*It was just a joke, okay? It"s not like we damaged The Fink"s car or anything."

Dad"s lips were tight lines.

*You"re lucky she didn"t press criminal charges."

*Right," I leant back and folded my arms. *Crimes against plastic cling wrap and baby-blue Volvos."

Dad slapped the table with his open hand. *This is not funny."

*Nothing"s funny." I stared at the nectarine tree in the back yard and noticed that hard green fruit had replaced the blossoms. When we were in primary school, Mum used to go off at Harrison and me for picking the unripe nectarines and chucking them over the fence at the neighbour"s cat.

*Ruby, something is obviously upsetting you," said Mum, leaning towards me. *Talk to us."

I bit my bottom lip.

Dad scoffed. *This is pointless, Ginny. It"s time Ruby took responsibility for her actions."

*Like you do."

Dad flinched, his eyes wide. *You, young lady, are grounded."

*But that"s not fair," I yelled. *School has already punished me."

*And now you"re punished at home, too. As well as being grounded, there will be extra jobs around here. Starting with the washing."

*Oh, come on. That"s Harrison"s job. That"s so-"

*Tough luck," snapped Dad.

My heart thundered in my head. I fought the urge to punch Dad in his smug face and tell him what I knew. I had to get out of there. *Fine I"m grounded. Whatever." I ran up stairs, two at a time, and threw myself on my bed.

Sas Dad left this morning, after driving Eliza and Maddie to school. He offered me a lift too, but I told him I had to meet Khaden and Ruby to talk about the trip to Torquay. It wasn"t a total lie. I did walk to school with Khaden, but we didn"t talk about the school trip. We talked about Ruby. At least, Khaden talked. I listened or I tried to, but I couldn"t stop thinking about Dad.

I don"t understand why he stayed at our place last night. Grace was out of hospital, and apart from the bandages, was back to her chirpy self. Mum and I had everything covered, just as we have since he left. If he really felt he had to be around, why didn"t he stay at Nona"s or Aunty Leta"s like he usually did?

At least he came on his own, I guess. It would have been awkward for Mum, for all of us, if he hadn"t.

The closest I came to talking to Dad was when he was making Milo last night. I formed the sentences in my mind, but the words just wouldn"t come out. Then Eliza burst in and started c.r.a.pping on and the moment was gone.

Before he left to go back to Anglesea, Dad put up the curtains and moved my bed against the feature wall. Instead of glad, that just made me feel bad. I had enough c.r.a.ppy feelings filling me after Grace and the thing with Ruby, without Dad piling more on me.

Ruby"s driving me insane and I don"t know why. Sure, the way she whinges all the time is annoying, but it"s more than that. Every time she speaks, laughs, moves or breathes, I pick at her. But why?

Yesterday at school I couldn"t stop myself from blaming her for everything that happened to Grace, and that was just cruel, and wrong. I know Khaden was the thirsty one, and I didn"t have to go to the supermarket with them.

Today when we were at The Fink"s car, Ruby was so jumpy you"d think we were stealing the car, not wrapping it in plastic. I wanted to whack her over the head with the cling wrap roll.

I can"t work out if she"s always been like this or if it"s new, caused by what"s happening with Khaden and me. It"s so confusing it makes my head hurt.

Grrrrr.

The good thing is we"ve been suspended, so no lame excursion to Torquay for us. It"s way too close to Anglesea for me.

IM Chat Sas: OMG!! Got a message from Lyndal. *Pity someone saw u wrap Mrs Finkle"s car. Will think of u @ Torquay." Grrrrrrr!

Khaden: Ha! She sent me-*Should have dumped the wrap in the bin. Loser"

Ruby: She saw us. I knew it!

Sas: For sure!

Khaden: Sorry Ruby Sas: Yeah x Ruby: S"ok Sas: Meet at park near my place, 2morrow-10?

KD: Cool. C u there Ruby: Grounded :( KD: Ha ha ha-Serious?

Ruby: Yeah, hilarious. And have JOBS!

Sas: Aren"t your "rents at work?

Ruby: So?

KD: Don"t be thick, Ruby Sas: Exactly! Do your jobs and meet us Ruby: C u there Ruby Mum was grabbing her handbag from the bench and munching on toast when I staggered into the kitchen. I wiped sleep from my eyes.

*What are you doing up so early?" she asked.

*Should have been up an hour ago if I"m going to finish all the jobs you and Dad expect me to do. It"s so not fair that I have to do Archie and Harrison"s jobs." I flung open the fridge and grabbed the orange juice and a tub of yoghurt.

*Life isn"t fair, Ruby," said Mum, taking her car keys from the bowl by the back door. *Oh, can you make Archie"s lunch too, please?"

I stopped pouring juice. *Serious? I"m not a slave."

*Ruby-do the crime, serve the time." I didn"t hear Dad come up the hall to the kitchen.

*See you tonight." Mum blew me a kiss.

Dad looked up from rummaging in his brief case. *Oh, Ginny, I might be late."

*Meeting?" I said.

*Mind your tone, Ruby," said Mum. *Text me when you know for sure."

