Sugar Secrets…& Revenge Read online

  Sugar

  Secrets…

  …& Revenge

  Mel Sparke

  With thanks to Marina Gask

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  CHAPTER 1 MATT THE LOVE-RAT

  CHAPTER 2 CAT LASHES OUT

  CHAPTER 3 MATT MAKES IT WORSE

  CHAPTER 4 OLLIE TO THE RESCUE

  CHAPTER 5 REVENGE IS SWEET

  CHAPTER 6 BUSINESS AS USUAL

  CHAPTER 7 THREE DOWN, TWO TO CO

  CHAPTER 8 PARTY PARTY

  CHAPTER 9 CAT POUNCES

  CHAPTER 10 UH-OH…

  CHAPTER 11 PARTY POST-MORTEM

  CHAPTER 12 OLLIE WANTS THE TRUTH

  CHAPTER 13 OLLIE GETS IN DEEPER

  CHAPTER 14 MATT’S HOT DATE

  CHAPTER 15 MAKING UP WITH MATT. OR NO

  CHAPTER 16 CAT TRIUMPHANT

  CHAPTER 17 REGRETS AND SOLUTIONS

  CHAPTER 18 MAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

  CHAPTER 19 FANCY MEETING YOU

  CHAPTER 20 A VERY IMPORTANT PERSON

  CHAPTER 21 THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  CHAPTER 1

  MATT THE LOVE-RAT

  “And Matt’s always telling me how gorgeous I am, which is sweet of him. And he’s sooo attentive! He’s really into me, you know…”

  Catrina Osgood took a break from bragging and squinted into the mirror to apply a third coat of black mascara. She grinned triumphantly at her reflected view of Sonja and Kerry. The two girls smiled back, barely stifling their yawns and, as Catrina looked away to start work on the other set of spidery lashes, they grimaced at each other. They’d heard it all before. Plenty of times. The only difference being that instead of boasting about some conquest from school or college, or wherever else Cat got her claws into a lad, this time she was talking about one of their own crowd.

  Flicking her silky blonde mane over one shoulder and nonchalantly inspecting her nails, Sonja Harvey snorted scornfully.

  “yeah, but remember what he’s like, Cat. Before you two started going out together, Matt was also ‘into’ half the girls in sixth form, so I don’t know why you’re getting so excited.”

  Sonja winked at Kerry Bellamy, who giggled and adjusted her wire-rimmed specs, something she often did when she couldn’t think of anything else to say. To be honest, none of the friends in their crowd knew what to make of Matt and Catrina’s romance. In the few weeks it had been going on, the two of them had spent most of their time snogging each other silly, which made uncomfortable viewing for Sonja, Kerry, Maya and Ollie - never mind making shy-boy Joe positively squirm.

  Blusher brush in hand, Catrina slowly shook her head at her cousin’s reflection. “Well, Sonja, that’s just ‘cause he hasn’t gone out with anyone like me before. And let’s face it, now that he has, he won’t be looking around for something better…”

  Kerry, sick of watching Catrina preening and equally fed up with finding fault with her own reflection, gazed at her feet instead. Her new pink wedge shoes were pinching like crazy, but at least she’d painted her toenails this time. Then Kerry groaned inwardly as she noticed that the cherry red varnish on one big toenail was already chipped. Darn! How had that happened?

  She glanced over at Sonja’s toes, immaculate and freshly painted in gleaming silver. Perfect as ever, mused Kerry woefully. But then, with her honey-blonde hair, bright blue eyes and enviably athletic figure, Sonja always did look perfect. It was a fact of life.

  “No, of course not, Cat,” said Sonja, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I mean, why would he stray now that he’s going out with every lad’s dream girl?”

  “Oh, yes - you can mock all you like, Miss Sonja Smug-face, but I know this is special.” Catrina had moved on to her lips, which she was coating thickly with Very Berry lipstick, pouting in an exaggerated manner into the mirror. Her dyed blonde hair was piled on top of her head in a messy knot, with bits falling sexily around her face. Not, Kerry noted cheerfully, that this hid the fact that her dark roots were showing.

  As Cat turned round to face them and adjusted her clingy velvet top, the two girls got an eyeful of her ample cleavage. One thing Catrina had never been was subtle. In more ways than one.

