Weirdo by Cathi Unsworth Read Free Book Online

in a low murmur.
    Loud enough for Dale Smollet to catch. He was glad that, sitting in front of his two best friends, neither of them could have seen his face as Samantha Lamb walked into the room and stood in front of them, biting her lip with that crooked front tooth, head tilted to hide one eye behind a golden curtain of hair, while the other one flicked despondently round the room and then came to rest back on the floor. Followed her gaze down her honey-coloured legs to her long white socks, noted the curve of her ankles and bit his own lip.
    The blonde girl looked scared, which didn’t surprise Corrine. Meeting Pinhead Pearson for the first time did give you the creeps. But Corrine knew he was all right really, so she smiled encouragingly. “All right?” she said.
    “Hello,” the other girl replied, still looking worried, putting a blue-and-pink-striped canvas bag down on the top of her new desk. Corrine liked the look of that bag. She lifted the lid off her own desk and pointed to where she had all her books, pens and pencils neatly arranged inside. A page cut out from
Smash Hits
taped under the lid, Madonna with a big black crucifix earring and bright yellow and mauve eye-shadow.
    “Put the stuff what you don’t need in your desk, like this,” she said.
    The new girl just stared at her.
    “And when you’ve done that,” Mr Pearson loomed into view, “here is your curriculum.”
    He handed Samantha a piece of paper with her timetable. Her results from the public school she had previously been attending in London put her in the top stream, so Corrine wouldn’t be much help showing her around.
    “Deborah Carver,” Mr Pearson looked across to the other side of the classroom. “You have the same lessons as Samantha here, can I trust you to show her how to get about?”
    Debbie opened her mouth but it took a while for the words to come out. She had been staring at the new girl with a strange feeling of dread coiling inside her. She didn’t know why, or what it was about her. Later she would imagine that she had been struck by a premonition, that this girl who looked so shining and pretty actually had a black cloud hanging over her head that was about to open up on her world.
    On all of their worlds.
    * * *
    Three hours later they were back clustered around their desks, Corrine and Debbie sharing their packed lunches with the new girl the way they always did with each other.
    “So where d’you live then, Sam?” Corrine enquired.
    “Marine Parade,” the new girl replied, “North Denes end.”
    Debbie managed to swallow the mouthful of sandwich she had been chewing with a gulp of relief. North Denes was theother side of town from them. At least they wouldn’t have to walk home with her and all.
    “That’s where my nana and granddad live,” Samantha went on. “But I’m moving soon.” She looked down into her Tupperware lunchbox, at the remains of her sandwich.
    “My mum’s bought a house on Tollgate Street. I’ve got to go there in a couple of weeks. I wish I didn’t have to.” Samantha sighed, passing the final quarter over to Corrine, whose contribution to the meal had been only a packet of cheese and onion crisps.
    “You sure?” even Corrine thought this was going a bit far.
    Debbie’s throat contracted again as the words sank in.
    Samantha nodded. “Not hungry,” she explained. Her eyes rose to meet Debbie’s.
    “But Tollgate Street’s really nice,” said Debbie, her face flushing as she thought:
And it’s right near Swing’s
. That pub and the art room were the only places she wanted to spend her life right now. She had deliberately avoided showing the new girl her usual lunchtime hangout. But how long would Corrine be able to keep anything secret?
    “It’s not that,” Samantha said, flicking a strand of hair out of her eyes, “it’s Mum. I don’t want to live with her, I want to stay with my nana and granddad.”
    “She an old cow then, your mum?” asked Corrine, her mouth