Girls Out Late Read online

  Anna is living, eating, and breathing jumpers. It’s as if her brain is three-ply cable twist. She’s wrapped up in her own woolly world and even when she’s talking to Eggs or Dad or me you can see the click click of knitting needles flickering in her eyes.

  I ring Magda to ask her advice about outfits for Russell’s dance, but she’s out. Her mum becomes anxious. She thought she was round at my place.

  I ring Nadine, but she’s out too. Her mum becomes annoyed. She thought she was round at my place.

  Help! I have unwittingly got both my friends into serious trouble. And what on earth are they doing out late? What’s happened? Is Magda really having a passionate encounter with Mr Windsor? And what about Nadine? Oh God, I should have tried harder to stop her going off with Liam. What sort of friend am I?

  I’m starting to get really worried. Our phone goes halfway through the evening. I rush to answer. It’s Russell.

  ‘Russell!’ I say, surprised. I nearly say ‘I hoped you were Nadine/Magda’ – but this would not be a good idea.

  ‘Dad and Cynthia have gone out for a drink so I’ve got the place to myself,’ says Russell. ‘I’m supposed to be doing my Maths homework—’

  I’ve still got last night’s Maths homework. I’ll have to copy off Magda again. And then there’s French and I didn’t do last night’s either . . .

  ‘But I thought I’d much sooner talk to you.’

  ‘That’s great.’

  ‘I wish we were still in the park together, Ellie. I love it when we’re together.’

  ‘Mmm. I do too.’

  ‘You don’t sound very certain!’

  ‘It’s kind of awkward right now,’ I say.

  The phone is in the living room. Dad is staring at me, ear-wigging every word, even though Eggs has the television up so loud I can barely hear myself. Even Anna has stopped crawling round the carpet and has her head on one side, watching me.

  ‘Awkward?’ says Russell. ‘Oh! You mean you’ve got Magda and Nadine round?’

  I don’t like his tone. So what if I did have Magda and Nadine round?

  ‘No Magda. No Nadine. But Anna and Dad and Eggs are all in the living room,’ I say.

  ‘What, listening right this minute?’

  ‘You’ve got it.’

  ‘Can’t you use the extension?’

  ‘We haven’t got one.’

  ‘Tell you what. I’ll e-mail you a message. Can you commandeer the computer?’

  ‘Russell, we haven’t joined the real world. Dad’s old Apple Mac isn’t up to e-mail.’

  ‘OK, OK. I know! I’ll write you a sweet old-fashioned love letter. How about that?’

  ‘That sounds great.’

  ‘And you’ll write me one too?’

  ‘OK.’

  ‘And we’ll swop them tomorrow? In McDonald’s?’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘See you then.’

  ‘Yes.

  ‘Bye for now.’

  ‘Bye.’

  ‘Bye, Ellie, it’s been great talking to you.’

  ‘And you.’

  ‘You don’t mind my phoning?’

  ‘No. Not a bit.’

  ‘Tomorrow then?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Bye.’

  ‘Bye.’

  ‘Oh per-lease, put the phone down!’ Dad hisses – but he’s smiling.

  I do put the phone down – and smile back. I feel this great glorious grin flash across my face.

  ‘He’s very keen,’ says Anna.

  ‘Mmm,’ I say happily.

  ‘I still don’t approve at all,’ says Dad, but it’s obvious he doesn’t really mind.

  Eggs is the only one looking mutinous.

  ‘I don’t like this new boyfriend,’ he declares.

  ‘You haven’t met him, silly,’ I say, picking him up and turning him upside down.

  I used to be able to shake him like a beanbag but now it’s a real struggle. Eggs is still skinny but he’s growing rapidly. It’s a weird feeling that maybe one day he’ll be towering over me, and there might be enough muscle in those matchstick arms to pick me up and turn me upside down.

  I get a flash of what it might be like for Dad. He’s so used to me being his funny fat little Ellie. It must be so weird for him now I’ve started going out with boys.

  ‘I don’t want to meet him!’ Eggs gurgles, going beetroot red. ‘Put me round the right way, Ellie!’ He kicks at me and struggles.

  ‘Ellie! He’ll be sick in a minute,’ says Anna.

  I right him quickly. I’ve had Eggs puke all down me before and it’s not a pleasant experience.

  ‘I like Dan,’ Eggs says, harping back to this other boy I used to know.

  ‘Russell is a hundred times better than Dan,’ I say.

  ‘Do you love him then?’ asks Eggs. He stares at me. ‘Do you? Why have you gone all red? Ellie?’

  I retreat rapidly to my bedroom. I let the French and History homework go hang. I worry a bit about Nadine and Magda – but most of the time I lie on my bed and dream about Russell.

  Do I love him?

  I think I do.

  I do. I do. I do.

  I get to school very early. I wait for Magda. I wait for Nadine.

  They don’t come in early. They’re both very late, after the bell. Nadine is very pale, with dark smudges under her eyes. Magda is flushed and jittery, hardly able to keep still. And she hasn’t done her Maths homework, so we’re all in trouble.

  There’s no way we can talk about yesterday evening under the watchful eye of Mrs Henderson so I pass them both notes.

  ‘Nadine – what happened with you and Liam??? Tell me – in detail. Are you OK? You’re not cross with me, are you? Love Ellie. X X X’

  ‘Magda – what happened with you and Mr Windsor??? Tell me – in detail. Are you OK? You’re not cross with me, are you? Love Ellie. X X X’

  For five very long minutes I don’t think either of them is even going to bother to reply. Then Nadine starts a note in her Gothic script and Magda writes her little round scribble.

  ‘Ellie – I could kill you for ringing my mum like that! I am VERY CROSS with you. I don’t want to write stuff about Liam. It was so upsetting and horrible last night. I’ll tell you and Magda later. Love Nadine.’

  ‘Ellie – I had a terrible time making up excuses to my mum because you were daft enough to ring up. And I wasn’t in the mood. Don’t ask about me and Mr Windsor. It was awful. I’ll tell you and Nad as soon as poss. Love Magda.’

  I can’t wait to get them round by the Portakabins at break where we can be private.

  ‘Magda! What happened last night?’

  ‘Nadine! What happened last night?’

  ‘You tell first, Magda,’ says Nadine.

  ‘No. You tell,’ says Magda.

  ‘I had to go and talk to Liam,’ Nadine starts. She sees me shake my head. ‘Don’t look at me like that, Ellie. Honestly! You think I’m mad, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes! She is, isn’t she, Magda?’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe I’m the mad one,’ Magda mumbles.

  ‘Well, I’m not mad,’ says Nadine. ‘I don’t love Liam any more. I hate him. All right, when I saw him outside school I couldn’t help feeling a bit funny, especially when I thought he was waiting for me. But then when I saw him with that Year Eight girl – she’s called Vicky and she’s so sad – I just felt boiling mad.’

  ‘How dare he treat you like that, deliberately kissing that girl in front of you,’ I say.

  ‘How dare he treat her like that. She’s only just thirteen. He is so sick. He was thrilled too, when I went storming up to him. He looked at me like, See, Nadine, look what you’re missing. It made me want to slap his stupid face. But I started talking to Vicky, telling her I needed to talk to her privately. She just thought I was making trouble, that I was jealous. Liam tried to make me clear off. But I just stood there in front of them, telling Vicky all this stuff about Liam and how he just uses girls. I came out wi