Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery by Keren David Read Free Book Online

‘I’ve been there. . . I think you’d like it.’
    â€˜You’re forgetting one thing, Lia,’ said Jack.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜What about Shazia? Her dad’s never going to let her go on holiday with all of us, is he? How’re you going to buy him off, Lia?’
    Oh. This was a problem. Shaz’s dad used to be quite normal about religion – i.e. not very interested – butthen a few years ago he started going to the mosque a lot more and ratcheting up the Islamic rules they kept at home. He was always threatening to move Shaz to an all-girls school, and about a year ago she started wearing a headscarf. We never really talked about it. Shaz was mega-sensitive about Islamophobia – she was constantly lecturing Jack because his dad read the
Daily Express
– but I’d always assumed that she found it a real pain. You can’t imagine someone as stroppy as Shaz wanting to hide under a scarf. I had no doubts that when she was eighteen she’d just do her own thing.
    â€˜I’ll have to sort it out somehow,’ I said. ‘Maybe we can pretend it’s a girls-only trip. Or go to a Muslim country – Morocco, maybe, or Turkey.’
    â€˜Dubai,’ said Raf, dreamily. ‘The world’s only six star hotel is in Dubai.’
    â€˜You’re going to be spending Lia’s money for her, are you?’ asked Jack. ‘Because, as her manager, I can tell you that if she’s going to fork out for a six star hotel, the guest list will be strictly limited. Just Lia and me – and Shaz, if we can persuade her.’
    Raf finished his latte and stood up. ‘I’d better be going. Bye, Lia.’
    I watched him walk away. ‘Thanks a
lot
, Jack. I’vebeen trying to get to know him all year, and you have to be completely obnoxious.’
    â€˜You have?’ Jack speared his last rasher of bacon, and plunged it into his mouth. He’d have to learn some table manners if we were going to hang out at six star hotels. Although I’m not sure if they’d even serve a Full English in Dubai.
    â€˜Don’t waste your time with him, Lia. He’s clearly gay.’
    â€˜No he’s
not
.’
    â€˜He
so
is.’
    â€˜You’re just a homophobe. And he’s
not
.’
    â€˜So you fancy him?’
    â€˜That’s my business.’
    â€˜Yeah, right, Lia. Don’t bring him on our holiday. Anyway I’m going. Thanks for breakfast.’
    Jack gave me an eggy kiss on the cheek and left. I went to the counter, asked for the bill, which came to £15.75 – the prices went up with the polka-dot tablecloths – and pulled out my purse.
    Nothing there.
    I might be a multi-millionaire, but I was just as skint as I had been the night before.

Chapter 6
    How good are you at making decisions? Because you’ll need to improve
. . .
    â€˜The most important question for you to think about,’ said Gilda, ‘is whether you go public or not.’
    Gilda was my Winner’s Adviser. She was about Mum’s age but a bit curvier, and she had a nice friendly smile. Plus she had eight million pounds for me. I liked her right away.
    Anyway, when she started going on about publicity I was kind of surprised. Surely the most important question was how I was going to break it to my family that my money was mine. Only mine. And then there was the question of how to move things on with Raf, after our promising start. If only Jack hadn’t put him off. Maybe I could pop round later and find out. . .
    Also, how quickly could I move out of this shabby maisonette, and into my own plush apartment?Could I leave school right away? Was that leather jacket still on the stall? And should I pick chestnut highlights or go the whole hog and opt for the Japanese straightening treatment, to eliminate my messy curls forever? Obviously that wasn’t the
most
important question, but it was what Natasha and I had spent forty