Chocolate Box Girls: Bittersweet by Cathy Cassidy Read Free Book Online

but I
am
going to do it, whether you like it or not.’
    ‘Over my dead body!’ Dad roars, and his arm swipes across the tabletop, sending the breakfast plate and the mug of tea flying across the kitchen to smash into the cupboards and splatter all over the tiles.
    ‘Go, Shay,’ Mum says, stuffing my rucksack into my arms and pushing me towards the door. ‘You too, Ben. Give your dad a chance to cool down …’
    I don’t need telling twice. I am out of there, grabbing my guitar and legging it out of the door. I’m running late already, and the kitchen drama hasn’t helped – unless I sprint I might actually miss the school bus and earn myself a late-mark for my trouble. I am loping along the path when I hear the door slam behind me.
    ‘Wait up, little brother,’ Ben yells. ‘You’re cutting it a bit fine, aren’t you? I’ll give you a lift. C’mon … I could use the company!’
    ‘OK – thanks!’
    Ben’s face is set, determined. He doesn’t say much as we pile into his beat-up old car and drive away from the kerb, just slides the sunroof back and slots an ancient Beach Boys CD into the player and turns the volume up to max. We drive like this for ten minutes, deafened by Ben’s favourite surf band churning out relentlessy happy sixties pop, before he relents and turns the volume down to bearable again.
    ‘I am going, you know,’ he says eventually. ‘I’m sick of him running my life for me, controlling every little thing I do. I didn’t know any better when I was your age, Shay, but I’m older now – I know what I want, and it definitely isn’t this.’
    ‘Dad’ll calm down,’ I say. ‘I think it was just a shock for him – it was for me!’
    ‘Yeah,’ Ben sighs. ‘Sorry. I should have said something to you. Mum told me to …’
    ‘Mum knew?’ I check, surprised.
    ‘Yeah, of course. She’s totally behind me. I’ve tried to talk to Dad about it loads of times, but he won’t listen – he just blocks me off, changes the subject. Mum was going to break it to him gently, but … too late now.’
    ‘Wow.’ I blink. ‘I always thought you
wanted
to run the sailing centre. I mean, I know that you wanted to be a footballer until you had that injury,but after that I was pretty sure you were set on the sailing centre. I really had no idea!’
    ‘That was all Dad too,’ Ben says, his eyes on the road. ‘I liked football, but it was his passion, not mine. I was good at footy, and Dad pushed me, so I went along with it … until Southampton dropped me from the youth squad. That’s when it all went pear-shaped.’
    ‘Yeah, the accident,’ I remember. ‘That must have felt like the end of the world.’
    Ben just laughs. ‘Shay … there was no accident,’ he says. ‘No injury. Southampton dropped me from the squad because in the end I wasn’t good enough.’
    My head struggles to make sense of this.
    ‘But you said …’
    ‘Dad said,’ Ben corrects me. ‘He told everyone I’d had an injury because he couldn’t bear to tell people the truth … that I just didn’t make the grade. He was ashamed of me, Shay. I’d let him down.’
    ‘Whoa,’ I say. ‘I never had a clue! I mean … you’re Dad’s blue-eyed boy, Ben! The favourite! He’s always been so proud of you …’
    ‘That’s what I always thought too,’ he shrugs. ‘But Dad’s such a control freak – he was only ever proud of me when I was doing what he said, and doing well at it. When things went wrong he lied to everyone to save face. How d’you think that felt?’
    I’m guessing Ben felt the way Dad’s always made me feel – a disappointment, a let-down, second best, but there is no comfort in knowing that my perfect big brother is not so perfect after all. I just feel sorry for him, and glad that he’s able to get out of Kitnor and follow his own path.
    I notice that Ben has driven right past the turn-off for Minehead.
    ‘Hey – you’ve missed the turning!’ I point out. ‘Better take the next