“I didn’t want to seem rude,” said Cat. “It can’t be easy for your mum to make dinner with her eyesight problems.” She sniffed back a tear. “And it’s not often I get a home-cooked meal, these days. Not with my uncle’s problems…”
“I thought you lived with your brother,” I said flatly.
“No,” said Cat. “I just went there last night to check he was behaving himself. One more strike and he’ll go to prison for good.”
I scowled. “Prison?”
Cat nodded sadly. “It’s not his fault, really,” she said. “He’s a single parent, just trying to care for his son. He didn’t mean to steal that baby milk…”
How did she do it? How did she make me care every time?
Fiona came over to join us. “Cat…” she grunted.
“Hello, Fiona!” beamed Cat, suddenly happy again. “Are you going to spend the afternoon with Stacey and me?”
I blinked. “I’m spending the afternoon with you?”
“Well, you must have tracked me down for a reason,” said Cat.
“No, wait… I didn’t track you – ”
Fiona’s phone pinged as she received a text. She pulled it out to read the message.
“Ooh, I like your mobile!” said Cat, peering over her shoulder. “I wish I had one like that…”
Fiona pulled the phone tightly to her chest. “I’ve got to go,” she said.
“Why?” I asked. “Is everything alright?”
“I’ve… just got to do something,” Fiona replied. “I’ll see you on Monday.” Then she gathered up her bags and hurried out of the shop.
Cat wrapped her arms around me. “Looks like it’s just the two of us, then!”
So I spent the afternoon window-shopping with Cat and, to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected it to be. She did get very excited whenever I tried something on, and she always insisted on choosing a matching outfit for herself so we could ‘see what we would look like if we were twins’, but I got the impression this was the first time anyone had done anything like this with her.
Then she spotted a bag the same as mine in one of the department stores. “I have to have this!” she gasped, pulling a ball of silver foil from her pocket. “Keep watch for me!”
“Why?” I said, alarmed. “What are you going to do?”
Cat opened up the foil and wrapped it around the electronic security tag pinned to the handle of the bag. “The foil will stop the alarm from going off at the shop doorway,” she said.
“What?”
“Don’t worry!” Cat smiled. “I do this all the time. Just stay calm and no one will even look at us.” And with that, she marched towards the exit.
My mouth was suddenly dry. I couldn’t let her do this. I gave chase and grabbed the bag just as she was going past one of the sensors. “Put that back!” I hissed, pulling hard.
“Let go!” Cat cried. “You’ll attract attention to us!” It was true; people were starting to look in our direction.
“I don’t care!” I shouted. “This is stealing!”
Then the foil slipped off the security tag and the alarm went off.
“Hey!” called a burly security guard, heading our way.
“Run!” yelled Cat, racing out of the shop with the bag.
I don’t know why, but I ran, too.
The security guard chased us along the upper mall of the shopping centre. Cat dodged in and out of the crowds nimbly. I tried to keep up with her, tears stinging my eyes as I bumped into shopper after shopper. Why was I doing this? Why didn’t I just stop and try to explain things?
Eventually, the guard stopped, out of breath. I found Cat in the corridor outside the toilets, removing the security tag with a small pair of pliers.
“There!” she said, tossing the broken tag into a nearby bin and swinging the bag over her shoulder. “Now we really look like twins.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I demanded.
Cat shrugged. “It’s a nice bag.”
“It’s stealing!” I protested, keeping my voice down as a young mother and her daughter came out of the toilets.
“What do you want to do next?” said Cat. “I fancy a coffee…”
“You’re mad!” I said. “Everyone at school is right. You’re mad! I gave you a chance because I felt sorry for you, but no more. I’m not staying here with you one second longer.”
I turned and started to walk away, but Cat called after me, “I’ll tell you where Fiona has gone…”
CHAPTER 5
GLASSES
I hammered on the door, not letting up. After a while, Fiona’s mum appeared in her dressing gown.
“Stacey…” she said, blinking in the early morning light. “Do you know what time it is?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But Fiona didn’t answer her phone all last night, or this morning, and I need to talk to her. Is she in her room?”
I didn’t wait for an answer. I pushed past Fiona’s mum and took the stairs two at a time. I paused for a second at the bedroom door, then charged in. Fiona was still in bed.
