Verity Read online

  “That’s cool,” he said.

  “Not really. But it’ll be mine, you know?”

  He nodded, flicking through one of my old sketch pads. “You’re really good.”

  “Not yet. But if I keep working at it then maybe one day I will be. Hopefully. It’s the only thing I like so…” My voice trailed off as I realised I hadn’t shut up talking since he sat down. He was a good listener though; he didn’t interrupt.

  I stiffened when I realised he had stopped at a sketch of a pair of eyes barely visible in a forest setting.

  “What’s this one about?” he asked, his face serious. I squirmed in my seat.

  “Um, I have these dreams, so I sketch them. It’s nothing. Just forget it.”

  He put the pad down and looked me straight in the eye, his expression so serious that my skin prickled in anticipation.

  “I can’t forget it. I have dreams too.” He looked at me so seriously that I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t know exactly what he meant, and I was afraid to ask. I felt as though we were on the edge of something and about to jump off. I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

  The art teacher breezed into the room at the right moment and chatted to us before setting up. By the time the bell rang and the rest of the class filtered into the room, we were back to being slightly comfortable.

  Nathan had been right about one thing—he was really bad at art, drawing in particular. I couldn’t resist teasing his exceptionally lame efforts.

  “Hey, leave it out. We can’t all be the secret love child of Picasso and Da Vinci.” He looked at his artwork and sighed before crumpling it up.

  “Ah, you’re not completely hopeless,” I told him. “You’ll never be as good as me, obviously, but drawing is a skill. You can get better at it.”

  “Ha. Modest and beautiful. How do you keep your head from inflating?” he said with a good natured grin.

  I looked at him sideways, not taking him seriously, but certainly feeling pleased with myself. We ended up talking for most of the double class. He told me about some of the places he had lived, and I oohed and aahed at the right parts. It was kind of hard to focus when I was so intent on staring at him, but I told him all about my favourite artists and some of the competitions I had entered. He was also good at oohing and aahing at the right parts.

  It was amazingly easy to talk to Nathan when I wasn’t worried about looking stupid in front of him or anyone else for that matter. Usually I had trouble looking people in the eye, but after a while, I was as comfortable with Nathan as I was with Amelia. I liked the sound of his voice, I liked how he looked, and I even liked how he smelled.

  Apart from all that, he was a really decent person. Fun and witty, he wasn’t mean, and he didn’t badmouth anyone. I would have liked him even if he wasn’t good looking—which made me feel better because I had been worrying about being shallow.

  I ended up getting my hands plastered with paint as I re-worked one of my larger pieces. An annoyingly fuzzy lock of hair made its way out of my ponytail and decided to bounce around in front of my face. I blew at it ineffectively a few times before Nathan took pity on me.

  Giving an exaggerated sigh, he brushed it back behind my ear, gently grazing my skin with his finger. Once again, I felt a spark of heat, almost like a shock of energy. I gave a little gasp.

  “Shit,” he muttered, pulling his hand back.

  “Did you feel that too?” I asked in surprise. My ear felt like it had been held against a hot water bottle; it didn’t hurt, but I could still feel the heat from his touch. There was something really odd about Nathan Evans.

  Fear seemed to flit across his features, but then there was a new look on his face, something I’d never seen before. A flicker of emotion darkened his eyes, an element of wildness that gave me goose bumps. His pupils dilated all of a sudden, somehow making him look less human.

  It was as if some mystery was slowly unravelling before my eyes. I was remembering something, kind of like déjà vu, but not exactly. I couldn’t explain it because it wasn’t like anything else I had ever experienced, but I liked how different everything was around Nathan.

  He shook his head as if to gather his thoughts. He began to speak, his hand on my knee again, but Abbi interrupted him by sitting on the edge of the desk. Nathan hesitated, his cheeks flushed, then turned his back to me and spent the rest of the class flirting with Abbi.

  More annoyed by the minute, every irritatingly false laugh cut through me. Grinding my teeth, I waited for the bell to ring. It dawned on me he had probably only sat with me because he thought I would do his work for him. What a user!

