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Authors: Cathy Hopkins

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Zodiac Girls: Brat Princess (6 page)

BOOK: Zodiac Girls: Brat Princess
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Selene looked alarmed, like she was going to cry. “A
hike at this time of night? No. Oh. Don’t be difficult.
I do so hate it when people don’t co-operate. It can
make me very
emotional
! And especially when there’s a
new moon in the sky like there is tonight. It’s a time for
new beginnings you know. A
good
time if you give it a
chance and don’t resist it. It can be a time for
rejuvenation. So don’t make me MAD! Lunatics,
they’re MAD aren’t they? Lune.
Another
word for
moon. Making sense now, is it? Moon. Lune. So I’m
warning you, I can get
MAD
.”

I jumped back when she shouted the word mad as
she said it with such force.
Boy, Mr O said this lady was a
counsellor, but she’s clearly way unstable,
I thought as I made
for the door.

“MARIO,” Selene called and in an instant Mario
appeared and blocked my way out. “Leonora doesn’t
want to hand over her jewellery.”

Mario gave her a curt nod. “It’s the rules,” he said
then he strode over and bent down so that we were nose
to nose. “Now hand it over or else you and I are going
to stand here all night.”

I crossed my arms and shut my eyes. “Fine.”

Seconds went by and I took a peep. He hadn’t
budged an inch. His big face loomed in front of me. We
were almost eyeball to eyeball. At my last school, I
could out-stare anyone but this guy was out of my
league. I quickly shut my eyes again.
Out of sight, out of
mind
, I thought.

Minutes went by and I took another peep. He
hadn’t budged.

“I’d give up now if I were you,” Selene advised. “He
can stay like that for decades.”

“I am
not
going to give you my jewellery,” I said.

“Yes you are, Missy. Everyone else does. Studs,
piercings, bangles and beads. All in the bag.”

“They’re not worth anything. Honest. I have much
more expensive jewellery at home and you’re welcome
to that just…
please,
don’t make me take my locket off.”

“And what’s so special about the chain?” asked
Selene.

I really didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t talk to
anyone about it. I didn’t talk about any of my real
feelings or fears. Not any more. I hadn’t for a long time.
“Nothing. Just I… I always wear it.”

“And now it’s time to hand it over,” said Mario.

“No. Look,” I said as I slipped off my bracelet and
took out my studs. “You can have these. Come on. Meet
me half way. I’m co-operating.”

Mario took the jewellery I handed him and put it in
the bag then looked back at me. “Now give me the
locket,” he said.


No
.” I felt a rising panic at the thought of being
without it. “And you can’t bully me.”

“Not bullying you, missie. Just that’s the rules. Now
come on, what’s so special about that chain?”

I pushed the feeling of panic away. Down deep
inside. I wasn’t going to let him know that I felt
intimidated. I’d learnt that lesson long ago with Poppy.
Never let them see how scared you are. “My sister
gave it to me.”

“And you’ll get it back at the end of the
programme. Now hand it over.”

“No. No. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.”
I lashed out at him with my arms and went to kick him,
but he stepped back in the nick of time. Instead my foot
crashed into the wall.

“OWWWWWW! Oo-oo. OWWWWW. And now
you’ve made me hurt myself. I HATE you. You’re
HORRIBLE,” I yelled.
They could never understand about
Poppy and me,
I thought.
Why should they?
“And I’m NOT
getting changed into those clothes either. I mean,
navy? Hel
LO
? So last decade.”

I wanted to throw an almighty strop, but got the
feeling that I’d gone far enough and a mega tantrum
wouldn’t wash here. I also felt like I was going to cry.
I started to shiver and Selene looked over at me with a
sympathetic expression on her face. “Okay, look,
Leonora,” she said. “I’ll cut you some slack seeing as
this is your first night. You put the clothes on, you can
keep the locket on. How about that?”

My first instinct was to tell her to shove it, but it was
late. I wanted my chocolate milk-shake and fries. I
wanted to go to bed and get some kip. I wanted these
crazy people off my back. I nodded. “Okay. But ask
him to leave.”

“I’m away,” said Mario. “No way I want to see your
sorry butt in the buff.”

And off he went.

“Good girl,” said Selene as I picked up the clothes.
She handed me a cup of what looked like water. “Now
drink this water.”

“Water? With nothing to flavour it?”

Selene nodded. “It’s all you’re getting.”

“Okay but is it Peroni? That’s the brand I drink.”

