Afterlife Academy (16 page)

“This is a very easy class to
pass and many students here come and go with ease. After all, the only thing
you have to do is admit your past mistakes. Easy, right?”

“Er, sure.”

“Actually, Miss Richardson,” Mrs
Brown says, “we’re going to start with you. Stand up, please.”

I cast a worried look at Anthony
but stand up anyway.

“Now then,” Mrs Brown says.
“What’s your biggest regret? Tell the whole class, please.”

I stare at her. “Right now?”

“Right now.”

I think for a minute. “Well,
right now it would be getting into the car with Wade the other night.”

A few people laugh at that and
for a moment I feel almost normal again. I used to do this kind of thing. Give
silly answers that make people laugh and infuriate the teachers without giving
them enough to actually throw you out of the class or give you detention or
something.

“Very funny. Sit down, please.”

She scans the class before
pointing to a boy at the back. “Marshall. You’re one of my top students. Please
tell Miss Richardson what the word regret means.”

Marshall stands up. He is a huge
boy who towers above everyone else. “It means something that you shouldn’t have
done, that you feel bad about,” he says.

“I feel pretty bad about getting
in the car with my boyfriend,” I say. “I shouldn’t have done that. Clearly.”

A few more people snicker at me.

“I can see you’re going to be here
for quite some time, Miss Richardson,” Mrs Brown says to me before telling
Marshall to sit down. “Selfishness is something that we leave at the door of
this class. Making amends is not about you, but about the people you have
wronged. If the only person you are concerned about is yourself, I would
imagine graduation will be a very long time away for you.”

“But wait…” I protest. “I’m not
like that. I’m not selfish.”

Anthony snorts beside me but I
ignore him.

“Would anyone like to share with
Miss Richardson what a regret is?”

Marshall’s hand is up in the air
again and Mrs Brown lets him have his say.

“I was asking for an ASBO,” he
says, addressing me. “I would hang around with a bad crowd, graffiti walls,
nick things from the shopping centre near where I lived. One time I even robbed
an old lady’s purse. But I got my dues in the end, right?”

And never learnt any grammar, I
think silently.

“But now I’ve had a chance to
think about that, and I realise how disconnected from reality I had become in
those last few months. My parents begged me to sort my life out, but I was just
in too deep. One day I found myself stabbed and bleeding to death, and my
so-called friends did nothing. Now I would give anything to be able to see my
parents again but because of my stupidity, I can’t.” He sits down again.

“Yeah, well I’m not a member of
any gangs,” I say. “I don’t go around mugging people. I just got into a car
with a boy who didn’t have a license. That’s not even a crime.”

“But you hurt somebody in the
process,” Mrs Brown prompts.

I stop at that and stare at her.

“Yeah, him,” I mutter
eventually, pointing to Anthony with my thumb. “But he knows I’m sorry, so can
I go now?”

A few people laugh at that.

“No, you may not,” Mrs Brown
says. “You leave this class when you are ready to leave it, not when you
think
you are ready to leave it.”

“Or when the buzzer goes,” Jody
says loudly but Mrs Brown ignores her.

“Okay, seeing as Miss Richardson
has decided to play the clown today, we’ll start with someone else. How about
you, Mr Marsden?” she says to Anthony.

What on earth is he going to
say? He’s like the biggest goody two-shoes that ever lived. If he’s ever done a
thing wrong in his life, I’ll die of shock.

Anthony stands up. “My parents
died when I was twelve and when I first moved in with my grandma, I used to
deliberately make life difficult for her. I would swear and call her names and
slam doors and basically do everything I could to make her regret the decision
to take me in. I know it was stupid and I grew out of it pretty quickly, but I
couldn’t accept that she had just lost a daughter and son-in-law too. I thought
she had it easy and I was the only one in pain.”

“What would you say if you could
see your grandmother again now, Anthony?” Mrs Brown asks.