  “It’s so nice having a boyfriend as lovely as Matt. I really would recommend it to anyone who’s never tried it…”

  Kerry pushed her glasses back on her nose and blushed furiously, knowing this comment was aimed particularly at her.

  “No thanks, Cat, he’s more your type - shallow and short-term,” snapped Sonja.

  She liked Matt, but was under no illusions about how he behaved when it came to girls. And her cousin Catrina could be great fun, but she had a real knack of getting on people’s nerves, just like now. And it wasn’t as if the girls had come to Ollie Stanton’s seventeenth birthday party to be wound up by Catrina - they had better things to do.

  Before Cat could snap back, Sonja nudged Kerry to let her know the conversation was over and started heading for the door, pushing past the queue of staring, silent girls who’d been enjoying the free show while they waited their turn for the loos.

  “What is she like?” groaned Sonja, the second they were out and on their way back to the function room of Ollie’s parents’ pub, The Swan. “Why does she always have to be so competitive when it comes to boys? Like we care or something.”

  “I know,” nodded Kerry. “I mean, she’s a laugh and everything—”

  The two girls looked at each other and broke into ironic smiles.

  “Well, most of the time,” Kerry grinned. “But when she starts all that bragging, it’s so annoying. And very boring.”

  Sonja grinned back and then, with a flick of her shiny hair, she headed off towards the dance floor, yelling “I love this one!” at Kerry, who hurried to keep up with her.

  Weaving through the tables, Sonja clocked how many people were dancing already - which just went to show what a brilliant DJ Matt Ryan was; he always managed to pick the right tracks to get everyone going. But before she could join the other dancers, Sonja’s path was suddenly blocked by another friend, Maya Joshi, whose eyes were wide with alarm. This was weird. Maya never looked worried about anything. Ever.

  “Sonny, it’s Matt - he’s getting off with someone!” she yelled above the music. Sonja glanced in the direction Maya was pointing and gasped. Catching her up, Kerry followed Sonja’s gaze - and froze. Sure enough, there was Matt behind his desk - the same Matt that Catrina had just been bragging about - wrapped around a slim brunette. In full view of the entire dance floor.

  Sonja made a snap decision. She was going to have to run back and stop Cat from walking in on this. Sick of Cat’s showing-off she might have been, but Sonja knew Catrina didn’t deserve this kind of humiliation.

  And however much she might have felt like saying “I told you so”. Sonja wasn’t about to rub her cousin’s nose in it. No, it would be far better for Cat to hear what was happening from someone on her side, rather than finding out the hard - and very public - way. Otherwise, the fur would fly. Otherwise, Ollie’s night would very probably be ruined.

  “Wait here,” she mouthed at Kerry and Maya, before heading back towards the loos.

  But it was too late. Swinging her hips and jangling her many bracelets to the funky track, Catrina was heading their way, dancing and grinning like the cat who’d got the cream, through the swarms of friends and family that had turned up for Ollie and his twin sister Natasha’s birthday bash.

  Automatically, Sonja, Kerry and Maya turned as one and peered over towards the DJ desk.

  After all, the kiss - and the danger - could be over.

  But i
t wasn’t.

  When Sonja and Kerry had left her, Catrina didn’t hurry to give up her place at the mirror. It suited her just fine to spend a few more moments on her appearance before returning to the party.

  Squirting a last-minute spritz of Issey Miyake on her wrists (and just a dab down the front of her velvet top), Catrina felt like Queen of the Night. She was in a brilliant mood. She knew she looked good, she knew most of the teenage female population of Winstead were jealous of the boyfriend she’d landed, and she’d just rubbed her snooty cousin Sonja’s nose in it. All that stuff about her and Kerry not being bothered about having boyfriends - who were they kidding?

  Cat smoothed her top straight yet again and smiled a smug smile of contentment. At sixteen years of age, she was still a devotee of the old-style Ginger Spice school of self-expression. She knew what her limitations were - being OK-looking rather than supermodel gorgeous - but she was fearless when it came to knock-’em-dead outfits and movie star make-up.