  I left the room after class, before he even stood up, feeling disappointed. I had convinced myself he liked me back from the way he was acting, so weird and enigmatic yet lovely and charming. I probably wasn’t even on his radar. I was setting myself up for a fall believing anything different.

  “What’s up?” Tammie said when we met up in the hallway before our next class.

  “Nothing.”

  “Yeah. That’s obvious. Come on, spill.” She put her hands on her hips and refused to move.

  “I don’t know. I thought… I suppose I thought Nathan might like me or something. But he was just using me. I feel stupid now.”

  She frowned. “There’s something a bit weird about those two, Perdy, I’m telling you. The more I see them, the more I dislike them.”

  “What, even Amelia?”

  “Especially Amelia. I don’t know why you’re bothering with them at all, to be honest.”

  I couldn’t hide my surprise. “Since when have you not liked them?”

  “Ah, always. She’s a total weirdo, Per. I dunno why you can’t see it. As for him, don’t waste your time. He’s probably another Hannigan in the making. Hurry up, or we’ll be late.”

  I followed her, stunned by her remarks. She had been as sweet as pie to Amelia for weeks. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen how she really felt.

  After school, Tammie headed into town with her sister, while Joey stayed back for an advanced class. I walked to the bus stop with Amelia, surprised by how fond of her I was already. It felt like she was a long lost friend; she was so easy to be around compared to Tammie, who was always being negative about something or someone.

  “Perdy, I’ve been wondering if you’d like to come to dinner at my house this weekend. Before you start, I’ve already said it to my family.” Amelia gave me her puppy dog eyes look.

  I would have said yes, but I didn’t want to be around her brother. I couldn’t say that, so I was willing to pretend everything was cool between Tammie and Amelia.

  “Actually, I was going to ask you over to my place,” I said. “Dad’s working late this weekend, so I thought maybe you and Tammie and Joey could come over. I really don’t want to be left on my own with those two at the moment.”

  She was about to speak when Nathan appeared beside her. He had a habit of seemingly emerging out of nowhere. I gave him one scornful glance, and then made a point of ignoring him completely. Amelia carried on talking as if nothing was wrong, but I couldn’t bear him next to me. I said goodbye to her and her alone.

  “Aren’t you getting the bus with us?” she asked.

  “Nah, I’d rather walk today. I’ll call you later about this weekend.”

  I walked away, feeling a bit guilty for being so cold but knowing it had to be done. I couldn’t stand next to someone who disliked me enough to use me when nobody else was around. The worst bit was I still liked him. Between the dreams and how I felt when we touched, one look from him was enough to make my stomach do a somersault. It was maddening. I had to keep away from that boy, for my own sake.

  I was so annoyed that I almost didn’t notice the woman standing across from the school in the exact same spot the red-haired man had been in. I wouldn’t have paid any attention at all only it was beginning to seem a bit strange how all of these strangers were hanging around the school for no apparent reason.

 
; She had long blonde hair that she almost hid behind, but I could still tell she was staring directly over at Nathan and Amelia who appeared to be in the middle of a hushed argument. I couldn’t help watching the woman, wondering if they knew her, but she tensed up and looked directly at me. Even at that distance, I could feel the ice cold glare she aimed at me. I shuddered and kept moving, wondering what the hell her problem was.

  Chapter Seven

  Once again, I spent too much of my time thinking about Nathan Evans. I re-lived every time he spoke to me, looked at me, anything. I replayed conversations in my head to try and figure out if I was reading into them wrong. A part of me felt as though he liked me back. Another part of me thought he was playing a cruel game with me. He had acted really strangely about my dreams, almost as though he was admitting some shared experience with me. It was hard to tell for sure what exactly he had been trying to say in the art room.

  Maybe he was just one of those boys who flirted with everyone. Who liked to charm random girls but had no real interest in them. Yet all those little things I experienced seemed to affect him too. I couldn’t let go of the idea that there was something I didn’t know about him, and that one thing would explain the rest. Or maybe I was even more pathetic than everyone assumed.

