Furious Thing by Jenny Downham

Author:Jenny Downham [Jenny Downham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788451277
Publisher: David Fickling Books Ltd
Published: 2019-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

21

Everyone turned to look as I walked into Media Studies over half an hour late. I glowered at the lot of them. ‘What are you staring at?’ I snarled.

‘Lexi,’ the teacher warned.

Ben waved at me across the tables. ‘You OK?’

I shook my head.

He scrambled to his feet and I motioned him to sit back down. His mum had clearly told him mine had abandoned me. I was the sad case, that was obvious.

‘We’re going over coursework,’ the teacher said. ‘So, get your project book out please, Lexi. You’ve a great deal of catching up to do.’

I wanted to smash something. Saturday, Kass left. Followed by John doing his silent treatment for days. Wednesday, the doctor. Today, Mum and Iris were gone. And now I was stuck at school with no phone and a massive backlog of work. I took the doctor’s questionnaire out of my backpack along with my project book and began to circle my answers. Yes, I wanted to cry. Yes, I had a stomach ache and yes, a headache too. Did I get angry a lot? Definitely. Feel sad a lot? Every day. Did I dread being called on in class because I hadn’t been listening? Absolutely. Did I feel left out and argumentative? All the time. I hated everyone, and everything was wrong. I was a misfit surrounded by misfits. I circled so hard I made holes in the paper.

I felt a bit better after that and passed some time staring out the window while the teacher droned on about deadlines. The sky was blue and tightly stretched and I watched a plane skim its surface and thought of all the people in their seats above us. Kass told me once that there were a million people airborne at any one time, like a city in the sky. I wished I was up there right now. None of them would know me, so I could be anyone.

Ben wrote me a note. It said, TALK AFTER? I put it in my pocket and didn’t look at him.

I felt him watching me across the room. I didn’t want him to do that. I didn’t want people thinking we were together – the gawky red-headed boy and the weirdo girl.

He wrote another note and got it passed along: LEX – U WANT 2B A MOVIE STAR?

I put that note in my pocket too. Wasn’t it him who’d said to concentrate on revision? I scrawled a reply and passed it back along the line. FUCK OFF. I’M TRYING TO WORK.

He smiled as if he was impressed and put that note in his pocket. I made a show of listening to the teacher get all enthusiastic about exam technique and the importance of timing ourselves with practice papers. I was never going to do that. Panic rose in my throat again. What if Mum never came back? What if I failed all my exams and had to live with John by myself for ever? I had to find a way of getting hold of Mum, finding out where she was and going to her.

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