She waited until Friday night to ask for Ella’s permission – although she planned on going whether her ‘mum’ liked it or not – to go to the Monroes’ the following night. She figured that the closer to the sleepover she asked, the less time Ella had to refuse. Of course, that also meant that there was less time to persuade Ella to let her go – but she hoped that wouldn’t be necessary.
In order to maximise the chance of Ella saying yes – it would make everything so much easier if she did – Imogen helped prepare dinner. William was out attending a mate’s stag-night, so it was all girls at the dinner table that evening. Imogen took the seat next to Ella, and as far away as possible from Sara.
“Ella…” Imogen began, in the sweetest tone she could credibly muster. “Would it be all right if I stayed at a friend’s house tomorrow night? She’s having a sleepover with a few other girls in our year.”
“That’s sounds nice,” Ella said with a smile, glad Imogen was making friends so easily. “Whereabouts does she live? What’s her name?” she asked, as she finished the soup she and Imogen had made earlier.
“She lives just opposite here, not far,” she said, restraining herself from rolling her eyes at Ella giving her the third degree. “Evangeline…Evangeline Monroe.” She knew that the moment her new mother heard the name she would be uneasy; the Monroes didn’t seem like the kind of family that ‘good girls’ would be mixing with – but Imogen wasn’t Sara.
“Oh. Well.” Ella sighed. What could she do? If she refused, Imogen would hate her, and she might ruin her chance of making friends. She had an uneasy feeling she would regret letting her go, but tried to ignore it; what could happen at a sleepover with a few girls? “What time are you going, then?”
Ella attempted a bright smile; it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
***
Imogen spent the following morning sorting out what she needed for the sleepover, and reassuring Abby that everything would be all right. She wasn’t used to going to sleepovers; it wasn’t something she’d really had the opportunity to do, seeing as she’d had to take care of Abby for the last four years. The care-home had no-one she would trust to take care of her properly. For some reason, even if she didn’t like Ella all that much, she did trust her with Abby – something which rarely happened. Just for one night, mind.
“Abby, it’ll only be one night, I promise. You can play with Dana and Daisy, and then Ella will put you to bed instead of me. That’s all. When you wake up tomorrow, I’ll be back.” Feeling a terrible sense of guilt, she sat with her arms wrapped around the sobbing four-year-old, considering telling Eve she was ill and couldn’t come. It took until midday for Abby to calm down. However, when Daisy knocked and asked if Abby wanted to play with her dolls, she jumped down from the bed and ran downstairs. Imogen sighed, but was secretly pleased that for once she wasn’t the only one her sister would be happy with. She needed that little bit of freedom, every now and again.
By two o’clock, Abby had no problem letting Imogen out the door and towards Monroe Manor; she was so preoccupied with the game she, Daisy and Dana were playing that Imogen barely got a goodbye.
“You will look after her, won’t you?” Imogen asked Ella. Maternal worry clouded her face.
“Of course I will. You go and have a good time,” Ella said, as Imogen hugged Abby goodbye, leaving in a cute outfit of a strap top and shorts; well, it was sunny, and the idea that Zach could be at home was in the back of Imogen’s mind.
***
She found herself feeling a little nervous as she walked towards Monroe Manor. Sleeping over with a group of girls who’d been friends for years was a little intimidating, and she was a little worried it might be awkward; there was always the possibility she might not fit in. As she knocked on the door, she was greeted by a woman she did not recognise – presumably one of the members of staff Evangeline had boasted about previously.
Her worries of fitting in were dispelled as soon as she entered the living room. Evangeline and Carrie were sat on a large sofa, poring over the problem pages of some magazine or other, laughing at the people who had written in and how pathetic they were. Violet was sat next to them, painting her nails a shocking shade of pink. Evangeline looked up with a grin.
“Chuck your stuff in the corner, and come and laugh at this crap.” She began to read from the magazine in voice which dripped with sarcasm.
“I always wear my skirt just above my knee, and the other day I got called a slut. Am I? Worried girl, 14, London.” Evangeline burst out laughing; Imogen sat between her and Violet and immediately felt at ease as she laughed along with the three other girls.
***
Two hours later, and the girls were sat in front of a chick flick in their pyjamas, sharing popcorn and wondering where Zach’s secret stash of alcohol might be.
“Kitchen?”
“Bedroom?”
“I do value my life, you know. I’m not searching around in his room for it.”
“This film is shit, you know.” Evangeline, Imogen and Carrie turned to Violet with similar looks on their faces as she snapped about the film.
“What’s up with you then?” asked Evangeline, with a smirk. “Miss Moody. Suffering from Singledomitis?”
“PMT?” Violet shook her head.
“I’ve told you, I don’t suffer from PMT.” She cracked a smile. “I suffer from ATBTMT!” Imogen gave her a quizzical look as Carrie paused the film so they could talk – to be honest, it really was quite a crap film anyway.
“ATBTMT?” she asked.
“All the bloody time menstrual tension!” Violet said, and the girls burst out laughing, spilling popcorn over the floor as they tried to control their laughter.
