KEEPING SECRETS
BookSlug
ONE
Year ten, big change, big grades, big boobs is all I could think. Kyra already had her 'Year Ten Boobs', she got hers in about year eight whereas my bodies more like "I think I'll wait a while and torture you while all of the other girls are perfect."
Year ten's are allowed to wear makeup! Year seven, eight and nine weren't but that's okay for me because I don't see the point. However, Elly Leighton, one of Kyra's 'friends', told me You're going to be in year ten Darcey for god's sake! Makeup is a must! In my opinion, makeup is just an excuse for spots to appear! Which is really not how to get a boyfriend!
Things to do in year 10:
Show Laura around school and become friends again
Learn to like Elly Leighton
Become prettier than I was in year 9
Grow boobs
Get a boyfriend
That is my list of things to do in year 10. I had a boyfriend in year eight and I thought I really liked him and I thought we were in love and going to be together forever blah blah blah... turns out, love gets kinda boring in year 8. Okay so that does sound a bit mean and heartless but I just got bored of him so quickly! Three months of 'love' and 'hugs' and 'kisses' and 'our friends forcing us to do things' I finally realised, we weren't made for eachother after all and all of those nights I wasted staying up till three in the morning texting him was for nothing! It would be nice to have a boyfriend now that I've grown up a bit and realised that to stay in a relationship means you actually have to go near your boyfriend! I could be mature enough now.
Okay so I can't just say I had boobs in year eight so you're going to have to accept that I am flat chested and proud (not! please God! I beg of you! Give me boobs!)
As for the 'prettier in year ten' point, my sister, Tanya,was like extremely gorgeous in year nine but then when it was Christmas Break in year ten we were looking at her Secondary School photos and from mid-year-nine to –mid-year-ten she had gotten way prettier! It was like Barbie upgraded! I just want that to happen to me! If only my braces could come off, my eyelashes grow, my lips get bigger, my eye bags disappear and my spots disappear, I'd be like my sister!
I truthfully do not know how I'm going to succeed in liking Elly Leighton! She is literally unlikeable! Like seriously? Hair extensions even though your hair is already past your DD boobs? I don't know why Kyra likes her...
Last but most definitely not least; Show Laura around school! Laura Blackwell is my old best friend from Dunelm Primary School, we were like milk and cookies until she had to move to Australia for her Mum's archaeologist work. Now, she' had to come back to England because her mother is working on Henry VIII and his 'secret treasures' (I think that's what Laura texted me) She's moving to my school at the start of year ten, therefore, my totally wonderful student manager whom hates me, Mrs Veldroc, instructed me to be her 'buddy' (luckily, that time she called me to her office wasn't about disrupting my R.E teachers lessons or turning all of the taps on in the girls bathroom or my school skirt being above my knees) I do like Laura! I always did, if her mum didn't have to whisk her away to Australia we probably would've had such different lives now but you know that saying, 'Everything happens for a reason' Maybe that reason is that she brought back a hot Australian guy I can have, Or an Elly repellent, Or a 'pretty spray' or a boob grower or maybe it's just so her mum could go to Australia and research Uluru...
"Darcey!" Mum is calling me. What now? Another lecture? A chore? And excuse to go and see her younger, hunkier version of Dad? Who knows... "coming" I say, fed up. As I slump down the stairs, Mum has her 'gym clothes' on with her 'sports bag' that she'd never let me open.
Last time I tried to open 'Mum's sports bag'
"Darcey, can you do the laundry for me while I quickly pop to the shop?" Mum says pulling her trainers on.
"Yeah, okay."
This is when I start separating the darks from the colours and put the darks in the washing machine. Mum's sports bag is navy blue with a magenta line shooting across it diagonally, That counts as a dark right? That's what I thought anyway. So I pick it up and take it to the washing machine. When Mum hears me pull the zip one inch away from where it started she's running around the corner screeching "Darcey don't you dare look in my sports bag!" in a stern, secretive way. That was when I first knew she was hiding something.