  That weekend, Dad agreed to let me have my friends over and left Gran in charge. He had been making more of an effort, so I hugged him before he left for work. He wasn’t the most tactile person in the world, but he hugged me back just as tightly, his way of clearing the air.

  Joey, Tammie, and Amelia all turned up on Saturday afternoon. Gran went upstairs to give us a bit of space. Joey and Tammie decided to walk back to her house and look for a DVD to watch because nothing in my house was good enough, apparently.

  Amelia and I shared some chocolate while we waited, content to flick through music stations until a song we both liked came on. From the corner of my eye, I could see her glance at me, twitching her foot incessantly. Finally I gave up and turned to face her.

  “Okay, spit it out already.”

  She started to deny it, but thought better of it and nodded.

  “All right, sorry, I know it’s none of my business, but what’s the deal with you and my brother? You seemed to be getting on okay, and then yesterday you blanked him completely. Plus, I got the feeling you were avoiding getting the bus or coming to my house because of him. Did you have a row? Or do you just not like him?” The look accompanying the last question plainly said that wasn’t possible.

  “There is no deal,” I said, sounding as grumpy as I felt. “Besides, I can’t talk to you about your brother.”

  “Of course you can! Who better to talk to than me?”

  I wanted to blurt out everything in my head, but not to his sister; there was something gross about it. Worse still, there was always the chance she might think I made friends with her to get to him. Finally, I settled for shaking my head. “Just can’t talk about it.”

  “But you like him, right?” she asked in a funny tone of voice, as if it was really important or something. I stared at her, wondering if I was that obvious. “You do like him.”

  “I can’t talk about that stuff with you, Amelia,” I said again.

  She smiled, making me doubt she saw things the way I did. “It’s okay Perdita. You can always talk to me. So, what did he do now?”

  “He didn’t do anything. Just leave it.”

  “I’m going to ask him if you don’t tell me, so you might as well.”

  My mouth gaped open. The idea of her telling Nathan I was upset with him made me queasy. He would know I liked him, and that I was mad because I was jealous.

  “You’re so bloody pigheaded,” I said, practically growling at her. “All right. I had a little bit of a crush on him, and I felt like… I don’t know. I felt like he was leading me on a little bit, so I don’t want to be around him anymore. That is all. End of story.” I turned back to the television.

  “But, how did he lead you on? What did he do? He can’t lead you on if he likes you too.”

  I might have really pitied her if she wasn’t annoying me so much. “Look, Amelia. I don’t know what the story is with you; you seem to really want me and your brother to like each other, and that’s sweet and all, but it isn’t going to happen.”

  “But Perdita, you’re meant to be. It’s not because I want it. It’s destiny. You like him, and he likes you.”

  I snorted. “Destiny? God, what are you like? Look. He doesn’t like me, okay? He was a little bit flirty toward me, so I thought he might, but then he spent about half an hour yesterday with his back turned to me to chat up Abbi Mitchell, so no, he doesn’t like me. And now I don’t like him. Let’s just stop now.”

  Her eyes grew wide with surprise. “That’s not possible. I know for a fact he doesn’t like Abbi Mitchell. He told me so.”

  “Well, maybe he lied. You’re his sister, so why would he tell you things like that anyway? If he did like me, which he doesn’t, then he would have said something. There’s nothing stopping him.”

  “There is!” She gestured wildly.

  “Like what?” My heart raced; could there really be a reason?

  “He’s…” She faltered. “He’s a coward.”

  I shrugged, disappointed with the answer. “Who cares anyway? It’s none of our business.”

  “I care! It’s important! It’s very, very important!”

  I giggled, even though I was still annoyed. “Important?”

  “Perdita, seriously! Please be honest with me for a minute, and I swear I’ll leave it alone. Promise.”

  I nodded, willing to do anything to shut her up. Plus, I wanted to know why she was getting so agitated.