“Why?” I demanded, pulling her duvet off her. “Why him?”
Fiona tried to drag the duvet back from me, but I held it tight. “I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“You don’t?” I snapped. “Then let me give you a few clues – popcorn, large Cokes, a romantic comedy, holding hands, KISSING!”
Fiona shrank back on her bed. “You saw us?”
“Yes, I saw you!” I shouted. “Cat read his text over your shoulder. You left me with her to go on a date with Arjun!”
“You… you weren’t meant to know…”
I sank to the floor, sobbing. “You don’t understand, do you? I’m not like you. You’re pretty. I’ve got these…” I pulled off my glasses. “Boys aren’t interested in girls like me – and then Arjun came along. I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe that he wanted to spend time with someone like me.”
Fiona was crying as well now. “I’m sorry,” she said through her tears. “I didn’t mean it to happen.”
I almost laughed. “So it was all an accident? You just happened to go to the cinema by yourself and fell on his face?”
“He sent me a note,” Fiona explained.
I wiped my eyes. “A note? What kind of note?”
“You don’t want to know,” said Fiona. “Forget I mentioned it.”
“What note?”
With a sigh, Fiona slid open the drawer in her bedside table and pulled out a slip of paper. I took it from her and read the words inside. It was from Arjun, saying that he’d only been spending time with me because he didn’t have the courage to ask out the girl he was really interested in – Fiona.
“I’m sorry, Stacey!” Fiona blubbed.
I barely heard her. My hands were shaking and the blood was pounding in my ears. I’d seen that handwriting before – on a note left under my pillow at home.
It was Cat’s handwriting.
*
I had to wait until after Maths the following morning before I could confront Cat. I’d sat patiently all the way through the lesson, planning what I was going to say to her. She sat at the front, happily answering the teacher’s questions as though there was nothing wrong in the world.
She was dressed differently, too. Gone were the lapel badges and the frilly blouse. She was wearing a standard school uniform, which made her look more like me than ever before.
Then the bell rang…
I pinned her up against the wall as soon as she left the classroom. “Why did you do it?” I demanded.
“Gosh, Stacey!” Cat exclaimed. “What on earth has come over you?”
“Shut it!” I snarled. “You sent Fiona that note!”
“Yes, I did,” Cat admitted. “Still, they make a cute couple, don’t they? Just call me the matchmaker…”
“Arjun was my boyfriend!”
“Really?” said Cat. “I heard you tell Fiona that you were just
friends, so I thought it would be fine to get those two lovebirds together.”
Suddenly, a fleshy hand covered in blue ballpoint pen clamped down on my shoulder. “Oi! What do you fink you’re doing?”
“It’s OK, Minty,” said Cat with a smile. “It’s just a little misunderstanding.”
“Doesn’t look like that to me,” said Minty. “Stacey looks like she’s going to fump ya!”
“No,” beamed Cat. “Stacey wouldn’t hit anyone wearing glasses…” Then she reached into her blazer and pulled out a pair of spectacles that were identical to mine and slipped them on.
I released my grip and stumbled back a step. “What…?”
“It took a while to find the same frames,” Cat said. “And the lenses are just clear glass, of course; I don’t have your silly degenerative eye problem. But I think they suit me!”
I felt the corridor spin around me. I had to get out of there. “You’re crazy,” I croaked, staggering away. The bell rang for the start of the next lesson, but I needed some fresh air.
I burst out through the doors and into the playground. I’d never missed a class before. If anyone caught me, I’d be in a lot of trouble – but I didn’t care. I had to get things straight in my head. I started to run, making for the area of woodland at the back of the school.
Once I was out of sight of the classrooms, I slumped back against a tree and took a deep breath. I’ve always liked these woods; Fiona and I often walked through them on the way home, even though it makes the journey a little longer.
My mind was racing. Fiona… my best friend, or at least she was. Now she was going out with Arjun. No, she’d been tricked into going out with him. Although he’d gone along with it all without complaining. I guess I was wrong about him from the start. He’d always seemed so –
A lightning bolt of pain shot through my head and I crumpled to the ground, my glasses falling somewhere. Blinking hard, I tentatively touched the back of my head. My fingers came away covered with blood.
