Keep the Faith Read Free

Ang? You’re a bit quiet. We’ve normally had at least a couple of half-syllables from you by now.’
    ‘That’s it,’ Ang said. ‘I’m too quiet, aren’t I? That’s why boys aren’t interested in me.’
    ‘You’re not
that
quiet. There was only that one time that I had to check your vital signs to make sure you were still alive.’
    Then I saw that Ang was not in a jokey mood. ‘Don’t worry about it, sweetie. Elliot from choir seemed pretty keen on you. After all, not everyone likes girls as shouty as Megs and
Lily.’
    Megs made some choking noises and seemed to be pointing at me. Lily threw an empty Coke can at my head. I can’t think why.
    ‘It’s not just the chatting,’ Ang said. Her little face was all creased up. ‘Why would Elliot look at me when I hang around with you lot? Lily has got, you know . .
.’ She waved her hands about in front of her chest.
    ‘Got what?’ I asked. ‘Bad taste in jumpers?’
    Ang shook her head.
    ‘An inability to do her buttons up? What?’
    ‘
You know
,’ Ang said, turning scarlet.
    ‘I think she’s talking about her womanly figure,’ Megs said.
    ‘Do you mean my boobs, Ang?’ Lily asked. ‘Is that it? Boobs? Are you saying that I’ve got big boobs?’
    ‘Stop saying that! Stop saying . . . that word.’
    This was a pretty harsh attack coming from Ang, so we all stopped saying anything at all for a moment.
    Ang took a big breath. ‘Megs is pretty and Faith is a red-headed vixen and Lily’s . . . developed
and
she’s gorgeous.’
    We all took a good look at Lily’s lovely figure and beautiful face.
    Lily picked a bit of foil out of her teeth.
    I said, ‘You think I’m a red-headed vixen?’
    ‘Yes,’ Ang said. ‘And I’m just . . .’
    ‘When you say vixen . . .’
    ‘Faith!’ Megs jabbed me in the middle. ‘We’re talking about Angharad. Ang, you’re adorable.’
    ‘That’s another way of saying I’m short, isn’t it?’
    ‘No, it means you’re pretty,’ Lily said.
    I nodded. ‘And you may be on the petite side, but that’s not a bad thing. Lots of people would be jealous of your daintiness.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘And my mum says that we should all be proud of our bodies and what makes us individual and special.’ I was rehashing the speech that Mum gives me whenever
I complain about the weird elbows she’s passed on to me, but Angharad gave a small smile, so it seemed to be working.
    I followed it up in the car on the way to the party by saying, ‘Remember that you’re a lovely person as well as pretty and my granny would kill to have your tiny bottom, so embrace
your petite-y-ness and seize the moment with Elliot, yeah?’
    ‘Embrace and seize.’ She nodded. ‘Got it.’
    But once I’d selflessly raised Ang’s confidence I started to feel a bit nervous myself. What if Finn didn’t turn up? The last text I had from him said, See you
there . But I didn’t even ask him what time because I didn’t want to sound like my dad.
    When we got inside, I felt a bit better. The whole house was covered in Christmas decorations and the place was packed. There were loads of Radcliffe boys I recognised from choir, plus a lot of
Year Tens and Elevens from our school, including Becky and Zoe who sit behind me and Megs in Maths. There were also a handful of girls from St Mildred’s. I reckon that the entrance
requirements for that school are that you’ve got the face of an angel and the heart of a demon. The first person we saw when we pushed our way into the kitchen was Cherry.
    ‘Oh no. Tell me it’s not her,’ Megs hissed under her breath. She still hasn’t got over her beloved Cameron almost attending the Christmas Fayre Cherry organised. Megs
really knows how to hold a grudge.
    ‘It’s not Cherry,’ I said. Because you know me, I like to oblige my friends whenever I can. ‘It’s a giant-sized Barbie. People are always confusing the
two.’
    ‘She’d better not try to get her plastic hands