While I ate my muesli and yoghurt in silence, Dad slapped avocado onto the salad sandwich he was making for his lunch. I tried to remember if he"d made his lunch the morning of my Economics excursion.

If he did make it, did he chuck it out at work? Give it to one of those homeless guys in the city begging for money? Or did he eat it and still go out for *lunch" anyway?

*What are you frowning at?" asked Dad.

My face flushed. *Nothing. Just wondering what to make Archie for lunch."

Dad slipped his sandwich in a brown paper bag and into his brief case. *Doesn"t he always have Vegemite and cheese?"

*Guess so."

*You could always make him something different-everyone needs a change."

*Yeah. You"d know." As soon as I said it I regretted how b.i.t.c.hy it sounded.

Dad sighed. *Ruby, it"s clear you don"t like me much at the minute. Want to tell me why?"

*No." I rolled an almond with my spoon to avoid Dad"s stare.

*So you don"t deny you don"t like me much."

Here was my chance to tell him what I saw, what I knew-but I couldn"t. I picked up my bowl and stalked to the sink.

*Can we just drop it?"

*Make sure those jobs are done before I get home," said Dad, s.n.a.t.c.hing his keys from the bowl.

I sucked in my cheeks to stop myself from making another smart comment.

As I reached the park entrance, separated from the footpath by a low log fence, the ground trembled, a train horn blasted and the roar of steel filled the air. I stood by the banksia bush, watching the train"s silver roof flash towards the city.

After it pa.s.sed, I spotted Sas and Khaden on the climbing equipment. Their heads were close together and Khaden"s knee rested against Sas"s. A feeling of loneliness filled me.

Khaden looked up and waved. *Hey, Ruby-up here."

Sas wriggled back a fraction and smoothed her hair. *Thought the "mountain" of jobs would take you all day."

*Hey, I"ve done more than a day"s work already. I washed the downstairs windows-inside and outside-vacuumed the family room, which is supposed to be Archie"s job, put three loads of washing on and hung them on the line, normally Harrison"s job, made Archie"s lunch, because he"s a spastic, AND I cleaned up after everyone else"s breakfast."

*That"s only ten," said Sas. She leaned back and gripped the bars behind her, her long legs dangling towards the tanbark.

*What?"

She stared across the park to the main road.

*You said you had a thousand jobs, but that"s only ten, unless you"re counting each window and each piece of clothing."

*Okay, so I exaggerated, but this sucks. Who has to get up at seven-thirty to clean when they are on holidays?"

*Technically, we"re not on holidays, we"re on suspension," said Sas.

The air between us felt thick. I shifted positions on the bars.

Khaden laughed, and Sas smiled. *Laugh, Ruby. G.o.d, what"s wrong with you?"

*Nothing-I was just wondering if I"d shut the back gate," I lied.

*How awesome did The Fink"s car look?" said Khaden. The bruise on his cheek was mottled purple now and his lip didn"t look as puffy.

*Fantastic. Can"t believe the school thinks we"re being punished. That trip to Torquay will be lame. Can you imagine Penny strutting on the beach, all b.o.o.bs and b.u.m." Sas shuddered.

*Has she got big b.o.o.bs?" said Khaden.

*Are you serious? She"s huge!"

I held my hands in front of me to emphasis my point.

Khaden"s mouth turned down and his eyebrows rose. *School uniforms hide a lot, don"t they?"

Sas and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. We used to laugh like that all the time.

*What?" said Khaden.

*Your face," I said when my laughter eased.

*You looked so serious." Sas mimicked Khaden"s face. She slipped and squealed, which set us off again. This time Khaden laughed too.

*What did your dad say?" I asked.

Khaden stopped laughing and looked at his knees.

*Dad started to go off, but Taj forgot it was his turn to cook and that p.i.s.sed Dad off more."

His expression made me want to reach out and hug him, but I didn"t.

*Mum had cla.s.ses, so she said she"d deal with it today." Sas wiggled her eyebrows and grinned. *But last night, while she was out, I cooked dinner for the girls, cleaned up everything, tidied the lounge and ta dah-instead of a lecture this morning, Mum raved about what a fantastic help I am. She even gave me money to buy more stuff for my room." Sas lowered herself through the bars and dropped to the tanbark. *So let"s shop."

Khaden jumped and landed with a deep whoomp. Tanbark flew up from his feet.

*Doesn"t that hurt?" I asked, staring down at him.

*What? Jumping?" Khaden shrugged. *Nah."

*Yeah?" I said. *Kills my ankles when I do it-actually, it kills everything."

*Wuss," said Sas.

*So where were we going?" Khaden asked Sas.

*Tram or train to Camberwell or bus to Chaddy?"

Dad was working around Chadstone this month. *I hate catching the bus and anyway, Camberwell"s closer."

*Is it?" Sas sucked on her bottom lip. *Yeah, I guess it is. Let"s tram it."

*Okay, but I have to, seriously HAVE to be back home by three-thirty," I said, rummaging in my bag for my phone. I"d diverted the home phone to my mobile, just in case Mum or Dad called to check up on me. There weren"t any messages or missed calls, so I slipped my phone back in my bag.