‘It’s okay. I haven’t seen my dad for three years. He wasn’t good to Mum. Better off without him.’ He played with the leather band on his wrist. ‘Your dad is probably awesome,’ he added, looking up.
‘You think?’
‘Well, I hope he is.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Listen, I wanted to ask you about what happened up at the creek.’
‘Oh.’ My little detour hadn’t worked.
He swallowed. ‘That was pretty intense. I mean, I’m sorry if I offended you or something. Maybe I shouldn’t have—’
‘No, no. It wasn’t that at all.’
I had thought about that kiss over and over, reliving it. Part of my not being able to sleep the night before had been the excitement of that warm touch, his face next to mine. He didn’t even know it was my first kiss and that it would be forever imprinted on me like a gentle tattoo.
His eyes were searching mine for something more.
‘I liked it,’ I said. ‘I like you.’
He smiled.
‘I’m sorry about that, being all weird and everything,’ I added.
‘Yeah, you took off like you’d seen a ghost.’
That was the second time someone had said that to me. I shivered – if only they knew.
Matt, head down, glanced up at me from under his dark eyebrows. ‘You could try telling me about it,’ he said.
I wanted to tell him how I knew that Dylan was dead and that he was in the water, but it sounded bizarre and I had no evidence to back up my wild ideas except some dream and a vision of a face that I didn’t even know was real. Of course it wasn’t real. How could it be?
‘It was nothing, really. I just got a bit spooked.’
A flicker of annoyance crossed his face. It was the second time I’d seen that expression and I hated that I was the source of it.
‘You don’t strike me as the easily spooked type,’ he said.
I shrugged.
Matt looked at me for a second. ‘Well, I’d better go, I suppose.’
He got up and I noticed a small scroll of paper protruding from his pocket. ‘What’s that?’
He pulled it out. ‘I was going to give it to you but it seems a bit, I don’t know … Doesn’t seem right now.’
‘Because you’re mad at me?’ I stood up.
‘No. I’m not mad.’
‘Can I see, then?’ I said, holding out my hand.
He put the scroll behind his back. ‘It was supposed to cheer you up, but it was a bad idea. Forget about it,’ he said.
‘No. I want to see it. Come on.’ I smiled at him but he only shook his head in reply. ‘Please.’ I lunged forward and made a grab for his arm. He sat back on the bed, holding the roll of paper above his head. I launched myself over him, sprawled across his chest, trying to reach it, feeling his breath on my face, his heart lurching against his chest; or was that mine?
‘Sunny, don’t,’ he said. We stared into each other’s faces, but I didn’t see laughter there, or lust. He was angry.
That’s when Kevin walked in. At first I didn’t know, but then Matt looked past my face toward the door. He tried to sit up but I was lying across him, pinning him like a lion over a dead gazelle.
‘Sunny.’ Kevin’s voice froze the blood in my veins.
I scrambled to my feet and stood, slightly ruffled and hot-faced, in front of Kevin.
‘I didn’t hear you come home,’ I said, brushing back my hair.
‘A friend dropped me off.’
Matt stood up. ‘I think I’ll go.’
‘I think that’s a good idea, mate,’ Kevin said, glancing at Matt.
‘You don’t have to,’ I said, turning to face him.
Matt’s face had darkened. ‘It’s okay. I’ll catch you later.’ He tossed the roll of paper onto my bed and walked out. Kevin stepped aside to let him pass.
I followed and watched him walk down the hall. ‘What did you do that for?’ I glared at Kevin as I headed back into my room.
‘What was he doing here?’ he said, coming after me.
‘Nothing. He’s my friend.’
‘I don’t want you seeing that guy.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, I don’t want you seeing him. I thought I’d made that clear.’ His expression had a new hard layer; dark whiskers crowded into the crevices down his face and his eyes were surrounded by black pillows of sleeplessness.
‘Is it because I went in his car? Every kid around here drives on their properties, you know that. Anyway I was sick. He gave me a lift home, that’s all.’
‘As a matter of fact, it is because you went in his car. Without telling me. And now I come home and find you rolling around on the bed with him.’
Blood rushed to my face. ‘Oh, my God. We were just mucking around. I don’t need to—’
‘This is a small town, Sunny. I’ve heard things about him.’
‘And you believe everything you hear, do you?’
‘Believe me, they’re not good things.’
‘That’s funny,’ I shot back, ‘because do you know what they’re saying about you? They’re saying that you had something to do with Dylan’s disappearance. They’re saying you did something to him. Do you believe that?’
Kevin scowled. ‘Of course not.’
‘And the police?’
‘The police were just asking questions.’
‘Why? Why are they asking you so many questions? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right?’ I pointed to the door. ‘Can you go now?’
Kevin placed his hand on the doorknob. ‘It’s got nothing to do with me,’ he said. ‘They’re eliminating me from their inquiries, that’s all.’
‘Eliminating you from their inquiries! I’m not stupid. I know what that means. Just go,’ I said. ‘And you can tell your girlfriend she doesn’t need to come around here all the time.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Leanne.’
Blood advanced up his neck like a running tide. ‘Sunny, you don’t know what you’re saying.’ He turned to leave. ‘And you can tell that boy to stay away.
