The Ugly Stepsister

by Avril Sabine

  “You’re crazy. Oh. Oh. He’s coming this way.”

  Ellie smiled as Tom walked towards her, after he’d poured more sunscreen in his hand. “Have a problem?” she asked when he reached her.

  “I could have asked Lauren to help out, but she seemed a little preoccupied.”

  “I can help,” Michelle hurriedly offered.

  “Have you met Michelle before, Tom?”

  “Not that I recall.”

  Ellie took some of the sunscreen from his hand. “She goes to our school.” She started to rub the sunscreen into his back.

  Before Michelle could say anything else, David joined their group. “What is everyone doing standing around? This is a beach. We should be hitting the waves.”

  Ellie stepped back in front of Tom. “All done.”

  Tom held up his hand that still had sunscreen in it. “Need any?”

  “Might as well. Although I smeared it all over myself before we left this morning.”

  “Now that wasn’t very nice of you. I thought that was meant to be my job.” Tom spread the sunscreen between both his hands before he ran them down her arms.

  “We?” Michelle looked between each of them.

  Ellie nodded. “I’ve been staying at Tom’s place on the weekend.” Her eyes shifted to David. “Come on then. We’re ready to hit the waves. You coming, David?”

  “No fear.”

  Ellie linked her fingers through Tom’s. “I wish I’d brought a body board with me. It looks great out there today.”

  “I brought my surfboard,” David offered.

  Ellie shook her head and laughed. “No way. I want to enjoy myself not spend my day being dumped.”

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll borrow it later,” Tom said.

  Michelle hurried to join them. “You surf?” Her eyes were glued to Tom, who shrugged in answer.

  “No probs. Give me a yell when you want a go,” David said.

  They reached the water’s edge and splashed into the shallows. Ellie waved to Lauren and Sam who were already in the water. Lauren gestured her over with a grin. Ellie nodded and turned to Tom. “Feel like a swim?” She grinned.

  Tom laughed. “Stupid question.”

  They ran through the shallows towards deeper water.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  By the middle of the day Ellie was glad to lie under the shade of the beach umbrella. She was ready for a break from the water but her lips were permanently curved in a smile. She was also dying to see what food Sam had prepared for lunch. He didn’t disappoint her.

  Once she’d eaten, she lay back and closed her eyes for a bit, falling asleep. The next thing she knew, she was being kissed by Tom. Her eyes slowly opened and he drew back to smile down at her.

  “You’re not going to sleep the whole day away are you?”

  “The beach always does that to me. How long was I asleep?”

  “Nearly two hours. You’re missing all the fun.”

  “Don’t listen to him, Ellie. He crashed out too. And he’d still be sleeping if someone inviting him to play beach volleyball hadn’t woken him. They’ve got a net set up and everything,” Lauren said.

  “I don’t know. I can’t trust a word you say.” Ellie shook her head with an appropriately sad expression.

  “Hmm. I know exactly how you feel.”

  Ellie laughed. “So, are you going to play?”

  “Come join us?”

  “Does it involve moving much?”

  Tom lightly kissed her. “Come play and you can have afternoon tea when the game’s over. If you don’t play you’ll never find out what I brought for you.”

  “Will I like it?”

  “You’ll hate yourself if you miss out on it.”

  Ellie sat up. “Alright. Where’s the game?”

  The game was fairly informal and the aim was to have fun rather than score points. When everyone started to head back to the water to cool off, Tom took Ellie to the beach umbrella. Lauren and Sam were nowhere to be seen.

  “Wait here.”

  “Where are you going?” Ellie sat on the blanket.

  Tom smiled. “It’s a surprise.”

  “A food surprise?”

  Tom nodded.

  “The one you were telling me about?”

  “The sooner you quit with the questions the quicker I’ll be back and you can have your surprise.”

  Ellie mimicked zipping her lips. She grinned when Tom started to walk away, heading for the shop across the road from the beach. She eyed the large esky that sat under the umbrella with her. It was tempting. And she was all alone. A quick peek and no one would know any different. Ellie nearly groaned when Michelle joined her on the blanket.

