Mrs. Wesson walks out of my front door as I’m about to walk in. I haven’t seen her since the last day of school. What she says is “Hello, Rose.”

What I hear is “Busted.”

“When did you get back?”

“It’s good to see you, too, Rose. I arrived home today. Now, I’ve got a question for you. Were you even going to tell them?”

“I was waiting for the right moment.”

“That moment has long passed. I might have been able to help, if you’d let me.” She nods back at the door. “Your parents are waiting.”

Mum starts as soon as she sees me. “You are grounded. You are grounded until you’re old and your teeth are sitting in a glass next to your bed and you’re wearing scuba suit underwear. And then, if I’m not dead, you’re grounded some more.” Anger sets fire to her skin. “You lied to us. Flat out lied!” she yells. “What were you planning on doing, running away and paying for the fees yourself?”

“It’s a scholarship,” I say.

“I know what it is. Mrs. Wesson told us. What I want to know is why you didn’t.”

“I tried. I asked if I could go on exchange. You were too busy cutting fucking carrots to listen properly. I asked about the scholarship and you wouldn’t even talk about it.”

“Don’t you fucking swear at me. I’m not stupid, Rose. That day at the caravan park was after you’d lied and cut school. Go to your room. Stay there till I call you out.”

“I won’t go to my room!” I yell. “I’m going to that school. It’s got the best science program in the state and I got in and I’m glad because it means I won’t be you, working my arse off at some shitty job.”

“That shitty job pays for your food.”

“Fuck you. I hang out the washing. I cook dinner when you’re working. I look after your sister’s kids.”

“That’s enough, Rose,” Dad says.

But it’s not enough. It’s the best feeling, yelling at her, smashing the air with things I’ve been thinking for years. “You work all the time. You don’t even read the paper anymore. I have nightmares where I end up like you. Pregnant and stuck here.”

Mum holds the back of the chair. Dad’s mouth is a circle. “I want to leave with Charlie at the end of the summer. I want to live with her and Mr. Duskin and go to school in Melbourne.”

Mum leans her head against her hand. “You won’t be going with Charlie at the end of the summer. I rang Mr. Duskin to make sure he knew that you two might be planning something.”

“What did you tell him?”

“The truth. That you’d known about this scholarship since before school ended, that I thought you were desperate enough to do anything to get away.”

Her words sink in. I taste metal. “Don’t you get what you’ve done? Charlie will think I used her.”

“From what I can see you did use her, Rose. Take a good look at yourself. If she’s hurt, there’s one person to blame.”

“You had no right to tell her.”

“I had every right. I’m your mother.”

“Well, I always said Charlie Duskin was lucky.”

Mum walks into the kitchen. I walk out the front door. Through the living room window, I see Dad standing with his hands held out in front of him as though he were holding something that suddenly disappeared.