Read Online The Mag Hags by Lollie Barr - Free Book Online Page A

a copy of them, I’m just checking out the pattern. Are you going to try on that catsuit?’
    â€˜I don’t know if it’s me,’ said Cat, who had new respect for Wanda’s opinion when it came to fashion after seeing the clothes she had made. ‘I’m going to try it on. Would you come and give me an honest opinion?’
    â€˜Sure.’ Wanda couldn’t believe she was having a discussion about fashion with an ‘Us’, and in public too.
    Cat walked into a large change room and pulled the wooden door shut, while Wanda waited out the front. From the next change room came a laugh so raucous it sounded like a gaggle of geese on a hen’s night.
    â€˜Oh, Reanne, you’re hysterical!’ said a laughing voice. ‘God, that dress is just so you!’
    â€˜Wait till I’m married to Adrian, I won’t be shopping in Glitz, baby. It will be high-class designer boutiques all the way,’ said Reanne, laughing a bit too hard. ‘Show me the money!’
    Cat opened the change room door and signalled to Wanda, mouthing the word: ‘Reanne’. Wanda, who had already got the drift, went into the cubicle with Cat and listened to the conversation.
    â€˜What about his daughter? Still a nightmare?’ said the voice. It had a nasal twang so bad you’d think it was a lawnmower choking on wet grass.
    â€˜Oh, Corabelle, she’s such a little princess,’ said Reanne. ‘Hates my guts. I’m going to pack her off to boarding school the moment her father and I are married.’
    â€˜Oh, you’re awful, Reanne!’ said the voice, breaking into giggles again.
    â€˜Anyway, what do you think of these white pants?’ said Reanne. ‘I reckon they make my bum look big enough to show a wide-screen movie on.’
    Cat gestured for Wanda to slip out and then took off the catsuit – which had made her look like she was in a bad seventies heavy-metal band anyway – deposited the clothes with the attendant and made a run for it, before Reanne came out of the cubicle.
    â€˜Ohmigod!’ said Wanda as they hurried across the mall. ‘Can you believe that? We’ve got to tell Belle. She’ll freak when she hears Reanne wants to send her to boarding school!’
    â€˜Yeah, I know,’ said Cat. ‘Do you think we should call her now and get her to come down to Hoolio’s?’
    â€˜We have to,’ said Wanda. ‘She needs to know.’
    Cat pulled out her mobile and texted Belle, telling her to get down to Hoolio’s immediately, as they had some urgent news she just had to hear.
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    When Wanda and Cat walked into Hoolio’s it was pumping. Abdul Minary was on the decks, dropping fat hip-hop beats that had everybody in the place tappingtheir feet in time with the music. There was always a sweet scent in the air because Hoolio baked his cakes in the kitchen, just behind the serving counter. You could smell the apple, carrot, chocolate, cinnamon and spices floating in the air. Luckily, there was an empty booth at the back of the cafe, next to the frappé machine. The girls ordered drinks but Cat declined to share a cake, then settled into the booth to chat about the magazine.
    â€˜What’s up?’ asked Belle when she arrived half an hour later. She looked concerned as she slid in beside Wanda.
    â€˜Belle, I’m going to cut to the chase here, okay?’ said Cat, who was rather enjoying the drama. ‘We just heard Reanne saying she was going to pack you off to boarding school!’
    â€˜What?’ said Belle, looking confused. ‘How … how did you find out?’
    â€˜We were in Glitz and Cat was trying on this vile catsuit – sorry Cat, but it was pretty awful,’ explained Wanda breathlessly, ‘and we overheard her in the change room. She was talking about spending all your dad’s money too.’
    â€˜I knew it,’ said Belle. ‘She couldn’t