Star Reporter (7 page)

It didn't take a genius to work out which one Molly preferred.

“Rhys was definitely the best,” she said loudly, as Anjel laughed at something Liam had said. “He'd fit right in with the band's image too.”

Shenice and I exchanged a look. If Anjel did become WOLF BRETHREN's newest member, she'd better watch her back.

The next bit felt like it happened in slow motion. Mum opened the door to the garage to call Dad through and Rolo squeezed through the gap between the door and her legs. He lolloped enthusiastically over to say hello to everyone. Most people made a fuss of him. Anjel ruffled his ears and even got down on her knees to rub his tummy, which I could tell scored massive points with Liam, if not Molly. Then Rolo romped across to Rhys and things went a bit wrong. In his excitement, Rolo got a bit confused about what the guitar in Rhys's hand was and clamped his teeth around the neck.

“Hey!” Rhys exclaimed and tugged it back. The strings made a funny ZOING sound, which only made Rolo more playful. Before I knew it, they were having a full on tug-of-war with the guitar, and the strings were twanging madly. Everyone was laughing but all I could see was Rhys's face getting redder and redder.

I got up to pull Rolo away but I wasn't quite quick enough. With a shout of annoyance, Rhys yanked the neck out of Rolo's mouth and aimed a kick at his brown tummy. Rolo danced out of the way but the tip of Rhys's trainer still caught him and he let out a startled yelp. The garage fell silent.

Liam stepped forwards, his fists balled into angry fists. “Not cool, man,” he said. “Not cool at all.”

Rhys started to laugh and then seemed to realize no one else saw the joke. “Stupid dog nearly broke my strings.”

I crouched beside a shaking Rolo. “You didn't have to kick him. He'd let go already.”

My dad stepped forward and gave the guitar a quick once-over. “I think you'd better leave, young man.” He held out a crisp twenty pound note. “This should cover any damage to your strings.”

Rhys scowled around the garage. Without a word, he snatched the money out of my dad's hand and stormed off into the twilight.

For a second, nobody spoke. Then Liam turned to Anjel and grinned. “Congratulations, you made the band. When can you start?”

“They're making a huge mistake,” Molly fumed, as we sat in my room and waited for her mum to come. “They'll have to change their name for a start.”

Shenice looked confused. “Why?”

“Because they can hardly be called WOLF BRETHREN with a girl member, can they?” Molly said, in a slow voice as though Shenice was an idiot. “WOLF SIBLINGS doesn't have quite the same ring, does it?”

“I'm sure they'll figure something out,” I said soothingly. “You do want them to play at the May Ball, don't you?”

From the look on Molly's face, it was touch and go. “Yeah, of course.”

Oh dear. Anjel has got some serious work to do if she wants to win over WOLF BRETHREN'S number-one fan.

It turned out to be the easiest thing ever to find out about Hannah's ears – all I had to do was ask her. She told me she'd had it done the summer after we'd finished primary school but had kept it to herself, hoping to start St Jude's without any jokes. It hadn't even hurt that much, the worst bit had been having to wear a weird Professor Quirrell turban thing to keep her ears flat. I listened, storing up as much detail as I could in my head to pass on to Kelly. And then she said she didn't mind telling me about it because she knew I could be trusted. That's when it all went wrong, because I knew right then that I couldn't tell Kelly anything about Hannah's operation. Feeling a bit sick, I told Hannah how great she looked, and went to find a brick wall to bash my head against.

Sitting on the steps outside the science block, I gnawed at my fingernails until they were all gone. I'm just starting to get the hang of journalism – I had this brilliant idea for a cutting exposé about Mr Peterson's maths class and I'll be gutted if Kelly kicks me off the magazine. She's always been lovely to me, of course, but what if she doesn't understand why Hannah wants her private life to STAY private? My new career will be over before it has really begun.

I wonder if it's too late to join the circus…

I don't know why I was scared about telling Kelly – she couldn't have been nicer.

“Of course I understand,” she reassured me, when I passed on the bad news about Hannah. “I can totally see why she wouldn't want her secret splashed all over the magazine.”

I heaved a sigh of relief and made a mental note to stick my tongue out at Molly and Shenice. They'd been convinced Kelly would demand that I spilled the beans. And if anything, the fact that she was so lovely made me feel even worse that I couldn't give her the lead she needed.

“I'm really sorry to let you down,” I mumbled. “Maybe I'm not cut out to be a journalist after all.”

“Rubbish,” she replied, with a dismissive shake of her head. “I'll just have to find another example for my story. It's a shame, though. Hannah was a perfect role model to other girls who are unhappy with their looks.”

She let out a wistful sigh, making me feel even worse. I hadn't thought of it that way. But Hannah had confided in me, I couldn't betray her, no matter how desperate I was to please Kelly. “Sorry.”

She smiled as though it didn't matter at all. “I'll probably shelve the whole article now.” There was a brief pause, then she went on, “I'd love to know what she had done, though. I think she's so brave.”

I looked sideways at her. Now that I came to think about it, Hannah had been brave. Maybe she'd feel better about it if someone as popular as Kelly was on her side.

“Uh…” I hesitated.

Kelly widened her eyes. “I wouldn't breathe a word to anyone, I swear.”

