Under My Skin Read Free Page B

best friends. ‘Sal! Get your ass up here! New
Satanville
in t-minus two minutes! And you better have sweets!’
    â€˜I come bearing Haribo!’ Sally replied.
    Stan’s head appeared next to Jennie’s in the window. ‘Come on up, Feather, the door’s open!’
    Sally hurried onto the porch and let herself in. The door was always unlocked. Unlike her sterile abode, Stan’s was always noisy and chaotic, the way a home should be. Edie, wearing Stan’s hand-me-down Buzz Lightyear costume, ran up to greet her in the hall. ‘Sally!’ She wrapped herself around Sally’s legs.
    â€˜Hey there, you. I’m gonna need my legs back!’
    â€˜They’re mine now!’ the little girl growled.
    â€˜Edie, let her go!’ It was Mrs Randall, Stan’s mum. She was heavily pregnant again, although just as full of cheer as ever. She approached and gave Sally a hug. ‘Go on up, sweetheart, you don’t wanna miss the start of your show.’
    â€˜Thanks, Mrs Randall.’
    â€˜How many times?’ She smiled. ‘
Please
call me Lou.’
    â€˜Sorry!’ Sally blushed – she had to be reminded every time. Edie unhooked herself and Sally dashed up the stairs. Stan’s bedroom door was covered in stickers of bands they liked and a massive poster of the
Satanville
cast standing in a graveyard. She barged her way in and found Stan sitting cross-legged on his bed, Mr Squid sat in his lap, while Jennie was on the Pokémon beanbag next to the bed.
    â€˜Hey!’ Stan shifted to make room for her. He put the well-loved stuffed squid with buttons-for-eyes on his pillow. ‘You OK?’
    Jennie sprang up like Tigger and threw her arms round her. Sally breathed in her familiar, sugary perfume. She smelled like Love Hearts. When Sally closed her eyes and thought of her friend, she always saw strawberry-milkshake pink. ‘Relax, Jen, I brought the gummy bears! You don’t have to wrestle them from me.’
    â€˜That wasn’t for the gummy bears, dummy.’ She tucked a magenta stripe of hair behind her ear. ‘That was for the trauma. Stan told me what happened.’
    â€˜Are you all right?’ Stan looked up at her, his wide, blue eyes peering out from under his floppy fringe.
    She threw him the gummy bears. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. It was awful, obviously, but I guess it’s inevitable. Sooner or later, we’ll all accidentally hold Melody Vine’s hand.’
    Her friends chuckled.
    â€˜God, I hope you sterilised your hand afterwards.’ Jennie flopped back into the beanbag. ‘But seriously?’
But seriously
was their code to stop joking around.
    â€˜But seriously? It was messed up. I wish I could sterilise my
brain
– there’s no way I’ll sleep tonight.’ She joined Stan on the bed, fingering her bracelets. The three of them had matching ones – a tribute to Zeke from
Satanville
who wore the same ones – three straps of red, brown and black leather twined together.
    â€˜Man, you are so lucky to have seen a real dead person,’ said Stan, morbid as ever.
    â€˜Oh yeah, I feel blessed.’
    â€˜But seriously. Who was he?’ Stan asked.
    Sally shrugged. ‘No idea. The police couldn’t find any ID on him. John Doe, I guess.’ That’s what they always said on American shows.
    â€˜Oh, that’s so sad. Sadface.’ Jennie made a sad face.
    â€˜Double sadface.’ Sally paused, a little ashamed of what she was about to say. ‘But it was really scary too. There was something . . . wrong about him . . . I’ve never seen anyone freak out like that.’
    Stan gave her a gentle punch on the arm. It was weird; even though they’d known each other
for ever
and were best friends, they never hugged, held hands or touched unless absolutely necessary. They had very definite rules about personal space. ‘It must have been awful – but . . .