Betrothed (27 page)

Say hello to him for me.

I will.

You have a nice day at school, Marla.

Ashleigh was huffy all morning. I tried to make peace with her as we got ready for school, but she wasn’t having it. In the end, I gave up and finished getting ready in silence. Jack was honking the horn at a quarter past eight.

I called for Leif as I ran down the stairs. He was waiting in the open doorway.

‘What’s that yummy smell?’ I asked, sniffing the air.

‘Janet’s making pancakes.’

I sighed. ‘I’ve always wanted to try pancakes.’

He pulled me into his arms and kissed me and I soon forgot all about pancakes. Jack honked the horn again, longer this time.

I tore myself from Leif. ‘I have to go.’ I kissed him once more before rushing down the stairs.

‘Leif says hi,’ I said, as I jumped in the car and kissed Jack’s cheek.

‘Great, he’s stealing my girl, but at least he’s doing it politely,’ he complained.

‘Jack . . . ’

‘Marla.’ He started the engine.

I looked at him. ‘I’m sorry.’

Jack sighed. ‘Do your seatbelt up.’

We drove along in silence. After a while I said, ‘Do you think it’ll get easier, Jack?’

‘Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.’

I didn’t move to get out of the car when we arrived at school. We had fifteen minutes to spare and there was something that I was determined to discover. ‘I need to ask you something.’

He turned in his seat to face me. ‘Go on.’

‘Jason’s asked Ashleigh to go out with him.’

‘What did she say?’

I looked at him, eyebrows raised.

He shook his head. ‘She said yes, of course.’

‘I know something happened between you and him, please tell me what it was.’

He sighed. ‘It won’t help.’

‘It might.’

‘You know I don’t like talking about . . . awkward stuff.’

‘Please, Jack.’ I looked at him with imploring eyes.

‘All right, Marla, but I really don’t see how telling you will help.’

‘I love you, Jackie,’ I said, and dropped a kiss on his cheek.

‘Yeah, I know . . . just not enough.’ I opened my mouth, but he covered it with his hand before I could speak. ‘Do you want to know or not?’

I nodded. He removed his hand.

‘You know that Year 6 trip to Canberra that every kid goes on?’

‘I never went to camp.’

‘But your school went, right?’

I nodded.

‘Well, on the last night there was this dance and Jason asked Stella to go with him.’

‘Stella Evans?’

‘Yep.’

‘She’s pretty.’

‘She is. Anyway, Stella told him she wouldn’t be his girlfriend
because she liked someone else. Of course Jason couldn’t believe anyone would dare reject him. Sound familiar?’

I nodded. ‘Oh yeah.’

‘I know this, by the way, because it was Year 6—so juvenile. Everything spreads like a virus.’ He paused, shaking his head at the memory. ‘Of course Jason
had
to know who this mystery competition was, so he asks Shauna. Of course Shauna knows the guy’s identity because she’s Stella’s best friend. And of course I know who the mystery guy is too because it’s me and Shauna told me at the start of the dance.’

‘Complicated.’

‘I know right, Year 6, all that he said, she said. Anyway, I’d been trying to work up the courage to ask Stella to go out with me. But despite the popularity I enjoyed back then, I wasn’t much good at that stuff, even armed with the knowledge that she was busting for me to ask her.’

‘Jack,’ I said, poking out my lower lip.

‘Do you want to know or not?’ he said with a frown.

‘Sorry, go on.’

‘Anyway, Jason found out that I was the lucky guy. So, determined to ruin my chances with Stella, he follows me into the toilets, hangs around while I do my thing and then goes running out again, screaming out to all who’d listen that I’d been perving on him.’

‘Oh, Jack, he’s evil!’

‘Obviously, but who isn’t going to believe it when someone with a mouth like his makes an accusation like that?’

‘What a nightmare.’

‘It was. I got questioned by the teachers and my parents were called. Naturally I denied it and it got taken no further, but once something like that is said, well, it can’t be unsaid. So after that none of the guys would talk to me, except to whisper “faggot”
under their breath, and none of the girls would go near me because I was so unpopular with the guys. The rest of the year was hell.’