  “Where’s Tom? Did he ditch you already?”

  Ellie smiled, leaning forward to confide, “He’s planned a surprise for me.”

  “Really?” Michelle glanced around. “Then where is he?”

  “How would I know? Something to do with the surprise.”

  “Oh. Oh. He’s coming now. And he’s carrying something in a plastic bag. It doesn’t look very big. It can’t be much of a surprise.”

  Ellie’s smile slipped. She wanted to tell Michelle where to go, but knew that was social suicide. “It’s food, Michelle.”

  Michelle frowned. “How can food be a surprise?”

  “Because they cook.”

  “Who does?”

  “Tom’s family. I guess you could call it a family hobby.”

  Michelle looked at her in surprise. “You can’t cook at all. Does he know?”

  “Yep and he thinks it’s funny.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Ellie nodded. “Absolutely.” She smiled at Tom as he sat by the esky. “You took your time. I was beginning to wonder if you’d gotten lost.”

  “Anticipation improves everything.”

  “I don’t know about that. All my wait seems to have done is made me hungrier.”

  “Ellie said your family cooks as a hobby. If you made her something to eat, why did you need to go to the shop?”

  Ellie tried to hold back the annoyance Michelle’s interruption caused. It suddenly evaporated as she saw what Tom took out of the esky and put in a bowl. “Oh, you didn’t! I can’t believe it.” She grinned when he pulled a small tub of vanilla ice cream out of the plastic bag. “You are perfect.”

  “You did request pancakes, vanilla ice cream and maple syrup.” Tom poured the maple syrup and handed the bowl to Ellie.

  “Why would you want to eat something like that at the beach? That’s weird,” Michelle said.

  “It was a joke,” Tom said shortly.

  “Oh! That makes more sense.”

  Ellie ignored Michelle as she took a bite. She looked over to Tom who watched her with a similar expression to what she’d seen on his brother and father’s face. She broke off a piece of the pancake and ate it plain. “It’s different.”

  “Is that good or bad?” Tom asked.

  “Definitely good. I don’t know what Sam did to it, but it’s even better than ever.” Ellie took another mouthful.

  Tom smiled. “I made it.”

  Ellie pointed at him. “You are going to cook me a meal.”

  “Really Ellie, that’s no way to talk to someone who’s just gone out of their way to make you food.” Michelle rolled her eyes. “You’re meant to show a little gratitude.”

  Tom grinned at Ellie. “Now Michelle has pointed it out, I’ve noticed you haven’t thanked me for all the effort I went to. I had to sneak upstairs really early in the morning so you wouldn’t know what I was up to.”

  “If it’s gratitude you’re looking for I’ll try and do my best. Let me see.” Ellie looked thoughtful as she had another mouthful. “I’m going to marry you and become as big as a house.”

  “Ellie!” Michelle looked utterly shocked.

  Tom laughed. “I can’t take a proposal seriously unless it’s done on one knee with a ring held out.”

  “Nope, can�
��t do that. I’m too busy eating this divine meal.”

  Michelle shook her head. “I’d like to try some. It’s only a pancake. Really, Ellie, you’re being extremely weird about it.”

  Ellie barely managed not to snarl at Michelle. Why did she have to stick around and ruin this moment?

  Tom pointed behind Michelle. “I think someone is trying to get your attention over there.” When Michelle started to turn away, he spoke again. “We’ll catch up with you in the water. We should be back in soon. You’ll probably want to put more sunscreen on before you go in again. You’re starting to look a little pink. I’d hate to see you get sunburned.”

  “Thank you, Tom. That’s thoughtful of you to notice.” Michelle rose to her feet. “I’ll see you both soon.”

  As soon as Michelle was out of earshot, Tom turned to Ellie. “What do you see in that girl?”

  “You really don’t want to know.”

  “Because?”

