Two-Faced (8 page)

‘Don’t be rude,’ Kim scolded.

Smiling, the beautician said, ‘I’ve heard it all before. The younger girls always moan, and some of them try wiping it off as soon as my back’s turned. But they regret it when they see how bad they look on film. Like little ghosts, they are . . . all pale and insignificant.’

‘She won’t be wiping nothing off,’ Kim assured her, slapping Mia’s hand when she tried to flatten her hair down.

Leaving them to it, Michelle went upstairs to read in peace.

‘Shell . . .’ her mum called up the stairs some time later. ‘We’re off out. Come and put the bolts on, ’cos I don’t want Eric letting himself in before I get back.’

Michelle watched through the window as Kim and Mia walked down the path with their noses in the air and climbed into the taxi that was waiting at the kerb. She thought it was odd how it was suddenly all right for her to stay in the house by herself, considering she hadn’t been allowed to on Friday. Obviously the peeping Tom wasn’t around any more. Or, more likely, her mum just wasn’t bothered about him getting to Michelle any more, because she was too wrapped up in Mia to care about anything else.

She went downstairs, bolted the door and switched the TV on. At least she’d be able to watch what
she
wanted to for a change, because Mia always insisted on
Hollyoaks
or
The Simpsons
– or
any
thing other than what she knew Michelle would enjoy.

She found a local news channel and was just settling down to watch a report about a suspected arson attack in Hulme, where a baby had been dropped out of the window of a burning second-floor flat into the arms of a neighbour, when the phone started to ring. With half a horrified eye still on the screen, she reached for the handset.

‘Hello?’

‘Don’t “hello”
me
, you slag!’ Sandra Bishop snarled down her ear. ‘My
boyfriend
wants a word with you. And be warned – I’ve got it on speakerphone so I can hear every word you say.’ Obviously talking to Darren now, Sandra hissed, ‘Go on, then –
tell
her.’

Michelle was already shaking and a chill ran down her spine when Darren came on the line.

‘What d’y’ think you’re doing, spreading all them lies about me?’ he demanded. ‘Everyone knows you’re a slag, so what makes you think
I
’d come anywhere near you? And where do you get off telling my bird I’ve finished with her for
you
? You’re off your fuckin’ head!’

‘Hope you got that,’ Sandra said as she came back on. ‘’Cos if I ever hear you’ve been telling anyone you’re with my man again, you’re dead!’

Shivering violently, Michelle put the phone down. Sandra had obviously confronted Darren about Mia and demanded that he make that call to prove the rumours weren’t true. But he hadn’t needed to be so nasty about it. And now she’d have to tell Mia, which wasn’t going to be fun. But if she didn’t, Mia would assume everything was all right and get herself into real lumber with Sandra.

Mia and Kim were on a high when they got home later that night. The session had gone fantastically, and Kim had been as proud as Punch watching Mia strut her stuff and pull all the poses she’d been rehearsing. And the photographer had given them the number of an agent, so it had all worked out brilliantly.

Home now, Kim just wanted to put her feet up and have a cup of tea. But before she’d had a chance to kick off her shoes, Michelle told Mia about the phone call and all hell broke loose.

‘You
liar
!’ Mia screamed, shoving her sister onto the couch. ‘Darren wouldn’t do that to me!’

‘It’s true,’ Michelle insisted, struggling to get up before Mia jumped on her.

‘You’ve always been the same,’ Mia spat. ‘You’re just jealous ’cos I’m prettier than you! But it’s not
my
fault you’re ugly, so just get over it and stop trying to make out like I’m as sad as
you
!’

Pushing her off, Michelle stood up. ‘I’m not jealous, I’m just trying to save you from getting hurt. Sandra was deadly serious. And if you’d heard the way Darren was talking to me, you’d have been devastated.’

‘Yeah, well, like you just said, he was talking to
you
,’ Mia shot back spitefully. ‘There’s no way he would have spoken to me like that.’

‘He thought I
was
you,’ Michelle reminded her.

Tutting when Mia started screaming at Michelle and tugging at her hair, Kim got up and pulled them apart. ‘You’d best not be lying,’ she told Michelle. ‘’Cos if this is your way of getting back at her because you’re jealous about the modelling, I’ll go mad.’

‘It’s true,’ Michelle insisted, close to tears now.

