Spiralling Out of the Shadow (The Spiralling Trilogy) (15 page)

The weekend seemed too rushed
, like I’d blinked and it was Monday morning already.

‘
Tabbie.’ Steph poked her head into my room. ‘Can I wear one of your uniforms? I’ve left mine at Jason’s.’

‘
Steph! You mean to tell me you have no uniforms here?’

‘
I know, I know. I’ll be more careful next time.’

‘
Where are you living?’

‘
Here.’

‘
But you’ve been at Jason’s—’

‘
I know, don’t lecture me about it. Can I
please
borrow a uniform?’

I shoved a uniform at her,
pushing her backwards, out of my room. ‘It’s not going to fit very well.’

I had to get my uniforms adjusted, sewn right in at the top seams and let out as far as possible on the skirt. Thankfully they made them with extra wide seams for pear
-shaped people like me.

Steph
anie looked as uncomfortable as a hen in a doghouse. I couldn’t work out why she didn’t just call Jason and ask him to drop her things back. Perhaps their argument was heavier than she wanted me to know.

I saw her around school a couple of times,
and she seemed vague like she was totally off with the fairies.

We both had to sit a maths quiz. I blitzed it, remembering everything like it was written in front of me. Just as I finished the last question, Stephanie stood to leave.
She threw her test paper on the teacher’s desk. It was blank. Part of me wanted to call her back, hand her mine, show her the answers and help her out. But she was gone before I had a chance. It wouldn’t have been the right thing to do anyway. Stephanie’s chances of passing were about the same as getting frostbite in summer.

On the way out of school
, I found my almost neglected friend, Suzie, sitting under a small tree with her hands over her face and her shoulders shuddering.

‘
What’s up?’

‘
It’s that guy from dance—Joey. You remember.’

‘
Sure.’ Yeah, of course I remembered him—and how he introduced me to Danny, who reminded me of Mr Biceps but was a complete nerd, who in a roundabout way introduced me to Mr Creepy Rhett.

‘
Yeah, well he asked me out on a date, but Mum and Dad said, “no way.”’

‘
I get that, Mum and Dad were crazy strict until I turned sixteen.’

‘
But my mum and dad want me to wait until I’m eighteen.’

A noise escaped from the back of my throat.

‘I know! Can you believe it?’

‘
I know you really want to start dating, and Joey is a pretty cool guy, but do you remember what happened on my first date?’

‘
Yeah, but as if Joey would be like that.’

‘
I’m sure he wouldn’t either. But I lied to Mum and Dad, and felt guilty about it, and then I had a bad night anyway. You don’t want to lie to your parents just so you can go on a date, do you?’

‘
No.’

‘
Why don’t you just ask him to meet you out with a group. Something like ... catching a movie together.’

‘
You know my parents will want to come too.’

‘Hmm
.’ I stopped to think for a moment. ‘Let them.’

‘
Are you serious?’ Suzie leaned away from me.

‘Yeah.’

‘No way!’

‘If we’
re all out together and they see you acting responsibly and normally around Joey, like you do, then they might come round and let you date him.’

‘
Urgh! Why do I have the strictest parents in the world?’

‘
Just lucky, I guess.’ I wrapped my arm around her and squeezed her shoulders.

I had nothing else for her. Sure my parents were pretty strict, but hers were over the top. It would be fun to have a boyfriend. But when it came down to it, I didn
’t want one, not really. I was happy the way I was. Single and free.

When I reached home, I sent out a text message, inviting a crowd to the movies on the weekend.

‘Yes,’ Shelly replied straight away.

Priscilla suggested we should mix it up so Joey wasn
’t the solitary guy there. She had a good point. So far, I’d only invited girls. I thought of Danny. My heart raced, not with excitement, but with the pull of anxiety. I waited until I saw them the next day to discuss it further.

‘
Remember Rhett, Danny’s friend? I’d rather not see him. What if Danny invites him?’

‘
Leave it with me.’ Priscilla winked. ‘I’ll make sure he comes without that friend.’

‘
That would be great.’ Priscilla had tact. I could trust her with it.

I called Janet, but she was non-committal.
I knew she wasn’t going to turn up. She probably had another party to go to with her drinking friends.

I visited Suzie
at home, to make sure she didn’t chicken out in inviting her parents. Both Suzie and her mother met me at the door. Thankfully time seemed to dissolve their hate towards me. I asked them if Suzie could come to the movies, her big-cow-pleading eyes looked towards her mother.

‘
Mum, I’d really like to go to the movies on Saturday.’ She paused.

I didn’
t know if she’d continue. I took a breath, and was about to speak when she went on.

‘
I’d love you to come along, Dad is welcome too.’

‘
Oh, what movie will you see?’

‘
There’s a new one with Tom Cruise,’ Suzie raced her words.

I hoped Tom Cruise would grab their interest, being that he was
from their era.

‘
It’s not one of his smutty ones, is it?’

Suzie bit into her thumbnail. I doubted her parents had ever let her make any decisions. My heart broke for her.

