Secrets (25 page)

We heard her padding right along the landing, past our bedroom, down the stairs to the first floor, above the shop. Each stair creaked as she stepped. Our mother is a heavy woman.

We heard her in the kitchen, opening the fridge door.

‘She's having a midnight feast too,' I muttered.

‘Not a patch on mine,' Grace whispered, daring to take another bite.

Mum came trudging up the stairs again, slower now, breathing heavily.

‘Should I save a little piece of rabbit for Mum?' Grace asked.

‘No!'

‘But she loves chocolate.'

‘Ssh!'

‘Not now. In the morning,' Grace persisted.

‘Shut up or she'll hear us.'

It was too late. The footsteps stopped outside our door.

‘Girls? Are you awake?' Mum whispered.

‘No!' Grace said, idiotically.

Mum opened our door and came shuffling into the room. ‘You should have gone to sleep ages ago,' she said. She came over to Grace's bed and bent over her. ‘Are you all right, lovie?'

‘Yes, Mum,' said Grace.

‘What about you, Prudence?'

‘I'm fine,' I mumbled, giving a little yawn to make her think I was on the brink of sleep.

‘Are you hungry, Mum?' Grace asked. ‘We heard you go down to the kitchen.'

‘I was just getting a glass of milk for your dad. He's not feeling too clever. He keeps getting these funny turns.' Mum sounded very anxious.

‘He should go to the doctor,' I said.

‘You know what your dad's like,' said Mum. ‘Prudence, why don't you try talking to him? When he's in a good mood? He might just listen to you.'

I pulled a face in the dark. I hated being Dad's favourite. It didn't really mean much anyway. I couldn't get him to do anything he didn't want to do. No one could.

‘I'll try mentioning the doctor,' I said. ‘But I don't think it will work.'

‘You're a good girl,' said Mum. ‘Well, night- night, then.'

She kissed Grace, patted my shoulder awkwardly and then waddled out of our bedroom, her hand held stiffly in front of her so she wouldn't spill the milk.

‘You are a moron, Grace,' I hissed.

‘Sorry!' she said. She took another big bite of chocolate bunny. ‘Oh yum yum, happy tum!' She fell asleep in mid-munch, and started snoring softly.

I lay awake for a while, talking to Tobias.

About the Author

Jacqueline Wilson is an extremely well-known and hugely popular author who served as Children's Laureate from 2005–7. She has been awarded a number of prestigious awards, including the British Children's Book of the Year and the Guardian Children''s Fiction Award (for
The Illustrated Mum
), the Smarties Prize and the Children's Book Award (for
Double Act
, for which she was also highly commended for the Carnegie Medal). In 2002 Jacqueline was given an OBE for services to literacy in schools and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. She has sold over thirty-five million books and was the author most borrowed from British libraries in the last decade.

About the Illustrator

Nick Sharratt knew from an early age that he wanted to use his drawing skills as his career, so he went to Manchester Polytechnic to do an Art Foundation course. He followed this up with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design at St Martin's School of Art in London from 1981–1984.

Since graduating, Nick has been working full-time as an illustrator for children's books, publishers and a wide range of magazines. His brilliant illustrations have brought to life many books, most notably the titles by Jacqueline Wilson.

Nick also writes books as well as illustrating them.

There are oodles of incredible Jacqueline Wilson books to enjoy!

The Dinosaur's Packed Lunch

The Monster Story-Teller

The Cat Mummy

Lizzie Zipmouth

Sleepovers

Bad Girls

The Bed and Breakfast Star

Best Friends

Big Day Out

Buried Alive!

Candyfloss

Clean Break

Cliffhanger

Cookie

The Dare Game

The Diamond Girls

Double Act

Emerald Star

Glubbslyme

Hetty Feather

The Illustrated Mum

Jacky Daydream

Lily Alone

Little Darlings

Lola Rose

The Longest Whale Song

The Lottie Project

Midnight

The Mum-Minder

Queenie

Sapphire Battersea

Secrets

Starring Tracy Beaker

The Story of Tracy Beaker

The Suitcase Kid

Vicky Angel

The Worry Website

The Worst Thing About My Sister

FOR OLDER READERS:

Dustbin Baby

Girls In Love

Girls In Tears

Girls Out Late

Girls Under Pressure

Kiss

Love Lessons

My Secret Diary

My Sister Jodie

SECRETS
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 407 04548 1

Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children's Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company

This ebook edition published 2008

Text copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2008
Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2008

First Published by Doubleday in 2002

Extract from LOVE LESSONS
Text copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2005
Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2005

The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.