The Green-Eyed Monster

  CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COPYRIGHT PAGE

  Penelope Kingston wanted others to be happy. But sometimes the things that made other people happy seemed to make her feel – um, well, jealous. Out of all the emotions she had experienced, Penelope found jealousy the most confusing. For example, when her (half) sister Sienna was born, Penelope was EXCITED. But when her dad and his new wife kept sending photo after photo (as though Sienna was the only special kid in the whole wide world), Penelope felt a sneaky, ugly jealousy creeping in to spoil the excitement.

  Penelope sat at the kitchen bench while her mum chopped up vegetables for dinner. Her mum’s friend Zoe popped the cork off a bottle of sparkling wine, making a loud noise that gave Penelope quite a shock.

  ‘Seriously, Madeline,’ Zoe said, pouring two glasses, ‘it’s been years since Tony left. Just go on the site and see what happens. You don’t want to grow old and wrinkly on your own, right?’

  This was the third time Zoe had suggested Penelope’s mum go on a dating site. Penelope wished she would let it go, but Zoe was very persistent.

  ‘Mum isn’t alone, Zoe,’ Penelope said patiently (she was quite fond of Zoe, when she wasn’t being a bad influence). ‘She has me and Harry to grow old and wrinkly with. Besides, she only has proper wrinkles around her eyes. The rest of her skin is actually quite smooth.’

  ‘Aw. Thanks, Poss. I think,’ Penelope’s mum said, blowing her a kiss.

  Zoe grinned. ‘That’s so true, Penelope,’ she said, in a way that told Penelope (who was very good at deducing) she was about to say something tricky. ‘And that’s exactly why she should be dating now. It’s a waste of all that gorgeous smoothness. Of course she has you and Harry. And the two of you are precious.’ Zoe turned back to Penelope’s mum. ‘But I’m talking about a partner. Or just someone to go out dancing and have fun with. Right, Mads? It’s –’

  ‘Ahem, ahem!’ Penelope said (she had to say it twice – Zoe was quite a talker). ‘Mum has plenty of fun. Just last week we had a girls’ night in and watched Dancing with the Stars together, which is better than going out dancing. We even tried out some of the moves. It was probably the best night we’ve had all year.’

  Penelope’s mum nodded in agreement. But for some reason, she also arched her eyebrows at Zoe.

  ‘You know what?’ she said, drying her hands and grabbing her laptop. ‘I think I’m ready to give dating a try. Want to help me make a profile?’

  Penelope watched as her mum brought up the dating home page. This was the most Terrible Idea Ever! Dating some random man off the internet was DANGEROUS. Her mum might end up going out with a murderer. Or worse!

  And even though he didn’t live with them any more, Penelope and Harry already had a dad – one who was a Very Important Politician! Two dads (especially with one being a Very Important Politician and the other being a MURDERER, or worse) would be ridiculous!

  Besides, there were three bedrooms in their house, and three people in their family: Mum, Harry and Penelope. Surely that was PROOF that things were exactly the way they should be? (In fact, now that she came to think of it, perhaps her mum and dad would still be together if they had each had their own bedroom? Penelope had definitely heard her dad say he needed space.)

  Penelope really wanted to tell her mum to close the laptop and forget the whole dating thing. But (unfortunately) her mum could be Very Stubborn. Penelope knew there wasn’t any point in telling her mum what was right. She could definitely give her some hints, though. Penelope decided she would wait patiently (gritting her teeth) for the best opportunity.

  ‘Okay,’ Zoe said, sounding excited. ‘Let’s start by giving you a profile name.’

  Penelope tapped her mum on the shoulder. ‘Whatever you do, don’t put your real name,’ she advised. ‘There could be actual criminals out there, and if they have your real name –’

  ‘Yep, I’m aware of that, Penelope,’ her mum interrupted. ‘Don’t you have homework to do?’

  Penelope shook her head. In fact, she did have an English assignment due in a fortnight, but this was even more important.

  ‘How about “Mads Almighty”?’ Penelope’s mum said. ‘That’s a bit funny and kind of strong, right?’

