Read Online Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 06] by Dates Mates, Mad Mistakes (Html) - Free Book Online Page A

I’ll stay under
here from now on. Probably best I never get up again. Ever.
    Half an hour later, I
was woken again by my mobile. I cautiously got out of bed, grappled around for
my bag and found the phone.
    ‘How are you?’ asked
Lucy.
    I rubbed my eyes. ‘Bit
fragile, to tell the truth.’
    Lucy laughed. ‘Serves
you right. What did your mum say?’
    ‘Haven’t seen her yet.
I guess she’ll be at work now. Don’t remember much.’
    ‘You were hysterical,’
said Lucy. ‘Falling about all over the place when Angus arrived. At one point,
he tried to pick you up and you told him to bog off.’
    ‘Oh
no
, I
didn’t, did I?’ I moaned. ‘Well, that’s it, isn’t it? I will never ever
ever
drink again.’
    ‘Right. What, not even
water?’
    ‘Oh haha, Lucy. I mean
alcohol. Not if it makes you feel like this.’
    ‘Oh yeah, that reminds
me. Tony asked me to pass on his infallible hangover cure.’
    ‘Good. What is it?’
    ‘Don’t drink the night
before,’ she laughed.
    ‘Oh, very funny. Are
the others in trouble?’
    ‘Nesta is. My dad
picked me and TJ up and we just ran out to the car and didn’t tell him
anything. But Nesta’s been grounded today. She’s really miffed because it was
your idea to try the drinks.’
    ‘Oh
Go-od!
’
I groaned. ’I’ll phone her and
apologise. Got to go and lie down again now, Lucy. Sorry. Call you soon.‘
    ‘Drink a load of
water,’ said Lucy. ‘That’s what Mum does whenever she’s had too much to drink.’
    After I hung up, I saw
that someone had put a glass of water by the bed. Mum probably. I dutifully
drank it, then lay down for a while longer. I felt dreadful, like I’d been run
over by a bus. After another hour, I finally made it downstairs to get some
more water.
    Angus works from home
some days and this was one of them. He looked up from his desk as I passed his
study on the way to the kitchen. I gave him a weak smile and prepared myself
for the telling off.
    ‘How are you feeling?’
he asked.
    ‘Rotten, if you must
know.’
    He chuckled. ‘Enough
to drive you to drink, isn’t it?’
    I went to stand in the
doorway. ‘Aren’t you mad with me?’
    He shook his head.
‘But your mum is. She said to say that you’re grounded and can’t go over to
Nesta’s until school starts again.’
    ‘It wasn’t Nesta’s
fault. It was me who started it all. And I won’t be doing it again in a hurry,
I can tell you.’
    Angus chuckled again.
‘Never say never,’ he said.
    He’s clearly never had
a hangover like this, I thought, as I staggered into the kitchen.
     
    Mum rang early in the
afternoon and was true to her word. Grounded, she said. I couldn’t go out until
she said so, even though there wasn’t much of the holidays left. I knew I
didn’t have a leg to stand on, literally on the night of the cocktails, so I
didn’t try and argue. I knew I’d blown it with her.
    I decided to keep a
diary of my imprisonment.
     
    Day One:
    First day of
prison sentence. Don’t mind staying in as feel pretty grotty. Began to feel
marginally better after a ton of water.
    Cleaned the house.
Even though we have a cleaner, thought it was a good way to earn brownie
points.
    Belly button
update. It’s healing up nicely at last, phew. It’s going to look great in a few
weeks. Ha ha, Mum, you may have grounded me, but I’ve got a new belly button
stud in. You can’t control everything.
    Worked on lyrics
for new songs.
    Thought about
Josh. Thought a
lot
about Josh. He said ‘See you around.’ No chance of that, then — not for
a while. Unless Mum relents and there’s not much chance of that. Felt good when
I saw him in the park last time. Sort of huzzy. Definitely different to being
with Ben. They must be about the same age, but somehow Josh is more exciting.
And he’s taller
.
    Practised doing a
new signature. If changing my image, then my handwriting is part of it. Covered
about ten pages.
    Practised snogging
technique on the back on my hand. Think I may