‘How awful, no wonder you were so damaged when you started high school.’

‘Damaged? Nah—wounded, maybe, and paranoid the rumours would follow me to high school. They didn’t, thank God. Only a few kids from my school ended up coming here. I was pretty cut when I found out Jason was one of them.’ Jack sighed. ‘But the whole thing did cause me to lose faith in people, so when I started here I just decided it was safer to keep my mouth shut and keep to myself.’

‘Until Hilary adopted you.’

‘Perfect Hil, always out to rescue the wounded ones.’

‘Well, I was a wounded one too. All the kids at school used to stay away from me for fear of catching a disease.’ I was quiet for a moment as I recalled the loneliness I’d endured as a little girl, the pain of being excluded. ‘Then Hilary came and for some weird reason chose me to be her friend. She was like a gift from heaven.’

I glanced up and caught Jack’s eyes. He was watching me with unusual quietness.

‘Why wouldn’t she choose you? You’re so much more than you know, Marla.’

I reached across and took his hand. ‘But Hilary could have picked anyone. From the day she started, every girl in Year 4 wanted to be her friend. She just had this gift for making people feel amazing. No way would anyone have guessed what she’d been through.’

‘She’s strong that’s for sure.’

‘More than strong, Jack. There she was taking care of pathetic little me when the whole time she had to have been grieving.’

‘She does always seem to put other people before herself.’

‘I don’t know anyone else like her. I mean just imagine losing your family, then being forced to move interstate to live with godparents you barely know.’

‘Mmm.’ Jack watched his index finger trace the edge of the steering wheel. ‘She ever tell you how it happened?’

I shook my head and told him no. ‘You?’

‘Nope, and it’s not the kind of thing you just bring up either.’

‘I did once—not on purpose, it just kind of happened.’

Jack looked back to me. ‘What did she say?’

‘Nothing—she just got this kind of blank look, then a second later started talking about something else.’

Jack screwed up his face. ‘Ugh, poor Hil.’

‘I know. It’s hard to believe she can be so good when she’s carrying that all alone.’

‘Maybe that’s why she’s good. I mean, God, when something so dark happens, everything else must seem light in comparison.’

‘You could be right,’ I said.

‘Or maybe Leif’s right about her being part angel.’

I nodded my agreement. ‘I think he must be.’

After a long pause, Jack said, ‘Anyway, do you see why I have a problem with Jason now?’

‘Of course, but what would our virtuous Hilary say about that?’

Jack furrowed his eyebrows and, in a perfect imitation of our friend, said, ‘You need to put it behind you, Jack—be the bigger person. You need to forgive Jason, not for his sake, but for your own. There’s power in forgiveness, Jack.’

‘She’s right, you know.’

‘I know, but we can’t all be as angelic as she is. Anyway, what are we going to do about Ashleigh?’

‘I don’t know if there’s anything we can do. Jason’s working his magic on her. You should have seen her glow when she told us
he asked her out.’ I paused for a moment. ‘I just needed to know my enemy.’

‘Well, now you know.’

‘Now I know, and I’m not too comforted either. I need to be on my guard.’

‘Yes, you do. I have no doubt he’s out for revenge.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me what he did to you when I was going out with him?’

Jack shrugged. ‘I wanted you to figure him out for yourself. I knew it wouldn’t take you long. Besides, it’s not a story I’m happy about sharing. You know me.’

I gave him a long hug and had to swallow hard to stop the knot in my throat from finding its way to the back of my eyes. When the hug was finished and I knew I could talk without choking, I said, ‘You know I’ll always love you, right, Jack?’

He smiled. ‘It’s me, how could you not?’ But his breezy words couldn’t hide the trace of regret in his eyes.

Ashleigh was in a better mood when I got home from school, and I soon found out why.

‘Jason’s coming over this afternoon and you’d better not be a bitch to him,’ she threatened as soon as I walked in the door. Her comment was irritating, but at least she was speaking to me.