  ‘No way,’ Penelope said quickly. ‘That sounds like a warrior’s name! You don’t want to meet a man who likes fighting, do you?’

  ‘Of course not,’ her mum said. ‘Okay, how about “Mysterious Mads”?’

  ‘Oh my god, no,’ said Penelope. ‘That makes it sound like you have a deep, dark secret. You don’t want to meet someone secretive, do you?’

  Penelope’s mum groaned, resting her head on Zoe’s shoulder.

  ‘How about Mads: Mother of Small Dragons?’ she said.

  ‘Come on Mum,’ Penelope said. ‘Now you’re just being silly.’ She patted her mum comfortingly on the shoulder and pulled her upright. ‘Perhaps you’re getting EXHAUSTED from of all this UNNECESSARY stuff?’

  ‘Let’s just skip the profile name for the moment,’ Zoe said. ‘We’ll start with the basic details – your age, height, where you live …’

  ‘You could be telling a MURDERER where to find us. That means you and me and Harry will be in danger! Not Zoe, though, because even though this was her idea, she probably won’t be here when the MURDERER turns up.’

  ‘Penelope, we know we don’t put in our actual address,’ her mum said, her voice becoming a little tense for some reason, ‘we just give the general area. Are you sure you don’t have homework?’

  Penelope shook her head again as her mum scrolled down the page. She winced as her mum filled in the part that said:

  ‘Divorced’ was not one of Penelope’s favourite words. If there had to be a fourth person living in their (three-bedroom) house, she would like that fourth person to be her actual dad. Penelope would even consider sharing a room with Harry if that happened. (Although Penelope had to admit this was not likely to happen, especially now that he had a new family.)

  She ran her eyes further down the page.

  Penelope blew out a big breath. ‘What if you end up dating a MURDERER who has children? If you started dating someone with children I would just DIE.’

  Her eyes darted back to the screen.

  ‘Oh. My. God,’ Penelope GASPED, putting her hands to her forehead. What if her mum and a random (possibly murdering) guy had a baby together? It would be a CALAMITY. They would probably take a million photos of the new baby as though there were no other special kids anywhere on the planet. Perhaps the new baby would take over the entire house, as though she and Harry didn’t even live there any more! Then Penelope would be jealous EVERY SINGLE DAY of her life!

  The very thought made Penelope feel dizzy. She had to sit down straight away on the bench seat between her mum and Zoe.

  ‘You know what?’ said Penelope’s mum. ‘I think I’ll leave this for the time being.’

  As her mum closed her laptop, Penelope felt Extremely Relieved. Her mum would probably never think about the silly dating idea again. In fact, she was probably realising how happy she was with just Penelope and Harry and no random murdering men or new babies.

  Penelope smiled at the thought. Now she could have a lovely fresh start to the week with no confusing
emotions at all.

  Penelope liked to arrive at school early on Mondays. It gave her a chance to tidy her locker without kids crowding everywhere. Having an extra-neat locker made her feel like the week ahead was going to be calm and organised too. Penelope was just stacking her books in order of size (from largest to smallest) when Oscar Finley arrived.

  ‘Morning, Penny,’ he said, putting the Very Large pot plant down next to Penelope. ‘This is an areca palm. Do you like it?’

  Penelope closed her locker. ‘It’s very nice, Oscar,’ she said. ‘Why did you bring it to school?’

  ‘Well, I was doing some gardening with my dad on Saturday, and this one had grown out of its pot so we were putting it into a bigger one. Dad was telling me how easy it is to care for. I remembered Ms Pike saying it would be nice to have more greenery, so I said maybe we could get one for our classroom. And Dad said,’ (Oscar made his voice deeper), ‘“Son, why don’t we donate this one?” And so here it is.’

  Penelope smiled. Oscar often made Penelope smile. (And he was the only person in the whole world who could get away with calling her Penny instead of Penelope. She didn’t even mind all that much any more.)

  ‘That’s very thoughtful, Oscar. Ms Pike will love it,’ Penelope said.

