Clean Break (21 page)

‘Surely you're not on a diet, Julie, there's nothing of you,' said Eddie.

‘She's lost a little weight because life's been a bit of a struggle for her recently,' said Gran. ‘But things are looking up now, aren't they, dear? Though she does work ever so hard. She runs her own hairdressing business – she's so enterprising. Tell Eddie all about the Good Fairy business, Julie.'

‘Oh Mum, give it a rest!' said my mum.

Eddie excused himself tactfully and went off to the gents.

‘Isn't he
gorgeous
!' said Gran, leaning forward, showing quite a lot of her chest above her pink lacy top. ‘Julie, for pity's sake,
talk
more, try to impress him. He's obviously very smitten but you've got to encourage him.'

‘I don't want to,' said Mum. ‘I keep telling you, I'm not interested in any other men. And he's old, anyway.'

‘He's
mature
. That's what you need, a real man who wants to settle down, not some boyish fool who'll play around and break your heart. Eddie's still in his prime.'

‘And he's fat.'

‘He's just well built, and he obviously likes his food. He looks a fine figure of a man. He wears his clothes well too. His cream trousers are beautifully cut and I love his shirt, don't you. Exactly the colour of his eyes.'

‘You're just impressed with him because he's got money,' Mum snapped.

‘Well, money's not such a bad thing, is it? Think of the difference he'd make to all our lives! And you would be giving him back a reason for living, companionship, fun, laughter. He even gets on well with the kids, so he'd be a good father to them.'

‘We've
got
a father,' I said indignantly. ‘Stop it, Gran. You're spoiling everything. This is meant to be
our
meal, me treating Mum and you lot. Now it looks like I've got to fork out for this Eddie too.'

‘Of course you haven't, Em,' said Gran. ‘As a matter of fact, I think Eddie's over there sorting out the bill himself.'

I could have burst into tears. I wanted to rush over, elbow Eddie out the way and pay myself, but Mum hung onto me.

‘We'll have
your
meal tomorrow, Em,' she said quickly.

‘I think Eddie might have other plans,' Gran said. ‘Maybe he'll want to invite you out for a quiet meal, just the two of you. Don't worry, I'll babysit the kids. You just go for it, Julie.'

‘I don't
want
to go for him, Mum! And you're wrong too, I don't think he fancies me in the slightest,' said Mum.

But after we'd all finished thanking him for the lovely meal (I said it through gritted teeth) Eddie said how very much he'd enjoyed meeting us all – and that he hoped we could all meet up again before the end of our holiday.

‘What about tomorrow evening?' Gran said quickly.

‘Well, that would be great,' said Eddie. ‘But I was actually wondering about a quieter meal for two tomorrow?'

Gran grinned triumphantly. Mum went bright red. She looked at Eddie, agonized. But he wasn't looking at her.

He was looking at Gran.

‘Would you care to come out with me tomorrow, Ellen?' he said.

I COULDN'T WAIT
to go back to school to see Jenny and Yvonne.

‘You'll never guess what happened!' I said.

‘Your dad came back and you all went on holiday together?' said Jenny.

I swallowed. ‘As if!'

‘Yeah, tell me about it,' said Yvonne. ‘Mind you, I'm not sure I'd
want
mine back. He kept moaning he was tired because my new little half sister keeps crying at night. He'd only come down the swirly chute and swim in the proper pool once. Most of the time we had to stay in the boring little toddler's pool with boring little Bethany.'

‘I went swimming heaps of times. I can swim freestyle now –
and
dive.'

‘You can do a proper dive?' said Yvonne. ‘You mean just off the side?'

‘And off the springboard!'

‘Hey, will you teach me?'

‘Sure,' I said airily. ‘Let's go swimming together. You too, Jen.'

‘No, catch me, I
hate
getting my head under the water. I didn't go in swimming properly all holiday, I just paddled. I suppose I'm a bit of a wimp.'

