Faking Sweet (18 page)

‘Mum,' I said, as I was dumping my cereal bowl into the sink, ‘when Calypso's mum rang you last week, did she say if Calypso knew that she was ringing you?'

I couldn't figure out which was better: Calypso knowing or not knowing. It was just something
I
had to know.

‘Hmm.' Mum's arms were elbow-deep in washing-up suds. ‘I'm just trying to remember. Grab a tea towel, will you, Holly?'

Mum passed me some cutlery, which I began to dry. Helping in the kitchen always had the miraculous effect of prompting my mother's memory.

‘Mum, think!'

‘I am. I am.' She passed me some more cutlery. ‘Mrs MacIntosh said she wasn't going to tell Calypso that she'd rung me. Her words were: “My daughter is screaming and ranting enough already. We don't need any more drama with her.” Yep. That's what she said.'

I folded the tea towel over the oven handle. ‘Thanks, Mum. You're a gem.'

‘Holly,' Mum called, as I was ducking out the kitchen door. ‘Come back and finish the drying up!' Mum got the info right. As I walked across the quadrangle to English, I felt my mobile vibrate in my pocket then my stomach sky rocket out of my mouth. Well, almost. I caught it halfway, but for a second I did think I was going to lose my Weetbix.

Just like old times, I obediently made a detour to the bathroom and locked myself in the last cubicle. I held the phone in my hands; my eyes shut and my breath held.

‘Please, please?' I whispered, not really knowing what I was asking for.

I cocked one eye open and saw:

Sorry. Grounded. Did u do planting? Dreaming of

Daydream. Cxxx

What? I held the phone close to my face to check I had just read what I thought I had. What did Calypso take me for? A gullible half brain? How long did she think she could carry this on?

Then I realised I didn't feel any pain. Yeah, I was pissed off and sick of being treated like an idiot. But I didn't hurt.

Just tell her, I told myself as I strode out of the bathroom and back across the quadrangle. Tell Calypso you know all about her and her seedy lies. No, too scary. If I said that, I might wake up in the middle of the night to find Calypso with a knife at my throat. It's not really such a far out thought.

The other option was to come clean with Jess and tell her about the revenge plan. That way Calypso would have nothing on me. Her blackmailing me was something I couldn't rule out. I haggled with myself as I took the stairs to English. Still not worth the risk, I decided. If Jess knew what Calypso and I had been up to she'd never speak to me again. That was almost worse than waking up to find Calypso with a knife at my throat.

Mrs Gideon was already in the classroom, writing up an assignment on the whiteboard. ‘Take a seat, Holly,' she said. She was one of the many teachers who were born with eyes in the back of their head. I s'pose that's why they became teachers in the first place.

Jess waved me over to the desk next to hers. I slunk into the seat feeling half special and half horrible.

‘She's in a bad mood,' Jess whispered.

‘I am not in a bad mood, Jess,' Gideon announced. ‘But I will be if we don't get through Act Four. Let's start at line 150.'

Pages shuffled and turned.

‘Holly, will you please read the role of Friar Francis? Rosie, you can be Leonato …'

As Gideon allocated the rest of the parts, I heard the wet sound of Jess licking her lips. Once I'd thought she was a hot debater licking her lips with glee at the part she would be given. Now I knew it was different. It must've been terror that made her tongue swing around her mouth like that.

I hung my head. How did I become the devil's helper?

‘Okay girls,' Gideon instructed. ‘Hero will be sentenced to death if found guilty of Claudio's accusations. Friar Francis believes in her innocence, and he will tell the others of his plan to make them feel sorry for what they've done …'

Make them feel sorry for what they've done. Make them feel sorry for what they've done. Gideon's words echoed in my head.

What else could Mr Shakespeare tell me? He had tried to tell me a lot already. Unfortunately, I hadn't listened. I felt sorry for what I'd done. Very sorry. But Calypso? She didn't know I knew about her alter ego. The lying, scheming, stalking, crazy, delusional nut that really was Calypso MacIntosh. Suddenly I realised her not knowing about her mum's phone call could be a good thing. Maybe there was a third option?

‘Let's begin Act Four, Scene One, girls,' said Gideon.

Carefully I read the part of Friar Francis.

Somewhere in these lines would be my answer.

The words prickled at my skin.

Something was stirring inside me.

‘Beautifully read,' Mrs Gideon said, clapping. ‘Such passion, Holly. It was like you really were Friar Francis trying to think of a solution.'

‘That's because I was,' I whispered to myself.

I was no Friar Francis that was for sure. However he had just shown me there was a way to undo the wrong doings of Calypso and Holly.

‘Girls,' Gideon spoke while my fellow actors and I went back to our desks. ‘They are going to pretend Hero is dead. “
Change slander to remorse
.” What does Friar Francis mean by these words?'

Jess shot up her hand. ‘He means making them sorry for all the bad things they said about Hero,' she answered.

Yes, yes, it was all making sense.

‘Then he says, “
That is some good
”. What is meant by that, Holly? You look like you know,' said Gideon.

‘Oh yes,' my voice trembled. ‘It means making her feel bad for all the lies she's told …'

Gideon raised her eyebrows at me. ‘Don't you mean making
them
feel bad for the lies
they've
told?'

‘Oh, yeah. Yeah.'

Oops.

‘I meant making
them
feel bad for the lies
they've
told is better than just letting them get away with it.' I could feel my cheeks burning. ‘You know, like consequences for their actions are better than no consequences.'

Maybe I was imagining it, but it felt like the whole class was staring at me like I was some sort of nutcase.

