Free From the Tracks by K. T. Bowes

Author:K. T. Bowes [Bowes, K. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: rural living, new zealand mystery romance, alpha geek, hot bad boy teen, romantic trysts, young adult, teen mystery free, drugs and behaviour, teen love bad boys, new zealand author, forbidden teen love
ISBN: 9781310527906
Goodreads: 22039561
Publisher: K T Bowes
Published: 2013-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Derelict Hearts

Dane turned up at school the next day, attending class and ignoring his former friendship group. Sandra seethed from the other side of the room and got herself sent out of English for arguing with the teacher. In art, Dane looked at his remaining options, deciding to produce a screen print to fit the concept of ‘pencil shavings.’

“That’s number four on the list of choices,” Mrs Simpson told him. “You have to pull this off for both our sakes. I can’t give you more time, Dane, I tried. Get it done.”

He sketched from a still life shaving pulled from a pencil sharpener, bending the twisting coil of wood with its coloured tip into something beautiful on the paper. Transposing it onto the plastic template took a little time, using tracing paper to copy the image.

After an hour, it looked amazing. After two, it held the promise of greatness. Mrs Simpson sounded excited. “You can do this, Dane. Now all you need to do is cut out the shape with a sharp knife on the stiff plastic template and screen print it. You know what you’re doing; it won’t take long.” She took a deep breath. “I need you, Libby and Soph to get top marks this year. The management are looking hard at my contract and I’m struggling to prove my classes have any benefit. I’m counting on you.”

“No pressure then, miss,” Dane jibed back and the woman pursed her lips and walked away.

Sophia listened from her desk, spreading paint onto her paper and blending it with delicate strokes laced with water. Dane glanced across and rolled his eyes at the teacher’s desperation. Sophia smirked.

“This will work!” Mrs Simpson crowed from the other side of the room, injecting positivity into the silence. “You can all pull this off; I know you can.” She clapped her hands in anticipation and waddled off to interfere with someone else.

But the next day, Dane didn’t show and Sophia spent every class isolated and alone. Sandra made threats at every opportunity, providing Sophia’s only other human contact. It was as though even in his absence, Dane’s allegiance had formed a hedge around her across which no one dared to trespass. Maddie and Heather ignored her and with Sandra and Co singling her out, she became unsafe to sit with or talk to for fear of reprisals. Sophia kicked herself for not having gotten around to exchanging mobile phone numbers with Dane. Despite his step-father’s imminent release, he’d said the man didn’t always go straight home from the prison, which might buy them a few more days of safety.

When he still didn’t appear the next day, Sophia broke her moral code and entered the realm of rule breaking and cheating. She used her extra hours in the art room to cut out the template for Dane’s art, signing in as herself and simplifying her own work to make sure she could finish it in time. The absence of Mrs Simpson meant a relief teacher supervised the class, unaware of whose work belonged to who.

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