Hollow Pike (13 page)

But Lis couldn’t let it happen again. Something had to change if she was to end the pattern, refuse to be the victim this time. Maybe she’d have to take charge. It made Lis feel sick
with fear, but tomorrow she was going to have to face Laura. The nightmare in class must have meant something. The way Laura had freaked out, it was almost as if they’d had the same dream.
No, that was ridiculous, another thing for Lis’s impossible list. But after the histrionics in class, Laura did seem more human, more fallible. She’d made a total fool of herself.
Whatever it was about, Lis couldn’t be scared of her any more. Confronting her had to be worth a shot.

Perhaps
that
was the message from her subconscious – fight fire with fire. It was time to stand up to Laura Rigg.

Tuesday morning and there was only one place Laura would be at 8.45: the edge of the copse, having a final fag before the school day started.

Sure enough, Lis spotted her as she made her way across the rugby pitch. Laura was alone and smoking, almost hidden on the outskirts of the trees. She was sitting cross-legged in an armchair the
lads had dragged out of the fly tip in the copse, writing in a pretty notebook covered in dainty apricot flowers.

As Lis grew nearer, she barely recognised the girl in the chair.
God, Laura looks tired!
Lis thought.

Despite a valiant effort with hair and make-up, dark circles surrounded Laura’s eyes and her cheeks were hollow. It was strange seeing her without her band of cronies, too. She seemed
frail. The freak-out in class must have really shaken her up. Lis approached with caution.

As soon as Laura spotted Lis she threw her journal down, a look of bitter distaste on her face. ‘Look who it is, the Skanky Bike of Hollow Pike.’

‘Give it a rest, Laura,’ Lis said calmly. ‘I only came to talk to you and to see how you are after what happened yesterday.’

‘Relax, Lis. It was hardly an event. I had the PMT from hell, so what?’

‘So . . . I wanted to make sure you were OK. After that email thing I—’

Laura shook her head, a grim smile carved into her face. ‘Oh, is that what this is about? Well done, Lis, revenge is yours; I made a tit of myself in front of the class. Now could you
please piss off? Your face offends my eyes.’

Lis sighed. ‘Look, I just wanted to say, I know how you feel and I hope we can at least co-exist at Fulton High. I’ll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine. I don’t want
to fight any more.’

Laura sprang off her threadbare throne. ‘Oh, get over yourself. You don’t know anything about
how I feel.
You really think I give a tiny rat’s ass about what happened
yesterday? This is me we’re talking about, not you. Every girl in the school wants to be me and every guy wants to
do
me. I think I’ll survive. You, on the other hand, might not.
I told you I’d make your life hell. Well, nothing’s changed. You’re still just the weird new girl, and I’m still queen of this place!’

Lis folded her arms, not budging an inch. She had to reclaim her place in this school. ‘Then what’s wrong? You look like a wreck.’

‘Thanks. As if I’d tell you, loser.’

Anger bubbled inside Lis.
Take a deep breath and count to ten.
‘Laura, believe it or not, I’m actually trying to be nice and sort stuff out. I don’t even know what I did
to upset you. Is it about what happened with Danny at the party, because if it is—’

Laura interrupted, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice. ‘I’m warning you, stay away from Danny.’

‘Oh, come on! How am I meant to avoid him? That’s insane!’ Lis snapped.

‘Screw you! You only turned up like a month ago – you don’t know what it’s like here and you don’t know me! I bet you think my life is pretty sweet, right? Nice
house, nice clothes, nice friends? Well, guess what? It’s all crap! And sometimes I want to run away and never come back to this stinking town,’ Laura paused for breath and Lis actually
found herself starting to feel sorry for her. ‘Danny and I were fine until you showed up,’ Laura continued. ‘We even talked about leaving Hollow Pike together.’

Lis’s lips parted in surprise. ‘Really? But I didn’t think Danny fancied—’ she broke off, realising that what she’d been about to say would have just sounded
bitchy. But it was too late.

Laura laughed cruelly. ‘What? And you think he fancies
you
? As if! He told me he thought you were a freak, just like Kitty and Delilah. If you think Danny Marriott would ever touch
you, you’re even more deluded than you look.’

‘That’s not true!’ Lis gasped.

‘You go anywhere near Danny and I’ll mess you up. That’s a promise.’

A thought occurred to Lis. ‘If Danny isn’t interested in me, then why do I have to stay away from him?’ she asked coolly.

Laura finally boiled over. ‘Because you’re a slut!’ she screamed.

Lis’s sympathy burst like the most delicate of bubbles. ‘You know what? I almost felt sorry for you, but now I think you deserve everything you get.’

Lis turned away.

Laura was stunned for a moment and then shrieked, ‘You’re a dead girl walking, Lis London!’

A cold, searing wind rolled across the rugby pitch and the branches of Pike Copse dipped and swayed, reaching down towards Laura like gnarled hands as Lis walked away across the field.

Revenge

Frustration churned away in Lis’s stomach well into first-period English. Twisting her pencil around and around, she let Mrs Osborne’s monotone ramblings about
Abigail in
The Crucible
drift straight over her head. She saw Delilah taking detailed notes and banked on her friend sharing them with her.

How had her meeting with Laura gone so wrong? They were supposed to be peace talks. Lis wasn’t sure if her desire to make peace was born out of pure human kindness or if it was just the
ultimate way to beat Laura in their turf war; to show Laura that despite everything, she was the bigger person. Either way, she’d failed on an epic scale.

Halfway down the rugby pitch she’d sworn a private oath never to talk to Laura Rigg ever again. She was so cruel, she dragged everything and everyone around her down. Lis had never felt
like this before. Hate is a strong word, but she was pretty sure this was it. Lis
hated
Laura Rigg.

