Spiralling Out of the Shadow (The Spiralling Trilogy) Read Online Free Page B

me, with a blotchy pink trail on her neck. ‘Joey.’
    The boy, lurking in the doorway beside Joey, was unmistakably a younger version of Mr Biceps. ‘Have you ever seen that other boy in your life?’
    Janet had returned for anot her drink and rolled her eyes. ‘In my whole fifteen years? No, I can’t say that I have. Anyway, I thought you weren’t interested in boys.’
    ‘ Nothing wrong with a little eye candy. Have you got his name on the list?’
    ‘ I’ll check.’ Janet ran her finger down the guest list. ‘Hmm, let me see. Possibly Danny.’
    ‘ Check ya. I’m off to catch me a boy.’ Goosebumps tingled through my arms. I’d never seen anyone so gorgeous.
    ‘ Catch? What happened to eye candy? You’re hilarious, Tabbie.’ Suzie giggled.
    I laughed and called back over my shoulder, ‘Jokes!’
    Well, life was ab out fun. If Steph was here, she’d probably rush over to chat to the new boy. But she wasn’t here. Project “check out young Mr Biceps” was about to begin.
    ‘ Hi Joey,’ I said in a way-too-sweet voice before turning my attention to young Mr Biceps. ‘Hi, ahh ... did you come with Joey?’
    ‘ Yeah, Tabbie.’ Joey sighed. ‘This is Danny.’
    ‘ So, where do you go to school?’
    ‘ Urgh.’
    Did he just grunt at me? Would he have grunted at Steph? ‘Is that far from here?’
    ‘ Yeah.’ He looked to the floor.
    ‘ Can I get you a drink?’ Maybe he was a one word, one syllable Mr (young) Biceps.
    ‘ Coke.’
    I turned and spoke out loud to myself. ‘You really like to talk then, hey?’
    Maybe his supreme looks were his only drawcard. I fished a Coke from the esky and handed it to him, and then I left Joey and Danny to grunt at each other.
    ‘Maybe he’ s just shy,’ said Miss always-look-for-the-best Suzie.
    ‘ Or purely eye candy.’ Either he was shy, tongue tied, in awe of my not -beauty or he was a total dweeb.
    The party continued while Suzie and I collected bottles. The guests drank like fish, spilling plenty on all the slip-n-slide zones.
    The party got ugly.
    ‘Tabbie.’ Janet squinted to see me. ‘Grrreat pardy, hey?’
    ‘ It’s getting a little messy.’
    ‘ The cleaner can fix it t’morrow. ’ll be fine.’
    ‘ Should we start sending everyone—’
    ‘ Argh! I think I’m gonna be ...’
    Janet stumbled into her parents ’ en-suite. I followed, catching her hair just in time as she projectile vomited, getting most of it into the toilet. At least I’d saved her hair.
    I searched the drawers for facecloths to clean her up and found some towels to mop up the mess. She puked until nothing was left but bile. Her face had morphed into a pasty shade of green and her eyelids droop ed and fluttered. I tucked her into her parents’ bed, leaving a bucket beside her and asked the bouncers to round everyone up and out.
    Suzie busied herself wiping down benches and searching for sneaky bottles under cushions or behind curtains. I was worried Janet might choke on her own spew so I sat with her until the voice of an older woman ranted outside. I rushed to the front door. Suzie’s mum.
    ‘ You mean to tell me this is the sort of party you came to?!’ Mrs Peters pointed towards Sarah and Peta who were both clinging to a tree for support.
    Suzie hung her head.
    ‘Get in the car now!’ Mrs Peters looked towards me. ‘And that will be the last time Suzie ever comes to one of Janet’s parties. I can see there are no adults here. I’ll be on the phone to both of your parents in the morning!’
    I rushed down the stairs to apologise, but Mrs Peters had ushered Suzie into the car and tore off before I could open my mouth.
    The kerfuffle had left my heart racing. I rang home.
    ‘ Mum, is it okay if I stay the night?’
    ‘ Sure, love. Everything okay?’
    ‘ Yeah, I just don’t want to leave Janet here on her own. She’s had too much to drink.’
    ‘ You mean too much alcohol?’ Mum’s voice strained.
    ‘Yes.’ I balanced on one foot, waiting to see