  “It’s not very nice.”

  “Then why put up with her?”

  “Because offending her is like insulting the king or queen of a country. I’d have to change my name and relocate overseas.”

  Tom laughed. “I’m sure it can’t be that bad.”

  “Michelle is one of the main people who teases your brother.” Ellie put her hand on Tom’s arm when he looked like he’d rise to his feet. “Be nice to her.”

  “Why would I be nice to that bitch?”

  “Because it’s all under control.”

  “Is that what today was all about? The trouble you were planning?”

  Ellie shrugged. “Sort of.”

  “Come on Ellie. You know I’ll drag it out of you eventually.”

  Ellie sighed and had another mouthful of her food. It was nearly finished. She eyed the esky. “Do you have any more in there? Surely you didn’t cook just one.”

  “The rest are at home. No changing the subject.”

  Ellie finished eating her pancake and handed the bowl to Tom. “Lauren was really worried about you not being at school next year to reduce some of the bullying. Neither of us are popular enough that it’d make a difference in the way Sam’s treated.”

  “So Lauren was in on this too?”

  Ellie shook her head. “Not really. I told her I’d take care of it.” She smiled. “Unlike some people she has complete faith in my plans.”

  “So what is the plan?”

  “You have to keep being nice to Michelle and everything else will fall into place.”

  “Ellie.”

  She couldn’t miss the warning in his tone. “I really hate having to explain all the tiny details. People usually look at me like I’m some slime left behind in a pond that’s dried up.”

  “Unlike most people I already know you don’t mind manipulating and lying to make things go the way you want them to. You might as well tell me everything.”

  “Michelle pointed out that your longest relationship is five weeks. But I already knew that.”

  “Ours will be longer.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because you don’t spend every minute of the day and night being self centred and shallow. And I spend nearly every weekend peeling away all the new layers to find out what you’re up to.”

  Ellie laughed, thinking of Lauren’s comment about Easter eggs in clothes. “Okay, but if you mess up my plan I’m going to be very annoyed with you.”

  “You never know, I might even be able to improve on it.”

  “I told her Sam is your best friend and I hooked up with you by becoming his friend. I explained that you spend a lot of your weekends with your brother.”

  “How is that going to get her to lay off him?”

  Ellie moved closer to Tom and smiled up at him. “Because she’s expecting us to be only short term, so she’s going to become friends with Sam. When she eventually gives up on you she won’t be able to suddenly turn on Sam without looking like a complete bitch. Unless Sam does something utterly stupid, which I can’t see him doing because he’s shy rather than an idiot. So she’ll have to stay friendly towards him. And if Michelle is friends with him, all her friends will be and all the guys who desperately want to hook up with her.”

  “And I thought you were leaving Lisbeth at home today.”

  Ellie grinned. “She obviously snuck along.”

  “So how do I thank you for looking out for my little brother?”

  “You don’t. That was an example of me being self centred and shallow.”

  Tom shook his head. “Now you’ve really lost me.”

  Ellie sighed. “And I guess that means you’re expecting an explanation.” She wasn’t happy to see Tom nod. “Okay. Lauren is my best friend. If something upsets her, it upsets me. And if someone is picking on her, they’ll eventually start on me, because I can’t stand back and let them. And if she stays with your brother that will happen with the way he’s treated. So I’m just looking out for myself.”

  Tom shook his head. “No. You’re looking out for your friend. That isn’t shallow.” He groaned.

  “What?”

  “Are you sure I have to be nice to the queen bitch?”

  Ellie laughed. “Now that’s a name I can enjoy using. Yes, you do. Why?”

  “Because she’s heading for the water and waving us over.”

  “We can drown our sorrows with pancakes, vanilla ice cream and maple syrup when we get home.”

