Read Online Keep the Faith by Candy Harper - Free Book Online

Megs, ‘I am quite myself with Cam . . . just not the myself that eats tuna straight from the can or picks her toenails.’
    ‘I think that counts as good manners rather than hiding your inner light,’ I said. ‘Anyway, now that we’re all clear that we’ll never be the kind of girl that just
agrees with a boy for the sake of it, can we get back to my brilliant idea?’
    Megs sniffed. ‘I thought you told me earlier that it was your mum’s idea.’
    ‘She’s my mum; she’s supposed to give me all her good stuff.’
    ‘I’m not sure about this debating,’ Megs said. ‘Don’t you think that the boys will have an unfair advantage because they’ve got foghorn Westy?’
    ‘It’s not about who argues the loudest. It’s about who argues the bestest and who is most, you know, good with words.’
    ‘Do we have to speak in front of everyone?’ Angharad asked.
    I smiled at her. ‘Yep. It’ll be good for you, Ang. After a couple of weeks’ practice, you’ll be talking at levels audible to all, instead of just those who have got their
ear pressed against your lips.’
    ‘I know someone who’d like to press their ear to Ang’s lips,’ Lily said.
    ‘Oooh, yes!’ I patted Ang enthusiastically on the back. ‘Have you got any further with Elliot?’
    ‘We have had a couple of conversations by text.’
    ‘And?’ I asked. ‘What’s happening?’
    Angharad adopted an expression of great dignity and said, ‘We’re taking it slowly.’
    ‘That’s amazing!’ Megs gushed.
    I was starting to feel jealous. ‘So you actually had a chat about your relationship, did you?’
    ‘Well, not exactly,’ Ang said. ‘We’re going so slowly that we haven’t quite got to the conversation about taking it slowly yet.’
    It was pretty easy to convince Ang that she and Elliot definitely need the debating club to help them along, but I spent the rest of the day persuading Megs and Lily. I think they’re
coming round to the idea, but it’s left me exhausted.
    I hope convincing the teachers requires less punching.
TUESDAY 24TH JANUARY
    A poster has gone up at school for a club night next month.
    ‘What’s a club night?’ Lily asked. ‘Is it like Brownies?’
    We looked at the poster. ‘I think it’s meant to be like a nightclub,’ Megs said. ‘You know, music and dancing and people posing.’
    ‘What here? In the school hall?’ Angharad asked.
    ‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘It probably will be more like Brownies.’
    The poster said the club night has been organised by Year Eleven as part of their charity fund-raising.
    ‘Zoe says that Icky is on the fund-raising committee,’ Angharad said.
    My mouth fell open. ‘How does she do it?’ I asked.
    ‘Do what?’ Ang asked.
    ‘She always manages to get into everything. Committees, Year Eleven cliques, boys’ mouths . . .’
    ‘I’m not sure this club night is going to be anything to be proud of,’ Megs said. ‘Who wants to go to a party at school?’
    ‘Bet the music will be awful,’ Angharad said.
    Lily screwed up her face. ‘They’ll have teachers on patrol to stop any snogging.’
    ‘We’re really too cool to even bother turning up,’ Megs said.
    We all nodded.
    ‘Which just leaves us with one question,’ I said. ‘What are we going to wear?’
LATER
    To help Ang along with Elliot while we’re getting the debating club off the ground, Megs has arranged for us to meet the boys in the park on Saturday. I wasn’t
sure about going when Megs first suggested it.
    I said to her, ‘You shouldn’t just assume that I’m free. What if I was meeting Finn?’
    She pursed her lips. ‘Are you meeting Finn?’
    ‘Not at the moment.’
    ‘You can’t hang about like a lemon waiting for him to call. You’re coming out with us.’
    I let her bully me, just this once. ‘I can see that you’re on the verge of tears because you can’t bear the thought of being away from me so I’ll come.’
    ‘Good, you’ll enjoy seeing Ethan,’ Megs