‘Let's begin Scene Two,' Gideon said.

As the class turned the page I picked up my pen and wrote: J
ESS
, I
NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING
…
IN PRIVATE
.

Jess frowned as she read my note. ‘Why don't you come over this arvo?' she whispered.

I spent the rest of the class staring at my book, trying to figure out how I was going to activate option three: change Calypso's “
slander to remorse
”. There were risks involved, but it was better than doing nothing.

 

After school I stood against my locker: waiting and waiting and waiting. Saskia and Isabelle seemed reluctant to release Jess into my company. I couldn't hear what they were spitting, but I could see Isabelle pointing and throwing her arms in the air. Saskia didn't move from the hands-on-hips position, except when she turned a couple of times to glare in my direction.

Finally Jess managed to convince them I wasn't going to chop her up into little pieces. Slowly the ‘its' began to walk away. But not before Saskia squeezed in one last over the shoulder glare at me.

‘Sorry,' Jess shrugged. ‘I didn't mean for that to happen.'

‘They don't like you talking to me.'

‘No.' Jess screwed up her face. ‘Sorry. They get all over-protective. It's 'cause of stuff that happened with Calypso.'

‘Actually, Jess.' I took a deep breath. ‘That's what I wanted to talk to you about: Calypso.'

Jess's walk slowed.

‘I didn't tell you everything on Saturday,' I began.

‘Oh?'

‘Um.' My fingertips tapped at my lips. I was trying to work out how to start, plus I was terrified I was going to start blubbering. ‘There's more.'

‘Like?'

‘Like stuff she told me about you.'

This time Jess stopped. ‘Me?'

‘Yeah.'

Jess hadn't turned around. Her back was to me, and I was starting to panic as I couldn't see her face.

‘Oh, they were all lies,' I announced.

‘Oh.' Jess looked over her shoulder and smiled. ‘That's okay.'

On the way home to Jess's place I told her everything. Well, not everything. Some of it was too embarrassing, like the Science ledge and her dad supposedly ruining Sydney's teeth.

Neither did I tell Jess about Calypso's revenge plan. In the end it had been a simple decision. If I told Jess, she'd never speak to me again. The truth was I liked Jess. I wanted to be her friend.

Jess gasped and squealed as I related the stories Calypso had told me, especially the one about her and Scott.

‘I can
not
believe Calypso said I was going out with Scott. That's disgusting! And she has that photo of her and Scott and me in her bedroom? I bet the only reason she kept it was 'cause she thought she looked like Rachel Bilson in it. Like hello, Rachel Bilson is a beautiful TV star. Calypso is not!' Jess had not stopped shaking her head. ‘She is a total psycho, that girl. A total psycho. What's her problem? How come she even told you that? She is weird.'

‘The other thing she said was that you and her …' I had to handle the shoplifting issue very delicately in case a hint of Calypso's plan slipped out in my words. ‘… were shoplifting …'

‘And I bet she told you that she got caught and I ran away.' Jess finished the sentence for me. ‘Yeah, I am so sick of hearing that story! I wasn't even with her that day. She told everyone in the whole school that I was. She went on and on and on about it. That's why Saskia and Isabelle are so over-protective of me.'

‘Oh, I figured Calypso was lying about it.' I didn't want Jess thinking I'd believed it.

Jess kicked open the gate to her house. ‘Apparently Calypso was caught shoplifting jeans or something. But because she's a total psycho she made out I was with her. Calypso tried to destroy me. It was her way to get me back for the Scott thing, which is unfair 'cause I felt sorry for her. I was the only one being nice to her. The whole thing was the worst experience of my life.'

‘I know what you mean,' I told her. ‘It's been the worst experience of my life too.'

‘You mean Calypso pretending she was taking you to Daydream?'

‘Yeah.' And the rest.

I waited while Jess tried to unlock the door. ‘The stupid key,' she growled and rattled the door handle. ‘Sorry, it's just that talking about Calypso stresses me out.'

‘Well, um, I was thinking,' I started. ‘Calypso should be made to feel really bad for all the lies she's told about you.'

‘And the trick she played on you too!'

‘Oh, I'm okay.' I stared at my shoes to hide the big gulping noise I was sure my throat was about to make. ‘Calypso should be taught a lesson, Jess. I mean, what does she think – that she can just destroy our lives?'

‘I still don't get why she told you all those things about me?'

I knew why. Calypso lied to me about Jess so I would find it easy to carry out her revenge. But revenge for what? The only thing Jess was guilty of was being pretty, popular, and on top of it, nice. She'd been almost easy to hate.

When we walked into the kitchen I just about turned around and bolted back out the door. Leaning into the fridge was Scott.

‘Raid your own fridge.' Jess kicked him up the butt.

‘Your food is way better.' Scott pulled his head out, saw me standing there, opened his mouth, closed it, then stuck his head back in the fridge. Which was good for me, as I was contemplating crawling into the dishwasher.

‘Scott, you remember Holly,' said Jess.

He grunted.

‘Scott!' Jess pulled at his belt. ‘Scott! You would not believe what Holly's just told me. Hello? You so want to know this, I promise.'

Scott shut the fridge and jumped up onto the kitchen counter. ‘Yeah, what?'

‘Come on, Holly.' Jess tapped the bench. I lifted myself up next to her. Half my bum was hanging over the kitchen sink. My left buttock could've turned the tap on. ‘Tell Scott everything, Holly.'

If I had thought telling Jess about Calypso's lies was excruciating then multiply it by ten billion, and that's how it felt telling Scott. At least Jess reduced the agony by butting in every two seconds.