What You Become Read Online Free PDF

that there’s enough on the family plate at the moment without extra trouble. With a good support system behind you, you could do very well here, if you’d only stop resting on your laurels and apply yourself.’
    Kes’s grey eyes burned into mine, and I swallowed. He really did know who I was!
    ‘You’re a good student, Rosie; we should be expecting As from you. See this as a chance to start over, make new friends. Take a leaf from Ms Chase’s book: set your sights on
exceptional
.’

Nine
    I still hadn’t found a way to tell my parents about Ti’s expulsion when Dad ordered me up to Mum’s room on Wednesday evening.
    ‘
Now,
Rosie,’ he insisted, and my guts tingled.
    They knew.
    Now I would have to answer thousands of impossible questions like: why did Ti think it was okay to creep around at night, and why did I think it was okay to keep secrets from them, and why wouldn’t I make friends with the well-behaved, hardworking kids who got top marks and kept their parents in the loop? All of which would segue effortlessly into the main problem they had with Ti – the main problem they had with me – which was that we didn’t take schoolwork seriously.
    Mum was propped up in bed, and it was stuffy in there in spite of the lavender oil she constantly burned. Her long hair was freshly washed and clipped on top of her head, and her skin looked pale and fresh, making me wish for the millionth time I’d inherited her complexion instead of dad’s.
    She patted the space beside her, and reluctantly I sat down. Dad took the armchair in the corner, and I looked from one to the other of them, trying to work out who was less angry.
    Mum’s expression was caring, and I resisted the urge to tell all. First lesson of adolescence: wait and see what they know. Ti taught me that.
    ‘We heard about Titania,’ Mum said. ‘Dad bumped into Soph at the shops.’
    ‘She called your mum afterwards,’ he said quickly in response to my glare.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us, Rose?’ Mum said, and she seemed more hurt than angry, unlike Dad. I focused my attention on her. These days, she was the softer touch.
    ‘I didn’t want you to worry,’ I said, and Mum spluttered, then shot an accusing look at Dad.
    ‘I’m not
entirely
useless, you know. You can still come to me.’
    I looked at my hands then, because I didn’t want her to see in my face how completely untrue that was.
    In the hallway I could hear a very light rustling – Joey listening, no doubt. He was a little ninja. I’d taught him everything he knew.
    ‘I mean it, Rosie – maybe I am physically useless, but you can still talk to me. I’m still your mum, aren’t I? What’s up?’
    I looked at Dad.
    ‘Don’t check with him!
I’m
telling you, you can talk to me. I
want
you to talk to me.
Please
. I’m begging.’
    ‘It’s just that you always think so badly of Ti. I didn’t want to give you anything extra.’
    ‘We don’t think badly of Ti,’ Mum said, and I rubbed my face with exasperation. Why couldn’t she just be honest?
    ‘Well, you don’t think she’s a good influence, do you?
I do worse in the lessons we’re together . . . I might work harder if I had more academic friends . . .
Don’t deny it now; you’ve said it hundreds of times.’
    ‘Maybe we have a point . . .’ she conceded.
    Dad looked at the carpet. He was impressed by Ti’s non-conformity, and in the past he’d joined me in sticking up for her, but it was clear he wouldn’t today. They had already prepped for the encounter, and I felt left out. Everyone had somebody except for me now.
    Rustling again in the corridor, and I hoped Joey
was
listening, that way I could complain to him afterwards without having to join the dots. He thought Ti was the best thing since dinosaur eggs. She was the only person beside him that genuinely thought jellyfish were interesting. The two of them had tank-stared for hours when we had Joey’s birthday at the aquarium.
    Under pressure from