Read Online Girls Out Late by Jacqueline Wilson - Free Book Online Page A

warning. But then, she’s not one to talk, looking at her and Liam. Magda says he seemed awfully juvenile for his age anyway, just wanting to show off about himself, but she’s no one to talk either, she went out with Greg, who had all the sophistication of Dennis the Menace.
    I start to feel a bit better. Nadine goes to the bathroom, comes back with my flannel and bathes my eyes. Magda whips out her own makeup bag and powders them deep gray and outlines them in black and I now have new eyes and old friends and I feel a
lot
better.
    “Coming out now?” says Magda.
    Nadine gets my jacket, and off we go, the three of us. I start to wonder why on earth I was so upset over Russell. Boyfriends are OK, but they aren’t a patch on girlfriends who’ve stuck by you and care about you forever.
    We go down the town to Flowerfields and I actually manage to be funny about a sad little ghost of Ellie still standing waiting there. We wander round the clothes shops for a while, trying on different stuff and hooting with laughter.
    “There! I knew you’d cheer up if we took you out,” says Magda. “Forget Russell, forget all boys. They’re not worth it.”
    At that precise moment her eyes are following three boys in tight jeans fooling around outside the HMV shop. They disappear inside.
    “I’m wondering about buying that new
Best
Ever Love Songs
compilation album,” says Magda. “Can I go and have another listen?”
    Nadine catches my eye and we have a giggle.
    We saunter into HMV and Magda eyes up the boys while Nadine and I have another flip through our current favorites, playing the If-I-had-a-hundred-quid-to-spend game. The Claudie Coleman album is high on both our lists.
    “Hey, look!” says Nadine, pointing to a Claudie Coleman poster above the counter. “She’s singing at the Albert Hall next month.”
    “Oh wow, let’s go!” says Magda, actually distracted from the boys. “I’d love to see her in person, wouldn’t you?”
    “Well, the tickets would be seriously pricey,” I say cautiously, wishing I wasn’t always so strapped over cash. “But maybe Anna would help me out.”
    “Look, I’ll help you out if needs be—and you too, Nadine,” says Magda. “But us three girls have simply
got
to go and see Claudie, right?” She’s scribbling down the phone number for the ticket office. “I’ll get my dad to book them on his credit card the minute I get home, OK?”
    We take it in turns singing along with Claudie at the listening station. There’s one particular tune that I can’t get enough of. Claudie’s singing very close up, soft and breathy, like she’s whispering in your ear.
    “Don’t even think about him

He’s not worth it, worth it, worth it.

Who needs a man to feel a woman?

You’re doing fine without him, girl.”
    I replay it till I know it off by heart and we sing it as we go all around Flowerfields. I sing it as a duet on the bus with Nadine. She’s bought the album, lucky thing, but she’s promised to do a tape for me. Then I hum a solo version as I walk back from her house.
    Who needs Russell? Who cares about Russell?
Don’t even think about him.
    “Ellie, guess who came calling round here this afternoon?”
    I stand staring and wait.
    “Guess,” says Dad.
    “
I
don’t know,” I say, shrugging.
    “A certain young man.”
    I miss a beat.
    “
Which
young man?”
    “With floppy hair. Rather full of himself. Sketchbook tucked slightly pretentiously under his arm.”
    “Russell!”
    “The very one.”
    “But how did he know where I
live
?”
    “Ah. That was my question too. And he had a rather impressive answer. He knew vaguely the area, so he’d worked his way up and down several roads describing a certain young lady called Ellie—and eventually someone somewhere recognized the description and suggested he call at our house.”
    “Oh my God! Are you
serious,
Dad? Russell really did come round?”
    “He did indeed. He was very worried about last night. Russell’s