Page 21 of The Secret Of Us

Of course we should

Chloe

Can Josh come too?

Amelia

He can use one of his vouchers if he’d like to

I laugh, remembering the gift Amelia and I gave Josh last year. It was a set of vouchers we made ourselves, giving him a pass for various things like sitting with us at lunch, stealing Chloe away, and going out to dinner with us.

Chloe

I think he actually still has them

Amelia

Good!

Izzy

I see we’ve been making plans

Amelia

Izzy, your thoughts?

Izzy

I say he can join us without a voucher this time

BUT

Only if he brings us some of his sister’s cookies next time he visits home

Amelia

Oh that’s a great idea

Chloe

I will let him know

The smile on my face drops instantly when I see another text come through.

Mum

1 message

My finger hovers at the top of the screen, the notification staring at me for a second before disappearing. It’s been a week since I texted my parents to see if they’d gotten the letter from school about the evening talk. After a few days, I gave up any hope of getting a response, but it’s here.

Amelia and Chloe keep talking, but I don’t read anything else they’ve sent. I swipe out of that chat and tap on my mum’s instead.

Mum

We’ll check our schedules.

I lock my phone, throwing it to the side as I pull my blanket off. It feels like it’s suffocating me. My chest tightens, like there’s a rope tied around it constricting it. I try to take deep breaths, but it’s like there’s a weight on top of me, and I can’t get a full breath.

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