What can I say to her? That I’ve forgotten who she is to me, or why we’re together? That this isn’t how I imagined my night of nights turning out?
Of course it isn’t. It is a different venue, with different music and different food. None of it is anything close to my original preparations. That is not the problem. In fact, I like how different it is.
The problem is how I feel, but also, how I don’t. There is no joy, no triumph. Not without Will here to share it.
‘Just tell me what I can do to make things okay,’ Edie says, so gently that I am tempted to forgive her for everything.
I tell her to take me home.
Chapter 33
WILL
Out in the mottled dark, a salty smell streams off the harbour, mixed with the stench of cologne, perfume and spilled beer.
Friday night in the Rocks: what a party.
I walk. Up under the bridge, where car wheels hit the hinges of the road above. Past the harbourside hotels. Past the Museum of Contemporary Art and its Deco façade casting long shadows like something from a 1920s horror flick.
It doesn’t take long to reach Circular Quay, with its tourists and fluoro lights and children with rainbow-coloured ice creams. A ferry honks. Water laps at the pier. I could jump in, surrender to the weight of its swell. I am exhausted enough to consider it, but I have somewhere to be.
Past terminals two through to six; past buskers juggling bowling pins while breakdancing; past the opera crowd at candlelit tables hoeing into forty-dollar fish and chips, until I reach the place where Harriet began things.
I approach Dish carefully from the side. I check my watch. Five to eight. Then I clock her. Croon, just metres away. I slip into the shadow of a pillar.
She is standing outside the foyer, surrounded by a small group of teachers. All of them have made an effort: formal gear, make-up, the works. It’s almost touching. Hadley is there too, his hair gelled into a peak. My warm feelings evaporate.
A head turns in my direction, sees me.
Bracken.
We lock eyes for half a second. I feel strangely calm as I wait for her to raise the alarm.
Instead, she looks away. She says nothing to anyone. I breathe out deeply and slip further into the shadows.
‘It makes no sense.’ I recognise Fowler’s voice. ‘Where could they have got to? A whole year group …!’
‘Are you sure this is the right place?’ It’s Deputy Davids.
‘Of course it is.’ Fowler again. ‘This has to be another one of their awful pranks.’
‘No need to get so worked up,’ Bracken soothes. ‘They’re just kids having fun.’
Good old Bracken.
‘Are you having fun, Deidre? Because there’s about a thousand other things I’d rather be doing right now,’ mutters Fowler.
‘If it’s some sort of prank,’ says a man I don’t recognise, ‘how did no-one know it was afoot?’
Voices talk over each other. It’s impossible to hear what they’re saying. They reach fever pitch.
‘All right, all right,’ says Croon wearily.
The man pipes up again. ‘There’s no point going over this tonight anyway. It can wait till next week’s board meeting.’ His voice is sharp.
There is a brief silence before the group begins to talk over each other again.
Croon holds up her palms to quiet them.
I’ve heard enough. I’ve risked a lot by simply being here. I push off the pillar and find a crowd to blend into.
Chapter 34
HARRIET
‘What do you mean you haven’t done them?’
It is Monday morning. Edie is poised on my front doorstep where, with one hand on the frame, I am struggling to remain upright. It is odd that I am so tired given I spent most of the weekend asleep.
I don’t know why, but as soon as Edie dropped me off after the formal, all I wanted to do was close my eyes. I slept so late this morning I haven’t even had a chance to brush my hair. By contrast, Edie’s ponytail looks extra smooth, if a little higher than usual. Her tunic is freshly ironed. Her knee-high socks are so aligned it is possible she has used an actual tape measure.
She is here to collect her notes for the National Public Speaking Competition, which I have completely forgotten to do. Again.
‘Is this about Friday still?’ she asks. ‘I wish you would tell me what got into you.’
‘I’ll prepare the notes tonight,’ I say. ‘I’ll make it a priority as soon as I’m home.’
Edie’s mouth becomes a circle. ‘Tonight’s no use. The competition is this afternoon.’
Oh dear. How could I have forgotten it was today? My mind has become a sieve. ‘Then I’ll do them at school,’ I say. ‘In my free period. I’ll duck out and Uber them over to you.’
She narrows her eyes. ‘I’m relying on those notes, Bubble. You know that, right?’
‘Yes, I do,’ I say, hearing the tetchiness in my voice.
‘You promised you’d do this one thing for me.’
‘I understand.’
‘I hope so. Because Bianca Stein is still looking for a Doubles partner.’
What a sly fox she is. ‘I’ll get them to you by twelve-thirty. You have my word.’
Chapter 35
WILL
Mondays never fail to suck, but this one sucks harder than most. From the moment I arrive at school, everywhere I go people are crapping on about Harriet’s formal.
‘It was like, the perfect mix of relaxed vibe and occasion vibe,’ Kimberley Kitchener is saying two lockers down when I collect my textbooks before roll call.
‘Who needs a sit-down dinner of overcooked fish and floppy cheesecake?’ Zara Long chirps as she and Inez Jurich walk behind me in the corridor. ‘Burgers are the way of the future!’
Seriously, these girls need to get out more.
Yes, Croon deserves to be humiliated for kowtowing to the bigoted school board. But I’d personally rather forget about Friday night altogether.
I
