Chocolate Box Girls: Bittersweet Read Online Free PDF Page A

bites a piece off.
    ‘Hey!’ I protest. ‘That was for Cherry!’
    ‘Get her another,’ Honey shrugs. ‘Cheers for putting up with me last night, Shay. I don’t think anyone else would have had the patience to listen, and I can tell you right now that nobody else could have talked me into going home. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing …’
    ‘A good thing,’ I say. ‘Definitely.’
    ‘Maybe. Anyhow, I just wanted to thank you for last night.’
    Without warning, she flings her arms round me in a dramatic hug that has heads turning all around the canteen. I am trying to untangle myself whenover her shoulder I see Cherry standing in the canteen doorway, her face frozen, her eyes wide.
    I have no idea at all how long she’s been there.

‘Hang on, Cherry … this is NOT what it seems!’ I yelp.
    Honey steps back from me, amused and apologetic. ‘Oops!’ she says. ‘Didn’t know you were there, stepsis!’
    ‘Obviously,’ Cherry says, her voice a whisper.
    ‘I was just saying thank you,’ Honey explains. ‘Shay was a total lifesaver last night. He sat up talking to me till all hours, then walked me home.’
    My heart sinks so low it’s probably in my Converse trainers. I am in trouble – big trouble, serious trouble.
    ‘Cherry, I can explain,’ I protest, although I’m not sure I can.
    ‘Don’t bother,’ Cherry says. ‘I think I can see what’s going on.’
    A small crowd of kids has gathered to gawp at the showdown. They remember the days when I used to date Honey and are putting two and two together, coming up with all the wrong answers. Just like Cherry.
    ‘Are you cross because he didn’t return yourcalls?’ Honey asks brightly. ‘Because that was totally my fault. He wanted to, but you called right in the middle of a big heart-to-heart so I asked him not to answer … honestly, blame me!’
    I wish the ground would open up and swallow me.
    Cherry doesn’t even glance at her stepsister. She looks straight at me and I can see disappointment, disgust, dismay in her eyes. I hate myself for putting those things there.
    ‘So your phone was out of battery?’ she asks quietly. ‘Nice one, Shay. Next time just tell me straight that you don’t want to talk to me. Except that there won’t be a next time, OK?’
    The kids crowded round hold their breath, and I stifle the urge to tell them all to get lost. It wouldn’t help.
    ‘Cherry, listen –’
    ‘There’s nothing you can say that I want to listen to,’ Cherry says. ‘Why would I believe anything you have to say? You’re a liar and a cheat!’
    There is no comeback to that. I am not a cheat, but a liar? Guilty as charged. I have lied to my girlfriend and been caught out; it doesn’t matter that I lied for all the right reasons, to stop her from worrying, stop her from getting the wrong idea. She got the wrong idea anyhow.
    ‘Harsh, Cherry,’ Honey says, clearly amused.‘But then again … well, now you know how it feels.’
    ‘Honey!’ I argue. ‘Cherry – it’s not the same at all, if you’d just listen –’
    ‘I’ve heard enough,’ Cherry says, and her voice cracks a little as she speaks. ‘Stay out of my way, Shay Fletcher. We’re through. I never want to see you again!’
    She turns on her heel and walks away, and the watching crowd whoop and cheer their support and solidarity as she goes.
    ‘Loser,’ one girl snarls at me.
    ‘Idiot,’ another spits.
    The bell rings out for the first lesson, way too late to save me, and at last the crowd splinters away, heading to different corners of the building, different classes. I am left alone in the empty canteen with Honey.
    ‘So … that was interesting,’ she says. ‘Who knew your little girlfriend could stand up for herself like that?’
    ‘Ex-girlfriend,’ I sigh. ‘Thanks to you.’
    ‘How was I to know you’d lied about your mobile?’ she asks. ‘And I take it you didn’t tell her you were with me last night. You should have known