"Darcey, I want you to do the dishes while I'm gone to..." she pauses for a moment to look at her outfit "the gym." She smiles. "okay, where would you like me to tell Dad you are this time when he gets home, mum?" I ask in a very moody teenage way. "Darcey, you tell him the truth, darling, of course." I un-noticeably clench my fist. What that you've gone to your twenty-four year old boyfriend's house instead of being home spending time with your family? That's all I want to say but this is one of those times where I have to think before I speak and, luckily, that's exactly what I did "That you've gone to the gym for two hours?" My fake smile grows on my secretly angry face. "Yes, darling, I'll see you at five, love you!" her lying, cheating, disloyal face fades out of the front door and into the front garden as she walks towards her hunky boyfriend's house.
If you couldn't tell by my thoughts, actions and mine and mums conversations, Mum has been cheating on Dad for the past four months (that I know of) Dad's too naive to know what she's doing but I can see right through her and she knows it! I mean I do want to tell Dad but he really doesn't deserve to get his heart broken by a cheating woman who only cares about herself! He's too nice for that! But then if I do tell him, maybe he'll take me to live near Tanya's university without Mum so we can visit Tanya, have nice Father-Daughter dinners and stay clear of the cheating lying monster that we used to live with! Okay I'm slowly fading into dreamland...
Tanya obviously doesn't know about Mum cheating on Dad, if I told her, she'd flip, it would be like The Jeremy Kyle Show but with more fighting, crying and anger! I really do think it's best that only I know about the affair...
TWO
"Darcey, I really don't understand why you'd want a boyfriend! Boys are just stupid and immature and annoying!" Kyra just kept moaning about how boys are stupid and no boy deserves neither Kyra nor me. "But doesn't Elly have a boyfriend?" Elly's boyfriend, Dylan is around about the only decent boy in our year; he treats Elly like she's a person and not a pet, he is nice to all of Elly's friends (including me) and he is gorgeous! "Yes, Darc, but she just wants a boyfriend to show off to her friends and followers!" Kyra answers confidently.
"How do you know that for sure, Ky?" I ask
"Duh, She told me," This is sounding bad. "Elly said she doesn't really like Dylan; she's just using him for the reputation and for the football team! Even though, they're all immature and ugly!" She says this like it's normal to be in a relationship and not love your partner! Call me a hypocrite but come on, that was year eight! "Kyra, that's definitely not something you want to be saying out loud! You shouldn't even be telling me that!" I argue.
"Darcey, dear, Everyone knows it anyway! Apart from Dylan, that is," she says with an 'oops' expression on her face " well, I've got to go home for dinner now, Darc, but we can meet tomorrow to go and buy stationery for school?" Her face almost makes me burst into laughter. I have a weirdo best friend that likes to shop for stationery for fun. "Ha ha... okay Kyra, we can do that if you want to."
I can't believe what Elly's doing to Dylan! He's such a nice boy and he's so cute! Well we've never really talked much but he seems nice and he is extremely cute! I feel like I'm being overloaded by everybody's secrets! And I have to keep them all!
"Darcey, Dinner's ready!" Oh wow! That's a shocker; Mum's home for once. Maybe her and 'hunky boy' broke up! I walk downstairs to see Bangers and Mash set out on the table with Dad sat next to a fully-gym-clothed Mum. Disappointment hits my face. "How was the gym, darling?" As I said, Dad is clueless!
"It was good, hard work! You know, I'm doing one-hundred-and-fifty sit ups and one-hundred push ups a day now!" Mum replies.
"Well done, darling! I'm so proud of you! Aren't you proud of your model-material mum, Darc?"
"Yeah, so proud of you, mum" I say, knowing Mum hasn't been to the gym in at least a year and a half. Dad's love and passion is all a lie! I really should tell him but not at the dinner table like this. I should also get Kyra's opinion as well...
Back in my bedroom, I reach for my laptop and log into 'Friendster', pull up Kyra Peterson and type. Hopefully she'll understand and give me advice, instead of switching the subject to her life and how hard it was when her parents divorced. I mean, she is my best friend and everything but sometimes, I'm more there for her than she is for me. However, it's for Dad's sake, it's worth a try.
My message to Kyra
Kyra, I have something to tell you and I'm not quite sure how you're going to react yet but it's important to me and my family so please can you just help
Kyra, I think my mum's cheating on my Dad, I think she has been for a really long time and I don't know whether to tell my Dad or not. Please, text back with a useful answer. If not I'll definitely see you tomorrow.