“So, speaking of Singledomitis,” Evangeline said, when she could speak again, “how many sufferers do we have here?” Violet and Imogen raised their hands immediately, with a laugh, and Carrie procrastinated before half raising hers.
The girls laughed: “Carrie, you can’t possibly pretend that you and James are not together,” Violet said.
“Well, we’re not on at the minute but I guess we’re-”
“Certainly not off!” interrupted Eve. “Well, at least not if the way I saw you kissing him last week has been going on ever since your last break up!” Carrie blushed slightly, but laughed all the same.
“When did you see us?” she asked. “Tuesday, in the woods?”
“No!” Eve said, with a giggle. “Wednesday, in his back garden, after school! How often are you meeting up with him?”
Carrie blushed again.
“So, Eve. No hand raised? Who’s in your life at the minute then?” Imogen successfully changed the subject, avoiding any more embarrassment for Carrie, at least for the minute.
“Daryl…” chimed in Carrie and Violet, in mock sickly-sweet voices, with a hand on their hearts – clearly taking the piss out of Eve.
“Thanks, you two,” was the sarcastic response, as Imogen repeated the name.
“Daryl? The Daryl who sits with us at lunch? Your brother’s mate, right?” Imogen was surprised she could have missed them dating - after all, she’d spent nearly every lunch time of the last two weeks with them both, as well as the weekend trip swimming.
Eve nodded; “And if you dare breathe a word of it to him, I’ll make sure you hate every minute of living here, all right?” The fifteen-year-old looked a touch shocked at the sudden change in attitude, until Carrie and Violet burst out laughing, causing Eve to smile too.
“Ignore her,” Carrie said. “It’s only that Zach would disapprove, and ban her from seeing him if he found out.”
Imogen didn’t say any more on the subject. Clearly Zach was very protective of his little sister, and Imogen would rather avoid discussing him altogether, in order to avoid any more awkward questions being asked. Whilst she had been interested in Eve’s views on Zach’s feelings earlier in the week, it had also made her feel a little uncomfortable – and she was enjoying herself too much tonight to ruin it by being emba
rrassed.
As the girls continued chatting, Imogen thought back on the last two weeks - perhaps, in hindsight, there had been some signs of something more than friendship between Daryl and Eve. How Zach hadn’t noticed, if everyone else knew, was a miracle - after all, people had commented on the flirtation between Zach and Imogen very quickly!
***
The group of girls began to fall asleep sometime after four, having chatted about the usual things; school, music, films and fit guys. They successfully found Zach’s not-too-well-hidden alcohol stash (it was in the kitchen). Unfortunately – in Imogen’s mind at least – there had been no sign that Zach was in, and Imogen had avoided the subject of him for most of the night, fearing more awkward questions and comments about how the two of them were spending time together. Despite this little fact, she had had a good time, fitting in with the little group of friends. The three other girls had fallen asleep pretty much immediately after they had all said goodnight, but for some reason Imogen couldn’t sleep. She lay, listening to the sounds that were not all that different from those at her current ‘home’. The sound of the three sleeping girls breathing was the most immediate sound, but in the distance an owl could be heard, and a group of people coming home drunk seemed like the most likely explanation for the other noises. Then, there was the closing of a door, and the sound of footsteps on the stairs. The creak of the girls’ bedroom door opening slowly – in a clear attempt not to wake those inside – was the next sound. Imogen debated whether to feign sleep for a second, but there wasn’t much time to think. She wondered, for a fraction of a second, who would be in the room. Eve’s parents? It seemed unlikely. Zach? Probably not. One of their ‘staff’ was the most likely – but as the figure entered the room silently, it was clear it was a man, not the woman who’d greeted her at the door earlier that evening. Breathing an inaudible sigh of relief, Imogen recognised that the figure was, surprisingly, Zach. She would never have admitted it, but she had been slightly frightened of the stranger in the room, as her imagination ran away with her in wondering who would be wandering the house.
Although she knew he had been aware that the sleepover was happening, he had clearly forgotten, as he looked surprised at the floor covered in sleeping bags and three sleeping girls. Well, two were sleeping. From the light in the hallway he could see each face, and a cheeky grin appeared on his face as he recognised Imogen, and saw that she was clearly still awake.
Beckoning her from the room, he left and Imogen wasted no time in checking that the other girls were asleep, before checking her appearance in the mirror – well, even at this time of the morning, she wouldn’t want to look a mess! Briefly, she wondered why he had beckoned her from the room, before feeling extremely pleased she had worn her cute pyjamas.
She exited the room, pulling the door silently closed behind her.
Imogen only had a moment to give him a sleepy smile and try to think up a clever comment (which, incidentally, was unnecessary) before she found herself with Zach’s hand embracing her cheek, which was only millimetres away from his, as he stared intensely into her eyes. She couldn’t think of anything, didn’t know what was going happen and didn’t care. She was here, he was here, and that was all that was going through her mind.
