* * *
The phone rang. It had been almost an hour and the two of them lay together on Rex’s bed cuddling, Vanessa’s head nestled into his chest. She could just lie there for hours like that with him, just having him there with her.
She groaned. ‘I thought I’d switched that off.’ She rolled over and picked up the phone. It was Nadia. She really wasn’t in the mood to talk to her and she actually considered that her half sister was simply ringing just to interrupt her time alone with Rex. She answered it anyway. ‘Hi.’
‘Vanessa. You’re never going to believe this!’
‘What?’
‘Cheeky Cheery. She was at the pools. She turned up about twenty minutes after you left.’
‘You’re joking.’
‘No joke. I recognised her immediately from her FaceLink profile. I went up to her and said, “Hi”. Told her I was your sister and that I’d seen you two IMing. She told me she had decided to come to see you and was disappointed that she missed you. Boy, Vanessa, she is even hotter in person than in her photographs. You would have loved her.’
Vanessa was actually delighted to hear the news and her bitterness towards her half-sister took a back seat. ‘It’s great she showed up. Is she really as retarded as she seems like on IM?’
‘Oh no, she seemed kind of normal actually. I guess she just never did that well at school. All beauty, no brains. She told me she would have come earlier, but was too scared to meet you.’
‘Well she shouldn’t have been. I am so glad she’s turned out to be the real thing and not some fat ugly messed-up jerk pretending to be a teenage girl.’
‘Oh, she’s the real thing alright,’ Nadia said. ‘She’s gonna E Mail you again. Hey, is Rex there with you?’
‘Yeah huh.’
‘Can I talk to him?’
‘Nuh uh.’
‘Oh...’
‘Sorry. I’m going to be selfish tonight.’
‘I don’t blame you. I would be.’
‘Well I’ve gotta go,’ Vanessa said. ‘My dollbaby needs me.’
‘Ok.’
Vanessa disconnected then switched off the phone and couldn’t help but feel a little smug at her refusal to let Nadia talk to Rex. ‘There. No more interruptions tonight.’
Vanessa spent all of Sunday morning with Rex and not once did she bring up the topic of Nadia or Chelsea. She just wanted to focus completely on him and not worry about those other things. After lunch, though, she had to let him go, because he’d promised to go eeling with Pete that afternoon.
She intended on going over to see Holly, but stopped off at home first to drop off her gear.
‘Hi Nessie,’ her mother greeted her. ‘Did you have a great night?’
‘Yeah huh. I was with Rex.’
‘Silly question, huh?’ Her mother dried a glass with a tea towel. ‘Of course it’s going to be a great night if you were with him. How did it go at the pools?’
‘Oh, fine,’ she replied, not wanting to be reminded of certain aspects of that afternoon.
‘How are you and your new sister getting along?’
‘Well, most of the time she’s great. But the rest of the time...’
Her mother put her tea towel down and faced her. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Oh, I don’t know...’ Vanessa sighed. ‘It’s just that I don’t know if I trust her.’
‘Why not?’
‘She’s trying to move in on Rex.’
‘Oh...’ Her mother stepped up and placed her hand on her shoulder. ‘Why don’t you just tell her to back off?’
‘I can’t do that, Mum. I vowed I would never be possessive of Rex like that.’
‘It seems that maybe Nadia is taking advantage of your non-possessive nature.’
‘I think she is.’
‘I think I should have a word with her.’
‘Nuh uh, Mum, don’t. She’ll think I can’t fight my own battles.’
‘It’s not right what’s she’s doing. You just don’t do that sort of thing to your sister. I may not be her mother, but I’ll damn well put the hard word on her, you can be sure of that.’
‘Mum, don’t ok? I can handle her. And I trust Rex.’
Her mother sighed. ‘I know Rex is a wonderful guy and he really loves you and he treats you like a princess, I can see that. He also seems to me to be very dedicated to you, but he is a teenage boy and if you are going to allow him to run riot in the candy store, one day he may just find a sweet that he likes the taste of better than the type you give him.’
‘Nuh uh, Mum, that will never happen.’
‘How can you be so sure?’
‘Because I’m sure about us. I just know it.’
‘Like I knew it when it came to your father?’
‘Rex is nothing like Dad!’
‘He’s a guy, Nessa. They’re always on the lookout for the next best thing.’
‘Nuh uh. Not Rex. He’s not looking.’
‘Maybe not, but what if that something finds him?’
‘I’m telling you, it’ll never happen.’
‘There you go again in your little fantasy world thinking that Rex is righteous and can do no wrong, thinking that you are going to have him forever. Life’s not like that.’
‘It is for me.’ Vanessa said it firmly, but for the first time her faith wavered just that little bit. Her thoughts of Nadia and of Chelsea kept niggling at her, chipping away that solid foundation she was certain she had.
Her mother sighed. ‘I worry about you so much, Nessie. I shudder to think what will happen when the day comes when he shatters your little world apart and totally crushes your heart.’
‘He won’t!’ But she knew her voice lacked the assurance she had so often projected. ‘He’d never do that.’
Her mother reached for her tea towel and shook her head. ‘I guess we all have to learn the hard way...’
Vanessa arrived at Holly’s place and realised that she still had her cell phone switched off. She found there was one message. From Maggie.
‘Hi, Nessa. It’s me, Maggie. I just wanted to make sure we were still on for Squash this afternoon. Your cell phone’s been switched off all morning. Give me a ring.’
Vanessa flinched. ‘Oh, no, I forgot all about it.’ She felt like kicking herself.
She quick dialled Maggie’s number. It was answered immediately. ‘Hi, Vanessa.’
‘Hi!’
‘We were supposed to go half an hour ago. Where are you?’
‘I am so sorry, Maggs. I forgot all about it.’
‘Well it’s not too late. We can meet there in half an hour.’
‘I’m so sorry, I can’t. I’m at Holly’s place. I promised I’d help her with her Chemistry assignment. It’s due in on Wednesday.’
‘But you promised you’d play Squash with me.’
‘I know. I’m such an idiot double booking myself like this. Hey, we can meet tonight instead.’
‘I can’t, Shawn’s coming over for dinner. I was so looking forward to hanging out with you.’
‘I was looking forward to hanging out with you too.’
Maggie made no reply.
‘Maggs?’
‘You’d rather do a Chemistry assignment with Holly?’
‘I’m not into chemistry assignments, no, but Holly really needed my help.’
‘Ok... Sure.’
Vanessa could hear the hurt in her voice and even a bit of anger. ‘I’m really, really sorry and I’ll make it up to you, I promise.’
‘Ok.’
‘I’ll see you tomorrow at school.’
‘Yeah, bye.’
‘Bye.’ Vanessa hung up. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, sighed and then knocked on Holly’s door.
CHAPTER 15:
Feeling Rejected
Jealousy at TAC Page 22
