LITMIR.BIZ

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my hand, evidence that my camouflage was ruined but I didn’t have the strength to keep up the act anyway. Left with nowhere else to go, I eased away from the kerb and pointed Mum’s car towards home figuring I could use the journey time to psyche myself up for the next battle.

       Chapter two

      Sister

      Trepidation grew with every metre that passed, wondering what sort of reception I’d get from Mum today. I’d managed to slip out of the house without seeing anyone first thing so I didn’t know which of her moods would meet my arrival. Unable to concentrate, I barely made it halfway home before I had to pull over or risk killing someone. I might be a cold-hearted bitch but I wasn’t a murderous one.

      My hands trembled as I reached into my bag to grab my cigarettes and lighter. The flame was halfway to my mouth when I remembered I wasn’t in my nifty little convertible. No way could I get away with lighting up in mum’s car, not even with the windows down, so I pushed the car door open and set off walking down the street. I wasn’t in the mood for another lecture about smoking, but not because smoking kills.

      No, Mum was more concerned about the ageing effects, the smell of stale tobacco and the fire risk to her beautiful things. She couldn’t give a toss about me. A fact she’d proved time and time again. I upped my pace to burn off the nervous energy flooding my senses. It took two cigarettes before I’d calmed down enough to get back behind the steering wheel.

      Down to my last cigarette, I seized the excuse to further delay my arrival. At the next set of shops, I stopped off to buy more supplies, including another pack of my trusty nicotine gum and a pack of baby wipes. I took my time removing my smudged eyeliner but, with the task done, I couldn’t put off going home any longer.

      Grand iron gates slowly opened to admit me and I peered down the long, sweeping driveway. From where I sat, it looked idyllic; impossible to see the monster of a building hidden by the screen of trees getting ready to shed their leaves over the manicured lawns. The house’s sheer size and grandeur never failed to intimidate me. I didn’t belong there: I knew it; Mum knew it; and I swear the house knew it too.

      Never could I ever imagine a day when I would think of the place as home but if I had my way it wouldn’t be for much longer. I floored the accelerator, then pulled up in front of the house with a handbrake turn. I had a reputation to maintain, after all. A cursory glance up at the house told me the only person to witness my rebellion also happened to be my favourite person in the entire world.

      Great. The only person that I didn’t want to upset, but at least I was assured of a warm welcome. Charlie’s head disappeared from behind the bay window of the playroom so I took a moment to clear my mind of the chaos. Seconds later, the little boy came charging out of the front door. He launched himself at me the moment I’d set foot outside out of the car.

      ‘Aunty Alice!’ came his excited shriek.

      ‘Hey, Charlie Bear,’ I said, catching his little body mid-flight after his leap from the third step. His sheer joy and happiness was contagious and it brought on my first genuine smile of the day, ‘it’s good to see you too.’

      ‘Oh.’ His huge olive-green eyes, so full of innocence, stared up at me from beneath furred brows and his smile slipped, ‘you have your blue eyes switched on.’

      ‘Does that matter?’ I asked, swallowing down the rock forming at the back of my throat. When I wasn’t hiding mine behind garish lenses, our eyes were one of the few things I had in common with my half-brother, except I couldn’t remember a time when mine had ever looked so clear. Not even at Charlie’s age if the few photos I’d managed to salvage were anything to go by.

      ‘I was going to ask you to play with me,’ he mumbled.

      ‘Well, go on then.’

      Charlie blinked and the frown disappeared. ‘Can you play with me?’

      ‘Sure, I’d love to,’ I said brightly, ‘but I need to get changed first so give me five, yeah?’

      Charlie’s expression took on a mischievous look and then contorted into one of total concentration. ‘One. Two. Three. Four. Five…time’s up.’

      ‘You little monkey.’ I tried to sound stern even though my grin matched his impish one, giving us something else in common. ‘That was great counting, Charlie, have you been practising?’

      His eyes shone with pride. ‘I can say it in Spanish too. Do you want to hear?’

      ‘Spanish? No way!’

      ‘Yes way.’

      ‘Wow, that’s amazing. Even I can’t do that yet.’ Compared to the usual lies I spouted every day, this one was nothing. ‘Go on then, prove it, otherwise I won’t believe you.’

      ‘Uno. Dos. Tres.’ He hesitated with the next one and his eyebrows knitted together. I was on the verge of giving myself away and helping him out when the little tufts arched high on his forehead. ‘Cuatro. Cinco,’ he blurted, finishing with a flourish and beaming up at me.

      ‘Nice one,’ I said, ruffling his mop of white-blond hair. His was completely natural unlike mine which was best friends with peroxide. I lowered Charlie to the ground but he clung to my neck and latched his legs around me, refusing to put his feet down so I ended up hitching him higher. ‘So can you teach me, too?’ I asked, carrying him up the steps and into the house.

      Charlie opened his mouth to answer but snapped it closed again, both of us falling silent as the sound of heels clicked across the parquet floor and drew closer.

      ‘Charles? Charles!’ called an agitated female voice, the volume bordering on a shout. Charlie flinched and stiffened in my arms. ‘Where have you got to now? You know I don’t have time for this.’

      ‘We’re here,’ I called out, wanting to end his torment more than I wanted to avoid our mother.

      ‘Alice?’ came her reply. It was amazing how she could say my name with such contempt.

      I darted a glance towards the stairs. Maybe I should have put Charlie down and made a run for it, I’d had the chance. The sinking feeling in my stomach only grew worse and threatened to gouge an escape tunnel into the floor, but it was too late now. A beautiful woman appeared from around the staircase, dressed head to toe in pale gold, complete with matching shoes.

      ‘What are you doing here, Alice?’ Mum came to a stop inside the open doorway. The colour of her gown brought out the highlights in her flawless hair, straightened and styled to perfection in a chic pleat, with not a single strand daring to break rank. She undid all of her expensive beautifying when she sneered at me. ‘Shouldn’t you be at college or have you been kicked out of this one now, too?’

       Golly gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.

      ‘No, I left at the end of last term? Remember?’ Nope, not even a flicker of comprehension dawned in her piercing eyes. Silly me. Of course she didn’t remember, since that would require paying attention to anything I had to say.

      ‘Oh.’ Her shoulders drooped as she let out an exasperated sigh. ‘What did you do this time?’

      ‘I wasn’t expelled, Mu—Michelle.’

      She sucked in a sharp intake of breath and narrowed her eyes to slits at my near blunder in front of Charlie. ‘Really. So what happened? Was the work too hard for you or did you realise you couldn’t cheat your way to more qualifications?’

       Neither actually.

      I shrugged, not wanting to risk opening my mouth and telling her to fuck off. College was easy enough and I had no reason or desire to cheat, but Mum would only call me a liar. She’d refused to believe I could achieve something on merit so I’d finally given up trying to prove I had a brain in my head.

      At least Mum thinking the worst of me meant that I wasn’t dragged to all of her

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