Lula Does the Hula Read Free Page B

anything of him since . . . you know . . .’
    ‘Since she snogged him? No,’ said Pen.
    ‘Pen!’
    ‘So she’s had a one-night stand, and her man has vanished from sight,’ said Dan thoughtfully, leaning further out of the window again. ‘Interesting. Very interesting.’
    ‘Don’t,’ I said, my cheeks flaring with colour. ‘Don’t even go there.’
    ‘Nothing’s happened to Jack de Souza,’ said Pen, examining a fingernail by the light of the rising sun. ‘He calls Tallulah before dawn each day.’
    ‘Maybe nothing’s happened to him only because he’s kept his distance. Or may–’
    ‘Goodbye, Dan,’ I said with as much dignity as I could muster. ‘Goodbye, Pen.’ And I crossed the courtyard to get to my annexe door.
    I had stuff to think about.
    I pushed my door closed with an exhausted sigh and wasted no time in filling my kettle for some hot water to drink. My mind was whirling with worries – Dad seemed happy enough to be performing at the regatta, but any performance is stressful, ultimately, and the last thing I wanted was for him to be stressed, given his recent problems . . .
    And Jack . . .
    No!
I shook my head. He was absolutely
fine
. I was not going to start stressing about him.
    Outside I could hear Pen saying something sharp to Next-Door Dan and the rumble of his laugh before she hauled Boodle’s hairy ass inside and slammed the door to the main house behind her. I grinned, despite myself. Pen had all the middle-sister issues I’d missed out on, and herfeisty attitude could be really funny.
    The grin was wiped from my face when my annexe door whacked open, yet again, smashing a chunk of plaster from the wall.
    A slim vision of keep-fit glamour was framed in the dawn haze.
    ‘Alex!’ I shrieked. ‘Geez! What the frik?’
    ‘Why aren’t you dressed?’ hissed Alex. ‘We need to go! Now! What’s Next-Door Dan doing talking to Pen? Did you hear them? Are you making tea? Go get dressed!’
    ‘Stop, stop!’ I said, flapping my hands at her. ‘Listen to yourself! Bossing me around like that! How much white tea have you had today?’
    ‘Not much,’ said Alex, jittering from one foot to the next. ‘That stuff’s full of antioxidants. Packed full. Full, full, full. So how about Frey’s, huh? You need to help me. We’ve got to go in the back way, and I’ve no idea how. Police all over the road at the front. Hopefully they’ve cleared off from the dam, though, so we can get in there and see –’
    ‘Firstly,’ I said firmly, ‘we’re not going anywhere now. There’s no chance we could get up to Frey’s and back and still have time to get ready for school.’
    ‘I’ve brought my bag,’ said Alex. ‘And there’s time if we run. Running is the only option. That way we look like we’re exercising.’ She bolted up to my bedroom and myrunning bra, leggings and a manky T-shirt came sailing down the steps. ‘Put those on!’
    I sighed and shook my head. The thing with Alex is there’s no wiggling out with that girl. Once she’s decided, she’s decided. Better get this over with.
    Alex and I stretched our hamstrings outside the front gate. Opposite us were the remains of the Setting Sun Retirement Home, charred and still smoking, though every timber had been doused three times over since it burned down two weeks ago. Between my side of the road and the other was a three-metre bank of waving grasses, at the top of which was a tree stump on which I perched whenever I waited for pickups from friends. Which was often because friends did not come to my house; I went to theirs. My house was gnarled and flaky and unravelling at the edges, with help from my chaotic, untidy family. It was embarrassing. Even Blue was starting to drop raisins in places that no vacuum cleaner would ever reach. You’d think with all Dad’s number-one hits we’d have money to spend on the place, but apparently not.
    On my tree stump this morning was Mr Kadinski. He usually sat in a rocking chair