Keeping it Real by Annie Dalton Page B

her and Sky sobbed out, “I just wish I’d never been born.”
    I stroked her back while she cried and eventually she felt able to choke out what had happened. She and her mum had had a big fight about her mum’s boyfriend.
    “You said you liked Dan,” I objected. “You said your mum has been so much happier since she’s been seeing him.”
    “She is ,” Sky wept. “But now I’m just in the way.”
    “Shut up! Of course you’re not.”
    “I am! Before Dan came along, I was Mum’s lifeline. You don’t know how much she relied on me. I even had to remind her to take her pills. If she was having a bad day, I’d cook for my little brothers—”
    “And you were a total superstar!” I interrupted fiercely. “But you’re twelve, Sky. You deserve a break. Let Danny Boy take care of her now.”
    Sky sat up, taking most of my quilt. Her nostrils had that pinched look they got when she was really upset. “It’s not just that Mum doesn’t need me. She doesn’t even like me.”
    “Sky—”
    “It’s true ! I remind her of all her worst times. She acts like I’m totally not there! I was just trying to make her notice me again,” she choked. “But I went a bit too far.”
    She suddenly clutched at my hand. “She screamed in my face, Melanie - she said not to ever bother coming back.”
    My friend collapsed on to the bed, taking all the quilt this time, and sobbed out: “I felt like there was nobody in the world who cared, Mel. I mean, my dad walks out and now my own mother hates me! What’s wrong with this picture? It has to be me.”
    Maybe I was just being swept along with Sky’s emotions, but I felt scared for her. I was genuinely afraid she’d do something stupid.
    It’s hard to be super-positive when you’re a tired twelve year old whose teeth are chattering because your friend’s got all the quilt. But I started desperately babbling whatever came into my head; telling my friend how amazingly special she was, how she was the girl all the girls in our class secretly wanted to be.
    “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, Sky,” I shivered. “Plus you’ve got all the Pinks b-backing you up…”
    I suddenly realised she’d stopped crying.
    Sky groped for my hand. “You missed out the most important thing,” she said, hiccupping, “which is you. You’re the most wonderful friend I ever had, Melanie, and you’ll never leave me, will you?”
    I was only twelve. No one expects to die, do they, when they’re twelve? Plus Sky had just said I was her best mate and I wanted it to be true. So I said something no human should ever say. “Of course I won’t leave you, stupid,” I whispered.
    I only wanted Sky to feel safe so she could go to sleep. And it worked. She snuggled down under the quilt, still clutching my hand and, worn-out from crying, she finally drifted off…
    Of course I won’t leave you, stupid …
    I could hear my well-meaning words ringing round my head as I half-skated around the icy turning into Sky’s street.
    In London, there’s one hour at night when all the traffic stops and even the city drunks go totally quiet. Just then it was so quiet, the only sound I could hear was my own heart hammering in my ears.
    Sky’s flat was at the end of a terrace of shabby old-fashioned houses. I picked my way down steps slippery with ice and shimmered in through the front door into the Nolans’ basement flat.
    I wished Brice had given me his scarf as well. It was colder inside the Nolans’ place than it was out in the street.
    The heating’s off , I told myself. It’s the middle of the night, that’s why it’s so cold.
    The flat was absolutely silent. When the fridge switched itself back on with a sudden judder, I jumped with fright.
    Angels can tell a lot from the vibes which collect in human homes. Karmen’s home had a super-intense family vibe. Walking into the Jackson’s flat felt like walking into some dreary war zone.
    Sky’s home was an icy blank. I started along