Chapter 27: Midnight Call

Clarissa had sneaked the note into my locker early in the morning when there was no one. I didn’t have that luxury as our lockers were in the common room and the common room was always full at lunchtime—especially given it was January and freezing cold outside. I suppose if I was really sneaky I could slip it in without anyone noticing—perhaps as I passed. I’d just have to be careful.

But I had to write the note first in any case and to do that I needed to get some paper and a pen from my locker and then find somewhere to write it.

“Paul?” I turned to face the voice. It was Emily. “Can we talk? Please. In private.”

I put my hands to my head. “Oh, god, not you as well.”

She smiled. “No. Not me as well. I’m sure you’ve got more than enough offers to be dealing with at the moment. I just want to talk.”

I glanced up and down the corridor. There was no one about but she’d asked for some privacy. We were outside one of the Maths classrooms. I checked it was empty, held the door open, followed her in and shut the door behind us.

She turned to face me and, without preamble, said, “I know everything.”

“Sorry?”

“About you and Rissa and the inheritance.”

“Okay. What do you know?”

“I told you. Everything. Look, I know Rissa told you way back in September that she didn’t trust me and Grace with her secrets because they’d be all over town before you could blink, but the truth is that it’s Grace she doesn’t trust. Don’t get me wrong, I love Grace to bits, so does Rissa, and I don’t think she actually means to blab everything she’s told but she just lets her mouth run away with her before engaging her brain. Shame, ‘cause she’s a really lovely girl otherwise. But if Rissa needs someone to confide in, she comes to me. For example, I know about what you did for her at her mother’s wedding.”

I eyed her suspiciously. “She said she hadn’t told anyone about that.”

“And when she said that it was true. She didn’t tell me about it until after The Halloween Ball. I asked her why she’d been so intent on getting to know you and why she wanted to go out with you, and she told me what happened. That wasn’t the only reason she wanted to get to know you, but it is a part of it. The whole knight-in-shining-armour thing, you know?”

“Okay. So, you know about what her mom’s making her do and you know we’re only pretending to have broken up.”

She nodded.

“And you’re telling me this why, exactly?”

“Because ... Look, it’s like, I don’t know ... It’s going to be really rough on you until you two get back together, isn’t it? It’ll be rough on both of you, but at least Rissa can talk to me about it now that I know. You don’t have anyone to talk to, I’d guess. I can’t imagine you’ve told anyone what’s going on.”

“No. I haven’t.”

“So...? If you need to talk to anyone, Paul, talk to me. And if you need to tell Rissa anything, tell me and I’ll pass on the message.”

“And Riss trusts you?”

“One hundred per cent.”

“How do I know? No offence, but how do I know you’re not just fishing for gossip?”

She stared at me for what felt like a long time then took a deep breath and said, “Rissa said when you fingered her after The Ball while she blew you, it was the best orgasm she’d ever had.”

“How did you know we...?”

“Because Rissa trusts me. And so should you.”

I nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. Can you give her a message for me?”

“Of course.”

“Tell her I need to talk to her about something. And it’s not something we can talk about using notes in lockers or even through you. It would take too long. I have to talk to her. Ask her if there’s any way we can meet.”

“Okay. But you do know that’ll be difficult. If you were able to meet up without anyone knowing, then you would be, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes. But this is just once. It’s important.”

“I’ll tell her. Maybe the two of you can meet at my place or something. She could say she’s coming over to do homework and then meet you on the way.”

“That’ll do. But I need to talk to her.”

I was getting ready for bed when my mobile rang. I picked it up and glanced at the screen but didn’t recognise the number displayed. I pushed the button to answer it anyway.

“Hello?”

“Paul? It’s me.”

“Why are you whispering? I can hardly hear you.”

“Because I’m in bed. Mom thinks I’ve gone to sleep—she checked on me earlier when I was pretending—and I don’t want her to know I’m calling you.”

“I didn’t recognise the number.”

“You wouldn’t. When Ems told me you needed to talk, I had an idea. I told Mom that I’d cook tonight but needed to go to the supermarket after school to get what I needed. While I was there, I bought a cheap pre-pay phone. This way, I can phone you and text you and she’ll never know. She’ll be checking my regular bill but this one is pre-paid and doesn’t have a bill.”

“Sneaky.”

“I know. But I have to keep the phone hidden. I can’t let her see me using it or even find it. Do you know where I’m going to hide it when I’m at home?”

“No idea.”

“In my underwear drawer.”

“Won’t she find it when she puts your things away?”

“She doesn’t. I’m very particular about keeping my things in order and she couldn’t be bothered to do it, so she leaves it to me.”

“Fair enough.”

“How do you feel about that? Knowing I’m keeping you hidden in my knickers?”

I wonder if she knew that she always said exactly the right thing to make me stand to attention. Well, a certain part of me.

“You know, I was lucky. They had some phones on special offer, so this phone isn’t that bad. It’s got a decent camera at least. I can send you picture messages. Would you like me to send you picture messages?”