Golden Girl Read Free Page B

idea. Won’t be a mo,’ said JJ as he picked up his laptop.
    ‘Can I come and see?’ asked Alexei.
    ‘Of course,’ said JJ, and he disappeared out of the door.
    ‘So, what’s the surprise?’ I asked.
    ‘If I told you, I’d have to kill you,’ said Alisha. ‘But I think you’ll like it.’
    When Alisha and I first met, we didn’t get on: I hated her and thought she was a spoilt princess, while she thought I was a stuck-up pain. As time went on, we got to know each other better
and both of us realised that we were unhappy at Porchester Park for similar reasons. Both of us felt displaced and a little lonely and we’d been taking it out on each other. It was funny. I
thought she had it all – the designer clothes, a fabulous lifestyle – and she thought I had it all because I had freedom and mates whereas she couldn’t go anywhere without
Vanya watching her every move. Once we realised that we were both unhappy, we started talking and found that we got on and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s also a Sagittarian like
me, and too outspoken for her own good, which gets her into trouble sometimes.
    ‘Ready,’ called JJ.
    Alisha, Alexei and I got off our stools and went to join JJ in the cinema room. Most of the apartments have private cinemas and the Lewises’ is no different. Theirs is dark red with
black-out blinds and two enormous, soft brown L-shaped leather sofas so that you can sit with your legs out in front of you. Alexei and I flopped back onto one and Alisha took the other.
    ‘Let the show begin!’ said Alisha.
    At the back of the room, JJ pressed a button on his computer and images of a sunny location started to show on the screen. It looked amazing, wherever it was. A lake with a fairytale white
palace in the middle. Mountains in the distance. A vast honey-coloured palace on the lakeshore with balconies looking over the water. Shots of women in saris in bright jewel colours. Carved
temples.
    ‘Is it India?’ I asked.
    ‘Udaipur in Rajasthan,’ said Alexei. ‘ Ja? ’
    ‘ Ja . Right,’ said JJ.
    ‘We’re going for Easter,’ said Alisha.
    My heart sank as JJ let a few more photos play across the screen and all my plans for the holidays disappeared into nothing. JJ would be on the other side of the world in the glorious location
up on the screen and I’d be chained to my desk surrounded by school books with nothing but a list of places we could have gone to screwed up in the bin. Bummer.
    JJ pressed a button for the slides to finish and came to sit on the sofa with me. ‘Dad’s been shooting some scenes there for his latest movie.’
    I didn’t want him to see how disappointed I was so I made myself smile. ‘It looks beautiful, stunning,’ I said. ‘You’ll have a wonderful time.’
    ‘I think it will be perfect timing to go to India,’ said Alisha, ‘seeing as I’m going through an existential crisis.’
    ‘I thought that was something that happened when you’re middle-aged. You’re only fifteen,’ I said. ‘What is it exactly, anyway?’
    Alisha did her tragic look – one that I have to say she does very well. ‘It can happen at any age. It’s a sense of feeling alone in the world, thinking about the big stuff like
the meaning of life.’
    ‘In that case, I’m having one too,’ I said. ‘I’m always thinking about stuff like that.’
    ‘And I, being Russian, ’ave these things in my blood,’ said Alexei.
    ‘The meaning of life is forty-two,’ said JJ.
    I laughed. I knew he was referring to a book I’d read called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where it says the answer to the meaning of life is forty-two. It made me
laugh because I thought, why not? It’s as good an answer as any.
    ‘You’re mad,’ said Alisha, who clearly didn’t get the reference.
    ‘You and Alexei are a couple of drama queens,’ JJ told his sister, then grinned. ‘Actually, it’s me who’s having an existential crisis.’
    ‘You? Why?’ asked