Sugar Secrets…& Rivals Page 9

  “Yeah, well that’s what we tell everyone,” Cat said wearily. “No one knows the truth ‘cause Mum can’t bear for anyone to know what really happened.”

  “And what about you?”

  “Well, how d’you think you’d feel if your father’d sold all the furniture in the house to buy drink? How he’d lost his job, car, how he defaulted on the mortgage, stopped paying bills? All because he liked booze more than anything else.”

  Joe searched Catrina’s eyes, trying to work out whether she was telling the truth. If she wasn’t, she was doing a pretty good job of lying. Her eyes were full of tears and her voice wobbled as she spoke.

  “So you lied about it?” he asked.

  “yep.” Catrina paused to light up another cigarette. “It was Mum’s idea. She tried to pretend everything was normal. She used to make excuses for people not to come to the house ‘cause there was nothing in it. Crazy really…”

  “So no one knew?”

  “Only Sonja’s mum and dad and they’ve been sworn to secrecy. I don’t think even Sonja knows the whole truth. Mum was too proud to ask for help. She would never have let on to anyone that we were in such a mess.” Cat gave a watery smile. “She’s always been a high achiever; she wouldn’t admit what a state things were in. She thought she could handle Dad without professional help. You know, get him off the booze.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Well, Dad came to the conclusion that he preferred alcohol to his wife and daughter…” Catrina broke off, tears sliding down her heavily made-up cheeks. “And when… when Mum gave him an ultimatum, like g-get straight or get out, well, he got out.”

  “What, left you?”

  “Yep. Didn’t even say g-g-goodbye. That’s how much he thought of me.”

  “But why did he leave? Why didn’t he stay and try and straighten himself out?”

  “I guess because he didn’t w-w-want to. He wanted booze more than he wanted his family.”

  “Cat, I had no idea…” Joe’s voice cracked. “I’m so sorry. Do you know where he is now?”

  “Absolutely no idea. He’s never contacted us, never sent a card at Christmas or on my birthday. He could be dead for all I know.”

  They sat in silence for some time. Catrina relieved that she’d finally told someone the secret that had been eating away at her for years.

  Joe contemplated what she’d said, trying to relate it to his own situation. He couldn’t quite work that bit out.

  “Why did you tell me this?” he asked finally.

  “I would have thought that was obvious,” Catrina replied quietly.

  “You mean you think I’m going to end up like your dad? What do you think I am, stupid or something?”

  “Well, you must be to be drinking so much in the first place,” Catrina snapped, sounding more like her usual self. “Come on, Joe, get real. You might think you’ve got a long way to go to end up like my dad. That it’ll never happen to you. But if you don’t sort yourself out now, before you know it you’ll be out there with him. I’d put money on it. I bet you’ve already thought about nicking off your mum or selling something to pay for a cheap bottle of vodka.”

  Joe didn’t answer - the look on his face said it all. He had already stolen twenty quid from his mum’s purse. That was last week. How much longer before he sold his Sony Walkman, his CD collection, just so he could get wasted on drink?

  “That won’t happen to me,” Joe said a little too feebly for Catrina’s liking.

  “That’s what they all say,” she snorted derisively. “According to Mum, Dad thought he was on top of it throughout, even when we had the bailiffs knocking on the door. Dad justified it right up until the day he left.”

  Catrina stopped and took a deep breath. “Look,” she said more gently, “it’s up to you. You might think you’re only messing around, and you can stop whenever you want, but you’re kidding yourself. That’s how Dad was. He never realised it controlled him, or at least he never admitted it.”

  “I’m amazed that you’ve never told anyone before,” Joe said.

  “Well I wouldn’t have told you if it hadn’t been necessary,” replied Cat. “And I’d appreciate it if you’d keep it to yourself. I don’t want anyone else to know. OK? Mum will go mad if she ever finds out that I’ve told you.”

  “Sure. But… but would you do the same for me, please? You know, not tell anyone about this either?”

  “Yep, that’s a deal.”

  “And thanks,” Joe added simply.