‘But you've got beautifully brown,' I said. ‘Honestly, Gran kept smothering me in so much sunscreen you wouldn't ever think I'd had a week in Spain. Listen, let me tell you about Gran! She's got a boyfriend!'

‘She's what? But she's old!' said Yvonne.

‘And she's all grumpy and bossy, if you don't mind my saying so, Em,' said Jenny.

‘It's true, though! Isn't it amazing! He's five years younger than her too, so Mum and I keep kidding her that Eddie is her toy boy. You think she'd get mad but she just goes all pink and giggly. She isn't anywhere
near
as grumpy and bossy now.'

‘Does she see a lot of him?' asked Jenny.

‘Well, he lives in Spain, but she went out with him while she was there, and now she's home she keeps phoning. He's coming over sometime this
autumn and then she's planning to stay with him sometime in the winter,' I said.

‘Have you seen them snogging?' Yvonne asked, giggling.

‘People their age don't
snog
!' said Jenny.

‘Oh yes they do!' I said. ‘You should have seen them saying goodbye at the airport! Vita and Maxie kept going yuck-yuck-yuck – you know what little kids are like – but Gran and Eddie took no notice, going slurpy slurpy like film stars.'

‘Do you think they'll get
married
?' said Jenny. ‘That would be cool, then you'd get to be a bridesmaid.'

‘Oh ha ha, imagine me in a bridesmaid's pink satin frock. I'd look like a giant meringue,' I said.

‘You can have any colour bridemaid's dress. Blue would suit you, Em. Or green.'

‘OK. Think blue whale. Think jolly green giant,' I said.

‘What are you on about?' said Yvonne. ‘Are you fussed because you're fat?'

‘You don't call people
fat
, Yvonne, it's rude. You say big or large or overweight,' said Jenny. Then she put her arm round me. ‘But actually, Em, you're not
as
big as you used to be.'

‘Yeah, I thought you looked a bit different,' said Yvonne. She pinged the waistband of my school skirt. ‘Look, it's not tight any more. Maybe it was
just puppy fat before. Or puppy
big
!'

‘Woof woof!' I said, clowning about like a big puppy, making them both laugh.

I really was losing weight, even though I didn't always stick totally to any boring old diet. I just didn't fill up all the time on chocolate.

I started to go swimming regularly too. I went with Yvonne on Saturday and we had a great time. She was just as fast as me at breaststroke but I could beat her at freestyle! I taught her to dive too, though we couldn't practise much as the pool attendant said diving wasn't really allowed during public swimming sessions.

‘You could join our special Earlybirds club though, and come and train before school if you wanted.'

Yvonne wasn't keen because it would mean having to get up way too early. I wondered if I wanted to go by myself. It was so great to be good at something like swimming. I got such a thrill storming past heaps of other kids in the water. I was so used to being rubbish in any race and coming last. I wondered if I could ever come
first
in a swimming race if I trained hard.

I asked Mum if I could join this Earlybirds club.

‘Oh Em, it's such a rush in the morning as it is. I honestly don't see how I could manage taking you all the way to the baths and getting Vita and
Maxie ready for school and me off to my first hairdressing appointment.'

‘I could take myself there, Mum, you know I could!'

‘Well, I know you're more grown up than any of us, but I'm sure they wouldn't allow it.' Mum paused. ‘Well, we'll find out.'

There was a notice up in the swimming baths. C
HILDREN UNDER NINE YEARS OLD MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT
.

‘It's OK, Mum! I'm over nine! I can go!' I said triumphantly.

Mum still took me the first time, while Gran took Vita and Maxie to school.

I started to get nervous as we got nearer the baths. My tummy was in a knot by the time I got in the changing rooms. I could see a whole bunch of kids under the showers. They were all much much much thinner than me. The girls all had sleek black costumes too, real serious swimmer stuff. No one else had a big blue flowery costume. I pulled it right down at the back to make sure it covered my bottom. I held in my stomach, so that the knot tightened.

