Not My Fault Read online

  To Judith, Ella and Miranda

  C. H.

  Rose:

  The Extra Push

  I am Rose Elisabeth Sheridan and I am the one to blame.

  I am with Maya on the roundabout again.

  Maya shouts, “I’m a Frisbee. Spin me!”

  Dad waves to me and goes off to get the newspaper.

  The ancient roundabout, like a flaky wooden plate, has curved metal bars to grip. Its top edge rears up. Its bottom edge has dug a sort of sandy trench.

  It’s always Maya’s turn.

  My sister lies face down, splayed like a star, her toes scudding the ground.

  I push off. Wheeeeeee.

  “Harder!” she calls.

  I look up at the sky, and I run alongside while she soars around the top.

  My arms ache. Another heave.

  “Harder!”

  The plate rotates her down again.

  I’ll show you!

  “Oooaaargh!” she goes, just as I force my arms to push again and leap on.

  An animal noise; a squeal.

  The roundabout judders.

  I tumble off, staring over at my sister.

  Maya lies bent like a strange puppet with her leg trapped underneath her body.

  I am Rose Elisabeth Sheridan.

  I can still hear Maya’s scream inside my head.

  I can still feel the judder.

  In the hushed family room in the hospital, while we wait for news of Maya’s operation, I hear Dad whisper to Mum, “I saw Rose give that roundabout an extra push. Why would she do that?”

  Even after all the horrid operations and hospital treatments to help fix Maya’s leg, it will always be my fault.

  And, of course, my sister stopped talking to me and started hating me instead.

  Maya:

  Egg Art

  You say my name like ‘FIRE’, ‘Maya’. If you said it wrong, that would be a different person.

  “So … big day, you two!” Gran came rushing in to say goodbye and began wandering around our kitchen, moving things.

  Dad was on his laptop, half pulling on his jacket. Busy.

  Mum was on her phone, nibbling toast. Tap tap tap. Busy, busy.

  Gran grabbed me from behind in a hot hug that smelled of oil paints.

  “What’s up, Scamp? Eat up!”

  I smiled for her.

  Then I glared at the boiled egg, all pale with its head off and its insides dribbling down my blue bug egg cup. “I already ate my toast. I can’t eat this egg, Gran. It’s too wibbly.”

  Why did Mum make us eat boiled eggs on important days? Why couldn’t we have cereal like normal people? I pushed the evil egg away.

  Mum looked up. “Just get on with your breakfast, Maya, or we’ll be late. Don’t make a performance out of it.”

  Gran dried a pan. “I always find eggs cook best if you time them for exactly four and a half minutes.”

  Mum stopped tapping on her phone. “I did time them for four and a half minutes. There’s nothing wrong with her egg.” She sighed. “Was yours all right, Rose? Did you eat it?”

  Of course Goody-Goody Rose had eaten her egg. She was by the sink rinsing her plate right now before putting it in the dishwasher, her long blonde hair falling over her eyes. “Yes, Mum,” she murmured, pointing first one long beautiful bare foot then the other.

  “And you’re both all packed?” Gran asked. “Got your wellies … raincoats? They can’t guarantee the weather, you know. It is a lovely area, though.” She waved the air with her tea towel. “We went camping to that bit of Wales once and Grandad was chased by some cows. They can be very aggressive.”

  I grinned at Gran. “Did they catch him?”

  “No,” she said. “He managed to drag himself over a fence. Couldn’t speak for three minutes.”

  “Mum got me some new boots, Gran,” Rose said, all smarm smarm.

  I sighed. “I’ve been packed for years. Mum made us tick off everything on the whole list.”

  “You’ve only just had the summer holidays,” Gran said. “I think you’re incredibly lucky going away again.”

  I pulled out my phone and texted Georgie.

  Are you at school yet?

  Mum frowned at her phone. “Rose, I’ve just had an email from the Tumblers. Looks like the Regionals are going to clash with our trip to Spain at Easter.”

  Dad groaned. “I’ve already booked that off as holiday.”