“I’d just tell her that I was
sorry,” he says. “I think she knew I was, but I never actually said the words
to her, and now I wish I had the chance to say them and I know I never will.”

Yes, you
will
, I think silently.
We’re getting out of
here
.

There is a lump in my throat at
Anthony’s speech.

I cough and look away as he sits
down again.

He nudges my leg with his knee.

I ignore him and continue to
stare out the window.

God, we’ve got to get out of
here. I’m turning into the biggest sap that ever lived.

Mrs Brown ignores me for a while
as a couple of people behind us stand up and tell everyone about their regrets.
Jody admits she used to trap little kids in lockers and steal exercise books or
PE kits out of their bags and leave them somewhere else so the kid would get in
trouble. Another boy admits he was a hellraiser who used to steal everything
possible from cars to food, and one girl says she used to pinch her little
sister when no one was looking and that she’d take her Barbie dolls and cut
their hair short.

God, these people are
barbarians.

I know that I wasn’t exactly
perfect, but at least I never scalped a Barbie doll. I know that I owe a few
kids an apology. I know there were people I used just so I would be liked.

Most of all, Anthony.

I know I owe him an apology,
even though I’ve already said sorry.

And I know Mrs Brown is
expecting me to say something about it before we get out of this class.

I really, really don’t want to.

Do you know how much Wade and
Sophie would be laughing at me right now?

“You have something to share,
Miss Richardson?” Mrs Brown asks before I’ve even fully processed the thought
myself.

I stand up and find my legs are
shaking.

“I wasn’t perfect,” I begin. “I
was popular, and a lot of people wanted to hang out with me, but I’m not sure I
deserved it. I made fun of other people to get people to like me. I made fun of
kids just so the popular girls in my class would think I was funny. And I
didn’t feel bad about it at all until I came here.”

“That’s a good start, Miss
Richardson,” Mrs Brown says. “What would you say to those kids you picked on if
you had a chance to talk to them again now?”

My face is flaring red. “I guess
I’d say sorry.”

“And would you say sorry if your
popular friends were watching?”

“How do you…”

How the hell does she know this
sort of thing?

“It’s a question that everyone
has to answer, Miss Richardson. The people you wanted to impress by picking on
less fortunate children than yourself. If they were with you, would you still
apologise to the children you were cruel to, even if it meant the popular
people would laugh at you?”

I hate this class. There are no
words to describe how much I hate this class and this woman.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “If I
was still with the popular kids, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have died. I
wouldn’t understand how it feels to be picked on.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

I sigh. To be honest, I don’t
know the answer. I mean, Anthony, yes. I’ve said I’m sorry to him, and when we
get back home I’m going to make damn sure that Wade apologises to him, and Soph
owes him a sorry too. But it’s different. I know Anthony now.

I mean, I wouldn’t go around
picking on Year Sevens anymore. But I don’t know if I would actively seek out
the ones I have made fun of and say sorry to them.

That would be social suicide.

“I don’t know,” I admit.

“At least it’s a start, Miss
Richardson,” the teacher says to me. “This class is about making up for your
past mistakes. You would do well to think about the people you’ve wronged and
what you would say to them, given the chance. It will be a later project for
this class.”

I nod and sit back down.

I hate this class. We could have
double maths and it would be less painful than this.

A few more people stand up and
introduce themselves. I realise that even though Anthony and I are new, everyone
else has only had one Redemption lesson before us. Some people stand up and
talk about their “crimes”. There are a few shoplifters and a couple of being
cruel to animals or putting their parents through hell. But it all gets me
thinking.

Everyone here has a skeleton in
their closet. Everyone in this room has something to make up for. This really
could be some kind of karmic payback. Where are all the good people who have
never done anything wrong in their lives?

“Okay, that’s it for today,” Mrs
Brown says eventually. “See you all next week.”

I get up with relief that the
class is over, but before I have a chance to leave Mrs Brown calls after me,
“Riley, stay behind please.”

