Mercy by Rebecca Lim

Author:Rebecca Lim
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-00-738223-1
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2010-08-18T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

‘What happened to you?’ says Brenda nastily at my elbow when I return to Paradise High for the last period of the day, Maths. ‘We’ve been trying to track you down for hours.’

Her two, ever-present henchwomen take up unsmiling position on either side of me and I know they’ll be escorting me to my seat personally today. After they work me over a little first. For a moment, I wonder if Brenda saw Ryan picking me up just past the school gates this morning, and wants to cause a scene just for the hell of it. But then I recall what went down at Mulvany’s the night before.

‘My meds reacted badly with the stuff Bailey slipped into my drink,’ I say apologetically in a little-girl voice, hanging my head like I know Carmen would. ‘Ryan was soooo mad at me this morning. He was dying to get back to you last night and was pissed off at me big time when I finally came around.’

The lie works wonders. The crop haired brunette with the eyeliner and leather fetish and the horsy-faced dirty blonde with the impeccable French manicure fall back a step and Brenda is practically snuggling up to my right side with a delighted, ‘Really?’

‘I so told you,’ insists the brunette from behind us. ‘It was obvious.’

‘Kayla had it pegged,’ agrees the blonde. ‘He’s still into you in a big way.’

‘Shut up, Jackie,’ Brenda says impatiently. ‘What else did he say?’

We’re right outside the classroom now and I’m not even feeling guilty about what I say next, because this girl shouldn’t even be on my case. She’s Ryan’s unfinished business, not mine. He can deal with it.

‘You really should hear it from him,’ I urge guilelessly. ‘You two have so much to work out. All he can talk about is you. I’d give him a call. Today.’

Brenda nods eagerly, while part of me grins inside. Good luck.

When I’d left him that morning, Ryan had muttered something about checking out one of Port Marie’s only two churches, still fixated on his recent, fragmented dream. I knew he and his friend, the ice pick, would be pretty much incommunicado while it was still light.

‘Just one more thing,’ I say, as we head towards a bunch of empty desks up the back of the class, away from where Tiffany, Delia and the others are giving me snake eyes for cosying up to the locals and not making myself available for their collective wrath. ‘I’m curious, because I’m staying in Lauren’s room and I’m virtually surrounded by photos, and I know you two were besties …’

Brenda’s ‘Yeah?’ is slightly less chilly than usual.

‘Was Lauren dating anyone when she disappeared?’ I say, keeping my little-girl act going. ‘It’s been bugging me which one was her boyfriend.’

There are pictures of Lauren and Richard together, but no pictures of Brenda and Richard together, or Richard with anyone else I’ve met at Paradise High so far, like Kayla, Jackie, Tod, Clint or Bailey. Plus, there are pictures of Lauren with a couple of other guys I haven’t seen around the halls.

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