Torn (9 page)

Rae and I found ourselves alone in the cabin. It seemed like we were doomed to spend the rest of the trip in each other’s company. We played cards in silence, sitting cross-legged on my bed.

‘They’re up to something, aren’t they?’ She swiped at her fringe, which was always falling in front of her eyes. It promptly fell right back again.

I picked up an ace from the deck. ‘Yeah, I think so.’

‘I overheard them talking about balaclavas or something this morning.’

I filled Rae in on what she’d missed last night.

She nodded thoughtfully. ‘And Cass won’t tell you what’s going on? I thought you two were supposed to be best friends or something.’

‘We
are
supposed to be best friends or something. I mean, we
are
best friends.’ I sighed. ‘She thinks I won’t approve, which is stupid.’

‘Sounds like she’s got something pretty major planned …’

‘I hope not. It’s a waste of time trying to get one over on Tara.’

‘Why? Don’t you think she deserves it? The way she swans around, acting like she’s Queen of the
fucking Universe.’ Rae sounded bitter. ‘You used to be friends with her, didn’t you?’

I was surprised – I thought this little nugget had been erased from the consciousness of the entire school. ‘Yeah. She was … different back then.’

‘I’d bloody hope so. Otherwise I’d be seriously questioning your taste.’

‘God, I want to go home.’
Where did
that
come from?

‘But why? Aren’t you having, like, a super-fantastic time?’ Her voice was a perfect imitation of Gemma (or Sam – they were kind of interchangeable). ‘You know what they say: “Your school years are the best years of your life.” To which I say, “If that’s true, I might as well kill myself now.”’ I laughed, and Rae looked sort of pleased.

Cass and Polly came crashing into the cabin, slamming the door behind them. Cass was hiding something behind her back in a none-too-subtle fashion. I didn’t even bother to ask. It was too tiresome for words.

But that didn’t stop Rae. ‘What’s that behind your back?’

‘Nothing!’ Guilty as anything.

‘If you didn’t want us to ask then you would have hidden it a bit better, wouldn’t you?’
Nice one, Rae.

Cass shrugged. ‘It’s just a couple of props, that’s all.’

‘For what?’ asked Rae.

Cass looked over her shoulder, as if worried she might be overheard. ‘For getting Tara back. Didn’t Alice tell you about the man who’s been watching us?’

‘The fake man you made up to try and scare Tara? Yeah – pretty lame, if you ask me.’

‘Ah, but you don’t know the half of it. That was just laying the groundwork. Wait till you hear the rest!’

‘Oh great, so you’ll tell Rae, but not me. That’s charming.’ I sounded like a five-year-old.

‘Aw, don’t be like that, Alice. I was always gonna tell you! And besides, we’re going to need your help. Both of you.’

Rae and I looked at each other. I don’t know what was going through her mind, but I was thinking
Uh-oh
.

Rae retreated to her bed and picked up her iPod. ‘I can’t be arsed. Sounds like more trouble than it’s worth.’

‘But don’t you want to teach her a lesson? Show her she’s not as great as she thinks she is? Get her back for everything?’ Cass’s voice was fierce and her eyes were shining with excitement.

‘Get her back for what? She’s never done anything to me,’ said Rae.

‘But she’s
ignored
you, hasn’t she? She’s ignored all of us. And look at what she did to Polly!’ Polly nodded along with Cass’s words, looking more like a lapdog than ever.

I had to say it: ‘Actually, Tara told me it wasn’t her.’

Cass’s laugh was an ugly bark. ‘Since when do you and Bitchface share heart-to-hearts? Oh wait, I forgot you two used to be like
that
.’ She crossed her fingers together to show just how close Tara and I supposedly were. I had no idea why Cass was suddenly throwing this back in my face.

Polly spoke up. ‘It was her. I know it was her.’

We all fell silent. She was probably right. And if it wasn’t her, she could have stopped it. Any decent person would have stopped it.

‘So what do you say, Alice? Are you in or out?’

