Chapter 5: Something in Common

Clarissa rejoined Grace and Emily for lunch on Wednesday and Thursday, but she made a point of walking with me to English Lit and Maths, where we sat next to each other and supported one another with the work. This was actually a better arrangement for me than sitting with Kelly in English or with Billy in Maths, because Clarissa was much closer to my academic level.

I’ll be honest, that surprised me. I mean, I’m not top of the class or anything, but I’m way ahead of Kelly and Billy. And Kevin, for that matter, though we didn’t share any classes. And while I knew Clarissa wasn’t as dumb as most people assumed, I didn’t realise just how clever she was. It was certainly a new experience for me to be corrected during a maths lesson rather than being the one doing the correcting.

I found it quite refreshing.

Honestly, though, if you had told me on Monday morning that by Thursday afternoon, I would not only have accepted Clarissa as a friend but would also feel as comfortable around her as I felt with any of my other friends, I would have called for the men in white coats to come and take you away. We were chatting as if we’d been friends forever as we walked back to our lockers in the Common Room to collect our things at the end of the day after Thursday afternoon’s English class.

“Do you want a lift home?” she asked as I took my coat out of my locker.

I closed the locker and stared at her. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t mean it.”

“What about Grace and Emily? Don’t you usually take them home?”

“They’ll cope,” she said with a dismissive hand wave.

“They won’t be upset?”

“They might be. But it does them good to be reminded that I’m not their taxi service at least once a week.” She chuckled. “Come on, let’s go. You can offer me a drink at your place.”

“Guess I don’t have a choice then.”

She flashed me a playful smile. “No,” she said brightly. “You don’t.”

I only lived about a ten-minute walk from school, so it felt weird getting a lift. I’d walked to school every day for the last six years. But it was worth it just to ride in Clarissa’s car. She had one of those cute little super-minis with a folding metal roof.

“I love the colour,” I said. “It matches your eyes.”

She laughed loud and joyously.

“That is the reason I bought it. But you’re the first person to make the connection.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I think most guys would think I’d think it was a chat-up line.” She shrugged. “But it wasn’t, was it?” That smile was back. Damn, she had a lovely smile.

I shook my head. “Just an observation.”

“That’s what I thought.” She leaned towards me and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “I’d have preferred lilac, but they didn’t have that colour, so eye-matching blue it was.”

She pulled up outside my house and put on the parking brake. “So, are you going to invite me in for that drink?”

“I’ve only got Coke or orange juice.”

“Coke’s fine,” she said as she took the keys out of the ignition and looked up at the cloudless sky. “It’s okay to leave the roof down, isn’t it?”

I shrugged. “Anything valuable on show?”

“Just my school bag.”

“Can you put it in the boot?”

“Not with the roof down—there’s hardly any room.”

“Practical car, then,” I said with a smirk.

She slapped my arm and grinned. “Well, next time you can just walk then.”

“Hey, I didn’t say I didn’t like it. I just don’t think it’s the sort of thing you could do a road trip around Europe in.”

“True. But if I were going on a trip around Europe, I’d swap it for something bigger, wouldn’t I?” She paused. “And faster. Something bigger, faster and more comfortable.”

We both laughed at the absurdity of the conversation. As if either of us would be travelling around the world any time soon.

“Better bring your bag in with you.”

“But it’s only school books. No one would want to steal it, would they?

“You never know with some of the folks around here. Better safe than sorry.”

We went inside, and I took her through the hallway to the kitchen, where I put ice in two tall glasses and filled them with Coke before handing one to her. I gestured to the kitchen table, and she pulled out a seat.

“Thanks,” she said and held up the glass before taking a sip. “This is a nice little house.”

Little being the operative word, I thought. Bet your place is enormous.

“You live with your sister, right?”

I nodded.

“What happened to your parents, if you don’t mind me asking?”

I took a deep breath and said, “They were killed. In a car accident. Nearly three years ago now. I’d only just turned fifteen at the time. Vicky was nineteen and became my legal guardian, along with my parents’ solicitor. He doesn’t live with us, of course, but he comes by every now and then to check that we’re doing alright.”

“I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “It was three years ago. The anniversary is in November, just a couple of days after my birthday.”

“Man, that’s...” She sighed and stared at her glass.

“Yeah, tell me about it. My sixteenth and seventeenth birthdays weren’t exactly happy.”

“I’ll bet. What happened? No, sorry, that’s tactless of me. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ve ... I suppose I’ve come to terms with it. Sort of.” I gulped. “They’d been out for a meal in Westmouth and on the way back, one of the truck drivers coming out of the factory lost control and wiped them out.” I snapped my fingers. “It was really quick, apparently. They didn’t stand a chance. Which is positive, I suppose. That it was quick, I mean, not...” I shook my head.

“I get it. At least they didn’t suffer, right?”

I took a deep breath. “Right.”

“You know, I think I remember that accident. Or I remember Daddy talking about it, I mean. I think the truck driver had been drinking, hadn’t he?”