Mum walked with me to the edge of the pool. There were lots of children swimming. They threshed up and down, up and down, in lane after lane. They were all so fast, so fit, so fantastic. They could all swim much much much better than me.

‘I want to get out of here!' I mumbled to Mum.

I was all set to scoot straight back into the cubicle, pull my clothes on and make a run for it. But a big blonde woman in a tracksuit spotted me and came bounding over in her bouncy trainers. She beamed at me cheerily. She was surprisingly fat herself, filling her tracksuit right up so that it clung as snugly as a wetsuit.

‘Hello there, chickie. I'm Maggie. Have you come for the Earlybirds session? Let's see what you can do.'

‘I'm not good enough,' I said, looking at the children splashing up and down the pool. ‘I can't swim as fast as that.'

‘Don't worry, neither can I, not nowadays!' said Maggie. ‘Come on, jump in and show me.'

I looked round at Mum. She gave me a little thumbs-up sign.

I jumped in the water. I was in such a nervous state I kept my mouth open and swallowed a bucketful. I coughed and choked, going scarlet.

Don't worry, darling,' said Maggie. ‘Take a few deep breaths, that's the ticket. Now – swim!'

I swam while she watched. Then she nodded.

‘I'm not as good as the others, am I?' I said.

‘Not yet. But you've got potential. You wait and see. You stick at it, and you'll be swimming like a little fish by Christmas, and maybe you'll be the
star of all my Earlybirds by next summer.'

I wasn't so sure, but I did stick at it. I went most days before school. A few of the prettiest, skinniest girls giggled and whispered when I was in the shower, but I did my best not to take any notice. Some of the boys were OK. I helped one very little boy sort out his locker when his key had jammed and he tagged round after me like I was his mum. He wouldn't give his own mum a look-in, it was all ‘I want
Emily
to dry my hair' or ‘I want
Emily
to tie my laces.' I ended up having to fuss round him just like I did with Maxie and Vita but I didn't mind. He was quite sweet. He was wicked in the pool, so fast and so strong. I knew I'd never get to be as good as him even though he was half my size. Still, after a few weeks I did get a lot quicker, and could just about beat some of the smaller girls.

‘You're going great guns, chickie,' said Maggie. She tweaked my upper arms. ‘Getting muscles just like Popeye too! My Emily Earlybird is getting mega fit.'

She was just joking, being sweet to me, but I really did seem to be getting a lot fitter. I was still rubbish at PE and games at school, but at least I didn't get so breathless now. I was really getting thinner too. I was still
fat
, but not ultra-wobbly-enormous.

‘You're like Nellie in Jenna Williams's
Teen
series,' said Jenny. ‘She goes swimming in
Teens on a Diet
, remember? Hey, Em, did you know Jenna Williams is doing a big book-signing up in London next Saturday?'

‘Really!'

‘Yes, there was all this stuff on her fan club website. She's got a special new book coming out. It sounds soooo good –
The Emerald Sisters
– and there's a big new bookshop in Covent Garden called Addeyman's. Jenna Williams is going to be there all day. I'm so mad though, because we're going to stay with my gran and grandad in Devon that weekend. I've begged and pleaded with my mum but she says I've got to go with them, there's just no way I can make them see reason, so if I give you all my books, Em, will you get Jenna Williams to sign them?'

I blinked at Jenny, trying to take it all in. ‘Next Saturday? Jenna Williams is really going to be there? You can actually meet her and talk to her and get her to sign books?'

‘
You
can, you lucky thing.
I
can't. But you will take all my books to be signed, won't you? Please say you will, Em. Then I'll be your best friend for ever.'

‘Hey,
I'm
your best friend!' said Yvonne, giving her a nudge.

‘Yes, but if you read Jenna Williams like Em and me you'd find out you can have
two
best friends,
like in her book
Friends Forever
, when Emma and Ali are parted but then Emma gets to be friends with Jampot as well. And threesomes work perfectly – look at Nellie and Marnie and Nadia in the
Teen
books.'