Selene gave me a “Don’t be so stupid” look. I took
that as a no, so I took the cup and drank, but only
because I was about to die of thirst or else I wouldn’t
have touched the stuff.

“Good girl,” she said again.

I turned my back on her. She annoyed me. They
all
annoyed me. I wasn’t a good girl. I knew I was bad. I
took off my clothes and put on my prison outfit. I was
exhausted, but tomorrow,
tomorrow,
she was going to see
just how difficult I could be. And so were the rest of
them. “Okay. So, please, can I go to my room now?”

“Sure,” she said. “Follow me.”

 

Chapter Six
The others

“No. This can’t be right,” I said as I looked around the
dingy, narrow room that Selene took me to. With the
windows so high on the walls that you’d need to stand
on a chair to look out of them, it really did resemble a
prison. Where was my private room? My bed? My
luggage? All I could see was this unwelcoming dorm
with three single beds on one side. No pictures. No
flowers. No bowls of fruit or TV. No phone. No Peroni
water. No
nothing
. Just beds, bare cream gloss walls and
a couple of sets of drawers and a wardrobe. And it felt
damp. I could see condensation on the windows and the
glisten of moisture on the shiny wall just beneath.

Selene pointed at the bed that was furthest away on
the right. “That’s where you’ll be sleeping.”

“But… but it’s not even made up!” I said as I took
in the duvet, cover and sheet that were in a neat pile
at the bottom of the bed. “And where are the pillows?”

“You have to earn those,” said Selene.

“Wha…?!” I was so gobsmacked, I couldn’t think of
anything to say. To think that MY mother and father
had sent me here. I felt a rage inside the likes of which
I’d never experienced before and was aware that my jaw
had tightened, my fists clenched and I had a bitter taste
at the back of my mouth. How DARE they? Even
though I had no doubt that I’d be out tomorrow, to
even leave me here for
one
night was unjust.
Bang
out
of order. I was going to so make them suffer when I got
home. In fact, I’d take them to court. I would sue them
for unreasonable behaviour. I would sell my sad story
to the tabloids to the highest bidder and that way I’d
be financially free of them. Then I would leave home.
Go and live with Tigsy. That would show them. No.
Maybe not. They’d probably like that. Out of sight, out
of mind. I don’t think they really love me any more, so
they’d be glad to get rid of me. I was a constant
reminder of Poppy and what had happened, so they’d
probably be happier if I went. So, no. I’d stay and make
their life a misery.

“So, I’ll leave you to it,” said Selene. “You can make
up your bed and then the others will be back soon from
their hike and you can meet them after their supper.”

I still couldn’t speak. I pinched myself. Surely I’d
fallen asleep on the plane and was having a nightmare?
This
couldn’t
be happening for real. I was Leonora
Hedley-Dent. Daughter of Alex and Clara Hedley-Dent. We were loaded. We stayed in the kind of places
that most people dreamt about. Places that featured in
the top posh mega luxury seven-star locations on the
planet. Not dingy dives in Loserville like this dump. So
Mum and Dad didn’t like me. So what? I still always
got my own way. I did. I diiiiiiid. Did. Did. Did. Did.
Surely Mum and Dad couldn’t hate me this much? I
bent over, pulled at the bedding on the bed nearest and
yanked it off.

“Er… Marilyn’s not going to like that,” said Selene.

“Never mind MariLYN. Who’s she anyway?
Actually, don’t answer. I don’t care. I’ve met enough
deadbeat losers for one day. And you know what?
LeoNORA doesn’t LIKE IT!” I shouted, then
proceeded to pull the covers off
all
the beds, shoved
them on the floor, then stomped on them. Selene
didn’t attempt to stop me. In fact, she didn’t seem
bothered at all. She just waited until I’d stripped every
bed bare then said, “Okay. Feel better now?”

“No I DON’T!” I yelled and made my way down to
my bed, lay face down and thrashed away with my
arms and legs.

As I wailed into the mattress, I heard the door open
and close.

“Ah, a new girl,” said a female voice.

“Yeah, and see what the stupid pillock has done to
my bed,” said a second voice in a Cockney accent.

Pillock,
I thought.
Did someone just call ME a pillock?
I stopped mid wail and tilted my head so I could see
who had come in. Two girls were standing at the other
end of the room staring at me. Both were medium
height, one with dark, wavy, shoulder-length hair and
glasses, the other with long blonde hair and a wide
mouth.
Older than me,
I decided.
Maybe seventeen?
The
blonde one was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt even
though it was cold in the room and she had a tattoo on
her upper right arm.
Tattoos are so has-been rock star,
I
thought,
but I suppose she thinks that it makes her look hard
.

