Spark by Rachael Craw

Author:Rachael Craw [Craw, Rachael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781925081794
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Published: 2014-06-27T16:00:00+00:00

GAINSBOROUGH

Twin willow trees mark the entrance to Gainsborough Collegiate. We cross a bridge and cruise along the limestone drive that winds like a lazy snake in lush green lawn. The great structure of the school – three stories of beautiful stonework – unveils itself in increments as we pass beneath towering oak and elm, like something off the BBC.

Jamie veers right, taking the long way round the back to the student parking lot where the children of the privileged park their European cars. Students mill on the lawns and paths, faculty stroll to classes with their briefcases and folders.

“Nervous?” Jamie asks Kitty.

“A little.”

For myself, not passing out feels like an achievement. My brief peak in confidence, fueled by Jamie’s declarations, flatlined the moment we pulled off the road. Now, as we circle the lot, the scene looks like a line-up of potential killers, and I hear nothing but my own pulse. I scan the scattered groups of students as though I might lock on a threat there and then.

Kitty draws a shaky breath. “But this is a safe place, right?”

“Absolutely.” Jamie pulls in between a sparkling SUV and a fluorescent convertible. “No one is going to hurt you. Even if the Stray,” he dodges the word, “were a student, it’s highly unlikely he would come to school. He’d be afraid of his own anxiety showing him up.”

“Okay.” She nods, a decisive up and down clip of her chin. “And for the record, two minutes difference doesn’t qualify you for big brother status.”

He clicks his tongue. “So bitter.”

I admire Kitty’s attempt at banter and struggle for the same easy tone. “Is it likely to be a problem if I punch one of your friends or start choking the person who sits next to you in math?”

“Start out as you mean to go on, I say.” Kitty gives me a stiff-necked glance, her eyes dry, her nose back to its usual colour. “Will this whole test-tube romance increase the likelihood of random violence?”

Jamie grins. “Probably.”

Kitty had listened to Jamie’s explanation about Synergist coding, her eyes growing larger with the implications. When she finally conceded that it gave us an advantage, I’d felt relieved, but her test-tube romance jokes make me uncomfortable. I don’t want to think about what it means – did genetically engineered attraction count as the real thing? Hadn’t I been drawn to Jamie since we were kids, long before the synthetic gene kicked in?

Lost in our thoughts, we sit there, the three of us, staring out the windshield until finally Jamie switches the ignition off. His eyes flick up to find me in the rearview. “Come on, then.”

Kitty climbs out and waits by her door, brushing her skirt, hugging a folder to her chest. Even in her foam neck support she still looks pretty and put together. Jamie pulls his seat forwards and offers me his hand. I step out feeling conspicuous, releasing his hold. His eyebrow rises in question.

“Sorry,” I whisper. Kissing him in front of Kitty was a total anomaly, an involuntary response to exceptional circumstances.

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