she was also highly commended for the Carnegie Medal). In 2002 Jacqueline was given an OBE for services to literacy in schools and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. She has sold over thirty-five million books and was the author most borrowed from British libraries in the last decade.

NICK SHARRATT knew from an early age that he wanted to use his drawing skills in his career, so he went to Manchester Polytechnic to do an Art Foundation course. He followed this up with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design at St Martin's School of Art in London from 1981–1984.

Since graduating, Nick has been working full-time as an illustrator for children's books publishers and a wide range of magazines. His brilliant illustrations have brought to life many books, most notably the titles by Jacqueline Wilson.

Nick also writes books as well as illustrating them.

There are oodles of incredible Jacqueline Wilson books to enjoy!

The Dinosaur's Packed Lunch

The Monster Story-Teller

The Cat Mummy

Lizzie Zipmouth

Sleepovers

Bad Girls

The Bed and Breakfast Star

Best Friends

Big Day Out

Buried Alive!

Candyfloss

Clean Break

Cliffhanger

Cookie

The Dare Game

The Diamond Girls

Double Act

Emerald Star

Glubbslyme

Hetty Feather

The Illustrated Mum

Jacky Daydream

Lily Alone

Little Darlings

Lola Rose

The Longest Whale Song

The Lottie Project

Midnight

The Mum-Minder

Sapphire Battersea

Secrets

Starring Tracy Beaker

The Story of Tracy Beaker

The Suitcase Kid

Vicky Angel

The Worry Website

The Worst Thing About My Sister

FOR OLDER READERS:

Dustbin Baby

Girls In Love

Girls In Tears

Girls Out Late

Girls Under Pressure

Kiss

Love Lessons

My Secret Diary

My Sister Jodie

CLEAN BREAK

AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 407 04599 3

Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,

an imprint of Random House Children's Publishers UK

A Random House Group Company

This ebook edition published 2012

Copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2005

Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2005

First Published in Great Britain

Yearling 9780440868507 2008

The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.