I was relieved to see Zoe the next morning, though she refused to talk about what happened, other than to say she was ‘used to that sort of thing.’ I made sure to be by her side all day and when Maxine came up to make a snipey comment about Zoe’s mum, I swore at her so fiercely she backed off. I was quite proud of it.
Kerry was a bit odd, though. Kind of sniffy and quiet. That was fine with Zoe, because she just took it as the go-ahead to stop talking to Kerry all together. But that shapeless bad feeling I was carrying round with me all the time had a name, for today: what was the matter with Kerry? I guessed it wasn’t because of Zoe’s mum – Kerry hadn’t even seen the incident and didn’t seem interested when I mentioned it. It was more likely to be about the row in The Cut yesterday. Had she told someone something she shouldn’t have?
We soon found out. Kerry wasn’t around at the end of school. I suggested looking in the girls’ cloakrooms for her, but Zoe wouldn’t wait.
‘If Kerry’s not ready then she can’t expect us to hang around in this dump a minute longer than we have to,’ she said. ‘She’s probably buttering up some teacher somewhere. Asking if she can tidy their desk for them. Putting her coat over a puddle so they don’t get their feet wet. Or something.’
We set off for home without her and it did feel really nice. Like we were free of something. It was cool and a bit damp outside, but there was a scent in the air, like cut grass. We could have so much more of a laugh when it was just the two of us. Zoe was telling me how she planned to conjure up an army of demons in the next maths lesson. And I was telling her how my mum and dad had spent an entire evening together without having a fight.
And in the middle of The Cut, someone stepped out in front of us. We both jumped and stopped short. It was Jodie.
‘You gave us a shock,’ Zoe said, although it hardly needed saying.
‘I need to talk to you two,’ Jodie said. She dropped her half-smoked cigarette on the ground and squashed it with her boot, making a short hissing, squelching sound.
‘What’s up?’ Just about everything was making me really anxious at the moment – making my heart thump, giving me shivers.
‘I’ve been talking to your friend,’ she said. ‘Kerry.’
‘What about her?’ Zoe asked.
Jodie glanced around. ‘What the hell is this about you going around with a knife?’
Zoe’s eyes widened. I don’t think she’d guessed that Kerry would have to blurt things out to someone.
‘We aren’t going around with a knife. Not like that,’ I said.
We could hear footsteps and stepped to the side to make way for a middle-aged man hurrying through The Cut.
‘Can you come to my place?’ Jodie said. ‘I really want to talk to you. But not here, not with all sorts walking past.’
Zoe shook her head. ‘I have to get home.’
‘It’ll only take five minutes,’ Jodie said. ‘Come on.’ She started striding off and it was clear she expected us to follow her.
I nodded my head at Zoe. ‘Let’s get it over with.’
Zoe didn’t budge for a moment.
‘Come on,’ I said. ‘We need to know what Kerry’s told her. And whether she’s told anyone else. Like your mum, for instance.’
We trudged after Jodie towards the high-rises and followed her into the reeking lift. It seemed to take forever to rattle its way to the ninth floor.
‘Does anyone live right up on the fourteenth floor?’ I asked, mainly to break the awkward silence.
Jodie gave a little smile. ‘There isn’t really a fourteenth floor.’
‘There’s a fourteen button in the lift,’ I said, as the door slid open and we walked out onto the landing. ‘And my mum always calls this place the Fourteen Storeys.’
‘Yeah, everyone does,’ said Jodie, putting the key in her door, which I noticed had a big gash in the wood, like someone had tried to break it down. ‘The joke is, there are only thirteen floors. But when they were built, no one wanted to live on the thirteenth floor in case it was unlucky. So they changed the button to fourteen. All the door numbers on the top level start with 1-4.’
Zoe laughed. ‘That’s stupid.’
‘Thing is, it’s still unlucky,’ Jodie went on, pulling off her boots beside the doorway. The flat smelled of mould and stale fried food, as usual. ‘That’s where all the suicide cases jump from.’
I made a face. ‘Ugh.’ I felt those little tremors inside, that I get when I look out of a high window.
Jodie waved at us to sit down on her slightly greasy sofa. ‘Right, you two,’ she said. ‘Is it true?’
Zoe and I glanced at each other. ‘That depends what Kerry’s been saying,’ I said.
Jodie sighed. ‘Listen. I’m not an idiot. Kerry’s not capable of making things up. She said Zoe pulled a knife out of her school bag the other day and that she might’ve used it if someone hadn’t come along and interrupted. Is that right?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s not right. The knife isn’t a proper one, is it, Zoe? It’s just like – like an ornament. And Kerry kept going on and on
