Little Miss Perfect

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Josh heard someone call him and went back into the hall and I stood there with the wind blowing on my bare shoulders, clearing my mind. If Josh told anyone, it would not be that much of a disaster. But he still had something against me. That was worse than owing someone. This meant that I had to dig something out about him.

"Sandy?" I heard a familiar sweet voice. I turned around and saw Stacey.

"Oh my god, Stace!" I said, flinging my arms around her. "I missed you,"

"I missed you too, Sandy," she whispered. "Luke told me about Connor. Sandy, I'm thirteen, I understand stuff like this!"

"I know...it's just that you're still my baby," I replied into her warm ear.

She pulled away, and dug out an envelope from her bag.

"I went to visit mum's office the other day. Just to ask her about you, because you weren't answering your phone," she explained. I realized that my phone was still off, and under my bed. That explained why Mark hadn't called me.

"Anyway," she continued. "I over heard her conversation. She was screaming and...she was talking about a letter. She took this out from behind a photo frame," She gave me the envelope.

She was talking about the screaming match I had with my mother. My heart pounded at the thought of the letter, and I desperately hoped that she hadn't actually destroyed it.

Sandy was the only word on it. It was sealed properly, meaning that no one had read what was inside.

"She put it back, but when she went to get me water, I snuck it out," she said. She watched me carefully, waiting for me to tell her off for stealing but I couldn't care less. And I was focused on the envelope which I clung on to like life.

A huge part of me wanted Sam back. I wondered what he would be like now. Nerdy? Sporty? I wondered what my life would have been like if the accident had not happened. Popular. Naive.

"Is it from Sam?" she asked. Her voice had dropped into a whisper when she said the word Sam, as if it was sacred.

I nodded.

She sighed, then grasped my hand.

"You don't have to tell me," she whispered. "But I really want to know. Why do you hate mum so much? I know about the stuff about leaving you alone after the accident , but there's another reason, I can tell"

I looked into her eyes. They were clear blue, wide open, hungry for information. She had decided for herself that she was old enough to handle the truth about my mother's crimes. But most of the time, even I couldn't handle the truth. It was still killing me from the inside, even though five years had passed. My mother's first wrong step was forgivable, but what she did next was harsh and cruel. I knew that Stacey would be able to handle it, but I did not want her to know that our mother could be heartless. It was ashaming. But I couldn't lie to her either. Instead, I shook my head.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I can't tell you"

She nodded understandingly. She hugged me one last time and whispered goodbye in my ear. She left in a silence and I knew that she did not completely understand Why I had not told her.