  “Well, apparently, the Regionals are now scheduled to be in the school holiday. Compulsory. Looks like we’ll have to switch to May half-term.”

  “That might suit me better actually,” Dad said, typing and nodding.

  My head shot up. “Er, no,” I said. “We can’t go away then. It’s my half-term drama camp.”

  The kitchen went quiet. Dad did a wary look. “Well now…” he said.

  “Damn,” said Mum. “I knew there was something.” Then she turned to my sister. “I suppose it’s because the squad have only just accepted you, Rose. That’s why we didn’t know the date.” Mum scrolled through the message again. “I suppose these gymnastics events are set months in advance.”

  “I … I think those are the only dates … for squad events.” Sweet and helpful Rose was now emptying the cutlery from the top of the dishwasher. “I think there’s a visiting team from Germany. So I have to be available. I mean, Clemmy said—”

  “Have we paid for Maya’s drama thing?” Mum asked Dad.

  Dad shrugged. “We put her name on a list. But we haven’t paid yet.”

  My heart filled up with black spirals like a raging monster twisting inside its cavern at the bottom of the sea. My voice was giant. “You said I could go. And why do you keep calling it a drama thing? It’s not a thing. It’s a proper … like educational and real learning… Everyone’s going. I said yes. You agreed.”

  Mum stood up. “Stop shouting!”

  “I didn’t shout!”

  “Listen to yourself!”

  “You’re shouting too!”

  Gran’s arms gathered me up. “Look … if Maya’s set her heart on the drama…” She pulled me close. “Is this an actual play, love? I used to love acting.”

  Tears pricked behind my eyes.

  “Yes. You could come and watch, with Grandad.” Gran felt warm. I hugged her fiercely. “Unless Mum and Dad ruin it. The rest of us can still go on holiday over Easter like we planned. Rose could stay with Clemmy. She practically lives there anyway.”

  Mum rammed her phone back in her bag. “There’ll be other drama camps. I will not discuss our holiday with you yelling at us.” She crossed the kitchen and put her plate in the dishwasher. “This yelling you do these days is completely not on! Now finish that egg.”

  “But…”

  “That’s enough!” Dad said. “You heard your mother.”

  “If Grandad and I can be any help…?” Gran patted my shoulder.

  “You can’t help!” I sobbed.

  Mum looked at Dad.

  Angry tears ran down my cheeks. I rubbed them away. “Th-th-thanks, Gran.”

  My phone beeped. Georgie.

  At school now.

  “You won’t be allowed your phone on School Journey,” Rose murmured.

  I stared at her.

  Mum nodded. “Rose is right; they said that at the meeting. No phones.”

  Mum and Dad disappeared out into the hall.

  Gran bent down by the dishwasher, sliding in plates, clack clack.

  Rose stretched a long elegant hand and flicked back her hair, her chin tilted up. She looked so stupid standing there.

  I wished I could make storms like Greek gods do – stretch out my fingers, but with thunder and lightning crackling up through me, the whole kitchen filling with a massive delug
e, washing the world away, leaving me on my own in the middle of a wild sea.

  Why did Rose always get what she wanted? Why was everything always easy for her?

  Cupped in my fingers, the egg was quite heavy. My hand felt tingly.

  Rose’s eyes met mine. She tensed.

  I threw the egg; Rose leaped. Thwack! Wet shell spattered on the wall beside the dishwasher.

  Missed.

  My brown comet had been good, though, soaring across the kitchen… Whee!

  “What was that?” Gran turned and stared at the white transparent stuff, clinging … dribbling…

  “I slipped,” I said. “My egg sort of … flew off.”

  A picture flashed into my mind of my sister perfectly poised on a narrow bar, flipping a cartwheel, while crowds and crowds of people cheered around her.

  Rose is perfect, you see, and I would never be. She made sure of that.

  Rose:

  Kadunking

  Maya, you are such a liar!

  I felt my face flush red.

  “How odd,” Gran said, staring at Maya, then at me and then at Maya again.

  I bit the inside of my mouth, felt a sharp stab of pain, bit again…

  I wish I could throw you at the wall.

  No, I don’t.

