Silent Treatment (11 page)

Chapter Eight

June 2008

Carrie looped her hair up behind her ear as she bent over her desk, checking her final exam paper. She felt a strange sense of de-ja-vu creep over her and she looked up at the clock. There were only a few minutes to go of their morning exam. She sat up straight and looked over to the person next to her.

Craig
Bellamy was swinging on the back two legs of his chair. His pens were lying beside his closed paper. He gave a quick grin and then winked when he saw Carrie looking at him. She rolled her eyes and he thumped the two front legs of the chair down again. The girl at the desk in front of him jumped violently and knocked her pens off the table. They clattered noisily to the floor and the invigilator came rushing up to sort out the commotion.

Carrie stuck her hand over her mout
h to stop herself from laughing and Craig gave her another huge grin. Then the bell sounded and the man at the end of the hall spoke loudly, his voice echoing around the hall.

“Pens down everybody. Please remain seated and silent until all the papers have been collected.”

There was a great scraping of chairs as the door was opened and the A level students filed out, beginning to talk and compare notes on questions they had answered.

Craig caught hold of Carrie’s arm as they walked through the doors.

“Hey Carrie, how did it go?” His voice was open and friendly, smile firmly in place.

She smiled back.

“Okay, I think. I’m pretty good with history so I should be alright. What about you?”

He grimaced slightly.

“Probably scraped it. I always get the different treaties mixed up, but anyway all over now until our finals next year. What are you doing tonight? As that was the last exam until next year, we should go and celebrate.”

Carrie smiled at him, but shook her head.

“I can’t tonight Craig. I’m waiting in to hear news of my friend Lisa. She’s having a baby. She went to America with her boyfriend Paul, so there’s no way I can visit her. You probably remember him. He was in the rugby team here last year. Paul Edmonds?” She waited until he nodded. “He won a placement in Atlanta. Lisa’s one of my old dancing friends but she’s obviously given it all up while having Paul’s baby. It’s due any day now and I want to be there when she rings me. We’ve set up a web-cam link so she can show me her baby as soon as it’s born. Paul is over the moon about it.”

Craig looked a little revolted, but more disappointed.

“Blimey! He’s young to be a father! Oh well, he must have known what he was doing. I suppose it’s really nice for you and your friend, but won’t having babies have an effect on a dancing career? Is she getting back into it afterwards?”

Carrie shrugged.

“I don’t know if it’s that easy. She said that she might try some teaching, or maybe choreography but then there’s all the hassle of child care. I’m not sure I’d want to leave my baby with anyone else.” She thought about this for a moment and then looked back up at Craig. He had said something to her.

“
…What about another time then?” He was steering her towards the entrance doors, but he caught hold of her arm again before they went any further and pulled her over to a long bank of lockers. He looked up quickly to see if there was anyone around and then spoke quickly.

“Look Carrie, I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while. I want you to come out with me. You know, not just on a date, but really go out together. I’ve liked you for ages.”
He puffed out a great breath of pent up air.

C
arrie looked into his hopeful blue eyes. He was lovely looking, but she just couldn’t feel that flipping sensation. She willed it to start, furious with herself when it didn’t. It was nine months since she had seen Daniel.

She should go out with Craig!
She told herself.
He is a really nice guy. Caring and clever. And here!
She hesitated for a moment and saw Craig’s face fall a little. He was waiting for her response. She spoke quietly.

“Maybe just for a coffee.
I don’t really date. I’m far too busy with the dancing.”

Craig’s
worried expression brightened immediately as he realized that she wasn’t giving him the complete brush off.

“Great! A coffee is great. I don’t mind that, who knows, you may just enjoy it and want to come out with me some more.” His enthusiasm was infectious.

She laughed.

“You never know, but seriously Craig, I really don’t date. I’m on tour again this summer, and going by last year
’s schedule I won’t have time to see you at all.”

He turned away from her for a moment and fished a key out of his jeans pocket. He stuck it in one of the lockers.

“That’s okay, having a coffee with you before you go will be nice. Perhaps we can pick up again in September.”

Carrie was about to nod when he opened the locker door. He rooted around for something and then pulled a book out from right at the bottom. A cloud of bright pink dust spilled out with the book and Craig shook it, sending pink dust motes everywhere.

“Sorry.” He said as she brushed the colour from her arm. “It’s a damn nuisance. There’s been something in here all year that just won’t go away. I didn’t notice it at first, but now it’s falling off the inside of the locker walls. It’s obviously dried on and flaking away when my books brush against it. I’ve asked to change lockers but there aren’t any other ones available.” He put another book into his bag and shut the locker door.

Carrie noticed the number on the outside. It was her old locker from the previous year. She had given it up herself when she
had become fed up with the dried out pink foam still lingering in the locker’s metal seams.

For a
moment she thought she was going to laugh, but then she remembered how Daniel had helped her with the mess, how his fingers had tangled in her hair and how his lips had smiled when he told her about his hopes. Her heart began to beat faster and she suddenly found it hard to breathe.

Craig looked down at her as she gasped in a gulp of air. Carrie’s eyes wandered up to his fac
e. He was tall and good looking but nowhere near the size of Daniel or as handsome. His hair was dark but it wasn’t dark like Daniel’s, his eyes were blue but not as intense as Daniel’s, his voice wasn’t deep like Daniel’s. She began to choke. Craig wasn’t Daniel. There was no comparison, no stuttering heart, no flushing skin. Nothing at all.

Craig looked
at her quizzically.

“Are you okay? You don’t think that stuff has given you some kind
of asthma attack do you?”

Carrie
shook her head.

