Cloudwish by Fiona Wood

Author:Fiona Wood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2015-08-04T04:00:00+00:00

chapter 25

The afternoon of calculus seemed to last for about a week. Vân Ước popped into the girls’ toilets adjoining the locker room for a quick mirror check before heading to the common room. She arrived a few seconds before Billy, relieved to see only a few stragglers collecting things left from earlier in the day or killing a bit of time before being picked up.

Billy came in and swept them out. ‘That’s all, folks, thanks for coming, see you tomorrow – show’s over, room’s taken.’

She was bemused at the willingness of people to do as Billy told them. No one protested or even showed any resentment; they accepted the alpha presence doing what he did best: getting his way. Leading.

She recognised a notebook jammed between two cushions on the corduroy-covered sofa as Michael’s, and picked it up. He was a great absent-minded leaver of stuff.

When everyone was shooed away, she expected that Billy might turn to her and throw his arms around her, and the whole soft focus, swelling orchestral score would happen.

But he had something else in mind. ‘Have you got your camera?’

She was never without it, just one of the reasons her backpack was always so heavy. As she dug it out, Billy flicked through his phone’s photos and showed her a series of images.

It was the security office’s panel of CCTV screens. Quite modest, just four screens that rotated through images from the various cameras positioned around the school. Two screens were for interiors, and two for exterior views.

‘You and I are going to shoot this room, from that angle’ – he pointed at the image of the common room – ‘and make a print we can stick up there, in front of the camera.’

‘So it looks like the common room is always empty?’

‘Yeah, stop them spying on us, and get our privacy back.’

Vân Ước couldn’t help smiling. ‘I can’t do it. If I get caught I’m in huge trouble. Scholarship students must demonstrate exemplary behaviour at all times.’

‘Like I said, I’ll take the blame.’

Now he kissed her. Now, when she was unprepared and unguarded, he leaned forward and kissed her gently, and it felt like a question she’d been waiting to hear for the longest time. She opened her lips and her mouth to his, touched one hand to the side of his face, and wondered how it would be possible to live another day in the world that didn’t include kissing Billy.

He broke away from the kiss, hands still holding her upper arms, took a deep breath, and exhaled shakily. He leaned down, touching his forehead to hers. ‘Wow. I wasn’t going to do that till Saturday night,’ he said.

‘You had a kiss-plan?’ she asked, breathless, amazed that words still tumbled out in order following the reinvention of the world.

‘Of course I did. It’s the only reason I asked my parents if I can have people over on Saturday.’

‘I’m still not sure if I can come . . .’ she said, falling into the

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