  She loved attracting attention and invariably she got it; in fact, she’d lost count of the number of boys she’d been out with. If she was honest with herself, she’d never really felt anything for any of them, but she adored being centre-stage in other people’s lives.

  But with Matt it was different. He was something special. She’d fallen for him the minute Ollie had introduced him to the crowd, which had been some time last summer, when he’d finished at his posh boarding school and moved back home with his dad full time.

  Sure, he loved himself a bit too much, but in Cat’s opinion, anyone that good-looking, with his own car and whose father was a rich property developer, was completely justified in fancying himself. It had just frustrated her how long it had taken him to fancy her back.

  Matt had finally got the message three weeks ago when they’d all been hanging out at his house one Saturday night, watching a horror video with the lights out for dramatic effect. Catrina had managed to snuggle up beside Matt on the beanbags, and kept grabbing him in the scary moments.

  All that enforced hugging seemed to have done the trick. By the time the credits rolled and Ollie had jumped up to put the lights on, the two friends were very much in snog mode - much to everyone’s surprise. And that was it; Matt and Catrina were officially an item and Cat was utterly smitten.

  “Cat! Er… can you help me?” The sound of Sonja’s voice jolted Catrina out of her reverie.

  “I—I’ve got something in my eye,” Sonja blinked, grabbing hold of Cat’s elbow and steering her backwards. “Can you come to the loo with me for a minute?”

  Oh, for God’s sake! thought Catrina. Do I have to?

  She’d left Matt nearly half an hour ago and was now impatient to get back to him. He’d think she’d got lost at this rate. Catrina impatiently wriggled free of Sonja’s grasp and reached into her tiny beaded handbag, pulling out her lighter. Holding the flame up to Sonja’s face, she squinted as she tried to peer into her cousin’s eye.

  “Sorry, Son, can’t see a thing,” she shrugged, flicking her lighter shut. “Must run, I’ve got far more important things to do…”

  Pushing past Sonja, Cat was momentarily perplexed to find mousy Miss Kerry barring her way. She appeared to be trying to speak but Cat wasn’t in the mood to listen.

  “Move it, Kerry!” she said in her usual tactless way, side-stepping her friend. “Matt’ll be wondering where I—”

  The crowds in front of her seemed to part at that split second and Catrina was instantly struck dumb. There was Matt - her Matt - entangled with some girl… some girl who looked strangely familiar.

  As if suddenly aware that they had an audience. Matt and the girl stopped snogging and pulled apart. Matt seemed to be scanning the room frantically… then his eyes locked on to Catrina’s ferocious stare.

  With no new track lined up to take its place - the DJ having been otherwise distracted - the music faded to nothing, leaving a silent room as everyone held their breath.

  CHAPTER 2

  CAT LASHES OUT

  “Get your filthy hands off him!” shrieked Catrina, practically bursting the eardrums of most of the party guests. “He’s mine!”

  The slim, brown-haired girl turned to face the snarling Cat, who suddenly recognised her as Ollie’s twin sister, Natasha. As Cat stormed towards them, Natasha flashed a confused look at Matt, then retreated fast.

  Half howling, half screeching, Cat lunged at a pint glass of beer on the table nearest her - and chucked the contents of it smack into Matt’s stunned face.

  “Watch out for my decks!” he yelled, pointing down at his precious sound system.

  “Your decks?! Who cares about your decks?” Cat screamed back. “What the hell were you doing with her?”

  His hair drenched and his face shiny with the dripping beer. Matt held up his hands in a gesture of innocence. “Woah, Cat! Calm down! It was only Tasha!”

  “Yes, I could see that for myself, thank you very much!” Cat bit back, her eyes blazing.

  “I was just giving her a birthday kiss!”

  “And you needed to use your tongue for that, did you?” she spat.

  “Oh come on. Cat…” Matt half laughed, licking his lips as the beer trickled down his face.

  Watching in stunned silence, Sonja, Kerry and Maya all cringed inwardly - laughing at Cat wasn’t a very good idea in the circumstances.

  “What d’you mean, ‘Come on, Cat’?” she mimicked, before taking an almighty swing at him. Matt ducked just in time to avoid being punched in the face.