There was only one person in the world she wanted to share this new bitterness with: Kitty, the only person she could think of who probably loathed Laura as much as she did.

‘So what do you think?’ asked Kitty. ‘Jack: straight or gay? Discuss. He’s playing it very close to his chest and we don’t wanna ask . . .’

For the second time in two weeks Lis abandoned a lesson – this time last-session PE – at Kitty’s suggestion. Kitty assured her she hadn’t participated in PE since Year
Nine and no one seemed to miss her. They drifted through the copse, walking the long way to Kitty’s house. Jack and Delilah were trapped in Science all afternoon, and it was nice to have
Kitty to herself for a bit. With honey sunshine streaming through the branches and the birds twittering merrily, the copse was no longer the stuff of nightmares.

‘I’m not sure,’ Lis replied, glad of a diversion from her worries about Laura, ‘either gay or in love with Delilah!’

This time Kitty laughed. ‘Yeah, you’re probably right! I wish he’d hurry up and come out though. What’s he waiting for – a written invitation?’

Lis shrugged. ‘The right time I suppose. It can’t be easy. It’s not like Hollow Pike has a thriving gay scene!’

‘Yeah and his mum’s a bit of a psycho.’

Lis bit her lip to stop herself from passing comment on Kitty’s own stern father.

‘What’s the story with you and Delilah?’ she asked instead. ‘I haven’t been brave enough to ask.’

Smiling wistfully, Kitty reached the fly tip in the centre of a sheer rock basin and flopped onto a busted sofa. Water from the brook trickled over the edge of the cliff, creating a fairy tale
waterfall. ‘There’s not much to tell to be honest. We’ve been friends since we were about ten. Year Six was when it all changed. Delilah moved back to Hollow Pike from down south
and it was so weird – straight away I knew I wanted to be her best friend. It was instant, like,
boom
! I don’t really know what it was that made us any different to anyone else,
but people started treating us like a circus sideshow.’

‘Maybe it’s a puberty thing.’ Lis joined her on the damp couch.

‘Maybe. Who knows? Whatever it was, we just sort of clung to each other for dear life. At first emotionally, because it was so awful, and then the physical stuff sort of followed all by
itself. It seemed like the logical thing to do when you really like someone.’

‘Well, I think you make a lovely couple.’

‘Thanks. I’m not sure I’d call us a couple, though. We’ve never had to clarify what we are. We both fancy boys as well as girls, and she can be a bloody nightmare. She
flirts constantly, she’s never ever on time, she’s clingy – but she’s the only person who really gets me.’

Lis shot her a sly smile. ‘Sounds like L O V E to me!’

Kitty laughed again. ‘Quiet, you! Time will tell. I wouldn’t know what to do without her, that’s for sure. I’d be lost. We both would.’

Lis drew a deep breath, tasting the sweet, rich, earthy aromas of the forest. Kitty had widened the boundaries of conversation and now it was her turn. ‘Kitty . . .’

‘Yes?’

Lis wondered where to even begin. ‘I think I’m sort of going through something at the moment . . .’ The words tried to cling to the back of her throat.

‘Something? You think you might be gay, too?’ Kitty asked with a grin. ‘Is everyone in Hollow Pike gay or what?’

‘No, not that!’

‘What then?’

‘How do you know if you’re going mad?’ Lis sighed.

Kitty raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘What?’

‘I mean it. Like mental illness.’

Kitty frowned. ‘What makes you think you’re mentally ill?’ she asked. ‘I think you’re very brave for mentioning it, but you don’t seem crazy to me.’

‘A few things.’ Lis couldn’t meet Kitty’s gaze. ‘I’m having these messed-up nightmares. I haven’t slept for nights.’

Kitty’s face wrinkled. ‘What are the nightmares about?’

‘You’re gonna think I’m mental – but they’re about Laura. She’s totally screwing with my head. I can’t stop thinking about her. I went to try to sort
things out with her today but I just feel worse.’

‘Well,’ Kitty said with authority, ‘I suppose you have two options. You can approach it either like my mum or like my dad.’

‘OK. Go on.’

‘My mum’s amazing strategy is to stick her head in the sand and act like nothing’s wrong with the world. She retreats inside her head and hopes the problem will just go
away.’

‘Does it work?’

‘Have you met my mum? She’s a nervous wreck.’

‘Well, what about your dad?’

‘Hit it with a stick.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ laughed Lis.

‘I’m serious! My dad was the head of the riot squad for years! His philosophy is that you either stand there waiting to have a bottle thrown at you, or you strike first and hit them
with a stick.’

‘Does that work better?’

Kitty nodded. ‘Yeah. You might upset people in the process, but at least you’re facing your problems. Actively doing something. My mum hides, but her issues
don’t
go
away by themselves, and you can’t let Laura Rigg rule your life.’

‘But I
did
stand up to her, Kitty, and look how far that got me.’ Lis sighed. She’d run away from Wales and now she was retreating into the arms of her sister or friends
when things went wrong. ‘What do you think I should do now?’

‘I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Kill her.’

‘Kitty,’ Lis pulled at a leaf on an overhanging branch, ‘that’s not helpful.’

‘But just think,’ Kitty said with a grin, ‘you’d be rid of her once and for all.’

‘Drop it.’

Kitty laughed and made a thoughtful humming noise.

‘What?’ Lis demanded.

‘OK, how about this? We can’t kill Laura, but what if we give her a taste of her own medicine? Come up with something to get her off your back for good?’ Kitty flashed Lis a
devilish smile.

That sounded promising. A life in Hollow Pike
without
Laura and
with
her new friends and Danny. That would be paradise. ‘I could be up for that . . . what did you have in
mind?’