The Secrets Sisters Keep: A heartwarming, funny and emotional novel (The Devlin Sisters Book 2) by Sinéad Moriarty

put my head against the steering-wheel in despair, already sure I wouldn’t like what he was about to tell me. ‘Liam, Luke and Leo hung Sebastian Carter-Mills by his underpants from a clothes hook in the changing rooms. He was there for quite some time before one of the teachers heard him shouting.’
    Oh, God! Why did it have to be Sebastian? I took a deep breath. ‘That’s terrible. Did they say why they did it?’
    ‘They claim to have been provoked.’
    ‘In what way?’ I asked.
    Mr Henderson cleared his throat. ‘Apparently Sebastian called them “scumbag lottery winners”.’
    I went from ashamed to raging in a split second. How dare the little brat say that to my boys? No wonder they’d hung him up.
    ‘That’s obnoxious,’ I said.
    ‘If it’s true, it certainly is rude,’ admitted Mr Henderson, ‘but regardless of what Sebastian said, we cannot allow boys to retaliate with violence.’
    ‘It’s not exactly violent, though, is it?’ For once I was going to defend my triplets.
    ‘Sebastian was very upset. Mrs Carter-Mills is traumatized, and I have to inform you she was pushing for the boys to be expelled.’
    ‘What?’ How dare that cow try to get my kids kicked out of the school? ‘But that’s ridiculous. It was just a prank that Sebastian provoked in the first place.’
    ‘I understand, Mrs Hayes, but the boys did cause Sebastian physical and emotional distress.’
    ‘What about my sons’ distress at being called horrible names?’
    ‘I can assure you that Sebastian will be spoken to about his unpleasant behaviour. But I’ve had to give your sons an official warning. They must learn to control their tempers. We cannot allow students to lash out at each other.’
    ‘What does an official warning mean?’
    ‘If a boy gets three warnings, he is asked to leave the school.’
    Oh, God, they’d been there only three weeks. I knew how much Harry wanted them to be in the school. I just wanted them to settle down and learn something. I decided not to say anything else. I was angry and emotional: I didn’t want to get into an argument with the headmaster and make things worse. ‘I’ll speak to the boys when I pick them up,’ I said.
    ‘That would be wise,’ Mr Henderson said.
    I drove home, fuming. There was nothing I’d like more right now than to hang Victoria Carter-bloody-Mills up by her La Perla G-string.

    I collected the boys five minutes early and was rushing them towards the car, hoping to escape without bumping into anyone, when I heard a loud voice.
    ‘You there. Sophie’s sister. Stop.’
    I ignored her and pushed the boys into the car. But as I went around to climb into the driver’s seat, a thin hand clamped my arm. ‘I’m talking to you,’ a furious Victoria snapped.
    ‘Really? I didn’t hear my name.’
    ‘Yes, well, I can’t remember it.’
    ‘It’s Julie.’
    ‘It’s really not important. Do you know what your brutish boys did to Sebastian today?’
    I stared into her perfectly made-up eyes. ‘I heard that Sebastian said something incredibly rude to them and that they reacted.’
    She dug a bony index finger into my chest. ‘Your children are wild animals. They traumatized my son today. They’re nothing but common bullies and I will do everything in my power to have them removed from this school.’
    Rage fuelled me. Shaking, I grabbed her finger and pushed it away. ‘Your son needs to wash his mouth out with soap. If he ever speaks to my boys like that again, he’ll end up with a lot worse than a wedgie!’
    ‘How dare you –’
    This time I did the poking. ‘No! How dare you try to intimidate me with your bullshit threats? Why don’t you just go home and paint your nails?’
    I pushed her aside and climbed into the car. Turning to the boys, I said, ‘If Sebastian ever calls you horrible names again, you have my full permission to thump him.’

5
    Louise
    C hristelle came in and took off her coat. ‘ Bonjour, Clara, ça va? Tu as mangé le