Bindi Babes by Narinder Dhami Page B

shrugged. “They were all right,” I said. “But it doesn't really matter anyway.”
    Biji sat up ramrod straight. “What do you mean, ‘It doesn't matter,’ child?” she snapped. “How will you find a good husband if you don't get yourself a decent education?”
    “I don't want to get married,” I said.
    You'd have thought I'd said I'd murdered someone. Auntie Rita gasped and nearly dropped the teapot. Biji goggled at me from behind her five-centimeter-thick glasses. Even Auntie looked shocked. I went for the killer touch.
    “I want to be a pop star,” I added.
    Biji almost fell off the sofa. “A
pop star
?” she screeched. “What kind of a job is
that
for a respectable Indian girl?”
    Auntie glared at me. She looked seriously embarrassed, and I was glad. “Be quiet, Amber,” she whispered.
    “But I
do
want to be a pop star,” I insisted. I was enjoying myself. “Why not?”
    “What do you mean, ‘Why not?’” Biji was clutching her heart dramatically. “Dancing around in skimpy clothes, singing suggestive songs? Your father wouldn't allow it.”
    “He can't stop me,” I said coolly.
    Auntie looked as if she wanted to throttle me. Ididn't really want to be a pop star. Well, I wouldn't have minded, but I can't sing. I mean, I
really
can't sing. I sound like a bunch of cats having their tails pulled.
    “I've never heard anything so ridiculous in my life,” Auntie Rita declared, patting her rock-hard hairdo. “You'll have to knock these silly ideas out of her head, Susie.”
    I glanced at Geena and Jazz. They were smiling. They were enjoying seeing Auntie squirm as much as I was.
    Auntie was watching me closely, and I tried to meet her gaze without looking too triumphant. Then, after a moment, she shrugged. “Well, if that's what Amber really wants …”
    What?
I blinked. She wasn't supposed to say that.
    “What do you mean?” Biji howled, slowly turning purple. “No relative of mine is going to be a pop star!”
    “But if Amber's got a good voice, and that's what she wants to do, well, maybe there's no harm in it,” Auntie said thoughtfully. To my utter horror, I was beginning to get an idea of where she was going with this. “Perhaps she
has
got a good voice.” She stared coolly at me. “I wouldn't know. I've never heard her sing.”
    “Oh, my voice isn't that great,” I said quickly.
    “Why don't you let us be the judge of that?” Auntie folded her arms. “Go on. Sing something for us now.”
    “S-s-s-s-sing?” I stuttered.
    “Yes.” Auntie fixed me with a steely stare. “Now.”
    “That's a good idea,” Baby chimed in. I could almost see a big, flashing sign saying REVENGE ! aboveher head. “Shall I go and get Dad and Uncle Johnny?”
    “No, don't do that,” I said. But Baby had already whisked out of the room.
    “Ah, here come the boys.” Auntie Rita beamed as the front door opened. “I'm sure they'd like to hear Amber sing too.”
    Geena and Jazz were looking at me sympathetically. I swallowed hard. I glared at Auntie, who stared serenely back at me. She needn't think she'd got the better of me. I'd show her. Oh, yes.

    “That,” I said heavily, flinging myself onto Jazz's bed, “was just about the most embarrassing thing I've ever had to live through.”
    “I thought that was the day you started school,” Geena remarked, following me into the room. “You know, when you wet yourself and it went all over the teacher's shoes.”
    “Forget that,” I groaned, burying my face in a pillow. “Today overtook it by miles.” I cringed as I remembered my terrible rendition of Kylie's latest single. Even Biji had been laughing by the end of it.
    “It was all Auntie's fault,” I went on bitterly. “She set me up.”
    “And you fell into it,” Jazz pointed out helpfully.
“Right
into it.”
    “Thank you.” I hurled a pillow at her, and felt better when it smacked her in the face. “Now I've got to get my own back.”
    “How?” Geena asked.
    I didn't know.