Diamond Girls Read online

  Mum blinked at Bruce, looking astonished. Then she pulled her kimono straight and tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Thank you for saying that, Bruce. And thank you for all you’ve done for us. We couldn’t have managed without you.’

  I wanted this to be like a movie. I wanted Mum and Bruce to look at each other and realize their love. Then they’d fall into each other’s arms. Well, Bruce would have to stay put with his bad back but Mum could fall down on top of him. They’d have a long romantic film-star kiss while music played and us girls sang and Bluebell flew over their heads like a little lovebird.

  Mum went off to change Sundance, wiping her runny nose with the back of her hand. Bruce shifted uncomfortably on the mattress, groaning and grunting. They weren’t really acting like movie stars just yet. Maybe I had to give them time.

  Jude went out to get aspirins and fish and chips. I went with her because I was scared she might get into a fight. Rochelle came too, on the lookout for Ryan.

  We didn’t see any boys, or any girls either.

  ‘They’re all at school, lucky things,’ said Rochelle.

  Jude and I looked at her as if she’d gone totally mad.

  ‘Well, it’s boring just hanging out at home. I don’t want to get behind. Mum should have sorted stuff out, got us enrolled at new schools so we could start today,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, like she’s really had the time, seeing as she had a baby on Sunday and her eldest daughter ran away from home today,’ said Jude.

  ‘Yeah, well, that’s not my fault, is it? Maybe I’ll go and find the school myself. It’s in Neptune Street, Ryan said.’

  ‘So that’s why you want to go to school! Only remember, you’re one of the silly little twerps in Year Eight. He’s one of the macho retards in Year Eleven. I bet he won’t even look at you in school,’ said Jude. ‘Well, I’m not going near any school. I don’t see why we can’t simply stay off till the summer holidays and start again in September.’

  That seemed like the best idea in the world to me.

  15

  ‘YOU REALLY NEED me to look after Sundance, don’t you, Mum?’ I said.

  ‘That’s right, darling,’ Mum muttered.

  ‘So I can’t go to school now, can I?’

  ‘That’s right, darling.’ Mum repeated.

  I knew she wasn’t really listening. She was clutching her mobile the way I frequently clutched Bluebell. Still, she’d as good as promised I needn’t go to school. I relaxed a little.

  Mum stayed strung up all afternoon, phoning Martine’s mobile every fifteen minutes. Then she tried a change of tactics. She found out Tony’s mum’s number and rang her. Her hand was shaking as she dialled the number. She took a deep breath when Tony’s mum answered.

  ‘I’m sorry to trouble you, Mrs Wingate,’ Mum said very politely, though she was pulling a hideous face as she said it. ‘It’s Sue here, Sue Diamond.’

  She paused. Tony’s mum was saying stuff. She didn’t sound as if she was making an effort to be at all polite back.

  ‘Yeah, well, OK, I know we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things,’ Mum said, struggling to keep her temper. ‘But the thing is, I believe my Martine is coming to see your Tony today. Is she at your place right now? Can I speak to her? Please? She’s not? You swear that’s true? Oh God. Well, will you get her to ring me on my mobile the moment you hear from her?’ Mum clicked the phone off and started to cry.

  ‘Where is she? What if she’s lost somewhere? I’m not even sure how much money she had on her. What if she’s mad enough to hitch a lift back home? What if something’s happened to her?’

  Bruce heard Mum crying and shouted up to her. ‘Look, Sue, I’ll see if I can get my back strapped up in some way. Then we can go out in the van looking for her.’

  He did his best, struggling off the mattress on all fours, but whenever he tried to straighten up he got stuck, hissing with the pain.

  ‘Get back on that mattress, you silly beggar. You couldn’t drive for five seconds and you know it,’ said Mum. She paused. ‘Thanks for the offer though. You’re a real mate, Bruce.’

  She started pacing up and down again, yawning and sighing and rolling her head around, her fluffy mules going shuffle-slap on the bare floorboards. Sundance wailed in my arms, wanting another feed. Mum didn’t seem to hear her, though her nightie top got damp. She clutched the mobile, checking it again and again for texts, leaving her own messages.

  ‘Please please phone me, Martine. I’m so scared something’s happened to you. Phone me!’ Mum begged.

  Then the mobile rang and Mum jumped, as if an electric current had sizzled up her arm. ‘Martine?’ she gasped.

  Jude and Rochelle came running. Bruce shuffled back off his mattress to the foot of the stairs. Even Sundance stopped wailing.

  ‘She’s with you, Mrs Wingate? Oh, thank God! She met your Tony and walked back from school with him? Right, right, of course. Well, can I speak to her?’ Mum paused. ‘What do you mean? Of course I need to talk to her! Stop telling me how to behave with my own daughter! I know she’s in a state. I wonder if you know the full story! Now just you let her come to the phone. Please! Oh for God’s sake, you interfering old bag, butt out of things and let me speak to Martine!’

  Mum stopped. She shook her head. ‘She’s hung up on me,’ she said.

  She dialled again. And again and again. ‘Now she’s not even answering.’

  Mum tried Martine’s mobile but it was still switched off. ‘Why won’t they let her talk to me?’ she wept.

  ‘Maybe Martine just doesn’t want to talk right now,’ said Jude.

  ‘At least you know she’s safe, Mum,’ said Rochelle. She had her jacket on now and her best suede heels. She slipped out of the room – and a second later I heard the front door slam. Jude looked up, but she just sighed and shook her head.

  I hoped Rochelle wasn’t going to find this Neptune school. I busied myself with Sundance, trying to show Mum she couldn’t possibly manage without me. Sundance kept fussing. She didn’t want me rocking her or patting her on the back or whispering into her tiny pink ears. She wanted to be fed.

  ‘Give him here, Dixie,’ Mum said wearily.

  ‘I think you really should put him on a bottle, Mum, and then I could feed him all by myself. You wouldn’t have to bother,’ I suggested.

  ‘Maybe,’ said Mum. It was clear she wasn’t listening.

  ‘Martine will come back soon, Mum, you’ll see,’ I said. ‘And then when her baby’s born I could look after him too. I could be like a childminder to both of them. I could feed them and bath them and take them for walks in a double buggy and—’

  ‘For God’s sake, stop nattering, Dixie, you’re driving me daft,’ Mum said. ‘Go and play and leave me in peace.’

  I marched out of her room. ‘I was only trying to help,’ I said to Jude.

  ‘I know, babe.’ Jude was putting her own hoodie jacket on.

  ‘Are you going out too?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh yeah, I’ve got a hot date in McDonald’s with a guy with a diamond earring – not!’ said Jude.

  ‘You’re not going to get in any more fights, are you?’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m fully trained in all the martial arts by our chum Kung Fu Brucie,’ said Jude.

  ‘Less of the cheek, girl,’ Bruce called from his mattress. ‘I might be an old crock with a dodgy back but I could take you on any day of the week. You stay here and look after your little sister, do you hear me?’

  ‘Yes, Bruce, I hear you,’ said Jude, but she went straight out the front door.

  ‘Don’t you girls ever do as you’re told?’ Bruce asked.

  I thought about it. ‘Jude doesn’t. Or Rochelle. Or Martine. But I do. Sometimes,’ I said. ‘Can I get you anything, Uncle Bruce? Cup of tea?’

  ‘No thanks, Dixie. It’s such a struggle to get to the flipping toilet I’d better severely limit my liquid intake, sweetheart. But you could turn the telly on for me if you like. I got