  Kerry lay on her bed listening to the dance compilation she’d bought on her shopping binge and completing a magazine quiz called Best Friend Or Worst Enemy? Relating every question to her relationship with Sonja, with only three points scored so far, the outlook for their friendship looked bleak.

  Her mother saved her from sinking into further depression by tapping on her door and saying there was a phone call for her. Still holding the magazine, Kerry left her room, went downstairs, picked up the phone and said hello.

  “Hi,” Sonja’s voice said brightly. “How’s things?”

  Kerry was gobsmacked. Talk about spooky! She hadn’t expected to hear from her at all. What was back-from-the-dead Sonja doing calling her up out of the blue like this?

  “Fine,” Kerry answered in a flat voice. She certainly wasn’t going to make this too easy for Sonja. Her ‘friend’ was going to have to explain her recent actions before Kerry gave her the time of day.

  “I just wondered if you wanted to come and see that new Matt Damon film with me. We could go for a pizza before, if you like.”

  Kerry seethed. It was apparent from the tone of the conversation that Sonja had no intention of offering any kind of apology. Who the heck did she think she was calling up and pretending nothing had happened?

  Kerry didn’t bother counting to ten as usual; it was time that Sonja heard exactly how she felt.

  “You must be joking!” she barked into the phone. “Do you really think I’m gonna want to hang out with you after the way you’ve been acting? You must think I m really dumb!”

  “Sorry?” Sonja said, startled.

  “I suppose you think that now your new friend has buggered off to Japan, you can pick up the pieces with me, do you? You’re thinking, Good old Kerry, she’s always around to hang out with. And I suppose you reckoned I’d be grateful for this call, did you?”

  “Kerry, don’t you think you’re over-reacting a bit here?” Sonja said pointedly. “It’s not as if I’ve been ignoring you…”

  “Are you kidding?” Kerry exclaimed. “That’s exactly what you have been doing! Ever since you hooked up with Natasha, it’s been like I don’t exist any more.”

  “I think you’re being a little oversensitive—”

  “And aren’t you being totally insensitive?” Kerry raged. “Come on Sonja, think about it-just for once in your life. How would you feel if your so-called best friend had hardly said a word to you for days, let alone included you in her social diary?”

  “C’mon Kerry, you’re exaggerating. We went to Henry’s together, and that picnic by the river—”

  “Where you spent the entire afternoon whispering to Natasha and ignoring me!”

  “I hate to say this Kerry, but you’re being just a bit neurotic—”

  “And you’re being a selfish, narrow-minded, two-faced cow!”

  Kerry slammed the phone down and hurled her magazine at the nearest wall.

  CHAPTER 19

  THE PENNY DROPS

  Click! Brrrr…

  Sonja stared at the phone for a few seconds, unable to believe that Kerry would hang up on her. But she had.

  God, she must be really mad at me to do that! Sonja thought. I had no idea…

  Sonja lay on the bed and retraced her life in the last week or so. Then she picked up the phone again, punching in Maya’s number.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, Maya? It’s Sonja. What are you up to?”

  “Hi, Son, uh - noth
ing much. Waiting for Home and Away to come on.”

  “You don’t fancy meeting me for a pizza tonight, do you?”

  “Uh, difficult one. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get away. You don’t fancy coming round here, do you?”

  “Sure.”

  “Is everything OK? You sound a bit down.”

  “Yeah everything’s fine. Kind of. I, uh. I’ll explain when I see you. Is half-seven OK?”

  “Fine. I’ll see you then.”

  “Yep. Bye.”

  Sonja put the phone down and lay on her bed for the next hour. Thinking.

  Sonja stared bleakly at her coffee mug and wiped her nose again with her hanky. Her eyes and nose were red from the combination of crying and being constantly rubbed. She had been on the verge of tears ever since she’d spoken to Maya earlier. Since then she’d had time to reflect on what she’d done and the guilt was weighing heavily on her. She had barely got through the door before she had begun pouring her heart out to Maya.

  “So then she told me what she thought of me…” (sniff)

  “Uh huh.”

  “And then she slammed the phone down on me.”

  “Oh.”