  This only made Cat all the more furious. “You’re a waste of space, Matthew Ryan! You’re scum! You’re a two-timing bas—”

  Matt dodged another flying punch. With no target for her fist to connect with, Cat lost her balance and tumbled sideways, bringing down the nearest table and its contents with her. At that point, Matt lost it - helplessly laughing out loud as he reached down and offered her a hand up.

  Infuriated with him and mortified at finding herself in such an undignified position, Catrina landed a couple of stinging slaps on Mart’s arms.

  “Ow! Ouch! Cat, you’re over-reacting! It was just a friendly kiss! It didn’t mean anything…” protested Matt, trying to sound apologetic, but still finding it hard to stop laughing.

  Just as Cat tried to spring at him from the floor, claws at the ready, a pair of strong hands gripped her by the wrists and pulled her upright.

  “Now, Catrina, let’s just calm down, shall we?” said Ollie’s dad placatingly. “I don’t want any nonsense in my pub tonight. We’re all supposed to be enjoying ourselves.”

  Her rage suddenly stilled, Cat felt waves of embarrassment wash over her. Quickly, she glanced around the room and saw countless eyes upon her.

  She saw her three girlfriends; she saw Ollie and Joe standing in the doorway carrying musical equipment and obviously wondering what the hell was going on; and she saw Ollie’s mum and that bitch of a sister. Her gaze returned to Ollie’s dad, Stuart, who was still holding on to her firmly and looking at her as if she were some sort of mad woman.

  “It’s not my fault!” she whimpered, suddenly realising that she was being portrayed as the unreasonable one in all this. “It’s him!”

  From his position of safety. Matt peered over Stuart Stanton’s shoulder and gave her a cheeky grin and a wink.

  Maya rushed over and put her arms round Cat just as she burst into tears of hurt and anger.

  “This is a party, remember, so let’s all get back to having a good time!” said Stuart Stanton into the mike as Matt hurriedly got the music up and running again.

  “What was all that about?” asked Ollie, dumping the amp he’d been carrying on the floor, and looking from his father to his friend Matt.

  “I’ll let Matthew explain,” said his dad dryly. “I think I’d better go and see how your sister’s doing.”

  “Matt?” Ollie said questioningly, wondering why Matt’s dark hair and T-shirt were soaking. Along with Joe and the other boys in his b
and, The Loud, he’d been outside getting their gear together for the set they were about to play and had only caught the tail-end of the drama.

  “Oh, this is good. Ollie,” Sonja butted in, staring angrily at Matt. “He only went and snogged your sister in front of everyone.”

  “Natasha?” Ollie exclaimed. “What are you playing at, Matt?”

  Matt grinned sheepishly and shrugged. “Well, she is gorgeous, Ollie…”

  Sonja, Kerry and Joe stood open-mouthed at his cheek.

  “And that’s your excuse, is it?” said Ollie, tight-lipped. “Christ, no wonder Cat went ballistic!” He turned to the girls, concern written all over his face. “Do you think she’s OK?” Ollie could never stand to see people unhappy - especially one of his own friends.

  “Don’t worry, Ollie - Maya’s calming her down. She’s good at that,” said Kerry reassuringly.

  “Come on, Kerry, let’s go and lend some moral support,” suggested Sonja, shooting another withering glance at Matt. Linking arms with her friend, they headed off to the Ladies.

  “Well done, mate!” said Ollie, now the three boys were alone. Both Joe and Matt looked confused.

  “What do you mean?” asked Matt, looking at his friend’s serious expression.

  “This little event wasn’t exactly good for the party vibe, you know what I mean? And apart from killing the atmosphere stone-dead, you’ve ruined my sister’s birthday and treated your girlfriend like dirt. That’s quite an achievement!”

  “But– but, Ollie,” Matt tried to protest, shrugging again and grinning a lads-together grin, “it was just a bit of a flirt! Just a bit of fun!”

  “Didn’t look like anybody was laughing much,” chipped in Joe.

  “Except you,” added Ollie, his face like thunder.

  Matt dropped the smile. It had finally hit him just how less than impressed his whole crowd were.

  Perched on the edge of a sink, Catrina was weeping and hiccuping so much she was almost incoherent.

  “I’ll-I’ll m-m-make him sorry… No one does that to me… And her, she- she’s - hic! - nothing c-c-compared to me…”