  I watched egg goo dribble down. Gran got a cloth and wiped it.

  “Time to go, you two!” Mum called.

  I stared into Maya’s eyes.

  Just leave me alone.

  “Are you all right, Rose, love?” Gran asked.

  “Yes, Gran,” I said.

  But inside I was falling. Like that egg.

  Mum and me had to walk behind Maya up the road; of course she wouldn’t walk with us. My suitcase kadunked and Mum talked.

  My sister – if she wasn’t happy, everyone had to know. My friend Clemmy could do her exact voice: “It’s not fair!” with a big whine like ‘fe-yur’. She filled up the whole room, the whole house, the whole planet. Poor Mum! She always did so much to help Maya and she was just a brat in return.

  At school we sat on opposite sides of the class, but I could hear Maya’s loud laugh every day, like a headache.

  It started to rain. Mum kept suggesting things I might have forgotten, but I don’t think she really thought I had.

  “How about your hat?”

  “It’s in my case.”

  “The binoculars from Grandad?”

  “Yes, Mum.”

  Our eyes drifted up the road to watch my sister.

  I hate watching the limp – her bad leg is stiffer than her other one. No wonder when her ankle has eleven bits of metal all doing different jobs.

  A person walking past might not notice her jerky wobble. But I always see it. Even though she isn’t slow, she can’t run; she isn’t allowed to.

  “So, what an exciting trip,” Mum went on. “Are all your friends looking forward to it?”

  “Um…”

  I’m not like Maya; I don’t exactly have loads of friends.

  Stevie was a sort of friend; I sat next to her in maths and we used to make up doodles of little aliens with long arms. But Stevie was always with Pip the rest of the time. I liked Nicole, but she got fed up when I kept saying I didn’t have time to go to her house because of gym. Clemmy said Nicole was jealous because she would never be selected for the squad if she tried out for it.

  The rain got harder. I did my coat up.

  “She’ll get soaked,” Mum muttered. Her voice rose to a yell. “Maya, where’s your coat?”

  My sister didn’t turn round.

  “PUT YOUR COAT ON!”

  “I don’t know where it is!” Maya called over her shoulder.

  “Honestly, that girl!” Mum sped up to catch her and grabbed Maya’s suitcase handle.

  Maya just walked off, leaving Mum undoing the zip and burrowing around in the case.

  Rain was coming down fast now, running down my nose. I caught up just as Mum pulled Maya’s raincoat out. We watched Maya disappear round the top of the road.

  “Maya! Maya!” Mum screeched, like a massive emergency.

  We rushed after my sister, Mum pulling Maya’s case and me pulling mine – up to the top, round the corner, and into Brooklands Avenue.

  “Stop!” Mum called.

  Maya was actually speeding up. We passed the bus stop and there was the school entrance, with lots of parents and children milling about.

  “Maya Sheridan!” Mum yelled, rushing into the crowd. “Come back here!”

  I felt red flush up my cheeks as people turned to stare. Everyone must have noticed.

  “Hi, Rose!” someone’s mum said. “Is everything all right?”

  I tried to remember whose mum she was. “Y-yes,” I said.

  I stood with the cases, watching all the happy people saying goodbye. Other people’s families looked so friendly and normal compared to us.

  Clemmy came bursting out of the crowd. “Rose!” She wore her white pompom hat and sparkly earrings, like a party person. She grabbed my arm and I let go of Maya’s case. It rolled over on its side. “Why have you brought two suitcases? Have you seen the email about Regionals? Are you excited? I am soooo excited I am literally going to burst. School Journey is going to be epic.” Clemmy frowned. “Well, say something.”

  Maya:

  The New Horrible Teacher

  Mum came elbowing through the crowd. “Maya! You are not leaving in this rude way!”

  But I was.

  I ignored Mum’s red, angry face. Some people turned to stare so I stared back. I slung the stupid raincoat over my shoulders and went under the canopy by the school office.

  My friend Archie clutched his lunchbox tightly across his chest. It was orange with a picture of a galactic star ship. “Hi, Maya!”

  “Did your mum drop you off already?” I asked.

