Angels in Training by Karen McCombie

Author:Karen McCombie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141344553
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2014-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

Straight into something serious

The usual rolling slideshow of bland school images is projected on the giant whiteboard suspended above the stage.

No one is paying the slightest bit of attention to it, as:

a) Friday morning assembly hasn’t officially started yet so everyone’s using it as chatting time, and

b) everyone’s seen it so often it’s beyond dull.

Me: I’m not paying attention because I’m still exhausted by whatever-it-was the angels did to me on Wednesday night at their house. I don’t feel as bad as yesterday, though. Yesterday I was so tired I practically sleepwalked my way through classes. Thank goodness nothing tricky cropped up, like a test or something. And, hey, maybe the school spook was as tired as me; nothing weird went on for the first time this week. Maybe it’s gone for good?

Then my sleepy head suddenly tunes into the whispering of girls behind me.

‘She’s a right snob.’

‘I know she is.’

‘But her party’s going to be amazing, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah – can’t wait to see her house. It’s supposed to be pretty immense.’

‘I heard it’s so huge that as well as a living room there’s this sort of games room with a snooker table in it and one of those TVs nearly as big as the wall.’

‘I heard that too. And someone said it’s so posh it’s got a separate flat where her granny lives.’

‘That’s probably why she’s a snob.’

‘Yeah.’

I can see Marnie Reynolds’s shiny, dark bob in the second row of chairs, close to the stage. Wonder what she’d think if she could hear the girls’ conversation going on in the row right in front of me?

‘What’re you going to wear?’

‘I am so going to wear my black skinny jeans, even though I can’t, y’know, sit down in them.’

‘Well, on Saturday morning I’m going to get this top I’ve seen – it’s got this skull on it but made out of a pattern of flowers.’

‘Nice. What are you doing with your hair?’

‘I thought I could wear my hair up, in two little buns.’

‘What – like that girl Kitt?’

‘Yeah.’

‘What, like Kitt who is sitting right behind us?’

The girl in the row of seats in front spins round and bursts into giggles of embarrassment when she sees the four of us.

‘Shame!’ says the friend who’s pointed out how close Kitt is.

Wow, these girls are airheads. I’m glad I’m not going to a party that has guests like them.

‘Morning, everyone!’ booms Mr Thomlinson, the deputy head, as he comes striding into the hall and walks up a set of steps that lead on to the stage.

I’m about to pay attention (like we’re all supposed to) when I hear a whisper in my ear.

‘Riley …’

It’s Kitt, who’s sitting right beside me.

‘Why do you care?’ she asks silently, switching to quiet words.

‘About what?’ I ask out loud.

Miss Dunbar from the music department throws me a look that says Shush!

Out of all the angels, Kitt is the one who freaks me out the most, I think to myself (not for the first time) and hope she can’t read that particular thought.

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