Playlist for a Broken Heart Read Free Page A

here we are, sun shining into our top-of-the-range
kitchen, us sitting at the table like nothing’s happened. I can’t get my head around it.’
    She nodded. ‘I know. It must be hard for you. Your dad and I have lived with it a bit longer and, although that doesn’t make it easier, we’ve had some time to adjust. Both of
us feel really bad about having to take you out of school on top of everything else.’
    ‘Why do we have to go so soon?’
    ‘It’s not really soon. Things have been difficult for months but came to a head recently. Your father didn’t want to say anything before, not until he’d explored every
avenue to get us out of this mess, in case some miracle happened, but it didn’t and it seems there is no way out. As you know your dad’s already spoken to your
headmaster—’
    ‘About the fees?’
    ‘And you leaving, so you . . . you don’t have to go back at all if you don’t want. You’d have been breaking up next week for the Easter holidays anyway.’
    ‘Not go back at all? Why not? I’ll want to say goodbye to everyone. Oh . . . but what will I tell them?’ I remembered my conversation with Allegra.
    Mum looked at me tenderly. ‘It could be awkward for you,’ she said.
    ‘But I’ll have to tell Mr Collins that I can’t play Juliet after all. He’ll have to give the part to someone else.’
Mia Jeffrey probably
, I thought and an
image of her with Alex flashed through my mind.
So
not fair.
    Mum sighed. ‘Oh Paige, you got the part.’
    ‘I told you last night.’
    ‘Did you?’ Mum’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I didn’t take it in. Believe me, both your father and I had been dreading telling you what’s happened. I do feel
we’ve let you down so badly. I can’t tell you how sorry I am, and if there was anything I could have done, you know I would.’ She sniffed back tears, got up to go to the sink and
looked out the window so I wouldn’t see her face.
    Seeing Mum upset made me realise that this wasn’t just about me. ‘Maybe we can come back here some time,’ I said. ‘When Dad’s sorted it all out.’
    ‘Unlikely,’ she said without turning around. ‘But never say never, hey?’
    The following weeks were a blur of sorting, packing and trying to accept that we really were moving. Mum told me more about the school I’d be starting at in Bath after
the Easter holidays, though I still didn’t want to hear or believe it. I was amazed that Dad and her had sorted it so quickly but it seemed that, unbeknown to me, so many arrangements had
been going on behind the scenes for a few months.
    Allegra was round every day before we left, or I went over to her place. She had soon grasped what was really going on. We talked it over again and again and she was totally cool about the fact
that we didn’t have any money any more. ‘Happens to loads of people,’ she said. ‘I bet your dad will get it together again.’ I wasn’t so sure. He went about the
place like a robot and looked even more in shock than I was. Allegra asked her mum if I could go and live with them but my mum wouldn’t hear of it. She looked so sad when I put the idea to
her that I didn’t pursue it. Allegra and I swore we’d be friends forever though, and would Skype and text daily as we had always done.
    I did go into school again but only for a few days to get my things and talk to a few teachers about various projects I hadn’t finished. They were all very kind, which made it worse and
made me want to just leave. I knew I had no option and there didn’t seem to be any point in prolonging the agony, that part of my life was over. Also, I dreaded seeing Alex and knowing what
could have been but now would never be. However, as luck would have it, I bumped into him on my last day when he was coming out of the canteen and Allegra and I were walking along the corridor.
    ‘Hey, Paige,’ he said when he saw me.
    I blushed and felt flattered that he’d remembered my name. ‘Oh. Hi, I mean