Becca says, ‘We’ll be like the Amazons. They didn’t touch guys, ever, and they didn’t care what people said. If a guy tried to do anything to them, he ended up…’ A second that whirls with arrows and flares of blood.
‘Whoa,’ Julia says, but the small smile is back and it’s her own smile, the one that most people never get to see. ‘Chill. This isn’t forever. It’s just till we leave school and we can meet actual human guys.’
Leaving school is years away and unimaginable, words that can never turn real. This is forever.
Selena says, ‘We need to swear it. Make a vow.’
‘Oh, come on,’ Julia says, ‘who does stuff like…’ but she’s only saying it out of reflex, it spins faint and dizzy away into the shadows, none of them hear.
Selena holds out her hand, palm down over the grass and the hidden trails of night insects. ‘I swear,’ she says.
Bats call, up in the dark air. The cypresses lean closer to watch, intent, approving. The rush and whisper of them lifts the girls, surges them on.
‘OK,’ Julia says. Her voice comes out stronger than she meant it to, so strong it startles her; her heartbeat feels like it’s going to lift her off the ground. ‘OK. Let’s do it.’
She brings her hand down on top of Selena’s. The small slap echoes across the clearing. ‘I swear.’
Becca, thin hand light as a dandelion clock on Julia’s, wishing fiercely and too late that she had looked at the photo, that she had seen what the others were seeing. ‘I swear.’
And Holly. ‘I swear.’
The four hands twist into a knot wrapped with moonlight, fingers tangling, all of them trying to stretch wide enough to tighten round all the others at once. A breathless small laugh.
The cypresses sigh, long and sated. The moon stands still.
Rebecca O’Mara, in the art-room doorway, hovering on one foot with the other wrapped round her ankle. Long dark-brown hair in a ponytail, soft and straggly, no straighteners here. Maybe an inch taller than Holly; skinny, not scary-skinny but definitely could have done with a pizza. Not pretty – face still catching up with her features – but it was coming soon. Wide brown eyes, on Conway, wary. No glance at the Secret Place.
If Rebecca was low on the old confidence, the old self-esteem, I could bring that. Give it the sweet big brother, looking for help with the important adventure and shy Little Sis is the special one who can save the day.
‘Rebecca, yeah?’ I said. Smiled, not too big, just easy and natural. ‘Thanks for coming in. Have a seat.’
She didn’t move. Houlihan had to dodge past her, scurry off to her corner. ‘It’s about Chris Harper. Isn’t it?’
Not scarlet and tangled up this time, but her voice was barely over a whisper. I said, ‘I’m Stephen Moran – maybe Holly’s mentioned me along the way, has she? She gave me a hand with some stuff, a few years back?’
Rebecca looked at me properly, for the first time. Nodded.
I held out a hand at the chair, and she pulled herself out of the doorway and came. That gangly teenage half-prance, like it was only the heavy shoes bringing her feet back to the ground. She sat down, tied her legs in a knot. Wrapped her hands in her skirt.
Sucking feeling in my chest, like water draining: let-down. From knowing Holly, from Conway saying
I let my spine go loose like a teenager’s, knees everywhere, and gave Rebecca another smile. Rueful, this one. ‘I need a hand again. I’m good at my job, I swear, but every now and then I need someone to help me out or I’ll get nowhere. I’ve got a feeling maybe you might be able to do that for me. Would you give it a shot, yeah?’
Rebecca said, ‘Is it about Chris?’
Not too shy to dig in her heels a bit. I made a face. ‘I’ve gotta tell you, I’m still trying to work out what it’s about. Why? Has something happened to do with Chris, yeah?’
She shook her head. ‘I just…’ Gesture at Conway, with the bundle of hands and skirt. Conway was picking her nails with the cap of her Biro, didn’t look up. ‘I mean, because she’s here. I thought…’
‘We’ll try and figure it out together. OK?’
I shot her the warm crinkly smile. Got a blank look back.
I said, ‘So let’s start with yesterday evening. First study period: where were you?’
After a moment Rebecca said, ‘The fourth-year common room. We have to be.’
‘And then?’
‘We get our break. Me and my friends, we went outside and sat on the grass for a while.’
Her voice was still a scraped-down wisp, but it got stronger on that.
I said, ‘Which friends? Holly and Julia and Selena, yeah?’
‘Yeah. And some others. Most of us went out. It was warm.’
‘And then you had second study period. You were here in the art room?’
‘Yeah. With Holly and Julia and Selena.’
