Love Lessons Read online

  'Deserves three cheers . . . t h e most richly enjoyable Wilson novel for years'

  The Times

  'As a piece of escapism, it's a glorious, book-length version of one of the

  photo-stories in Jackie magazine'

  Observer

  'Wilson t r e a t s this subject with extraordinary emotional intelligence'

  Mail on Sunday

  'Jacqueline Wilson is particularly good at p u t t i n g herself inside the skin of awkward misfit characters'

  Spectator

  'A hard-hitting and compulsively

  readable tale for teenagers'

  Irish Independent

  'Jacqueline Wilson at her very best'

  Publishing News

  'This catalogue of troubles is handled deftly, wittily and sensitively'

  Irish Sunday Independent

  w w w . k i d s a t r a n d o m h o u s e . c o . u k

  Also available by Jacqueline Wilson Published in Corgi Pups, for beginner readers: THE DINOSAUR'S PACKED LUNCH

  THE MONSTER STORY-TELLER

  Published in Young Corgi, for newly confident readers: LIZZIE ZIPMOUTH

  SLEEPOVERS

  Available from Doubleday / Corgi Yearling Books: BAD GIRLS

  THE BED & BREAKFAST STAR

  BEST FRIENDS

  BURIED ALIVE!

  CANDYFLOSS

  THE CAT MUMMY

  CLEAN BREAK

  CLIFFHANGER

  THE DARE GAME

  THE DIAMOND GIRLS

  DOUBLE ACT

  DOUBLE ACT (PLAY EDITION)

  GLUBBSLYME

  THE ILLUSTRATED MUM

  THE LOTTIE PROJECT

  MIDNIGHT

  THE MUM-MINDER

  SECRETS

  THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER

  THE SUITCASE KID

  VICKY ANGEL

  THE WORRY WEBSITE

  Collections:

  THE JACQUELINE WILSON COLLECTION

  includes THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER and THE BED AND BREAKFAST STAR

  JACQUELINE WILSON'S DOUBLE-DECKER

  includes BAD GIRLS and DOUBLE ACT

  JACQUELINE WILSON'S SUPERSTARS

  includes THE SUITCASE KID and THE LOTTIE PROJECT

  Available from Doubleday / Corgi books, for older readers: DUSTBIN BABY

  GIRLS IN LOVE

  GIRLS UNDER PRESSURE

  GIRLS OUT LATE

  GIRLS IN TEARS

  LOLA ROSE

  Join the official Jacqueline Wilson fan club at

  www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk

  Illustrated by Nick Sharratt

  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 unauthorised 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.

  Adobe ISBN: 9781407045603

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  LOVE LESSONS

  A CORGI BOOK 978 0 552 55352 0

  First published in Great Britain by Doubleday, an imprint of Random House Children's Books Doubleday edition published 2005

  Corgi edition published 2006

  5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4

  Copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2005

  Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2005

  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.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

  Corgi Books are published by Random House Children's Books, 61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA

  a division of the Random House Group Ltd Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

  The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

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  Printed in the UK by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon, CR0 4TD

  For Mary, Rachel and Rebecca

  I hate my dad.

  I know lots of teenage girls say t h a t but they don't really mean it. Well, I don't think they do.

  I don't really know any other teenage girls.

  That's one of the reasons why I hate Dad. He keeps me a virtual prisoner.

  I'm interrogated if I slip down the road to Krisha's Korner Shop. I'm not allowed to go into town by myself. I can't go to see any films. I can't eat in McDonald's.

  Dad even fussed about me making a simple bus ride by myself to go to Miss Roberts for maths tuition. He took my sister Grace and me out of school ages ago, when I'd just gone into the Juniors and she was still at the finger-painting stage. Dad said he was going to educate us.

  1

  We were left to get on with it for ages, but this summer we had a home visit from a Mr Miles, who was from some kind of education authority. He wanted to know what provision Dad was making for my GCSE coursework. Dad said he didn't believe in examinations. Mr Miles smiled through Dad's tirade, obviously having heard it all before. He looked at Grace and me when Dad r a n out of steam.

  'What do you want to do when you're older, Prudence and Grace?' he asked.

  Grace mumbled something about working with animals. Dad won't let us have any proper pets because he says he's allergic to them. Grace h a s a lot of secret, unsatisfactory pets, like the blackbird in the garden and the toads in the compost heap and for a while she kept a wormery hidden under her bed. Grace's pets are not exactly cuddly.

  'You'll certainly need to pass lots of exams if you want to be a vet,' said Mr Miles.

  Dad snorted. 'You'll find our Grace has got no more brains than a donkey,' he said unkindly.

  'She'll get a job in a shop somewhere and be happy enough.'

  'In your bookshop?'

  'She can help sell the books, but I doubt she's up to the business side of things,' said Dad. 'But Prudence can do all the cataloguing and buying and book fairs.'

  'Is t h a t what you want to do, Prudence – run your father's business?' said Mr Miles.

  2

  I swallowed. 'I – I'd like to go to a r t college,'

  I said.

  Dad glared at me. 'For goodness' sake, I've told you to forget that nonsense. You don't need to go away to college to learn drawing and painting; you can do that already.'

  'But I want to go, Dad.'

  Dad was furious with me for arguing in front of Mr Miles, but decided not to pursue it. 'AH

  right, all right, go to art college, waste three years, see for yourself,' he said. He nodded triumphantly at Mr Miles. 'I guarantee she can pass her art GCSE standing on her head.'

  'I dare say,' said Mr Miles. 'But I think you'll find a r t colleges require quite a few GCSEs, plus three good A-levels. You're going to have to make more provision for your daughters' education, Mr King, especially now Prudence is fourteen.

  Otherwise we might have to pursue the matter through the courts.'

  'The courts!' said Mum, pan