“No.” She coughed to cover the strangled tone of her voice. She was thinking of Dan
iel the year before, as he had helped her with the goo. His beautiful dark hair, still damp from the shower, his straight, white teeth, his deep blue eyes and soft voice. She remembered his huge hands mopping out the pink foam and the waft of aftershave as he had leaned over her, trying and failing to pull the silly string from her hair. She sighed deeply.

“This used to be my locker
, Craig. Some idiot nicked my key and sprayed silly foam inside it half way through the term last year. It was everywhere. Daniel Lewis helped me clear it up. Obviously we made a terrible job of it. Sorry.” She felt a strange jolt in her stomach as she realized that she had been the one to suggest going out for a coffee with Craig. She looked back at his still hopeful face. Now she had thought of Daniel, it seemed a ridiculous thing to do. She didn’t want to go out with Craig. She didn’t want to go out with anyone but Daniel, however hopeless it was.

Craig brushed
more pink powder from his books. He looked sideways at her.

“You mean that great lump
of a bloke who now plays football out in America with that Paul? It was funny about him. I always thought he had an eye for you, and at one point I thought it was him doing all that bullying stuff just to get himself noticed by you. I don’t suppose he needs to now though. You can’t help noticing him or his mate. They must be raking it in with that massive Atlanta contract. Ten million dollars for his first year! Incredible!”

Carrie opened her eyes wide at the two new bits of information.

She had never suspected Daniel of sabotaging her at school. He had been the one who was always around to clear up afterwards. Craig must have made a mistake. And Lisa had certainly failed to mention ten million dollars in their last phone call. If Daniel was earning that much, then Paul probably was too. No wonder she hadn’t said anything about going back to dancing. She obviously didn’t need to. Carrie turned away from Craig suddenly. She was going to have to go home and email Lisa immediately. She had to know what was going on.

“I’ll see you around Craig. I’ll let you know when Lisa has had her baby, and then I’ll see if I have time for that drink when I’m
back from the tour, okay?” Carrie jogged out of the door feeling a little bit bad. There was no way she was going to go out with Craig, but at least she had bought herself some time. Maybe he wouldn’t be quite so interested in her by the end of the summer.

She walked home quickly and was surprised to
see a small crowd gathered around her gate. She was about to push her way through when her ex-friend Jennifer Crane stepped over to her. Carrie hadn’t seen her in almost a year and she wasn’t that keen on renewing the acquaintance now. She looked down and noticed that Jennifer held a notebook in her hand and that she was smiling over sweetly.

“Hey Carrie!
It’s been a while. Finished your exams?” She followed Carrie’s gaze and then carried on without waiting for a response. “I’m working for the Harrow Gazette now and I wondered if you would like to comment on your friend Daniel Lewis’s new contract with the Atlanta Raiders. Ten million Dollars in the first year! You must have something to say.”

Carrie stared at Jennifer and tried to walk round her. Jennifer skipped sideways and blocked her path.

“No, I’ve nothing to say.” Head down, Carrie gritted her teeth as the young woman refused to move out of her way. Jennifer smiled even more widely.

“Oh! I see. Y
ou’re clearly jealous of his success.” Jennifer scribbled something on the notepad. “Well, I can understand that, it must be galling to be famous before him, but still only pull in peanuts by comparison. But then dancing has never been a very lucrative career. Can you tell us about your relationship with him? I understood that you were pretty close at one time. Last summer, the neighbours round here tell me you spent a lot of time together. Can you give me an angle on that? What does it feel like to be jilted for the high life and the fabulous women in America? He’s bound to be swamped by admirers and won’t be interested in the poor little dancer back in Harrow any longer.”

Carrie gawped at the horrible woman in front of her, about to give her piece of her mind, but
then she noticed the notebook with pencil still poised.

“I’m not famous Jen! And I don’t want to be, not if it means having you staking out my home. And no, I don’t have anything else to say about my relationship with my friend Dan
iel either. Can I get to my house Jen? I’ve had my last exam today and I’m shattered. You made it plain how you felt about me last year and I really don’t want to talk to you now.” She shoved past the persistent woman and Jennifer staggered backwards, winking at her cameraman as she made a big thing of being pushed out onto the grass.

Jennifer gave a sly smile.

“There’s no need to be such a prima donna, Carrie Denton. You changed so much after being handed that dancing contract. The high life has really gone to your head. Maybe it’ll do you good to be brought down a peg or two. It might teach you some manners.” Jennifer shouted at Carrie’s retreating back.

Carrie ignored her an
d opened the front door. Her mother called out as she did every day.

“That you Carrie?”

“Yes mum. What are all those people doing at the gate and why is the local paper suddenly so interested in Daniel?” She thumped her bag down in the hall and walked through to the kitchen.

Helen poured
a glass of freshly made lemonade. She popped in a slice of lemon and handed it to Carrie before taking a sip from her own glass.

“Stupid old bag has been out there half the day. There was a big headline on the
lunchtime news because Daniel scored the winning touchdown in the final seconds of the American football finals. Paul had passed him the ball from way back up the pitch. He was through the defence like they didn’t exist and off like a rocket. There was no way anyone was going to catch him. I saw the replay on this morning’s news and even I have to admit that it was quite exciting. You know, English men winning for the Americans and all that. He and Paul were pictured being carried off the pitch on the team members’ shoulders. The crowd went completely mad! Apparently they’ve been offered a huge contract on the back of it. I was looking at it the press conference at lunch time.”

Carrie finished the lemonade and rinsed the glass in the sink.

“Paul shouldn’t be playing. Lisa is about to have his baby, he should be with her.” Her tone was indignant.