Scared, I fumbled for my glasses, my vision more blurred than usual. Finally, my fingers found them and I slipped them back on. One of the lenses was cracked, but at least I could see again…
I heard movement and spun round, still on my knees. Cat was standing over me, a large rock clutched in her hands. She’d hit me!
“You’ve got it all,” she said, flatly. “Everything I’ve never had.”
She brought the rock down again. I scuttled back, but couldn’t get completely out of the way. The stone hit my knee, and I heard the bone CRACK as I cried out.
“Stop this, please!” I begged, pushing myself further away from Cat.
“I can’t,” said Cat. “It’s almost finished…”
“What is?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“My plan, silly!” smiled Cat. “My plan to take your place…”
“T-take my place?”
“Of course!” Cat beamed, raising the rock over her head again. “You go away, and I get to be Stacey.”
I didn’t want to think about what she meant by ‘go away’. “But people will know,” I said, pushing further away from her. My knee was agony, and I felt my vision begin to close in. No! I couldn’t allow myself to pass out…
Cat swung the rock down again, this time missing my ear by centimetres and smashing into my shoulder. I screamed.
“I look just like you now, you see,” she said. “Your mum and dad can’t see properly – they’ll just think I’m you.”
I pressed down on the ground to shuffle back further, but my shoulder gave way and I collapsed. Cat grinned and hefted the rock once more.
“There are other people…” I gasped. “Fiona… teachers at school…”
“I’ve thought it all through!” said Cat confidently. “I’ll tell mum and dad – my mum and dad – that I’ve fallen out with Fiona and I want to swap to another school. A fresh start in a new uniform – as Stacey Green!”
My ears were ringing as unconsciousness crept closer. “But… your family… your uncle… brother…”
“I made them up!” giggled Cat. “Fooled you, too! There’s only me, no one else. They can’t even keep me in one of those stupid care homes for long. I always find a way out. But, this time, I never need to go back. Not now I’m Stacey Green!”
“No!” I groaned, wincing with pain. “I’m Stacey Green!”
“Well, we can’t both be Stacey Green, silly!” Cat cackled. “So we have to choose which one of us will get out of here alive…”
She began to swing the rock down one final time. I lashed out with my good leg and kicked her hard in the stomach. Cat grunted and doubled over, the rock falling harmlessly to the ground. She reached for it, but I kicked out again, this time catching her in the face, breaking her version of my glasses. I heard her nose break along with the plastic frames.
“Only one Stacey Green gets out alive?” I said. “Fine by me!”
We glared at each other through the broken lenses of our glasses for a second, then we both lunged for the blood-stained rock.
CHAPTER 6
SURVIVOR
The nurse looked up as the teenage girl’s bed was wheeled into the side room, a consultant surgeon close behind.
“She made it through surgery, then?” said the nurse as she connected the girl up to the waiting machinery.
The surgeon nodded. “It was touch and go for a while – her injuries are pretty bad – but she should pull through.”
“And the other girl? The one that came in with her?”
“I’m afraid not,” the surgeon replied.
The pair worked silently for a moment.
“I wonder what it was all about,” the nurse said eventually. “Why two school friends would attack each other in such a horrific way?”
“We’ll have to wait until she wakes up before she can tell us that,” said the surgeon. “Whoever she is…”
“Oh, we know her name now…” said the nurse. “The blood test results came back. Both girls had been here when they were younger, so we had them on record.”
“That’s something,” said the surgeon. “He plucked a clipboard from the end of the bed and took a pen from his shirt pocket. “Go on, nurse, who is she?”
The nurse double-checked her notes, then looked down at the unconscious girl in the bed. “Her name is…”
THE END
Copy Cat ISBN 978-1-78464-222-8
Text © Tommy Donbavand 2014
Complete work © Badger Publishing Limited 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in any form or by any means mechanical,
electronic, recording or otherwise without the prior permission
of the publisher.
The right of Tommy Donbavand to be identified as author of this Work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
Publisher: Susan Ross
Senior Editor: Danny Pearson
Publishing Assistant: Claire Morgan
Copyeditor: Cheryl Lanyon
Designer: Bigtop Design Ltd
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