Boys Don't Cry Read Online Free PDF Page B

‘Er . . . a while ago.’
    ‘Hang on, she was your girlfriend back in the day, wasn’t she? Why’re you suddenly so keen to get in touch with her?’
    ‘No particular reason,’ I replied feebly. ‘I was just wondering about her, that’s all.’
    ‘Funny time to wonder about her,’ Collette commented.
    ‘So would you know how I can get in touch with her?’ I asked again, trying to rein in my impatience.
    ‘Nope. Sorry, Dante. Haven’t a clue.’
    ‘Oh, OK. D’you know anyone who might know then?’
    ‘No. As far as I know, Melanie didn’t keep in touch with anyone.’
    Damn it. What was I going to do now?
    ‘Got your exam results?’ asked Collette.
    ‘Yeah. Four A-stars,’ I dismissed.
    ‘That’s fantastic. ’Grats. I knew you would walk the exams though, Mr Boffin of Egghead Lane!’
    ‘Thanks – I think.’
    What was I going to do?
    ‘Well?’ Collette prompted.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Aren’t you going to ask me about my exam results then?’ she asked, sounding a little peeved.
    ‘Yeah, of course. I was just about to. Did you get the grades you wanted?’
    ‘Yep. Three A-stars and an A.’ The warmth in Collette’s voice left me cold. ‘So we’ll be going to the same university. Different faculties but the same uni. I can’t wait.’
    ‘Neither can I,’ I replied faintly.
    Collette and I had applied to the same university more by luck than design. She wanted to study Computer Science with a view to becoming a games designer. Collette was determined to have a career that would make her name and her fortune. Her older sister Veronica was a social worker who, according to Collette, got paid a whole heap of nothing for doing a totally thankless job. It sounded really unappealing.
    ‘I’m going to learn from my sister’s career mistakes,’ Collette had told me, more than once.
    Me? I’d wanted to be a journalist ever since Mum died. Our first choice of university was over two hundred and forty kilometres away, which suited me fine. I longed toleave home and be independent. And more than that, if I’m honest, I longed to only have to worry about Adam long-distance. He was my brother and I cared about him – but God knows he was hard work.
    ‘It’s going to be so great,’ Collette enthused. ‘You still ready to celebrate tomorrow night? It’ll be fun to see everyone again before we all scatter to the four corners of the earth. I never understood that phrase. The earth is a sphere. So how can it have four corners?’
    ‘Doorbell,’ I lied. ‘Got to go. Talk later.’ I hung up before Collette could get out another word.
    What was I going to do
?
    I had to do something . . . I glanced down at my watch. Dad and Adam would be back soon. I had an hour or less to try and sort out this mess. Maybe . . . maybe I could hide it until I managed to track down Melanie?
    What a stupid idea. How on earth was I going to hide a baby? But I couldn’t arrange my thoughts in any sort of sensible order. I never realized it before but panic was a living, breathing thing and it had taken root inside me and was ruthlessly and relentlessly eating away at my entire body. I opened the kitchen door.
    At least the baby had stopped crying now.
    Dammit. My mistake. It was obviously just taking a breather to get back its energy and to refill its lungs, because it was now bawling even louder than before. I shut the kitchen door again.
    I spent the next ten minutes phoning around friends and friends of friends, trying to find someone, anyone who could give me more information about where Melaniemight be. I was out of luck. When she’d left school, she’d cut contact with not just me, but with everyone we both knew. After twenty minutes, I had to admit defeat. Those who did remember her didn’t have a clue as to her current whereabouts. Then I had another idea. I used my phone to check out Facebook. If Mel was on Facebook, maybe I could send her a message or find out if we had any mutual friends who might know her