“Right, introductions,” said Selene cheerfully.
She
really is deranged,
I thought.
Like I’d ever want to meet these
two?
“Now. This is Marilyn Brocklehurst and Lynn
Bailey. Girls meet Leonora Hedley-Dent.”

The dark-haired girl called Marilyn scowled at me.
“’edley Bent is it? Oi, you, posh girl. You responsible for
messing up my bed?”

Her friend sniggered and watched to see what I was
going to do. I turned away.

“Oi, ’edley Bent,” repeated Marilyn. “I wanna lie
down.”

I decided I was going to show them that they didn’t
intimidate me, so I sat up and looked over at them.
“Then get one of the staff to do it,” I said.

Lynn snorted with laughter and I saw Selene slink
away and close the door behind her.
Oh God
, I thought.
She’s left me alone with them
. Marilyn fixed her eyes on me,
clenched her fists and approached. I took a sharp
intake of breath and braced myself for a thumping.
However, just as Marilyn got near, she slumped down
on the bed next to mine.

“What you in for then?” she asked.

I felt torn. Part of me didn’t want to talk to anyone.
Another part wanted to know what was going on.
Where I was. What the programme was all about.
That part won. “Nothing. It’s all been a huge mistake.
I’ll be out of here in the morning.”

Both girls burst out laughing like I’d said the
funniest thing ever, and Lynn came to sit next to
Marilyn. “That’s what we said too, when we got here,”
she said. “All a big mistake.”

“Okay. So what you in for then?” I asked.

Marilyn narrowed her eyes and jutted her chin
forward, “Murder. Din’t like one of my teachers so I
duffed ’im over one night down a back alley.”

I cracked up laughing. “Yeah, right. Pull the other
one. Do I look as if I was born yesterday?”

Marilyn looked put out. “Yeah, you do actually. And
you’ll gerrit too, if you don’t watch it.”

I laughed again, which I could see annoyed Marilyn
even more, but I was sure that she was just trying to
scare me and I was determined to show that I wasn’t
frightened in the least. “So what you really in for?”

“None of your business. You ask too many
questions,” said Marilyn, who got up and slouched away.

“So what about you?” I asked Lynn.

“And what about you?” Marilyn mimicked in a posh
voice from behind her. I ignored her.

“Yeah. Me too. Er… Murder,” said Lynn.

I rolled my eyes. “Can’t you think up your own
dumb answer,” I said.

“Okay, yeah. I’m in for drink.”


Drink?

“Yeah. Cider. Baileys. Crème de menthe. I like to
drink. Christmas liqueurs are my favourite but… I’m
warning you, they have a funny effect sometimes. I
don’t know what I’m doing. They send me a bit…” she
made a circle near her temple with her finger and
made her eyes cross, “...demented. People say it’s
chemical like, but, whatever.”

Behind her Marilyn chuckled.

“Yeah. Course,” I said wearily as if I’d heard it all
a million times. “Chemical. Whatever.”

Marilyn began mimicking the way I spoke again.
“Yeah. Course. Chemicaaaal,” she said in her
infuriating version of a posh accent.

“I do
not
speak like the queen,” I said.

“Ay do not spake like the queen,” she repeated.

I got up off the bed and moved away. Already I
wished that I’d kept my zodiac phone. Okay, so I could
only reach Mr O, but even he was better than these two
psychos. Although I could tell that they weren’t
murderers and were putting on the hard act, I wasn’t
sure what the real story was and until I was, I thought
it was best not to push them too far, especially as there
were two of them against me.

“Yeah you do speak stuck-up,” said Lynn. “Just
remember, when we don’t like someone, we do away
with them so you’d better watch yer back, Smedley
Pent.”

I turned back to them. “Hedley-Dent,” I said. “If
you’re going to say my name, say it correctly. And you
don’t scare me. So kill me. See if I care.”

Marilyn raised an eyebrow, came back up the aisle
and put her face very close to mine, not unlike the way
Mario had before when I said I wouldn’t take off my
jewellery. Up close, she smelt of peppermints. This
time, I didn’t close my eyes and I made myself stare
back at her. For a moment, my chest tightened as I
thought she really was going to thump me this time, but
she didn’t.

BOOK: Zodiac Girls: Brat Princess
11.36Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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