  “And now I feel… (sniff) terrible.”

  Sonja looked up at Maya who gave her a little smile of sympathy.

  “So, what do I do?” she continued. “D’you think I’ve blown it?”

  “Nooo. I don’t think that at all,” Maya said, choosing her words carefully. “But, as I think I said to you in the café, maybe you got a little too wrapped up in Natasha. This row has been on the cards for a while now, hasn’t it?”

  “Uh, I guess so,” Sonja said. “I just didn’t see it, that’s all.”

  “So you agree that maybe Kerry has a point?”

  “Yeah. But the thing I don’t understand is why she never said anything to me before?”

  “That’s not really Kerry’s style, is it? She’s the sort who’ll put up with a lot of crap before she lets it get to her. And knowing Kerry, she probably started off wondering whether she’d done something wrong.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. So you think I’ve given her ‘a lot of crap’, do you?”

  “Mmm,” Maya said pointedly between gulps of coffee. “I do and I reckon you know that too, if you’re being really honest.”

  “But I didn’t mean to,” wailed Sonja. “Surely you believe that?”

  “Of course I do and I expect Kerry does too. But that doesn’t let you off the hook, does it? You should have thought about her feelings more than you did.”

  “I know. I’ve been such a thoughtless cow, I feel really bad about it.” Sonja’s chin began to wobble as she spoke and her eyes filled with tears again. “I honestly didn’t think the thing with Natasha was causing any friction with Kez. I thought she liked her…”

  “I think she did, Son,” Maya sighed. “That’s not what the problem was. It was the fact that you became so cliquey with her that you pushed Kerry’s nose out of joint.”

  “And then I put my foot in it big time, as soon as Tasha left, by trying to carry on as though nothing had happened,” nodded Sonja, as she played it over in her mind.

  “Kind of the icing on the cake for Kerry.”

  “How could I have been so stupid?” Sonja held her head in her hands and stared at the pattern on Maya’s bedroom carpet. She racked her brains. “So what do I do now? I mean, she won’t even speak to me. How can I apologise if she won’t even see me?”

  Maya thought for a moment. “Well, if it was me I’d leave it for a day to let her calm down a bit. In fact, I’d leave it until Mart’s party tomorrow night. That’s the best thing. She’s bound to be there and she certainly won’t want to make a scene in front of everyone - Kerry would hate that - so maybe you could make peace with her then.”

  “But what if she won’t forgive me?” Sonja howled. “What do I do then? I’ll have lost my absolute best friend and it’ll all be my fault.”

  “That won’t happen. Kerry’s a reasonable person,” Maya said confidently. “Believe me, she’ll come round. So long as you eat plenty of humble pie and don’t get on your high horse like you did in the café the other night. Do that and you really will blow it.”

  Sonja nodded her agreement and prayed that for once in her life she might be able to keep her big mouth shut.

  CHAPTER 20

  NOTHING BUT THE TRUCE

  Kerry could hear the Beastie Boys blaring out as she walked down the lane to Matt’s house. Matt’s parties were always a laugh, and tonight’s should be especially good as his dad had gone to stay with a friend.

  Not that that was so unusual. Kerry was always very envious of the free rein Matt seemed to have. She couldn’t imagine her parents letting her keep the entire neighbourhood awake, as the thumping bass of Matt’s sound system threatened to do.

  In the past she would have arranged to meet Sonja beforehand, but seeing as that wasn’t likely to happen any more, this was one party Kerry didn’t mind walking into on her own.

  As soon as she’d squeezed past the couple snogging at the front door, she saw loads of faces she knew.

  She headed for the kitchen, but seeing Sonja in there gassing to someone from college, she turned tail and dashed down into Matt’s basement instead.

  “Hi, Kez, good to see you!” Ollie yelled above the din, tapping Kerry’s arm as she walked past and motioning her towards him.

  “Oh hi, Ollie. Been here long?”

  “About half an hour. It’s a good party though, isn’t it?”

  Kerry nodded.

  “And look over there…” Ollie pointed towards the other side of the room where Catrina seemed to be in deep conversation with Joe. “They’ve been standing there talking like that for about twenty minutes.”