Instinctively believing her, Kim nodded and turned to Mia. Seeing the tears in her eyes, she said, ‘There’s no point getting upset about it. I’ve already told you I don’t want you messing about with lads, so it’s just as well this one’s shown his true colours before you got too involved.’

Mia scowled and flashed a hooded glance at Michelle, warning her to keep her mouth shut about how involved she already was.

Kim shooed Michelle towards the kitchen and waved her hand at the kettle, saying to Mia, ‘Men are only out for what they can get, and they’ve got a nasty habit of trampling all over your dreams while they’re getting it. So, we’ll hear no more about this two-timing
Darren
– or whatever his name is. From now on, you’ll concentrate on your career and nothing else. Got that?’

Pursing her lips tightly, reluctant to accept that Darren had two-timed her – albeit with his own girlfriend – Mia shrugged.

‘Say it,’ Kim demanded, wanting to make sure that they were on the same page now that she’d committed so much money to the project.

‘All
right
,’ Mia agreed huffily. ‘But I’m not going back to school after this.’

‘Don’t talk rubbish,’ Kim scoffed. ‘You can’t just stop going. It’s against the law.’

‘I don’t care,’ Mia shot back stubbornly. ‘That bitch is only going to keep on hassling me. And you’ve already seen the bruises on my ribs from where she laid into me today, so what if she gets my face next time?’

Mulling the implications over, Kim decided that the risk was real enough to warrant concern. A damaged face would be the absolute end of the dream.

‘All right,’ she conceded. ‘You’ve only got a few months left, so I don’t suppose it really matters. But if you’re going to miss your exams, you’d best be ready to put everything you’ve got into making a success of the modelling ’cos you’ll stand no chance of getting a good job if it goes wrong.’

‘I’ll just have kids,’ Mia retorted sarcastically. ‘Then I’ll get benefits, like you.’

‘Don’t make out like I had a choice,’ Kim snapped. ‘I had ambitions once, you know. But I made the mistake of getting involved with your flaming father. And what was I supposed to do when he left me with two kids to fetch up by myself?’

‘All right, you don’t have to go on with yourself,’ Mia muttered, rolling her eyes. ‘I was only joking.’

‘Yeah, well, think before you start handing out your insults in future,’ Kim warned her. ‘And me agreeing to let you stay off school doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, by the way. If there’s any trouble from the authorities, you’ll be going back whether you like it or not, ’cos there’s no way I’m going to court over it.’

‘They can’t force me to go back if I’m injured,’ Mia reminded her. ‘And the nurse thinks I’m much worse than I really am, so they can’t say I’m faking it.’

‘Yeah, well, make sure you don’t tell anyone any different,’ Kim told her firmly. ‘From now on, you don’t trust
no
one – and especially not your mates, ’cos they’ll be the first to stab you in the back when they see you’re doing better than them.’ Reaching for the cup of tea that Michelle had just carried through for her from the kitchen, she added, ‘And that goes for you, an’ all. Anyone asks about her, you don’t tell them nothing. Got that?’

‘Don’t worry, none of her friends ever talk to me anyway,’ Michelle murmured, heading up to bed.

‘God, she does my head in,’ Mia sniped as soon as she’d gone. ‘I don’t see why she’s always got to have a face on her.’

‘She’s just jealous of all the attention you’re getting,’ Kim said, gazing thoughtfully at the door. ‘And that worries me, ’cos if she gets pissed off and says something, it’ll be me who ends up copping for it.’

‘She’d better not,’ Mia retorted sharply. ‘But if you’re worried, just don’t tell her anything. She can’t tell what she doesn’t know, can she?’

‘Yeah, maybe you’re right,’ Kim agreed. ‘Anyway, she doesn’t need to know any of the details, ’cos she’s not really involved, is she?’

‘Not at all.’ Mia smirked. ‘We’ll just keep it between you and me, eh, mum?’

Looking at her, Kim shook her head. ‘You’re a right one, you.’

‘Yeah, but that’s why I’m your favourite.’

‘Oi, less of that,’ Kim scolded quietly. ‘And we’ll have less of the arguing in future, an’ all, and more concentrating on making you famous, eh?’

‘Fine by me,’ Mia said, slipping her shoes off and throwing her feet up onto her mum’s lap. ‘Give ’em a rub, then. It’s hard work, this having your photo taken lark.’

