‘Yes, but I . . .’ Mum spluttered.
‘Mum, how could you? My poems are private and personal.’ Raye snatched it out of her mother’s hand, directing a look at her that would’ve had a weaker person gasping for breath. ‘You’re worse than the twins.’
‘So what’s so good about your boobs that you wouldn’t change them?’ Nova couldn’t resist asking.
‘Mum, I can’t believe you! You let Nova read it?’ Raye asked, scandalized.
‘Why d’you want to change your boobs, Rainbow?’ asked Dad, getting hold of entirely the wrong end of the stick. ‘I hope you’re not thinking of plastic surgery or some other such nonsense at your age.’
‘Leave my boobs out of this,’ Raye said furiously, her beige cheeks now fiery red.
‘Raye wants to have her boobs done,’ Nova sang.
‘I do not!’
‘Raye wants to have her boobs done!’
Raye used sign language to tell Nova exactly where to go and what to do when she got there.
‘Rainbow, that’s quite enough of that,’ Dad admonished.
After glaring at Dad and scowling at Nova, Rainbow turned her attention to Mum. ‘I’m not going to forget this in a hurry,’ she snapped. ‘Thanks a lot for showing me up in front of everyone.’
‘Now wait just a minute . . .’ Mum said, once she’d scraped her jaw off the floor.
But she was talking to the closing kitchen door. Rainbow was long gone! The kitchen was stony silent as Mum turned to see Dad and Nova watching her. Nova drank her orange juice, looking away so she wouldn’t be blamed for what had just happened. Dad moved in to stand behind Mum.
‘What you need is a stress-relieving massage,’ he said, his fingers already digging into Mum’s shoulders.
Mum winced and tried to pull away, but nothing doing. Nova felt sorry for her. She had already experienced Dad’s massages at a time when she used to suffer from leg cramps. The cramps were less painful! Mum tried again to shrug out of his grasp, but Dad just held on tighter.
‘Ah!’ There was no mistaking the satisfaction in Dad’s voice. ‘Isn’t that much better? Let’s just work out those kinks.’
‘The kinks are all gone,’ Mum said hastily, trying to pull herself away. ‘Let go, dear. I’m getting pins and needles up and down my arms.’
‘Nonsense. Five minutes of one of my massages and you’ll be smiling for the rest of the week.’
By which time, Mum had had enough. She raised her hands to prise Dad’s fingers off her protesting muscles, starting with his little fingers first. ‘Tyler, back off! I’m not being funny but your massages are hellish!’
Dad’s hands dropped to his sides. ‘Pardon?’
‘Every time you give me a massage, it feels like a golden eagle has landed on me and is trying to tear off bits of my body.’ Mum rubbed at each of her sore shoulders in turn.
‘I see,’ Dad said with icy politeness.
Nova raised her eyebrows. Today obviously wasn’t Mum’s day for tact, but Nova could see she was still trying to work through the pain in her shoulders as she spoke!
‘If that’s how you feel, I’ll take my eagle’s talons somewhere else.’ Dad stormed out of the kitchen without another word.
Nova fought down a grin. ‘Shall I break out the bread dough, Mum?’ she asked.
About the Author
Malorie Blackman is one of today’s most imaginative and convincing writers for young readers. She has won numerous awards for her books, including the Red House Children’s Book Award and the Fantastic Fiction Award, and has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Noughts & Crosses has been adapted for the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and is soon to be a graphic novel.
In 2005 Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her contribution to the world of children’s books, and in 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature. She has been described by The Times as ‘a national treasure’. Malorie Blackman is the Children’s Laureate 2013–2015.
ALSO BY MALORIE BLACKMAN
THE NOUGHTS & CROSSES SEQUENCE:
NOUGHTS & CROSSES
KNIFE EDGE
CHECKMATE
DOUBLE CROSS
BOYS DON’T CRY
THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES
DEAD GORGEOUS
PIG-HEART BOY
HACKER
A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E.
THIEF!
DANGEROUS REALITY
THE DEADLY DARE MYSTERIES
UNHEARD VOICES
(A collection of short stories and poems, collected by Malorie Blackman)
FOR YOUNGER READERS:
CLOUD BUSTING
OPERATION GADGETMAN!
WHIZZIWIG AND WHIZZIWIG RETURNS
FOR BEGINNER READERS:
SNOW DOG
SPACE RACE
THE MONSTER CRISP-GUZZLER
Praise for Malorie Blackman:
Noughts & Crosses
‘A book which will linger in the mind long after it has been read’ Observer
Knife Edge
‘A powerful story of race and prejudice’ Sunday Times
Checkmate
‘Another emotional hard-hitter . . . bluntly told and ingeniously constructed’ Sunday Times
Double Cross
‘Blackman “gets” people . . . she “gets” humanity as a whole, too. Most of all, she writes a stonking good story’ Guardian
Boys Don’t Cry
‘Shows her writing at its best, creating characters and a story which, once read, will not easily go away’ Independent
Pig-Heart Boy
‘A powerful story about friendship, loyalty and family’ Guardian
Hacker
‘Refreshingly new . . . Malorie Blackman writes with such winsome vitality’ Telegraph
A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E.
‘Strong characterisation and pacy dialogue make this a real winner’ Independent
Thief!
‘Impossible to put down’ Sunday Telegraph
Dangerous Reality
‘A whodunnit, a cyber-thriller and a family drama: readers of nine or over won’t be able to resist the suspense’ Sunday Times
www.malorieblackman.co.uk
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 448 17205 4
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 2012
Copyright © Oneta Malorie Blackman, 2012
TRUST ME first published by Livewire Books in 1993
Copyright © Oneta Malorie Blackman, 1993
Extract from DEAD GORGEOUS
Text copyright © Oneta Malorie Blackman, 2002
The right of Malorie Blackman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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