A Song Only I Can Hear by Barry Jonsberg

Author:Barry Jonsberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2018-05-11T16:00:00+00:00

Monday. I sat at my normal table in front of the canteen, eating a bag of chips and reliving my performance in Milltown’s Got Talent.

Daniel Smith patrolled off to my right, in front of the boys’ toilets. Miss Pritchett patrolled somewhere to my left. Daniel often stakes a claim outside the toilets, presumably in the hope I’ll have to go and Miss P won’t be able to follow. I could tell him that I never go to public toilets. Ever. That I would sooner die than use anything other than my own bathroom in my own house. But I figured he didn’t really need that information and, anyway, if he wanted to hang around the boys’ in a creepy fashion, who was I to interfere?

Nonetheless, he obviously got bored because occasionally he’d take a step towards me, but Miss Pritchett would do the same and he’d be forced to back off. Then he’d try again when he thought she wasn’t looking and the whole thing would repeat.

It was like a slow and strange dance. Or a boring gif. They should’ve entered the talent show with it. It would’ve been more popular than my act.

I kept my head down and stuffed another chip into my mouth. A shadow fell across the seat opposite. I didn’t need to look up. Only one person sits with me – two, if you count Daniel Smith, though he normally stands to enquire whether the cat’s got my tongue. And he was still dancing with Miss P.

‘Do you think I’m a blankety loser?’ I asked. ‘Be honest.’

‘It’s possible,’ said an angelic voice. ‘But you can’t always trust first impressions.’

My head shot up, just as my jaw plummeted and my eyes tried to leave their sockets. Sweat dripped off my forehead and made an impressive lake on the bench’s surface. I attempted to speak but my brain had shut down and buggered off to parts unknown.

Destry Camberwick sat opposite me.

She was as gorgeous in real life as … well, I’d only ever seen her in real life, of course. But she’d never sat opposite me before. This was real. It was really real. There was nothing unrealistic about this real.

‘Uh, uh, uh, um, um, uh,’ I said, obviously trying to prove I was a blankety loser. She put her hand out to me across the table. A portion of her hair fell across her left eye and she had to brush it back. A small part of me shrivelled and died.

‘I’m Destry,’ she said.

‘I know,’ I said. Then I wanted to bite my tongue. Why had I said that? The obvious answer was, Really? Pleased to meet you. I’m Rob Fitzgerald, but you can call me Rob or Fitz, if you like. Friends call me Fitz. They didn’t, of course, because I don’t have friends, plural. I have a friend, singular, called Andrew, and he calls me Rob.

I took her hand and we shook. Another part of me shrivelled and died.

‘I’m Rob,’ I said.

‘I know,’ said Destry. ‘I saw you in Milltown’s Got Talent.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.