Strawberry Sisters by Candy Harper

don’t want to upset you.
    I came round today but your mum said you were sleeping. She also said that you’re really ill and she seemed to think I knew all about it. Lauren, please tell me what’s wrong
     with you. I’m not cross that you haven’t told me, I just want to know because I want to be there for you. I hope you know that you can tell me absolutely anything and, whatever it
     is, I’ll always be your best friend.
    Love Amelia xxx
    P.S. Can I come and see you?
    I decided it was best not to mention how mean her mum had been. I copied the whole thing out, put it in an envelope and slipped it into my bag so I could deliver it on the way to school.
    In the morning, I snuck the letter through Lauren’s door without her mum pouncing on me and then, in the middle of maths, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. When Mr
Ireland turned his back, I slipped it out and took a quick look under the table. It was a text from Lauren.
    I’m sorry too. I really want to talk to you. Can you come round tomorrow at ten?
    I felt my shoulders relax. Maybe now this could finally be sorted out.

It was our weekend at Dad’s so, in the morning, he gave me a lift to Lauren’s house. After I’d got out of the car, it took me a moment to work up the courage
to walk down the drive. I couldn’t help thinking about the previous Saturday, when I’d woken up feeling so cheerful, compared to the sinking feeling I had in my stomach now. I was
afraid of what kind of reception Lauren’s mum was going to give me. What if she just told me to go away again? But I had to talk to Lauren so I marched up to their door and pressed the bell
firmly.
    After all that, it was Lauren’s dad who opened the door.
    ‘Hello, Amelia,’ he said. ‘Lauren’s upstairs; go on up.’
    ‘Thanks.’ I don’t see Lauren’s dad that much because he’s always travelling for his job but he’s definitely a lot friendlier than her mum.
    Upstairs, Lauren’s bedroom door was closed. Normally, I’d have walked right in, but for some reason I knocked.
    ‘Come in,’ Lauren said.
    I pushed open the door.
    She was lying in bed, propped up on pillows. She looked awful.
    ‘You look awful,’ I said. My heart was off at a gallop again. What if there really was something horribly wrong with her?
    ‘Thanks,’ Lauren said. ‘You look pretty disgusting yourself. I think it’s your rat teeth. Or it might be your caterpillar eyebrows.’
    I tried to laugh, but it stuck in my throat. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘About being cross about bowling.’
    ‘It doesn’t matter. I should’ve just said yes.’
    ‘But you weren’t well enough, were you?’
    She tensed. ‘I was just tired.’
    ‘It’s more than that though, isn’t it?’
    ‘No.’ She said it forcefully. ‘I’m just run down. It’s this time of year: everybody gets sick.’
    ‘But you’ve been sick for months.’
    She pushed herself more upright. ‘I’ve only had a few days off school.’
    ‘It’s more than a few. All those days you said you were going to the orthodontist . . .’
    Her eyes widened and I could tell that I’d struck on the truth.
    ‘There was nothing wrong with your brace, was there?’ My voice was getting louder.
    She looked away. A horrible thought occurred to me.
    ‘Oh my God, you didn’t really go away for half-term, did you?’
    She sucked in a breath. She’d lied to me; she’d lied so much. But then tears started rolling down her face and the red-hot anger inside of me just turned to icy fear. ‘Why did
you lie to me, Loz?’ I could hardly get the words out.
    She looked up at me. ‘I didn’t mean to.’ She gulped. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Ever since the glandular fever, I’ve been so tired and
sometimes I think I’m all right and I go out and do something and then I feel so exhausted again that I can’t even get out of bed.’
    I sat down beside her. ‘Why didn’t you say?’
    ‘I did in the beginning. But you got annoyed in the