Rebel With A Cause by Ashleigh Neame

have nowhere to go.”
    Her grandmother looked at her. “Well you’re not staying here, if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t even know you. What’s become of your mother now anyway?”
    Kaitlyn was affronted. This woman was as bad as her mum had always said.
    “Mum’s a wedding planner, now. She’s made quite a name for herself. She was even asked to write a book, and maybe a TV show about what she does.”
    The woman looked surprised. “I hadn’t expected that. I thought when she decided to keep her baby she was screwing up her life. I tried to get her to have an abortion. Imagine what she could have done if she hadn’t kept you.”
    Kaitlyn sighed. This was going nowhere. “Right. Look, Mrs Baxter, I’m just going to go. I came here to meet my grandmother, to see if she was as bad as mum made her out to be. I thought mum was just being a cow. Obviously not.”
    “You can’t talk to your grandma like that!” Anna snapped.
    Kaitlyn looked her dead in the eye. “You’re right, I can’t. Good thing you’re not my grandma then. My grandma is Natalie Johnson, and she’s one hell of a woman. I want to be like her when I grow up, and not a bitter old hag like you.”
    Anna gasped. “Devil child!”
    Kaitlyn shrugged. “Maybe so, but it’s better than being a wicked witch like you.”
    She walked out and jumped back in her car. She was going to stay with T-Man. He’d be a much nicer host than Anna Baxter.
    T-Man answered after the fourth ring.
    “T-Man here, what’s up?”
    “T-Man? It’s Kaitlyn.”
    “Katie! What can I do for ya ?”
    “I need a place to stay. Carter kicked me out. Know anyone who can put me up for the night?”
    “Sure, you can come and crash here if you want. Six, Barnard Place.”
     
     
    “Hey, T-Man,” she said as she walked into his house. “I’m here!”
    He came walking out of the lounge, in his signature too long t-shirt and low-slung baggy jeans.
    “Katie! We were just watching the rugby, wanna join?”
    She grinned. “Nah, just point me to where my room is and I’ll unpack. Who else is here?”
    “Uh, Marcus, Deangelo, and Jackson - you haven’t met Jackson before, have you? Come and say hi when you’re finished unpacking. Your room is second storey, first door on the left.”
    She nodded. “Thanks for letting me stay here, T-Man. I promise to chip in with the rent while I’m here, and I’ll even do the cooking and cleaning.”
    He laughed. “As long as you do the cooking and cleaning, you don’t have to pay rent. I can’t cook, and this place certainly needs a good cleaning.”
    She grinned and went off to unpack.
    When she came back downstairs, she walked into the lounge and sat on the empty recliner next to the door. The boys’ eyes slid over to her, and the guy she didn’t recognise – Jackson, she assumed – gawked.
    “T-Man, everyone’s staring at me,” she laughed. He grinned.
    “Jackson, Deangelo, this is Katie Johnson . She’s been in the circuit for a while now.”
    Jackson’s eyes widened. “ You’re a girl racer?”
    She shook her head. “Not yet, I need more practice. If there was one thing Carter was right about, it’s that I need to do a defensive driving course. I don’t want to be like Bekah.” She turned to Marcus. “Speaking of Bekah, what’s up with you and her? Are you together now?”
    Marcus leaned towards Katie. “Say the word and I’ll drop her in a heartbeat.”
    She shook her head. “Nah, I’m good.”
    Deangelo laughed. “She’s Carter’s girl, Marcus. She’s taken.”
    “Actually, I’m not. Carter dumped me this morning, in a note.”
    T-Man’s eyes boggled. “He dumped you in a note? Are you sure?”
    She nodded. “He was gone when I woke up, and I found a note on the kitchen bench, telling me to get out. So I left.”
    T-Man shook his head. “No way, I don’t believe it. Carter was infatuated with you. Why the hell would he ditch you?”
    Kaitlyn shrugged. “I don’t know, and I