A lot rested on my answer. If I said no, Cass would take that as a sign of some kind of loyalty to Tara, which wouldn’t be true at all. It would just mean that I didn’t want to get involved in some stupid schoolgirl prank – one that would only end badly, for us. Even if we managed to ‘get’ Tara, she’d only end up getting us back. She’d go bigger and better and make us all
social outcasts forever. But Cass would never forgive me for chickening out, and she’d go ahead with the plan anyway.

And if I said yes, well, who knew what was going to happen? And that was the problem: I
like
knowing what’s going to happen. I like planning and organizing and all those things that just aren’t very cool. Cass is all spontaneous and reckless. She lives in the moment, and I live next Wednesday at precisely 2.30 p.m.

I needed to loosen up – live a little.

‘I’m in.’

I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth. I wanted to stuff them back in and swallow them, but I didn’t get the chance because Tara, Danni, Sam and Gemma chose that exact moment to invade our cabin.

Our reactions were very different: Rae immediately plugged herself into her iPod. Polly picked up a book and you could tell she was trying really hard to concentrate on it and not look at the witches. Cass did her best to stand her ground and treat them all to her special evil glare, but it just bounced off them and smacked her in the forehead. And I … did nothing. Sat there on my bed, wishing I was invisible.

‘So, welcome to my humble abode. Not up to much, is it?’ Tara looked round at each one of us, just in case it wasn’t painfully clear that she included
us
in that assessment.

‘Nah, ours is way nicer. And I don’t think much of the locals – they’re not very friendly,’ said Danni. The others laughed. Gemma laughed a little bit too much, as usual. She sounded like a hyena with learning difficulties.

Cass stepped forward. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Danni. Please accept my apologies for not meeting your high standards.’

‘There’s no need to apologize, Cassandra. You can’t help it.’ Danni smiled brightly.

‘Fuck off!’

‘Now there’s no need for language like that. Danni was only joking.’ Tara stepped in and patted Cass on the cheek. Cass flushed fierce red with anger. ‘There’s no reason we can’t all get along, is there? Polly, I’m
so
sorry for what happened to you the other night. If I find out who did it, I’ll sort them out. I promise you.’

Polly looked up from her book with a gormless expression on her face. She didn’t quite know what to make of this. None of us did. ‘I … thanks.’

The four of them crowded onto Tara’s bed and proceeded to talk about Duncan. The rest of us did our best to studiously ignore them, but it wasn’t easy. They dissected him from head to toe, detailing every inch of his hotness (but neglecting to mention his calves – I guess that was just
my
thing). Tara stayed
strangely quiet at first, letting the others build him up to full-on Adonis status. And then …

‘He kissed me.’

‘
What?
’ ‘When?’ ‘No way!’ That was the three of them. I’m not sure who said what, because my mind was too busy shouting
LIAR!
to listen properly.

She was lying. She had to be. There was no way that could have happened. Why was she saying it in front of us anyway? Why wasn’t she just whispering it to the others in the cabin next door? Wasn’t she worried that one of us might tell Daley or something?
Of course not. As far as Tara’s concerned, we’d never dare to grass her up. She’s probably right.

Tara didn’t even bother to lower her voice as she gave them the gory details. She
wanted
us all to hear. She wanted us to be jealous. And I was – until I remembered that she had to be lying.

Here’s what happened, according to Tara … She volunteered to help him put the kayaks away that morning. They talked about all sorts of things (they had
loads
in common, apparently). He talked about his ex-girlfriend and their messy break-up. He talked about free climbing (whatever
that
is, but Tara seemed to know). He asked her lots of questions, including ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ She said no. Then, just as they were about to head back up to camp, he came
up behind her and said, ‘You seem a lot older than sixteen.’
Urgh!
And then she’d turned around and he was standing so close and he just kissed her. Just like that!

‘Was he a good kisser?’ ‘Did anything else happen?’ ‘Ohmygod!’ Reactions from Danni, Sam and Gemma respectively. Tara’s responses were: ‘He was amazing.’ ‘That would be telling.’ And ‘I
know
!’

