Team Trinity

Fiona Snyckers

Description

Life at boarding school is not all diets, dresses and dances, as Trinity Luhabe discovers when her parents move overseas for a term. She has hardly settled into Sisulu House when she finds herself caught up in the most unexpected love triangle of her life. Zach is the school sports hero, while James is different to anyone she’s ever met. One of them wants to control her … the other holds the key to an old secret that has been buried for a very long time. Will Trinity figure out who to trust before it’s too late?

Sujets

• Young Adult

Informations

• Publié par: Modjaji Books
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781920590406
• Langue: English

Extrait

Fiona Snyckers
Publication Modjaji Books 2013
Text Fiona Snyckers 2013
First published in 2013 by Modjaji Books Pty Ltd
PO Box 385, Athlone, 7760, South Africa
modjaji.books gmail.com
http://modjaji.bookslive.co.za
www.modjajibooks.co.za
ISBN 978-1-920590-37-6
Book and cover design by Natascha Mostert
Cover artwork by Carla Kreuser
Author photograph by Jeanette Verster
Printed and bound by Creda Communications, Cape Town
Set in Palatino
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 1
WHEN YOUR parents call you in for a special talk after dinner, you know it s not going to be about anything good. They re not going to be like, Oh, darling, you know the latest version of the iPod Touch you wanted? We decided to buy you three in different colours.
The last time we had one of these special talks was when Mom found a cigarette in my schoolbag. It took me nearly two hours to convince them that I d only tried smoking a couple of times (true), and that it was so revolting I d given up (also true). Then I said someone else had put it in my bag (false), and that nearly undid all the good work I d done up to then.
I go through to the lounge to wait for my parents. They like to make you sweat on these occasions. I m wracking my brain, trying to guess what this might be about. The thing is, I m not exactly a saint, so there s no shortage of options for me to consider.
I m so preoccupied, it takes me a moment to notice that my loser brothers are already in the room.
Scram, squirts, I say. Mom and Dad want to talk to me in private.
Us too, says Aaron, the bigger of the two squirts.
Really?
Yes. They told us before supper.
Hmmm. I plonk myself down on a sofa to consider this new development. So it s some huge big family announcement - not a lecture. I wonder what it s about.
Maybe they re getting a divorce, says Caleb, the smaller squirt, looking a bit tearful.
A little clutch of fear grabs at my belly, but then I see Aaron shaking his head.
No way, dude. No possible way. Didn t you see them pawing at each other during dinner? It s completely gross, but at least it means they re not getting a divorce.
So what do you think it is? I ask.
He s quiet for a moment. Then he says, I think Mom s having another baby.
What? Caleb almost screams. That s impossible. How could they...? I mean, aren t they too old?
Mom s 35, I remind him. Most of her friends have babies. I reckon Aaron s right. That s what it is - another kid.
We fall silent thinking about this. Caleb s probably worrying about not being the baby of the family any more (which wouldn t be a bad thing if you ask me), and I m thinking about how completely and utterly mortifying it s going to be having a pregnant mom picking me up from school every day. Everyone will be staring at her and at my dad, and thinking about what they ve been up to.
I ll just have to move to Australia.
Mom and Dad come into the room at this point, looking all serious and solemn. If this is a new baby, they re not exactly thrilled about it.
Please sit down everyone, Dad says, knocking authoritatively on a table in his best chairman-of-the-board manner.
Aaron does an eye-roll. We are sitting down, Dad. What s this all about?
Dad clears his throat. Well ... as you know, your mother and I love you all very, very much, but we ve decided...
I knew it! Caleb squeaks in his half-broken voice. I knew you were getting divorced. That s exactly what I said! Wasn t that what I said?
They both turn to look at him.
We re not getting divorced, lovey, Mom says in a puzzled voice. What on earth made you think that? We re just going away for a few months.
Okay, so not a baby then.
Going away? I echo. What do you mean?
As you know, UbuntuGold is expanding into Chile, Dad says. We re planning to open three new mines there. But the whole thing needs to be correctly handled. We have to do a proper environmental impact study, and work with the local communities to make sure they see us as a friend, and not as an invader. I ve decided to go out there for a few months to make sure it s done right. And your mother s decided to come with me.