‘As if I would,’ I said, then sent Leif a silent message to warn him not to come to me.

I went to my room to change out of my uniform with the intention of spending the time that Jason was around downstairs with Leif. But while I was changing, my instinct to flee was replaced with the thought that if I ran from Jason, I would learn nothing of his motives. I returned the dress I’d selected to the
wardrobe and chose a pair of track pants and a T-shirt from my drawer. The last person I wanted to look pretty for was Jason. I got dressed and examined my reflection in my wardrobe door—
nope, nothing sexy about that
.

If I’d gone out of my way to look plain, Ashleigh had done the opposite. She answered the door to Jason wearing denim shorts and a green midriff top too revealing for a Barbie doll. Her face was completely made up and her amber curls, which had been tortured into straight submission that morning, were pulled back with a sequined bandana, wide enough to cover the unruly curls around her forehead that had begun to spring free from the prison of her hairstyle.

‘Jason, hi,’ she gushed and lunged for him, throwing her arms around his neck.

‘Easy, babe.’ He laughed, and peeled her arms from his neck before strolling inside. ‘Amy,’ he said, his tone casual, belying the cold look he shot me—carefully, so my sister wouldn’t see.

‘Jason,’ I said, before returning to my book.

‘How’s that dude you’re going out with?’

I looked up from my book again, wanting to ignore him. But Ashleigh hopped from one foot to the other, scowling at me as she waited for my answer.

‘I’m not going out with anyone.’

His eyes narrowed and I could see the indecision on his face. Thankfully he decided not to question the lie. I returned to my book.

‘Babe, I’m starved,’ Jason said. I glanced up in time to see him drape his arm around Ashleigh’s shoulder and lean in to plant a kiss on her mouth. I felt like throwing up. My sister blushed and kissed him back then skipped to the kitchen to get him food.

‘Sandwich, okay?’ she called.

‘Sure,’ Jason called back as he stretched out in my father’s recliner, before turning to me. ‘No hard feelings. I don’t care about you and the big dude. I really am into your sister. She’s hot.’

‘Save it for her,’ I muttered. ‘Surely you don’t think I’m a complete idiot.’

‘No need to be hostile.’ He sniggered, his blue-grey eyes icy.

I could see through the servery that Ashleigh was just finishing the sandwich and would be out in moments. ‘What are you up to, Jason? Why don’t you just leave my sister alone?’

‘Why would I do that? I’m only just getting started, and she’s
so
hot for me.’

I didn’t want to leave Ashleigh with him, but I couldn’t hang around. I had no idea what he was planning. I’d thought it would be as basic as seducing my sister and then dumping her, leaving her broken hearted and feeling used. But I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he wanted to hurt me, personally. It was
my
heart he wanted to rip out.

I went to Leif without even bothering to change. He opened the door to my silent call and took me into his arms.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Jason’s upstairs with Ashleigh. And Leif, I have such a horrible feeling. He hates me, he really does, and he scares me. The way he looks at me . . . ’

‘I won’t
let
him hurt you, Marla.’

‘But he’s so cunning! I didn’t realise till now.’ I buried my face into his chest. ‘And I’ve left Ashleigh alone with him.’

‘She’ll be all right. I’ll sense it if there’s anything wrong. Perhaps I should go and see him.’

‘Don’t, Leif—I don’t want him to know about you.’

He held me away from him and looked into my eyes. ‘But he does know about me, Marla.’ He sighed heavily. ‘I wish I’d thought to confuse him that day at your place.’

‘Can’t you do it now?’

‘It doesn’t work that way. Confusion is something that can only be achieved in the moment.’

‘So you can’t make Jason forget you?’

‘I can make him forget me and ever having been with you.’

‘Do it then. We’ll go now!’ Maybe I’d even get him to make me forget while he was at it.

‘If it is your wish, Marla, I will do it. You know the risk he poses better than I. But . . . there is a price involved.’