She looked as smug as I’ve ever seen her, basking in the glow of their admiration. It was sickening. She whispered something in Danni’s ear, and Danni hit her lightly on the shoulder. ‘You filthy girl! You’re so lucky!’ Gemma and Sam clamoured to find out what had been whispered, so Danni whispered it to both of them. ‘Tara! OMG!’ They all fell about laughing. Once they’d recovered their composure, Danni caught me staring at them in disbelief.

‘Can I help you?’

I blushed and said nothing.

‘Awww, Tara! Look what you’ve done! You’re embarrassing poor Alice here.’

Sam joined in. ‘Yeah, Tara. Not in front of the children!’

Danni was gleeful. ‘It’s OK. I’ll explain: When a mummy and a daddy – or a girl and a really hot Scottish guy – love each other very much, or just
fancy the pants off each other, they have a special cuddle.’ Now they were hysterical with laughter.

Bitches. Hideous bitches. Every single one of them.
Why couldn’t I stand up for myself? How did they manage to make me feel so small and pathetic? Why did I
let
them?

Cass spoke up. ‘Shut up, Danni. You’re so fucking boring.’

Tara stood up and stretched, revealing her perfectly toned stomach. ‘C’mon, ladies. Let’s go for a walk before dinner.’ They all jumped up and trotted out of the room after her. They were very well trained.

Rae took out her headphones and we told her all about Tara and Duncan. She was sceptical, big time. After much discussion and analysis, we were divided. Cass and Polly thought Tara was telling the truth, and Rae and I were almost certain she was lying.

Tuesday was hiking and archery. Archery was OK, but I was crap at it. Cass was a natural – like Robin bloody Hood or something. When no one was looking, she pointed her bow at Tara and mimed shooting her. Tara was having trouble holding the bow properly, or at least she was pretending to. Duncan had to stand right behind her, practically enveloping her with his
body. I watched them closely.
Maybe something
is
going on between them after all. Look at the way he’s got his hands on her waist to steady her. Inappropriate?! I wonder what I’d do if he touched me like that …

Danni, Gemma and Sam seemed to have bought into Tara’s story all right. They were watching with barely disguised envy. Miss Daley didn’t seem to have noticed anything was up though – she was laughing and joking with Mr Miles.
Maybe teachers have holiday romances too? Urgh. Miles is OLD. And he has a moustache, for crying out loud. Surely Daley wouldn’t go there.
Suddenly I was obsessed: watching Tara and Duncan, Miles and Daley, even checking to see what Beardy Paul was up to (helping Polly, as it turned out). I was reading too much into everything and it was all making me feel strange and lonely somehow.

I sat at a different table at dinner. Not quite sure why. Cass raised her eyebrows at me inquisitively as I walked right past my usual spot. I shrugged. I went and sat next to Saira, who was sort of the new girl. I say ‘sort of’ – she’d been at Bransford Academy for over a year. And that meant she was still a bit of an outsider. It took a
long
time to be accepted at Bransford. And some of us never would be – not really.

Chatting to Saira made me feel more like me again, after the afternoon’s weirdness. I’d had enough
of speculating about who was trying to get into whose pants. Or who had already
been
in whose pants. Saira and I talked about books we’d read, and which TV programmes we were missing – nice, normal things.

Dinner was also a blessed escape from The Pointless Plan to Get Back at Tara. It was all Cass wanted to talk about. She’d been on and on about it all day, filling me in on the details whenever we had a moment alone. And when she hadn’t been pestering me about it, I’d seen her bugging Rae. Polly obviously already knew the ins and outs. We were going to do it tomorrow night – Wednesday. Anxiety bubbled up inside me every time I thought about it. So I tried really hard not to.

There was a film to watch after dinner – some crap horror movie where everyone ran around in the woods, screaming for no reason. Well, there was a mad psycho killer on the rampage, but the screaming wasn’t doing anyone any good.