And now I had a major dilemma. On the one hand, Hannah had trusted me with her secret on the understanding that I wouldn't share it. But on the other hand, I had Kelly, Miss Popularity and the nearest thing I had to a boss, telling me I could trust her. She seemed to genuinely care about Hannah and I wanted her to like me so much it practically hurt. And it wasn't as though Hannah was exactly a BFF – we'd just gone to the same primary school. But deep down, I knew I shouldn't even be thinking about spilling her secret.

“Did I mention I'm having a party in half-term?” Kelly's voice cut casually into my thoughts. “Only my favourite people are invited.”

My heart sank further towards my feet. I wasn't one of her favourites – how could I be when I'd failed her? She glanced over. “I think Nathan Crossfield might even be coming. And Susie Carr.”

I stared at her for a few seconds, consumed by a sudden surge of jealousy. If Nathan and Susie were going to the party then I had to be there too: I HAD to. And maybe I was making too big a deal out of all of this, anyway. It wasn't as though I was blabbing Hannah's secret all over school – she never needed to know I'd told anyone.

In spite of this logic, it still took almost a minute for me to wrestle my conscience to the ground. “Okay,” I said eventually, pushing the last doubts firmly to the back of my mind. “This is for your ears only…”

E-PETITION Number of signatures: 745

OMG to the MAX. You will not believe who Shenice's mum is dating. Seriously, I don't even believe it and I have seen the evidence with my own eyes. I think I may still be in shock.

It is SO much worse than we suspected. I don't know if you've ever followed someone but it is a lot less exciting in real life than it looks on TV. We waited a few minutes after Shenice's mum had gone on Thursday evening, then sneaked out of the back door while her brother was playing SPECIAL FORCES – VAMPIRE ANNIHILATION on the XBox. At first, we bobbed in and out of doorways, pretending we were from MI5 (with a name like mine, it is practically the law to imagine you are a spy) but we soon realized Shenice's mum had no idea we were there and started to act a bit more normally.

It didn't stop Shenice from fretting, though. By the time her mum had disappeared into what we assumed was Julio's house, she was all pale and sweaty.

“It doesn't look very Spanish,” Molly said, as we stared at the small terraced house with its flower-filled hanging basket and neatly trimmed hedge.

“Were you expecting a bull in the front garden?” I shot back, trying to peer through the window. “Or maybe a piñata?”

“I'm just saying it looks like the kind of house someone ordinary might live in,” Molly said reasonably, and she threw me a meaningful look. “Someone nice.”

“What if that's my future stepdad in there?” Shenice moaned, as a shadow flitted tantalizingly behind the curtains.

It was beginning to dawn on me that we hadn't really thought this through. Now that Shen's mum was inside, we had no real way to spy on her. “Erm, how are we going to see who she's with?”

Shenice and Molly stared at me.

“I hadn't thought of that,” Molly admitted.

Suddenly an idea came to me. “Knock Down Ginger?”

As plans went, it wasn't exactly MI5 material but it was the best I could offer at short notice. We didn't have long – Shen's brother was bound to notice we were gone sooner or later and my dad was coming to pick us up from our “homework brainstorming session” at eight o'clock. And nobody had any better ideas.

Molly and Shenice crouched behind a parked car while I crept up the front path. The plan was to sneak up and knock on the door, before running off to hide. But I failed to spot a milk bottle beside the door until it was too late. It clattered to the floor and rolled down the path, rattling all the way. A light snapped on behind the door. I turned and ran, hiding behind the hedge. As the door creaked open, I peered through the leaves. This was it – the moment when I got a glimpse of Shenice's potential future. I blinked, and blinked again, not quite sure if I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing. Standing on the doorstep, with a half-drunk bottle of beer in his hand, was our Spanish teacher, Mr Ramirez.

I gave a sigh of relief and crept back to the girls. “It's okay, she's not with Julio,” I told them, grinning. “She's with Mr Ramirez from school.”

Shenice let out a horrified wail and Molly stared at me, stony-faced, until the penny dropped. I gasped and my eyes widened. “Oh, oh, I bet his name is Julio.” My hands flew to my face. “Shenice, your mum is dating Mr Ramirez!”

Molly held an imaginary microphone to her lips. “This just in from the Minister for the Completely Obvious.”

“I want to go home,” Shenice puffed, so pale that I didn't know if she would puke or pass out first. “Please, just take me home.”

We didn't talk much on the way back and even now, three hours later, I'm still in shock. I mean, Mr Ramirez is really nice but it's a ginormous no-no for your parents to date a teacher. If this gets out, Shenice is going to DIE.

And I thought I had problems…

Mum's voice turned my blood to ice as it floated up the stairs on Saturday afternoon.

“It's Nathan, isn't it?”

Nathan was already sitting on the sofa when I hurtled down the stairs two at a time before she did something embarrassing, like breathing. Right now she was swaying in the middle of the living room, a twin perched on each hip. I'd noticed the sway was pretty much a permanent thing these days, even when the twins were fast asleep in their cots.

“Yeah,” Nathan said, nodding. Mum looked ridiculously pleased with herself, like she'd just discovered the secret of eternal life or something. I don't see how she can remember the name of someone who's been to our house once but forgets to take the keys out of the front door when she comes in. Her baby brain seems to be a permanent thing now.

“Hi,” I said breathlessly.

“Hey,” he replied and cleared his throat. “I'd stand up but your dog is sitting on my foot.”