The tension clawed the air. I had to break the silence, in language that her mother would understand. ‘Mrs Peters, it’s an action film. Sure, there’ll be the usual romance side
there always is. But I think this one is more about the action.’

Suzie
’s mum turned so her shoulder cut me off as she spoke to her daughter. ‘I’ll ask your father. It might be nice to all go to the movies together.’

When I saw Suzie the next day at school, sh
e looked a whole lot brighter.

‘
See, it wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be.’

‘
Yeah, it looked that way to you. But after you left, Mum wanted to know the name and age of everyone going.’

‘
Oh, just the name and age? Not the address, postcode and phone number?’

‘
Well, she did ask where they lived as well.’ Suzie slumped over a short post.

I
invited Stephanie to the movies when she arrived home after dinner.

‘
No.’ She let her hair down and started climbing the stairs. ‘I’ve got something on.’

“
Like what?” I wanted to ask her, but I was sure if she’d answered, it would have been a lie. So I didn’t ask.

‘
That’s a shame. Joey’s asked Suzie out, but because her parents won’t let her go on a date, a group of us are—’

‘
Oh.’ She looked up, shrugged then closed her door.

She hadn’
t listened to a word I’d said. Why did I bother explaining the situation?

*~*~*~*

I wished I was a fly on the wall in Suzie’s house Saturday morning. I figured she’d been through the wringer when she rolled her eyes as they arrived at the cinema.

‘
Yay. This is happening. You’re here,’ I whispered when her parents moved a metre away.

Priscilla, Shelly, Joey and Danny all arrived at the same time with a couple of other people I didn
’t know. Joey walked straight up to Suzie, giving her a small posy of soft pink roses. Her face went so bright the flowers began to reflect off her, almost changing to a hot pink. Mrs Peters raised her eyebrows at Mr Peters.

Suzie
had been honest with Joey. She’d told him her parents were over-the-top strict and the only way she would be allowed to go out with him was during the day with a bunch of others, including her parents. He didn’t mind. He just wanted to go out with her, even if it meant dating in a group.  He was so smitten. They looked sweet together, standing side by side, not touching for fear of being reprimanded by the parental chaperones.

I had a huge grin on my face as we walked into the cinema. I wondered where everyone would end up sitting. Mr and Mrs Peters followed their daughter into a row of seats.

‘Here will be fine, Suzie,’ her father muttered.

‘
Maybe I should sit over—’ Suzie pointed.

‘
No, sit there, on the end.’ It was a command and I could see Suzie wasn’t game to sit anywhere else. Mr Peters turned and guided Joey to sit beside him.

I couldn
’t work out how they got off on crushing her with such control. It was so pathetic it was hilarious. I had to leave the cinema before my bursting-at-the-seams laughter exploded. I was laughing so hard my eyes closed. When I opened them, I stopped my feet. Danny had his arms up, leaning to the side.

‘
What’s so funny?’ He looked at me with wide eyes and a huge grin.

It was possible that I looked totally ridiculous, laughing by myself, apparently at nothing. When Danny asked me what made me laugh, I laughed even more. I tried a second time to tell him, but the whole scene was too hard to describe as I gasped for air. I shook my head and took a deep breath.

‘I wish I was there,’ Danny said, looking directly into my eyes.

Suddenly the reality of the fact stunned me. Young Mr Biceps stood in front of me. I
was such an idiot.

‘We’
d better go in. I think the movie is starting,’ he said as he gestured for me to go first.

‘
Yeah.’ My eyes lingered a moment too long at his incredible body and his gorgeous face. Heat burned my cheeks. I broke eye contact and walked back in with Danny following me, thankful for the darkness. Until now, he was the guy who didn’t seem to be able to string two words together. Could he actually have personality? 

I didn
’t dare look in the direction of where the Peters family were sitting. I glanced around the cinema but couldn’t see where Shelly and Priscilla were, so I walked up the aisle and found a seat in the opposite direction to Suzie and her parents.

Sitting by myself didn’
t bother me. It just meant I was free to cry or laugh without worrying about the person beside me. I slipped into an empty row, only to find Danny still following me. He slid right into the seat beside me. There wasn’t anyone else in the row. He could have left a seat between us. There were seats in front and behind. A thud echoed in my chest as he rested that very noticeable bicep just millimetres away from my arm. So close, his warmth radiated onto me.  

‘
Hmm,’ I sighed leaning away a little.

‘Oh, sorry
. Was I bumping you?’ He moved his arm away.

‘
Thanks.’

The claustrophobic moment lessened as Danny increased the air pocket between us.

My eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness and I found where everyone was sitting, though, it was hard to see Suzie past her mother. And every time I went to see how she was going, I was sure Danny thought I was looking right at him.

Danny shared his popcorn with me
. We reached into the jumbo container at the same time. Our fingers became tangled, and it was so awkward I didn’t reach back in for at least another ten minutes. Each time his body connected with mine, my cheeks burned. I had no idea why. I wasn’t interested in him. He just reminded me of my fantasy guy. Looks, but no personality. That’s what I had told myself until he showed personality potential just before in the walkway. I was happy to stay single. Why was I getting so hot and flustered?