Riley, huh? I must have done
something to make her like me.

Everyone files out of the class,
leaving me behind.

“See you in the canteen,”
Anthony says.

I sling my bag over my shoulder
and walk up to her desk.

“You made a good start today,
Riley,” Mrs Brown says. “I was expecting you to be quite a difficult student,
but you’ve surprised me so far. Make sure it continues.”

I stare at her for a moment.
“How did you expect anything of me? You’ve never seen me before.”

“We have the records from your
old school,” she says. “I had a little forewarning of what to expect from you,
so I am pleasantly surprised to see that you stood up and admitted to some
wrongdoing. It’s a very good first step for a girl like you, and I sincerely
hope that you will continue to advance in my class.”

“A girl like me?” I echo.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m sure you know what it
means. I think you’ll find Afterlife Academy is just the sort of place that
will do you a lot of good, Riley. You just have to give it a chance.”

Okay, who made it Insult Riley
Day and didn’t tell me?

“I don’t know what’s in your
so-called records,” I say as respectfully as I can muster, “but I assure you
it’s not true. Probably.”

“Riley, I don’t believe in
treating students like babies or wrapping them in cotton wool. Learning
complete honesty is the only way you will graduate from Afterlife Academy, so
let me start by being honest with you. I was pleasantly surprised to see that
you so much as showed up today, considering the amount of classes you used to
skip.”

Oh. They noticed that?

“My grades are good,” I protest.
“What does it matter if I’ve cut a few classes?”

“It’s not all about grades,” she
says. “Besides, your grades were never
that
good.”

“Pfft.”

“I was even more pleasantly
surprised to see you sitting with and being apparently friendly with Mr
Marsden, who I am informed has actually been one of your targets more often
than not.”

“I’ve apologised to Anthony,” I
say. “I know that the way Sophie and I treated him was wrong, and if I ever got
another chance, I would act differently and make sure my friends did too. I’ve
told him that.”

“Good,” she says. “That’s
progress, and that’s also what this class is all about.”

I nod.

“Okay,” she says. “I won’t keep
you from your lunch any longer. I just wanted to say that I was pleasantly
surprised today and I hope it will continue.”

Patronising much, I think as I
walk out of the classroom. Well, I wait until I get way out of the classroom
first, just in case she really can read minds.

CHAPTER 20

I’ve arranged to meet Anthony at two in the morning. I don’t
sleep beforehand, just lie in bed, holding my rose necklace in my hand and
thinking about Wade. I don’t feel anything now though. I don’t feel a
communication with him. In fact, my mind keeps wandering back to my parents and
how much I miss them. I just hope Wade is still coming to rescue me. At least
we have another Visualisation class on Thursday, so I will be able to see how
well his injuries are doing and how long it’s likely to be before he saves me.

In the meantime, Anthony and I
are going to look for the exit. It can’t do any harm, right? Just in case Wade
isn’t coming.

I wait until just before two
o’clock and then I push the window open and climb out of it. Charlie growls at
me as I shove past him but I’m used to him by now.

I would prefer to go down the
stairs, but I haven’t had a chance to figure out what the resident advisor does
at night yet. He could sit there all night and watch for people trying to sneak
out for all I know.

The way down is easy. I have no
idea if I could actually injure myself now, considering the whole being dead
thing. What injury could be worse than that? But it still hurts when I pinch
myself or stub my toe, so I have to be on the safe side and figure that I might
still be able to break something. I’m not going to be any help to anyone in
getting out of here if I end up with a broken leg as well.

I climb down onto the flat roof
of the floor below. From there, there’s a wide window ledge and then it’s only
a four-foot drop to the ground.

I jump down and creep around the
back to where I’ve arranged to meet Anthony behind the dormitories.

He isn’t here yet. I was a
little early in my impatience.

I crouch down in the doorway of
the back entrance, where no one ever goes even in daylight, and look around.
There’s not much to see, but this place is even creepier in the dark.