  “Do you like him in a normal boy girl way, or does it feel way more intense than that, like, almost unnatural? Almost as if you already knew him or something? Like you’ve been waiting for him.”

  My cheeks flushed a deep red. No way was I answering that one truthfully. It sounded even weirder when someone else said it aloud. She knew exactly what I was feeling.

  I cleared my throat. “Normal way.”

  To my surprise, she sat back in her seat with a huge grin on her face. “You’re such a bad liar. I know for sure now. I know you’ll end up together, and that’s what matters.”

  She sounded so convinced that I almost believed her. But if Nathan liked me then surely he would have told me. He was confident and popular, so nothing could stop him—unless he was ashamed of me. My face burned at the likelihood of that thought. I was more than a little relieved when Gran came downstairs and stayed with us until Tammie and Joey returned empty-handed.

  “I couldn’t find anything, sorry. Nothing new anyway,” Tammie said.

  “Not unless you wanted to see The Notebook... again,” Joey grumbled under his breath.

  “So what’ll we do now?” Amelia asked.

  “Cinema?” Joey looked hopeful.

  “You three go on. No chance of Dad letting me go.” It wouldn’t be the first time I’d missed out on something because of my Dad’s rules.

  Tammie and Joey exchanged guilty looks. I could tell they were trying to decide how long they could say no for before they went anyway, without seeming rude.

  “Perdy, go,” Gran said, pulling me aside.

  “You know I can’t.”

  “I’ll take responsibility for it if he finds out. He won’t ever know, but if he does, I’ll take all the blame, I promise. If you go soon, then you’ll be back before he finishes work. You deserve a little leeway. Go. Enjoy yourself.”

  I hesitated. I wanted to go out, but I was afraid of breaking the tentative trust between my Dad and me. When the others encouraged me, I caved and agreed. He might never find out. After all, he still didn’t know that I ditched a couple of classes at school.

  We looked in the papers to see what films were on that night. There was a choice between a soppy romance and a full on action thriller. We outvoted Tammie’s romance by three to one. Action
was definitely needed.

  At the cinema, we wandered around the foyer to pass time, munching popcorn and sipping drinks out of oversized cups. Tammie groaned loudly, grabbing our attention.

  “What’s wrong?” Joey asked.

  “Look who’s here.” She pointed toward the doors. A whole gang of people from our year filed in, among them Dawn, Aaron, and even Nathan. I glared at Amelia, but she shrugged.

  “I swear I didn’t know they would be here.”

  “Should we just go?” I said.

  “Eh, no,” Tammie said. “We already paid for our tickets. Besides, they’re all in pairs, so they must be going to the other film. Lucky I was outvoted after all.”

  That was a small relief. I wouldn’t have been able to relax if they had been behind us throwing popcorn and smart comments our way. I tried to quell the twinge of jealousy at seeing Nathan paired up with another girl. I prayed they wouldn’t see us, but of course, they spotted us almost straight away. A sneer pulled up the corners of Dawn’s mouth. She made sure we were looking at her before she put her arm around Nathan’s waist.

  Amelia gave a little snort and stood up. I prayed she was just going to the bathroom, but she walked straight over to Nathan.

  “Oh, God, don’t look,” I hissed at Joey and Tammie. Of course they both looked over at Amelia, so I couldn’t even pretend I was talking to them if anyone looked at us.

  Nathan seemed surprised to see her and followed her over to the rest of us. I pretended I didn’t see him at all. Childish, but effective. Until he said my name. Twice. “Hi,” I said reluctantly.

  “I didn’t know you were coming out tonight,” he said to nobody in particular.

  “Last minute decision.” Tammie tried to keep a straight face, but I caught the faux-sweet smile she sent in Dawn’s direction.

  “Yeah, we’re going to see the action one,” Joey added, oblivious to the awkward tension in the air.

  “Really?” Aaron joined us. “They’re making us see that lame chick flick. Here, Nathan, why don’t we go with these instead? Let the girls see their chick flick without us getting forced into it.”