Throwing off the covers, she slid out of bed and looked in the mirror. God. She hadn’t taken her make-up off last night and she looked a sight. The floorboards were cool on her bare feet as she padded down the hall to the bathroom. She splashed cold water on her face and rubbed off the worst of the smeared mascara, then went out into the kitchen. Everyone was there except Donna, and Allie felt her heart sink. ‘Morning, Sleeping Beauty,’ her father said, turning over a page of the Herald. ‘You get in a stoush last night?’ ‘What?’ Allie said, appalled. Was it in the papers? ‘A stoush. You’ve got black eyes.’ ‘Oh. No, that’s just make-up.’ Allie gave an inward sigh of relief. ‘Where’s Donna?’ ‘She stayed at Maureen’s house last night,’ Colleen said, breaking eggs into a spitting frying pan. Allie nodded. That made sense. Maureen was Donna’s friend from school, and they were always getting into trouble together. ‘Except I wasn’t allowed to go,’ Pauline complained.
