The Mag Hags by Lollie Barr Read Free Book Online Page B

Lot, Lookey Here, Chicz Flickz, Smile, Ramble On, Lucky, The Lost Cause …
    â€˜What about calling it The Mag Hag?’ said Mand. ‘I kind of like that name. I’ve got no idea why but I think it suits us.’
    â€˜The Mag Hag?’ said Cat laughing. ‘That’s a classic!’
    â€˜Yeah,’ said Wanda, as Maggie and Belle nodded in agreement. ‘Why not? The Mag Hag – I love it!’
    â€˜The Mag Hag it is!’ said Mand laughing.
    â€˜Okay,’ said Maggie, not quite believing that they had come up with a name without the need for swinging handbags, ‘now we’ve got to focus on creating stuffto put in The Mag Hag .’ She got out her notebook from her black school bag. ‘Let’s check the stories we have already. Have you started the body image story, Mand?’
    â€˜Yeah, I have actually. I Googled an expert then emailed her requesting an interview. She replied yesterday. You’ll have it next week.’
    Maggie was impressed; so were the others, but they’d never admit it. ‘And what about your make-up article, Wanda?’
    â€˜On its way.’
    â€˜And Cat, did you get that letter off to Tyler Grey?’
    â€˜Yes, big boss woman!’ said Cat, saluting like she was on a navy frigate somewhere in the Persian Gulf. ‘I’m on the case.’
    â€˜In the meantime, we can meet up in smaller groups to work on individual stories. Maybe break into a design group and a features group. Shall we all swap mobile numbers?’ suggested Maggie.
    The girls got out all manner of marvels of modern technology masquerading as mobile phones, and punched in each other’s numbers. No one commented on the weird sequence of events that had resulted in arch enemies Mand and Cat, cool girl Belle, invisible chick Maggie and maths boffin Wanda ending up in one another’s address books.
    â€˜We need to get together after school again, and soon,’said Maggie as the period was ending. ‘We’re going to have a features meeting next, which Mand will be running.’
    â€˜Why don’t we go to your place then, Mand?’ said Wanda.
    Mand felt slightly unnerved about having the Mag Hags over to her place after the poshness of Belle’s mansion and the suburban niceties of Wanda’s house. She lived in a small two-bedroom apartment on the west side of Baywood, just behind the hospital. Not the most salubrious of addresses, and on top of that, there was her mum – who could cause untold damage to Mand’s credibility with a single utterance.
    â€˜Yeah, okay,’ said Mand. ‘Sure, um, my place it is.’

The following Tuesday afternoon Mand was sitting on her cloud-covered doona dressed in skinny black jeans, her black Love Junkie T-shirt and black gym boots. Her bedroom was a mass of contradictions, from girlie to grownup. There was a poster of TwoHeads, the obscure experimental rock band that most teenagers thought were depressing but Mand thought expressed her emotions perfectly. She secretly loved the fact that no one else got them – it made her feel special.
    Beside her single bed, seven ragged-looking plush puppies of differing shapes and sizes were tossed in a casual pile of dogginess. Mand would have died of embarrassment if the girls knew that Woppit, Warren, Bunny, Betty, Shools, Jeremy and Niven all had names.
    They were all crammed into Mand’s tiny room between piles of clean clothes, piles of dirty clothes, CDs, magazines, books and crusty plates and mouldy cups. Mand had intended to give the room a cursory tidy-up before the girls arrived but hadn’t got around to it. Her room, like her head, was a mess.
    In the corner, an acoustic guitar leaned against the wall. Her dad had bought her her first guitar at the age of three. It was a little kid’s miniature one that was impossible to tune and made such an unholy racket when she played it, but Mand had carted her guitar