The Secret Place полностью

They sit there in a silence that feels strangely companionable. The bus bumps over potholes.

‘I don’t know Chris,’ Julia says. ‘I’ve never even really talked to him. If you wanted to get him to dump someone fast, how would you do it?’

‘Good luck with that. Chris…’ Gemma mimes it, one hand coming down edge-first to point straight ahead: single-minded. ‘He knows what he wants, and he goes for it. Forget him. Work on Selena, get her to dump him. Not the other way around.’

‘Selena’s not with him. Remember? I’m just asking if. For the laugh. If working on the girl was out, how would you work on Chris?’

Gemma pulls pink lip gloss and a mirror out of her weekend bag and puts it on, taking her time, like it helps her think. She says, ‘Joanne told me to tell him Selena’s got gonorrhoea. Which would probably do it.’

Julia changes her mind: bright spot or no bright spot, she wishes Joanne and Chris had stayed together. They’re perfect for each other.

She says, ‘Do it and I’ll tell Holly’s dad you buy speed off the groundskeeper to lose weight.’

‘Whatever.’ Gemma rubs her lips together and examines them in the mirror. ‘You seriously figure Selena’s not shagging him?’

‘Yeah. And she’s not going to.’

‘Well,’ Gemma says. She screws the lip gloss shut and drops it back into her bag. ‘You could try telling him that. Probably he won’t believe you, because he thinks he’s just so irresistible only a crazy person would actually say no to him. But if you can convince him, then he’ll dump Selena for the first girl who does it. That fast.’

‘So why doesn’t Joanne go for it? Tell him she wants his sexy body, but only if he breaks it off with Selena?’

‘I said that. She said no way, he had his chance and he missed it.’

In other words, Joanne is terrified Chris would turn her down. ‘You’re her little sidekick,’ Julia says. ‘You’re not going to do her dirty work?’

A slow, wet smile opens Gemma’s mouth, but she shakes her head. ‘Um, yeah, no?’

‘Like you’re not into him? I didn’t think you’d even need an excuse.’

‘He’s totes yum. Not the point. Joanne would have a coronary.’

Julia says, suddenly, ‘If you’re that scared of her, why do you hang out with her?’

Gemma inspects her mouth in the mirror, dabs away a smear with the tip of her little finger. ‘I’m not scared of her. I just don’t piss her off.’

‘She’d be seriously pissed off if she found out you’d told me about Chris dumping her.’

‘Yeah, I’d rather she didn’t find out. Obviously.’

Julia is turned in her seat, watching Gemma straight on. She says, ‘So how come you told me? It’s not like you care if Selena gets her heart broken.’

Gemma lifts one shoulder. ‘Not a lot.’

‘So?’

‘Because fuck him. Probably you’re right and Joanne’s a bitch, but she’s my friend. And you didn’t see the state she was in, afterwards.’ Gemma clicks the mirror shut and slides it back into her bag. ‘We already started a rumour that she dumped him because he wanted to wear a nappy and have her change it for him-’

‘Ew,’ Julia says, impressed.

Gemma shrugs. ‘It’s an actual thing. There’s guys who are into that. It didn’t work, though; nobody believed it. We should’ve just said he couldn’t get it up, or he had a tiny dick or something.’

‘So,’ Julia says, ‘since you didn’t manage to fuck him up, you want me to do it for you. I get Selena to dump him, then you’ll make sure everyone knows he got dumped, embarrass him the same way he embarrassed Joanne.’

‘Basically,’ Gemma says, unfazed. ‘Yeah.’

‘OK,’ Julia says. ‘Here’s the deal. I’ll get them split up. Fast.’ She has no idea how. ‘But you make sure Joanne and whatstheirnames don’t tell anyone he was ever with Selena. You guys can say Joanne dumped him or something, if you want to embarrass him. Selena doesn’t come into it. Ever. None of that gonorrhoea crap, nothing. Deal?’

Gemma thinks it over. Julia says, ‘Or I’ll tell Joanne you told me she thought she was going to marry Chris and have his ickle babies.’

Gemma makes a wry face. ‘OK,’ she says. ‘Deal.’

Julia nods. ‘Deal,’ she says, almost to herself. She wonders if there’s any chance Gemma will stay there, not talking, just being solid and smelling of sticky lip gloss, till they get to school.

The bus pulls up at a stop, rocks under the rush of feet getting on. High excited voices, girls – ‘OhmyGod, you did not just say that, you did not-’

‘See you around,’ Gemma says. She gets up and heaves her weekend bag onto her shoulder. Up front the Colm’s guys see her stand up, and get louder. Just before Gemma swings her hips down the aisle towards them, she smiles at Julia and lifts her hand in a little wave.

The art room was turning chilly. Conway had pulled her chair up the table, next to mine. Bad Cop in the house.