Swansea Girls Read Online Free PDF Page A

or her eyelashes so long ...
    ‘Almost! Is Helen ready?’
    He stepped back. ‘Come in, I think she’s applying the final coat of lime wash. You going to the Pier?’
    ‘Where else? Helen said you’re going to a university party.’
    ‘One of the boys’ birthdays. I offered you lot a lift in the car.’
    ‘Your father lets you drive it?’
    ‘When he’s in a good mood, doesn’t need it and my mother can’t think of anywhere she wants to be taken to beyond walking distance, which is about every other blue moon.’
    ‘There won’t be room for all of us.’ Helen walked down the stairs clutching the edges of her coat together at the hem, in the unlikely event that Joe caught a glimpse of dark-blue satin and recognised it as a new frock.
    ‘Yes there will. One in the front, three in the back.’
    ‘The three in the back will crease their dresses.’
    ‘With the number of layers you lot wear under your skirts, no one will notice if the top one’s creased.’
    ‘Are you saying boys look at what a girl’s wearing under her skirt?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Then you’re the only one who does?’
    ‘Grow up, Helen.’
    ‘I’m not the one discussing underclothes.’
    ‘Perhaps I should call our mother out of the theatre so she can see how much make-up you’re wearing and check what you’re hiding under that thick coat in the middle of summer.’
    ‘It’s September, that’s autumn, not the middle of summer, and I’m hiding nothing.’
    ‘So nudity’s your secret weapon. Thank you for solving the mystery. I’ve often wondered why boys dance with a girl as ugly as you.’
    ‘You beast! I’d rather walk to the Pier than get in the car with you.’
    ‘You wouldn’t get as far as Christina Street in those shoes.’
    Helen hesitated. She hated dancing with boys shorter than her and as few were taller when she wore high heels, she normally wore flat pumps to the Pier Ballroom. But Adam Jordan was six foot one, so for once she had thrown caution to the wind and slipped on her white, three-inch stilettos. The winkle-picker points pinched her toes, the narrow heels made her wobble when she walked and they didn’t even match the blue satin dress, but her legs looked slimmer in them and as Adam was bound to look at her legs ...
    ‘What’s it to be?’ Joe demanded impatiently.
    ‘As Lily’s got the widest skirt, she can sit in the front with you,’ Helen capitulated. ‘Judy, Katie and I will sit in the back.’
    ‘Keep your head down. I’d hate it if any of the boys who don’t know you’re my sister saw you and thought me desperate enough to pick up a hideous bird.’
    ‘Why do you think I want to sit in the back?’
    ‘Shouldn’t we be going?’ Lily suggested, knowing that once Joe and Helen started sniping they could go on for hours.
    As Joe turned to the door, Helen whipped back the hem of her coat an inch so Lily could see she was wearing the blue satin.
    ‘I’ll get the car out of the garage and meet you at the end of the street. Don’t take all night to collect the others.’
    ‘We’ll be five minutes.’ Lily stepped in front of Helen so he wouldn’t see his sister sticking her tongue out at him.
    ‘I must have left it in my bedroom.’ Katie searched fruitlessly through the contents of her brown-paper carrier bag for the tenth time in as many minutes.
    ‘I can lend you money,’ Judy offered.
    ‘It’s not just the money; I need my bag to put my comb, compact and lipstick in. I’ll have to go back.’
    ‘As long as you’re quick about it. Helen and Lily will be here any minute.’
    Katie raced down the stairs and out through the front door. She looked up and down the street. There was no sign of her father. Crossing her fingers tightly in the hope that he was safely in the pub, she turned the corner and ran down the steps to her family’s basement.
    ‘I thought you were going straight to the Pier.’ Her mother’s voice was soft, low, as she carried dishes from the table to an enamel