BooksBarbecue
Back The Game
Chapters (68)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. NOW
  4. One
  5. BEFORE
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. NOW
  26. Twenty-One
  27. BEFORE
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. NOW
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. BEFORE
  48. Forty
  49. Forty-One
  50. Forty-Two
  51. Forty-three
  52. Forty-Four
  53. Forty-Five
  54. Forty-Six
  55. Forty-Seven
  56. Forty-Eight
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. NOW
  61. Fifty-Two
  62. Fifty-Three
  63. Fifty-Four
  64. Fifty-Five
  65. AFTER
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Acknowledgements
  68. About the Author

‘I shared a room with my younger brother for a few years,’ Mark said, still looking at Stephanie in profile as she continued to stare at the floor. ‘I know exactly what you mean. You’re never alone. I couldn’t wait to move out. We were constantly getting into fights and stuff. Did that happen with the two of you? Was this book an outlet?’

‘We never fought,’ Stephanie replied, shooting him a glance. ‘Nothing like that. We just tolerated each other, I suppose. We knew there was no other way, so that’s just how things were. No other option but to grin and bear it. I guess if we’d actually had things in common, then it would have been different, but we didn’t. Nothing at all really. Other than DNA.’

‘Tell me how she was trouble, as you said.’

Stephanie nodded, gripping the edge of the mattress. ‘You can tell from the first page that she wasn’t happy. That she thought she deserved more than she had. I found the book accidentally. I couldn’t help myself. I… I read it, because by then I didn’t know who she was anymore. I remember feeling sorry for her. Also, really pissed off because she says some nasty things in it about me. I understood, though. I knew it was hard for her at school. What she never understood was that it was hard for me as well.’

Mark kept his face straight, but wondered how true that actually was. It might have been just over a decade since he was in school, but he remembered girls like Stephanie. The popular ones. They never had to work at it, it just seemed like one day the hierarchy was decided and that was that.

He imagined being a twin where one had a certain social status and the other was forgotten. It would have been hard to live with for Emily.

‘We went to different colleges in the end,’ Stephanie continued, sliding a manicured fingernail through her hair, sweeping it back behind her ear. ‘I stayed in the school’s sixth form, while she needed to go somewhere else. She needed the change. I don’t think it got any easier for her. I know it didn’t.’

‘So she struggled to fit in at school and college. That doesn’t sound too different to thousands of other kids out there. Why was she in trouble?’

‘No, I told you, she caused the trouble,’ Stephanie replied, her tone sharp suddenly. ‘You keep getting it wrong. She wasn’t some little innocent. I guess she decided enough was enough one day and decided to start fighting back. You ask me, it was about six years too late.’

‘She fought back against who?’

‘Other kids in the college, people from her old school, anyone she was angry with, basically.’

Mark could hear something being left unsaid. Thought for a second or two, then decided to ask, ‘You?’