And what about us? Aaron bursts out. I m not leaving Brentwood. Not now that I ve finally made the A team in cricket.
You won t have to, Mom says soothingly.
And I m not going to stay with Granny in Soweto, Caleb pipes up. It ll take like an hour to get to school every morning.
You re not going to do that, either. The three of you will be joining the boarding-house from the beginning of next term. You ll be safe and properly looked after there, and you ll be able to carry on your schooling uninterrupted.
My lame-o brothers jump to their feet and start punching the air. They ve been begging to become boarders for years now, so of course they re delighted. Mom and Dad are smiling. No one seems to notice that I m not exactly ecstatic.
Um, excuse me, I say. Does anyone care what I think about this?
Of course we do, darling, says Mom. Aren t you happy? I thought you would be.
Happy? My voice sounds higher than normal. Happy about what? Having to move into a dormitory after having my own room since the day I was born? Having to do supervised homework every night? And eat canteen food seven days a week! And never ever, ever come home - not even on weekends.
It s only for a term, lovey. We ll be back by Easter. And it s really not so awful, you know. Brentwood has a lovely boarding-house, and the food isn t bad. It ll be over before you know it.
And what about my babysitting business? I ll be letting all my clients down.
Perhaps business is a slight exaggeration, but it s true that I do have quite a few families that I babysit regularly for.
You can send them all emails explaining that you ll be back after Easter. They ll understand.
But three whole months! That s like forever. Why can t I just stay here with someone to look after me?
Because your life is too complicated, Trinity. Who will drive you to extramurals in the afternoon, and fetch you from parties on weekends, and pack your school lunch, and check that you do your homework? There s no one I could trust to look after you properly except the boarding-school. And anyway, I think you ve forgotten something. Lael will be boarding next term as well. In fact, you ll probably be in the same dorm.
CHAPTER 2
I OPEN my mouth to moan some more, and then close it again. Mom was obviously saving that one for last. I can tell by the smug look on her face.
Okay, I admit ... this does change things a bit.
Lael Lieberman is my best friend in the whole entire world. We ve been friends since Grade 1. That s when her mom and dad got divorced. I remember finding her crying in the girls bathroom one break-time, and making her tell me all about it. The grown-ups in her life had all told her how cool it would be to have two bedrooms and double presents for birthdays and all that stupid stuff. I just let her cry and listened while she talked. We ve been best friends ever since.
The divorce didn t exactly go well for her. Basically, her folks can t stand the sight of each other. Lael s dad got remarried almost immediately, moved to Pietermaritzburg, and started a brand new family. She sees him maybe once a year at Rosh Hashanah. Her mom is this scary socialite who travels the world and only comes home now and then to buy a new set of Louis Vuitton luggage and shout at Lael about putting on weight.
So, ja, Lael has seen the inside of the boardinghouse more than once. When her mom is in town, they live together in this super-swish serviced apartment at the Raphael in Mandela Square. But when she s off travelling, Lael becomes a boarder.
I didn t know she d be boarding this term, but if Mom says she is, then she probably is. Mom would have checked first.
I m about to admit that I m feeling a bit better about this whole parental abandonment thing when I m struck by a sudden thought.
What am I going to do about food?
They ll feed you, obviously, Dad says, a bit tetchily. They don t exactly starve their boarders, you know.
That s not the point. Has not one single person in this room even remembered that I m on a diet?
My brothers snigger. Dad looks at Mom, and Mom looks at me.
I m on the blood-group diet, I say crossly. I m only supposed to eat protein and steamed veggies. They ll stuff me full of carbs that are all wrong for my blood type.
Sweetie, Mom says patiently. That might not be a bad thing. There s nothing wrong with your figure. You shouldn t be messing with your eating patterns at your age.
Oh, what s the point? I snap. You ll never understand. Just because you were born thin, you don t care what I have to go through.
I flounce out of the room and salm the door.

Okay, that might not have been my most mature moment, but my mother seriously tries my patience. Just because she can eat whatever she likes and stay skinny, she has no idea what it s like to be cursed with fatness. The other day I was trying on clothes in Foxy