the minute Stacy’s back is turned.
“Shut up, she’ll hear,” I say. I always feel much more worried about damply enthusiastic girls like Stacy who are so terribly uncool. If I didn’t hang around with Magda and Nadine and try really hard to be hip I could so easily be one myself.
But Magda can be caring too. She’s looking at Nadine, who hasn’t said a word. She’s barely spoken since the Seventh Heaven night when she walked out on Liam. She just drifts round after us like this pale little ghost. The purple marks are fading on her neck but it’s going to take her much longer to get him to fade from her mind.
“Oh, I don’t know, Stacy’s party could be a laugh, I suppose,” says Magda. “We could stick together, us three, and have a bit of a bop. I quite fancy a girls’ night out. OK?”
“OK!” I say. “Right, Nadine?”
I have to nudge her twice before she nods.
But it turns out it isn’t going to be a girls’ night out at all.
“You can all bring a boy,” Stacy announces. “My boyfriend Paul is coming. This is going to be a
proper
party.”
“I like
im
proper parties,” says Magda.
“I can’t come then,” says Nadine. “I haven’t got a boy. Not anymore.”
“Oh, don’t go all droopy again, babes, I can’t bear it,” says Magda. “Of course you’re coming.”
“Yeah, with me. I haven’t got a boy to bring either, have I?” I say. “Seeing as my Dan is stuck up in Manchester.”
“I can always ask Greg to bring along two of his mates,” says Magda.
“No way! Not again!” I say very firmly indeed.
It turns out
Greg
won’t agree to go to Stacy’s party. Magda can’t believe it.
“The
nerve
of it! He says he won’t go to a stupid Year Nine baby birthday party because his mates would give him stick about it if they found out—after he made
me
go to that night of Ultimate Embarrassment at that nerdy Adam’s place! I told him where to get off. Or words to that effect.” Magda grins. “So now I haven’t got a boy either, Nadine. We’re a right pathetic trio. One totally absent boyfriend, and two exes.”
“Well, we’ll go to Stacy’s party just the three of us, like we planned originally. Let’s make it a real girls’ night out,” I say. “You two come back to my place and sleep over afterward, yeah?”
Magda agrees enthusiastically. Nadine doesn’t look as if she agrees at all, but she can’t summon up the energy to argue.
“I am seriously worried about Nadine,” Magda whispers to me in class. “Ellie . . . how far did that Liam get with her?”
“I’m not sure. I know he made her do all sorts of stuff, but I’m not sure about actual sex.”
“You don’t think . . . ? She couldn’t be pregnant, could she?”
“Oh, Magda!”
“She looks so pale.”
“Well, she’s always pale.”
“Yes, but now she looks like
death
. And she’s so droopy.”
“That’s because she’s missing Liam.”
“How
can
she now she knows the truth about that creep?”
“Maybe she’s missing him even so.”
“What?
Look, I don’t get all this moping-around lark. I’ve just given up Greg and yet I’m not an old droopy-drawers.”
“Yes, but you were never really that gone on Greg, were you?”
“How do you know Greg wasn’t the love of my life, the passion of my girlhood, the flame of my bosom, the fire of my loins—?” We are both shrieking with laughter by this time.
Nadine stares over at us but she doesn’t even ask what we’re laughing at. I look at her tense white face and the dark circles under her eyes. I start to get scared. Could Magda really be right? What if Liam has got Nadine pregnant, just like that other girl?
I know there isn’t any point asking her outright, not at school. I’ll have to talk to her privately, without Magda.
So after tea this evening I tell Anna I need to borrow a textbook for homework off Nadine. Anna’s in a bit of a flap herself because Dad’s late home again.
“He’ll be in a meeting. Or
“Shut up, she’ll hear,” I say. I always feel much more worried about damply enthusiastic girls like Stacy who are so terribly uncool. If I didn’t hang around with Magda and Nadine and try really hard to be hip I could so easily be one myself.
But Magda can be caring too. She’s looking at Nadine, who hasn’t said a word. She’s barely spoken since the Seventh Heaven night when she walked out on Liam. She just drifts round after us like this pale little ghost. The purple marks are fading on her neck but it’s going to take her much longer to get him to fade from her mind.
“Oh, I don’t know, Stacy’s party could be a laugh, I suppose,” says Magda. “We could stick together, us three, and have a bit of a bop. I quite fancy a girls’ night out. OK?”
“OK!” I say. “Right, Nadine?”
I have to nudge her twice before she nods.
But it turns out it isn’t going to be a girls’ night out at all.
“You can all bring a boy,” Stacy announces. “My boyfriend Paul is coming. This is going to be a
proper
party.”
“I like
im
proper parties,” says Magda.
“I can’t come then,” says Nadine. “I haven’t got a boy. Not anymore.”
“Oh, don’t go all droopy again, babes, I can’t bear it,” says Magda. “Of course you’re coming.”
“Yeah, with me. I haven’t got a boy to bring either, have I?” I say. “Seeing as my Dan is stuck up in Manchester.”
“I can always ask Greg to bring along two of his mates,” says Magda.
“No way! Not again!” I say very firmly indeed.
It turns out
Greg
won’t agree to go to Stacy’s party. Magda can’t believe it.
“The
nerve
of it! He says he won’t go to a stupid Year Nine baby birthday party because his mates would give him stick about it if they found out—after he made
me
go to that night of Ultimate Embarrassment at that nerdy Adam’s place! I told him where to get off. Or words to that effect.” Magda grins. “So now I haven’t got a boy either, Nadine. We’re a right pathetic trio. One totally absent boyfriend, and two exes.”
“Well, we’ll go to Stacy’s party just the three of us, like we planned originally. Let’s make it a real girls’ night out,” I say. “You two come back to my place and sleep over afterward, yeah?”
Magda agrees enthusiastically. Nadine doesn’t look as if she agrees at all, but she can’t summon up the energy to argue.
“I am seriously worried about Nadine,” Magda whispers to me in class. “Ellie . . . how far did that Liam get with her?”
“I’m not sure. I know he made her do all sorts of stuff, but I’m not sure about actual sex.”
“You don’t think . . . ? She couldn’t be pregnant, could she?”
“Oh, Magda!”
“She looks so pale.”
“Well, she’s always pale.”
“Yes, but now she looks like
death
. And she’s so droopy.”
“That’s because she’s missing Liam.”
“How
can
she now she knows the truth about that creep?”
“Maybe she’s missing him even so.”
“What?
Look, I don’t get all this moping-around lark. I’ve just given up Greg and yet I’m not an old droopy-drawers.”
“Yes, but you were never really that gone on Greg, were you?”
“How do you know Greg wasn’t the love of my life, the passion of my girlhood, the flame of my bosom, the fire of my loins—?” We are both shrieking with laughter by this time.
Nadine stares over at us but she doesn’t even ask what we’re laughing at. I look at her tense white face and the dark circles under her eyes. I start to get scared. Could Magda really be right? What if Liam has got Nadine pregnant, just like that other girl?
I know there isn’t any point asking her outright, not at school. I’ll have to talk to her privately, without Magda.
So after tea this evening I tell Anna I need to borrow a textbook for homework off Nadine. Anna’s in a bit of a flap herself because Dad’s late home again.
“He’ll be in a meeting. Or
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