  Just as she said that, Ms Pike appeared in the doorway at the end of the corridor. She was talking and laughing with a man. Penelope couldn’t help staring. Just a few weeks ago, Ms Pike had shown the class her new ring and explained that she was engaged to be married.

  Penelope could absolutely tell that the man at the end of the corridor was the person Ms Pike was engaged to. There were some Very Good clues, like Ms Pike smiling her lovely smile as he spoke. And when the man said goodbye, he gazed into Ms Pike’s eyes as though she was the only other person on the planet.

  Suddenly Penelope felt panicky. Seeing that reminded her of her mum and the dating site. She should have made her mum PROMISE she would never (not ever) go on it again.

  Penelope was happy for Ms Pike to have a new ring and get married and eye gaze and even to have a baby or two (as long as she didn’t stay away from school for very long). But she had to figure out a way to make sure that NONE of those things happened to her mum. It would ruin their family. If Plan A (which was to hope her mum simply forgot about the whole dating thing) failed, then she would need a Very Effective Plan B.

  ‘Are you okay, Penny?’ Oscar asked. ‘You look kind of wobbly.’

  Penelope shut her eyes and breathed deeply. This was one of her best calming techniques. (The others were reading, making jewellery and drawing, but they were difficult to do in the middle of a corridor that was filling up with kids.)

  As she breathed in, Penelope wondered how she could convince her mum that there was nothing missing from her life and there was absolutely NO NEED to date a strange man.

  Just TELLING her was out of the question. (The little boy in the poem had TOLD his mum not to go down to the end of the town, and look how that turned out. She needed to be clever about this.)

  When Penelope opened her eyes, she could see that Oscar was holding his arms out wide so no-one would bump into her.

  ‘I’m okay now. Thanks Oscar,’ she said.

  As soon as the bell rang, Penelope went straight to her table. She was organising her pencil case, making sure that all the pencils were pointing in the same direction, when Bob (her very best friend) skidded into the classroom. Bob had an absolute talent for making it just in time.

  Penelope Kingston would never, under any circumstances she could think of, skid into a classroom. But she adored how Bob did it. And she wasn’t the only one. This particular skid was so impressive that at least five kids applauded.

  ‘So glad you could join us, Bob,’ Ms Pike said from her desk. (She wasn’t being mean. Ms Pike was never mean. She said it more like a joke.)

  ‘So glad to be here,’ Bob replied with a little bow that made all the kids laugh, including Penelope.

  Bob took her place at the table right next to Penelope, where she always sat. Even though just about anyone in the whole class would be happy for Bob to sit with them, she still chose to sit next to Penelope.

  ‘Okay, class,’ Ms Pike said. ‘I’d like you to continue your acrostic poems from Friday. If you’ve finished the words, you can draw a picture of the friend you chose to write about.’

  Of course, Penelope had chosen to write about Bob. She just wished Bob would let her use her actual name – the name she wasn’t even allowed to say out loud – for once, so she could write even more good things about her.

  But Penelope’s heart danced (not literally – hearts don’t really dance) when she looked sideways at Bob’s acrostic poem:

  Now Bob was drawing a (rather wonky, but Penelope didn’t care) picture of her. It was extremely heart-dance-y that Bob had chosen to write about her, too.

  Right then, Penelope knew in her bones that she and Harry could convince their mum there was absolutely no need to date anyone (which was Plan B). So as long as she had her very best friend by her side, the week ahead was going to be Absolutely Fine.

  ‘See if you can do this,’ Bob said to Penelope and Tilly at lunchtime. Bob bent her knees slightly and brought her fists up in front of her. ‘We learned this at karate on Saturday. It’s called the forward stance. How cool is it?’

  Penelope watched as Tilly had a go, but she didn’t really feel like doing it herself. Bob pushed her right leg forward in a lunge and stuck her left leg straight out behind her.

  A couple of seconds later, Tilly lost her balance too.

  ‘How is karate going?’ Penelope asked when Bob (finally) sat down to eat her lunch.

  Penelope was all for hobbies. Her own favourite was jewellery-making (she wasn’t a big fan of sporty stuff), but she liked to hear stories about Bob’s karate class. Bob had only been doing karate for about a month, but she was really into it.

