A Frozen Heart {ON HOLD}

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I stirred my steamy cup of hot chocolate and dropped in three marshmallows. On the other side of the round, small but high table, Trix and Brea did the same. The room was dimly lit with just a fire burning, but I could still clearly see their mud streaked cheeks and scratched faces.

"Ok, so what were you doing in the middle of the road?" Trix asked, taking a sip. Brea wiped away tears for the billionth time with her bandaged palm (Mum's doing) and let put another sob.

"I came home from school to find her lying on the floor with a knife in her chest. I panicked and ran out onto the street to the telephone box to call Dad." Suddenly her face expression twisted. "Oh no! I didn't get to call him!" Then she began to bawl again. I gave her an awkward hug from where I was sitting and she sniffed and stopped crying.

"We are so, so sorry," I said, feeling really bad and on the verge of tears myself. Trix nodded and put her arm round her when I moved away.

"It's not your fault," Brea whimpered, gulping down a marshmallow. "You know, I don't know why I'm so upset. She wasn't even my real mum." Trix's head shot up at the same time as mine as we gave each other The Look.

"I'm sorry?" Trix said.

"When I was eight my mum ran away from home. Dad went into depression for a year until he met Thea. She's the one who just died," she added with a sigh. "I never understood why mum left us, because we had been so close. Dad always changed the subject when I asked about her, so I just stopped caring." She paused and blinked her watery eyes. "Thea hated me. Sometimes she wouldn't even pack my lunch for school. She never let any of my friends come over or let me go to theirs. Time passed and I became unsocial. I used to have so many friends."

"She must have been awful," I said unsurely, glancing at Trix to check if I'd said the right thing. Trix tilted her head and shrugged.

"I guess," Brea answered slowly, sipping some more of her hot chocolate. Then she pulled back her hair into a high ponytail and propped her chin up onto her hands. "Dad used to be great. We were really close, too. Then Thea started to twist him round her finger and I think he just stopped caring about me as well."

"But...I mean...I don't know how to say this..." Trix began, biting her lip. "Well, umm, it's quite obvious you're like the richest person in the school, so..." She trailed off and blushed. Brea gave her a sad smile and I thought how horrible it was to have parents who didn't want you anymore.

"He doesn't give me money 'cause he cares, he gives it to me so I won't be a burden on him and so I'll leave him alone. I'm a little spoilt, yes - ok fine, a lot spoilt!" She gave a half laugh and grinned at us as we jokily rolled our eyes at her. "But now I know it's true, you can't buy happiness. Unfortunately. 'Cause then I could buy a lot!" We all laughed just as June walked into the room with my mum.

"Hey, who's partying without me?" she asked, grinning at us. June had been badly injured so Mum had been sitting with her while she slept. Then she saw Brea and her jaw dropped open.

"What's she doing here?" There was an awkward silence.

"Umm..." Brea said, looking embarrassed.

"Brea was the girl on the road," I explained quickly, motioning at June to come and sit with us. Mum walked over to the fireplace and began to add more wood blocks to it carefully.

"Oh," June said, grabbing a blue mug from the Tall Old Shelf (we seriously do call it that) and pouring herself some hot chocolate. I pushed the bowl of marshmallows towards her.

"You know, if you wanted to give someone a heart attack, you coulda done it when the car wasn't spinning around like a top," she said to Brea, but she was smiling.

"Sorry, I'll remember that for next time," Brea said in the same playful tone, popping another marshmallow into her mouth.

"Oh no, there won't be a next time," Mum called sharply from the fireplace, and we all laughed.

"By the way, what was that giant ice block doing in front of me?" Brea asked when we finished our drinks. We immediately fell silent and I could feel them all watching me.

"Hang on," I said, and got up, sighing. Then I positioned myself opposite her, a few feet away from the table.

"Hey Brea, do you wanna build a snowman?"

"Huh?"

She didn't look very surprised when I flicked my fingers at the space in front of her. She didn't look at all scared when a mini snowman formed from my blast. Instead, she said in an excited voice, "hey, I can do that too!"