  Tom laughed and rose to his feet, pulling Ellie with him. “No wonder you fit into my family so well. That’s exactly the way we think about food. A solution to every problem.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Ellie walked down the corridor to her mum’s hospital room. Tom waited out the front to give them a lift home. She was later then she’d planned to be, but she’d wanted to do the grocery shopping first. Knowing what the first weekend her mum had been in hospital had been like she’d left the door unlocked so it didn’t get busted open when the party had arrived. And it had arrived. Sunday afternoon had been spent doing the usual clean up. It also meant the bit of food she’d left behind had been eaten.

  Ellie froze in the doorway of her mum’s room. She quickly stepped into the room when Heather turned towards her. She wanted to demand what she was doing here, but didn’t think that was the best tactic.

  “Hello, Heather. I didn’t imagine I’d see you here today.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t, Elizabeth.”

  She barely managed to stop herself from demanding that Heather stop calling her that name. Only three people did. Her father, Pamela and Scott.

  “I’ve been stuck with her for over an hour. You’d think she’d have more important things to do than hang out here with me,” Sharon muttered.

  Ellie smiled. “That was nice of you to keep Mum company while she waited for me.”

  “I know you’re not an imbecile, Elizabeth. And since I’m not either, you can drop the games. You’ve managed to avoid me for the past fortnight which is quite an accomplishment.”

  Ellie shook her head and let her mouth fall open slightly while a frown marred her forehead. “I think you’re giving me more credit than I deserve. I’m sorry you’ve felt like I’ve been avoiding you. It’s been a busy couple of weeks for me and of course I wasn’t feeling well Thursday and Friday so I spent the weekend catching up on all I would have normally done those days.”

  “I tried to tell her you’d have no reason to avoid her.” Sharon got to her feet with the help of the crutches beside her.

  Ellie was instantly at her mum’s side. “You need any help, Mum?”

  “Just grab my bag.” Sharon headed for the doorway.

  “You will understand I have some concerns about your living arrangements after the way you’ve avoided me the past fortnight. And what I have heard from your stepmother leaves me with even more concerns.” Heather walked beside Ellie down the corridor.

  “You’re welcome to come and check them out if you want. We live in an average ho
use in an average neighbourhood. We’re shocking gardeners but we couldn’t find a house with a fake lawn. Don’t you think that’d be much easier to look after? Although I’m not quite sure how you’d look after it. Maybe you’d vacuum it once a week. And as for Pamela, well her and Mum have never gotten along.” Ellie pressed the button for the elevator.

  “You’re willing for me to drop in now,” Heather said.

  Ellie shrugged. “If you want. I’m never home on weekends, but any weekday I’m usually about. I like to get all my homework and assignments out of the way during the week so I can spend the weekends with my friends. That’s the deal, isn’t it Mum?”

  “Schooling’s important.” Sharon entered the elevator when the doors opened.

  Ellie pressed the button for the ground floor. “So, are you coming over? I’ve got homemade vanilla slice made fresh this morning before I went to school.” Ellie knew Sam wouldn’t mind her taking credit for his cooking. “And a lasagne ready to pop in the oven.”

  “Homemade as well I suppose,” Heather said dryly.

  Ellie nodded. “Of course. You’re welcome to stay for dinner. It’s quite a large lasagne.” Mainly because Sam wanted to make sure they had something decent to eat for at least a couple of days.

  “This I have got to see,” Heather said. “I’ve been told by several people that you can’t cook.”

  Ellie shrugged. “Some people are better at teaching than others.” She smiled. “We’ll meet you over there.” Ellie stepped out of the elevator and waited for her mum to exit. “You remember where we live, don’t you?” She barely managed to keep the sarcasm from her voice.

  “I’ve been there enough times I could find it in my sleep.”

  “I’m sorry you’ve wasted so much time trying to catch up with me. I was staying with friends.”

  “So you said.”

  Ellie saw Tom’s car and almost shouted with relief. “There’s our ride. I’ll see you soon.” She held the back door open for Sharon and waited for her to hop in. She smiled before she got in the car herself. “I’m glad we finally caught up.” Ellie held her smile in place until they’d driven away.

  “What was that all about?” Tom asked.