“I’ve wanted to do this from the moment I met you,” the seventeen-year-old murmured, as he allowed their lips to meet. Imogen might’ve not been totally expecting this, but it only took her brain a couple of seconds to catch up before she was returning the gentle, yet somehow strong kiss, with one of Zach’s hands on her face, the other on her waist. All she could think about was how amazing this kiss really was, and how hard her heart was hammering. The girl who usually seemed to over-think everything was silenced, the power of the kiss taking over her body, mind and senses. The kiss was then broken as a sleepy voice – which was clearly Evangeline’s – called her name.
“I’m just…looking for the bathroom,” she replied breathlessly, coming up with a lame excuse, still standing entwined with Zach. Her heart was racing at what had just happened, and what Eve might say if she walked out now and saw the two of them, just outside the door.
“But I have an en-suite,” replied the confused, sleepy and yet slightly suspicious voice. Imogen looked to Zach for help, but he merely shrugged.
“I…forgot.” Zach grinned at her ridiculous response, provoking her to give him a playful tap. She tried to gently push Zach away, so that she could return to the bedroom; not because she wanted to, but because she had to in order to avoid suspicion. Zach resisted this, pressing his body against hers once more as he whispered in her ear.
“We’ll talk tomorrow…” For a moment, she could have sworn his heart was beating as hard against his ribcage as hers was, even if he was playing it much cooler than she was. Moving away from her, he disappeared down the hall, leaving Imogen to take a deep breath and re-enter the room, pleased to find no further explanation was required.
Eve was already fast asleep again.
Chapter Seven
None of the girls woke up before twelve the next day. Being up until four had tired three of the girls out, and Imogen had made up for her lack of thought when Zach was kissing her by replaying the events over and over again in her mind, and wondering what would happen with them next. He’d said they’d talk today, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. What if it was just a one off? She’d only known him for what, thirteen days and, yes, this was moving quite fast by anyone’s standards – but she wanted to be with him, not just for a one-off kiss.
In those thirteen days she’d got to know him better than she usually bothered with people, and this wasn’t just a crush she wasn’t going to do anything about – having kissed him the night before, she didn’t want to go back to just thinking about it! He made her feel dizzy when he was around; he didn’t look at her pitifully when she told him her parents were dead; he wanted to spend time with her.
Before going downstairs for some breakfast – or lunch, really – Imogen got dressed into the same outfit she’d had on the previous night, and pulled her dark wavy hair into a quick, neat bun. After applying a little make-up, the four girls made their way downstairs to fix some sandwiches.
“Zachary! What time did you get in last night? I didn’t even know you were going out.” Eve questioned her brother as she opened the fridge to find something to put in the sandwiches. “And has Kara not been shopping yet?”
Imogen didn’t look towards Zach – she thought she would give away anything and everything she felt if she looked at him now, after last night, in front of the three girls. Instead, she focused on helping Eve make sandwiches, listening to their conversation. She assumed Kara was one of their ‘staff’, but didn’t bother to ask.
“I said I was going out, didn’t I?” he asked, “I thought I had. I got back some time this morning. About four, I guess.” He looked to Imogen for a fraction of a second, in an attempt to make eye contact, but she was looking in the opposite direction. “Did you lot have a good night?” Carrie and Violet seemed to be slightly intimidated by Zach, as they didn’t answer his question. Eve nodded.
“Yeah, we had a laugh. Didn’t think we got to sleep until gone four, I’m surprised none of us heard you come in.”
“Coffee, anyone?” Zach asked. Carrie and Violet merely shook there heads, whilst Eve looked disgusted.
“I don’t know how you drink that stuff.”
“I’ll have a cup,” Imogen answered, speaking to Zach for the first time that morning. He poured her one from the cafetiere, and passed her the cup with a smile. As their hands brushed together, Imogen couldn’t help smiling, and the two made eye contact, before turning away and continuing with what they were doing.
“I’d better get going soon, Eve. You know what my mother’s like.” With a roll of her eyes, Violet bit into her sandwich.
“Yeah, me too. Don’t want to cause problems with the new ‘family’ too early – I’d like to keep it pretty easy for at least the fir
st month.” Imogen grinned as she drank her coffee and didn’t bother with a sandwich – she could never eat just after getting up. Zach laughed at her comment, but Eve merely sighed.
“You’ve all gotta leave? What about you, Carrie?”
“I can stay ‘til four but then I’m…” She trailed off, and the three girls burst out laughing.
“Seeing the guy you’re supposedly not seeing?” questioned Eve with a grin. “All right then. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?”
The girls finished their food and got ready to leave.
“Thanks for inviting me – it was a laugh,” Imogen said with a smile as she left.
“No problem – come round any time you want to get away from that family of yours!”
“Watch out – I might take you up one that. All right then, I’ll see you in school!”
“Yeah, unfortunately. See you then!”
“Bye. Bye Carrie, bye Violet.” The chorus of goodbyes ended as Zach walked into the hallway, behind Evangeline.
Family Portrait (Kingsley Family Trilogy Book 1) Page 6