  ‘Saturday’s class was the best ever,’ Bob said. ‘We’re preparing for a tournament, and Kingsley put us in pairs. I’m with this girl called Jasmine who’s been doing karate since she was little.’

  ‘I love that name,’ Tilly said, biting into her banana.

  ‘Well, she doesn’t love it,’ Bob laughed, ‘the same way I don’t love my name. The karate teacher makes everyone go by their full names. Other than Kingsley, though, everyone just calls her Jazz.’

  The way Bob was talking about this girl gave Penelope a tiny bit of that confusing, sneaky jealous feeling.

  ‘Oooh, is that right, Brittany?’ Tilly teased.

  Penelope held her breath. Bob’s real name was Brittany O’Brien – but (unlike Penelope, who preferred people to use her full name) she never, ever used it. Bob didn’t get cross very often, but calling her Brittany was probably the best way to make it happen.

  To Penelope’s surprise, Bob just chuckled. ‘Watch it, Matilda,’ she said, ‘or I’ll karate chop you in half.’

  Bob jumped up again (even though lunchtime was nearly finished and she still had a very nice biscuit to eat). ‘Do you want me to show you how to do the attention stance? Here’s how it goes,’ Bob continued (even though Penelope hadn’t said yes). Bob was Penelope’s best friend, but she could be a little frustrating when she became OBSESSED with something.

  It actually looked as though Bob was just standing quite normally, with her hands by her sides. It didn’t look at all like karate to Penelope.

  ‘I’m still trying to get it right. Jazz is super good at it. She’s super good at everything. Kingsley reckons she’s the one to copy if you want to ace the technique. And she cracks everyone up ’cos she makes these funny faces when she’s concentrating.’

  Penelope felt the confusing, sneaky feeling return, but this time it was worse. Bob wasn’t just obsessed with karate. It was starting to seem like she was obsessed with Jazz, too!

  It certainly sounded as though Jazz was athletic, like Bob. Penelope was not athletic. And it certainly sounded as though Jazz was funny, lik
e Bob. Penelope made people laugh sometimes, but she didn’t think anyone would describe her as funny. Bob and Jazz seemed to have a lot in common. Perhaps Jazz even had short hair with long bits at the top that stuck out in a cocky’s crest, like Bob? Penelope didn’t ask, because she really didn’t want to know if it was true.

  Penelope pinched herself on the thigh to stop these thoughts before they spilled out of her mouth.

  She knew she shouldn’t try to stop Bob from making new friends. Around the time her dad left to make a new family, Penelope had a friend at kindergarten called Elsie. She’d tried to stop Elsie from playing with the other kids, but it didn’t work. Penelope’s mum had to take her in for a meeting with the kindergarten teacher and they had a Big Talk about being too POSSESSIVE. Penelope had to let Elsie play with whoever she wanted to play with.

  Unfortunately, Elsie hadn’t wanted to play with her any more. And that was the end of that.

  Not long ago (when she finally found Bob, her very own best friend), Penelope’s mum had gently reminded her of Elsie. She wanted Penelope to remember not to be possessive. Of course, Penelope only remembered bits of what had happened, but she did remember it had been Very Traumatic. Penelope would never make that mistake again.

  Bob was probably just pumped about finding someone else who liked karate and used a nickname instead of her proper name. Penelope was quite sure the novelty would wear off soon. After all, Bob didn’t write an acrostic poem about Jazz!

  When they all came back in after lunch, the blackboard was covered with pictures of beaches and boats. There was a big container of sand on Ms Pike’s desk. In the sand was a glass bottle with a piece of paper in it.

  ‘Ahoy, my friends,’ Ms Pike said in a funny voice. (Penelope supposed she was trying to sound like a pirate. She sounded more like a duck, though Penelope thought she was Very Special for trying.) ‘I was walking along the beach the other day. A lot of debris had washed ashore – seaweed and stingers and all sorts of stuff. I saw something glinting. Can anyone guess what it might have been?’