Read Online A Perfect Life by Raffaella Barker - Free Book Online Page A

three pairs of my old trainers. She hasn’t had anything back yet but Mum says life is all about giving, so it’s supposed to be fine. Mum’s given two hundred quid for this baby. I wish she’d dish it out to me – I could do with some new speakers.
    Anyway, Ruby makes Mum and Jake swing her, so they come across to us like some perfect family three-some. Mum’s eyes are sparkling and her cheeks are flushed; she looks amazing, and completely different from how she looked when we left the house earlier. It is a bit like a facelift. I have to say, I am not the one who notices this; it is Melons who whispers to me, ‘Hey, look at your mum, she’s cheered up,’ and Coral adds, ‘She could do with growing up a bit. I don’t know why Nick puts up with it.’
    Coral always calls Dad ‘Nick’. I think it makes her feel grown-up, like swearing at him, which she does as well. He never shouts back like he does at me, but I guess that’s to do with her being a girl. Mum always says so anyway.
    â€˜Oh my God,’ says Mel, ‘but she’s your mum, she wouldn’t. Would she?’
    Coral turns her back on Mum. She looks furious. ‘She’s wearing my T-shirt as well. She should just get on with being grown-up and leave the teenage behaviour to us lot.’
    Mel is anxious now, it was supposed to be funny and it’s getting ugly. ‘Let’s go and swim,’ she says, handing Coral a cigarette. They both light up from the same match cocooned in Matt’s hand.
    Foss trudges up with his bucket slopping with seaweed and water. He is doing his heavy breathing thing, but it’s just concentration, not a special need. Mel and Coral scoop him up on to Coral’s back and make sure they are off before Mum reaches us. Matt follows them more slowly, after having a good look at Jake. I don’t know what I want to do right now. The problem with going down to the sea with Mel is that when she swims her bikini is see-through and everything – like EVERYTHING shows. I don’t know how girls can cope with being so full on. Maybe she doesn’t know, but Mel is better than any poster from a magazine. It’s just as well she isn’t my sister.
    Luckily, and maybe because it is what I am related to, I don’t go for the slight dark type at all. Coral is like a tube. All her limbs and her body are round but narrow. She looks like she weighs nothing, and she is quite short, like Mum, and very exotic-looking, like no one in our family. Her hair is so black it often looks green. She could come from Mars. Or Tibet. But actually I suppose she was born in King’s Lynnhospital with Dad standing around looking anxious like when Ruby was born, which I can remember because Coral and I had to go too. Luckily there was a Nintendo machine in the waiting room. It took the length of time needed to complete Golden Eye for Mum to give birth to Ruby. Then we went home.
    Ruby is yakking away as usual. ‘So, Mummy, we made this castle and the fairy stables are at the back but a bit smaller than I wanted because Matt and Jem got bored, but there is still enough room for three Brat ponies – did you bring them?’
    â€˜Err no, was I supposed to?’ Mum isn’t even looking at the castle; she’s playing with her hair and glancing at Jake sneakily from behind her shades.
    â€˜Ooooh, Mummmmyyyyy!’ Ruby’s voice can rise on a crescendo like a dentist’s drill. ‘I sent a text from Coral’s phone to you TELLING you to bring my Brat ponies. So why didn’t you look at your messages?’
    A lot of the sparkle leaves Mum’s eyes now as she tries to talk Ruby down from her flight of fancy.
    It is never easy, and particularly when Ruby is hot and thirsty, and Mum feels guilty. ‘My phone is off. Actually, I haven’t seen it since you had it in the tree house yesterday, Ruby, when you were texting