  “Really?” Kerry said, surprised. “I wonder what about? I don’t think Joe’s ever had more than three words to say to Cat in his entire life before now.”

  “I know. And doesn’t Joe look better?”

  “Yeah, much. He’s lost that walking-dead look. Have you seen him since he got mad at you the other night?”

  “No, I was hoping to have a word here, but he hasn’t left Cat’s side at all yet. And I’m not keen on butting in in case I’m interrupting something, you know?”

  “What do you mean?” Kerry asked.

  Then her eyes widened as she took in Ollie’s expression. “What, you mean you think there’s something going on between them?”

  “Who knows?” Ollie shrugged. “But they look very close, don’t you think?”

  “Well, yeah, I suppose so. But Joe and Cat? Having a thing going? Surely not!”

  “Stranger things have happened.”

  “Yeah,” Kerry sniggered, her eyes twinkling mischievously. “I seem to remember you and Cat being, er, quite close not too long ago. And if that wasn’t an oddball combination, I don’t know what is.”

  “OK, OK, don’t rub it in,” replied Ollie bashfully. “Look, will you go and grab Cat’s attention so that I can speak to Joe? I’d really like to get things sorted between us.”

  “Sure.”

  Kerry began weaving in and out of countless bodies grooving furiously on the dance floor as she made her way across the room. Ollie followed behind.

  “Joe! Cat! Hi,” she yelled as she got close to them. “Great party! Cat, you look fabulous, really good. I love that top! Where did you get it from?”

  Chuffed to bits by the compliment, Catrina turned away from Joe and launched into great detail about how she’d tracked it down from a picture in a magazine.

  In the meantime, Ollie was able to sidle up to Joe.

  “Hello mate, how you doin’?” he asked tentatively.

  “Ollie, hi, great to see you,” Joe grinned, stepping forward and giving Ollie a bear hug.

  “I wasn’t sure what kind of reception I was gonna get,” Ollie beamed, returning the hug. “Y’know after the other night? I thought you might punch my lights out or something.”<
br />
  “I’m sorry about that, I was in a bit of a state,” Joe replied, smiling wanly. “I over-reacted.”

  “It’s OK, mate. I understand,” nodded Ollie, pulling a face. “I should’ve told you about the trip before anyone else - it’s just that you hadn’t been around much. I did try and find you loads of times.”

  “Yeah, I know. Really, it’s OK. I just got a bit uptight about it - it was irrational really… Anyway, I hear you’ve decided to stay. Is that right?”

  “Yeah,” Ollie nodded. “I came to the conclusion that I’d miss everyone around here too much.”

  “I’m really pleased, Ol. I’d have been gutted if you’d left.”

  “Aw, shucks,” Ollie replied, unable to accept the compliment unless he took the mick. “And it’s good to see you looking heaps better too.”

  “Yeah, I feel better. I, uh, haven’t touched anything for nearly a week - since I balled you out at rehearsals actually.”

  Joe looked suddenly sheepish. “I’m so ashamed about that, Ol. It really brought me to my senses, you know, that I wasn’t fully in control of what I was doing. I had no idea I was gonna blow up at you like that right until I saw you. Then I just snapped - it was scary. I never want to be out of control like that again.”

  Ollie paused before replying. “I have to admit I was worried about you for a while. If it hadn’t been for Cat, I don’t know what would have happened.”

  Joe looked down at the floor, unsure for a moment how much to say about the conversation he’d had with Cat.

  He decided it was best to say as little as possible.

  “Yeah, Cat was great. She, uh, really talked some sense into me. Made me realise how dumb I was being.”

  “Sooo, does this show you that you can talk to girls after all? That maybe they’re not creatures from another planet?” Ollie asked, a cheeky look on his face.

  Joe laughed. “Uh, yeah, I hadn’t thought of that actually. I guess it does. Well, Cat anyway.”

  “Steady, Joe, you’ll be getting a thing about her if you’re not careful,” Ollie probed. “Or maybe she’s getting a thing about you?”