  “Yep,” said Archie, then softly, “I’ve got everything.” His eyes darted to left and right. “Will it still be raining when we get to Wales?”

  “Dunno…” I said.

  Archie is a friendly kind of person but today he seemed … different.

  Mum gripped my arm. “Maya. You haven’t even said goodbye.”

  “Bye,” I said, all flat, staring at a dripping corner of the canopy. Mum pulled me into a hug that wasn’t nice because she held me too hard. “Have a lovely time,” she said, as if having a lovely time was a grim prison thing. I wriggled away.

  She still wouldn’t go. “Maya, if you get any pain…”

  “I’m not talking about it.”

  “But you won’t do anything silly? Just take it gently. I’ve discussed your leg with Mr Goodman and Mrs Olson is a trained nurse…”

  “Just go!” I said.

  Mum bit her lip. Her smile came on. “Did your mum drop you off, Archie?”

  “I already asked him that,” I said.

  “I’m allowed to ask him too,” Mum snapped.

  Archie fiddled with his lunchbox.

  Mum stalked away to hug Rose. Sometimes when people kiss they bang noses. When Mum and me hug our arms don’t go to the right places; one of us steps too close or too far away. But when Mum hugged Rose, long and slow, it looked like an advert for something so nice that everyone would want to buy it. They were talking now: Mum still holding Rose round the shoulders, not wanting to let her go.

  “What ya got for lunch, Archie?” I asked.

  Archie whipped his lunchbox behind him. “Not telling.”

  Why was everything horrid today?

  I went and got my case, which was lying abandoned on its side. My friend Georgie waved and rushed over. “So, did you bring slippers? I wasn’t going to but then I changed my mind.”

  “Listen,” I said, “Mum says they are going to cancel my drama just so Rose can do her gym competition. She is wrecking my life!”

  “That is soooo unfair! Oh, Maya!” Georgie grabbed me in a hug and her long dark hair flapped against my cheeks. “I looked for you and I couldn’t see you and here
you are and Dillon and me have already signed in our cases so do yours quickly then we can all get on the coach,” she said all in one breath. “Did you bring something for the Talent Show on the last evening?”

  We spun each other round.

  My friends Dillon and Jake came over and we all jumped up and down and sang “We are going to Whitesands!!” like vibrating snakes, with Dillon going “Bootshka ki bootshka”. Everyone grinned so we did it again louder.

  Dillon waved to his mum and his little brother. “See ya Friday. Don’t miss me too much!”

  “We won’t,” his brother shouted.

  “And don’t play on my Xbox!”

  His brother giggled and we all laughed.

  “Where’s Archie?” Jake asked.

  “He’s in a mood,” I said.

  Four teachers were coming with us. I knew three of them: Mr Goodman, our class teacher; Miss Stewart, and Mrs Olson, a helper sort of teacher.

  But there was another person standing by the coach with a clipboard, making everyone line up and checking off their cases. She was older than the other teachers, in folds of skirts covered in red and purple flowers, like curtains. Her hair was a tight ball behind her head fixed with a big metal clip.

  I nudged Georgie. “Who’s that?”

  “She’s called Miss Bruce,” she said.

  Miss Bruce beckoned to us. “Lunchboxes will go on the rack when you get on. Plastic bags are bad for the environment.” She reached into Jake’s carrier bag and pulled out three bags of jelly snakes and two packets of chocolate stars. Jake’s face fell.

  “Jake, you big banana,” I whispered. “Why didn’t you hide them?”

  Miss Bruce waved a rubbish bag. “Food is provided on this trip.”

  All Jake could say was, “Yes, Miss. OK, Miss.”

  She watched while he dropped everything in.

  “Blimey,” Dillon said. “She’s checking everything. Where are your sweets, Maya?”

  “Bottom of my case,” I murmured.

  Miss Bruce moved out into the crowd. The megaphone popped and crackled and her small voice turned into a very loud one. “Right, parents, don’t drag it out; just say goodbye. Take home any mobile phones; we won’t be needing those. The children just need to check in their cases sensibly.”