‘You’re not a supermodel yet, lady, so don’t be giving me your orders.’

‘I will be when we get the pictures back, so I might as well get the practice in.’

Relieved that Mia already seemed to have forgotten about the boy, Kim smiled as she started massaging her daughter’s feet.

4

Just over a month later, the cosy little scene of togetherness and optimism that Kim and Mia had shared that night was all but gone, and it was beginning to dawn on Kim that the future might not be quite as bright as she’d thought.

The portfolio had arrived a week after the session, and she’d been thrilled with the results – although, considering how much it had cost, she still didn’t see why they had only been allowed to choose fifteen out of the hundreds of pictures that had been taken.

Still, they looked really professional in their faux-leather display case, and Mia looked absolutely stunning in them all, so Kim figured it had been worth it. Convinced now that it was just a matter of them being seen by the right people for Mia to be catapulted to instant fame and fortune, she’d wasted no time looking for an agent. Only not the one that the photographer had recommended, because he didn’t even have a proper advert in the book. No, if Mia was going to be a star they would start as they meant to go on – at the top.

A month on, having visited every major agency in Manchester and chewed her nails to the quick waiting for the call-backs which still hadn’t come, Kim decided that something must be wrong. While she could accept that
some
of the agencies might have decided that Mia wasn’t right for them, they couldn’t
all
be that stupid. There had to be an explanation – like maybe she’d given out the wrong phone number, or something.

Sure that this would turn out to be the case, she’d set about ringing them, only to find that she couldn’t get through to any of the actual agents. Instead, she got the same dismissive message from each of the receptionists: ‘Sorry, but we would have contacted you by now if we were interested. Please don’t call again.’

Gobsmacked that they had all failed to realise that Mia had so much more to offer than any of the ugly anorexics whose pictures graced their office walls, Kim put the phone down after the last call and gazed helplessly out into the encroaching void of despair.

Finding her mother like this when she finally dragged herself out of bed and came downstairs, Mia gave her a funny look.

‘I’ve got some bad news,’ Kim told her, dreading her reaction. ‘I’ve just rung the agencies, and they’ve all said no.’

‘What,
all
of them? Even her from Quest?’

Nodding, Kim reached for her cigarettes.

‘Two-faced
bitch
!’ Mia spat. ‘She was
well
making out like she was interested. I hope you told her about herself, wasting our time like that.’

‘I would have if I could have got through to her,’ Kim replied, exhaling a cloud of smoke into the room. ‘But I couldn’t get past them snotty cows on reception.’ Mimicking them now, she said, ‘
Oh, no, our super-duper agents are
far
too important to talk to the likes of
you.’

Sucking her teeth, Mia said, ‘Oh, well, I didn’t want to work with that load of pretentious ponces anyway. They obviously don’t know what they’re doing.’

‘Maybe not,’ said Kim, wondering why Mia wasn’t as upset as she’d expected her to be. ‘But if they don’t want you, what are we supposed to do now?’

‘Nothing.’ Shrugging, Mia went into the kitchen.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Kim asked, going after her. ‘Anyone would think you don’t care.’

‘I don’t,’ Mia admitted, taking a biscuit out of the cupboard. ‘To be honest, I’m fed up with all the bullshit. Might as well just sack it off and go back to looking for a rich boyfriend.’

Kim’s mouth flapped open. ‘You selfish little cow! What about
me
? I’m in a right mess because of you.’

‘Don’t blame me. No one told you to go and get yourself into debt over it.’

‘You
begged
me to get the money for them photos. What was I supposed to do? Tell you to bugger off, and have you accuse me of depriving you?’

‘God, why do you always have to have a shit fit about every little thing?’ Mia muttered, folding her arms sulkily. ‘
I
’m the one who’s had to put up with those idiots looking down their noses at me for the last month. So if I’ve changed my mind, it’s
my
business.’

‘No, it’s bloody
not
!’ Kim bellowed, slamming her fist down on the ledge. ‘One lousy month you’ve given it, and that’s
nothing
, so there’s no way I’m letting you give up just like that. You’ll damn well carry on until you get somewhere – even if I have to drag you round the agencies by your bloody
hair
!’

‘
Pfft
,’ Mia snorted. ‘Don’t see how, seeing as you reckon they’ve all turned me down.’