All my love
-D
I'm not that soppy usually so she should be surprised and realise that I am worried and concerned about it. Poor Dad, he must just think everything is perfect; a happy family, a loving wife, a beautiful, sensible, single daughter at university and a smart daughter getting straight A's in school. In reality, he has a broken family, a cheating wife, a beautifuland careless, taken daughter at university and a smart daughter getting C's and B's in school. His life is a lie! I need to at least change something! "Ding Ding" Friendster's bleep tone rings. It's Kyra! Is my first thought. I spin around to look at my laptop it's not Kyra thought, the name says: Dylan Stonebridge! What is Dylan doing messaging me?
Dylan S: Hi
Why has he put a sad face? Why has he said 'Hi' to me? Why isn't he talking to Elly! Or his football team friends?
Darcey F: Oh hey Dylan, what's up?
That is such a stupid thing to say Darcey! 'Oh hey what's up?' You don't just say that! What was I thinking?
My computer bleeps again.
Dylan S: Can I tell you something that you can never tell anyone? :/
Darcey F: Yeah of course
his is extremely weird. I go to pinch my arm to find out if I'm dreaming but, weirdly, I'm not! What does he want to tell me? Why can't I tell anyone?
Why am I stressing? It's probably only a prank! Even though Dylan is too nice to prank me... Well it's probably only him asking me if I have my timetable! But then why wouldn't I be allowed to tell anyone? Oh no! What if this is something serious?
Dylan S: I know this probably sounds a bit stupid but I really think Elly is cheating on me...
Darcey F: Surprisingly it does not sound stupid at all, but seriously? Why do you think that Dylan?
Dylan S: Does the fact that I saw her kissing Ryan Cross make sense?
uddenly, I feel like I can help Dylan or at least, understand him. But why would he choose to come to me for advice and help? I didn't think he even remembered me!
Darcey F: Okay Dylan BRB, I promise I'll help you after
ylan sounds really heartbroken. If I'd have known before today, I would've told him! Well actually, knowing me, I probably wouldn't... But is this what Dad will be like if he finds out about Mum? If so, I can't possibly wait any longer to tell him before he finds out himself!
I quickly check the time. It's already eleven pm! Maybe Dad will be awake... If he is I am going to take him away from Mum and tell him right now!
Darcey F: I'm back, what do you want to do? R U going to break p with her?
slowly creep across the dark hallway to check in Mum and Dad's bedroom; Dad's fast asleep. There's no way he can find out whilst he's asleep. It's probably best to leave it till tomorrow.
Dylan S: I'm not sure... do you think I should give her another chance, Darc?
Darcey F: I'm not saying you should but if I were you, I would leave her because she's only going to cause you more pain, you know what they say, 'once a cheat, always a cheat.
w, he called me Darc! No Darcey! You cannot like Dylan! He's Elly's boyfriend and you are learning to become friends with her so no way!
I feel like an agony aunt! A good one too!
Dylan S: Okay thank you, Darcey! Can we talk tomorrow, I'm getting a bit tired and I need to think?
Aw he wants to talk to me tomorrow! For Jesus Christ's sake Darcey! No!
Darcey F: Of course! Goodnight!
Dylan S: Goodnight
At least I made him smile... online...
Oh well at least he's smiling somehow. I knew Elly was bad news! Didn't I know Elly was bad news! She needs to be taught a lesson! But not by me because she's more popular and prettier than me...
"Ding ding" Friendster goes off again. Maybe Dylan is messaging me back to say him and Elly have made up? I check my laptop again. It's not Dylan! It's Kyra! She's messaged me back about Mum! Finally!
What Kyra messaged me
Aw Darc! Why didn't you tell me sooner? You know you can come to me with anything right? I'm always here for you, D! No matter what! Okay so to be really honest you don't know for sure that your Mum is cheating do you? You've never seen her with anyone? Well before you tell your Dad what you think, you need to be sure about your Mum. I have a way to solve that! Let's scratch the stationery shopping tomorrow! We have two weeks left until school we can do that another day! I say me and you spy on where your Mum is going throughout the day and we follow her? It may seem like the wrong thing to do but, you and me both know it will help you and your Dad!
Love always,
-Ky
Darcey F: Thank you Ky! I really do love you! See you tomoz at 12?
Kyra P: Yep! I love you too xxx
ll I can do after reading that is smile. I've never seen that side of Kyra! Thank god something in my life is good! I just text back:
Ooh! The 'kissy' side of Kyra! Never seen that one either! Maybe my life really could be good.
THREE
To be written...