Fifteen Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

mum and dad aren’t exactly the most romantic couple in the world, but then they have been married for sixteen-odd years. Dad often works late and takes patients after hours. The girl in his car was a nurse. Dad works in a hospital. He borrowed a nurse and then came home to pick up his stethoscope. There’s always a simple explanation.
    Then why was she wearing red lipstick?
    I close my viola book to practise my scales, while Harriet continues to whine and bark: do re mi . . . do re mi . . .
    The simpler the melody, the more it sounds out of tune.
    WILL
    The next day, after school, Mia is waiting at the gate for me.
    â€˜We need to talk,’ she says, urgently. ‘It’s about what happened yesterday.’
    â€˜If you want to borrow The Encyclopedia of Tennis , you’ll have to wait.’
    Mia frowns. ‘What you saw – my father and that girl – it’s not what you think.’
    â€˜You mean, she’s not his girlfriend?’
    â€˜Don’t even say that word ! I want you to promise not to tell anyone.’
    â€˜But I thought you said . . . ’
    â€˜I’m sure there’s a simple explanation for it. Meanwhile, you have to promise not to tell another living soul.’
    â€˜I promise.’
    â€˜ Especially not my friends, okay?’
    â€˜I promise not to tell a single soul, especially not your friends.’
    â€˜But how do I know I can trust you?’
    â€˜You could hypnotise me. Truth serum. Mind-control drugs. If nothing else works you could pay me.’
    But Mia isn’t laughing.
    â€˜ Please! ’ she says. ‘Just forget it ever happened.’

Two
    MIA
    â€˜I’m fat!’ says Renata.
    â€˜No you’re not!’ say Vanessa and I.
    â€˜Yes I am. I’m a big fat pig!’
    â€˜Renata! You’re gorgeous!’
    The school dance is only two days away so the three of us are desperately shopping. We are in T***** for the 20% Off Footwear and Clothing Sale . The reason I can’t say the name of the store is because Vanessa says it’s humiliating. Normally, Vanessa wouldn’t be caught dead in T*****, but because of the 20% Off Sale , she’s decided to compromise.
    â€˜The labels will come off easily enough,’ she says. ‘But no one must ever find out!’
    We are in the changing rooms and Vanessa is lying on the floor, squirming around like a squashed lizard, trying desperately to pull on a pair of stretch-denim jeans. Renata and I are supposed to be trying on bras, but we’ve been distracted by the size of our bums in the full-length mirror.
    â€˜Cellulite at fifteen. How humiliating!’
    â€˜Renata!’
    â€˜Oh well, time to start saving for liposuction.’
    Buying a bra is one of those things you can’t afford to stuff up, even at twenty per cent off. Bras are more than just underwear.
    The bra you choose determines the shape of your boobs. And according to Vanessa, the shape of your boobs determines everything else. A bra has to feel right, look right and send off the right signals.
    â€˜You want to generate interest,’ Vanessa says, ‘without getting slobbered over.’
    Renata and I wear regular bras, but Vanessa has a bra for every occasion. She has black lacy ones, plunging ones, see-through, boob tubes, strapless, you name it. (She has silky ones for special occasions, and she desperately wants one of those pump-up wonder bras, for extra cleavage.) Vanessa can get away with stuff like that. She’s got a great body and she knows it. She has that model’s way of walking, where she holds her head up and pulls back her arms until her shoulderblades are almost touching. Vanessa wants to be a supermodel and she’s the kind of girl who could pull it off. She’s confident. Sexy. She knows how to smile. She’s up-front and totally uncompromising.
    With most of the button-fly done up, Vanessa drags herself into a standing position and starts