Suicide Club by Rachel Heng

Author:Rachel Heng
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

TWENTY

“Dwight. Oh Dwight, Dwight, Dwight.” Opal’s eyes were glittering as she said his name.

Dwight looked up from where he sat, bony ankles slung together under the desk. His eyes, Lea noticed for the first time, were not actually blue but an icy pale gray, frosted by eyelashes that were so faint they appeared to be transparent. Freckles clumped together on his cheekbones, little red dots that, on first glance, could be mistaken for pimples.

The class watched in anticipation. What would Opal do today? Sometimes her insults were finely honed darts, sharpened to kill; other times they were like the edge of a blank sheet of paper, innocuous until wielded at just the right angle.

“Dwight, you have a girlfriend? Huh, Dwight?” she went on.

The atmosphere deflated. This was an old joke, one they had made many times before.

Dwight shook his head politely, as if it were the first time he’d been asked the question. Under the table, his fingers gripped the khaki fabric stretched tight over his oddly shaped knees. The pants were fastened with a brown leather belt that looked like something Lea’s father wore to work. They were folded at the cuff, revealing running socks covered in lint.

“But you want a girlfriend, don’t you, Dwight? I can tell you do. You’re a romantic at heart. You’d treat a lady well.”

Maybe because the others were no longer paying attention, maybe because of Opal’s pretty black eyes, so pretty they could almost be mistaken for being kind, maybe because he just wasn’t thinking, Dwight said in a small voice: “Yes.”

“Of course you do.” A slow smile curled at the edges of her lips. “You know who I think would love to be your girlfriend?”

Dwight shook his head, his eyes watery. His lips hung apart, revealing a set of large, clunky teeth that had not yet been forced into braces.

“I can’t believe you don’t know. It’s okay; boys are pretty oblivious, I guess.” Opal laughed. The others broke off their conversations now, looking again to the spectacle.

“I’ve seen her staring at you in class, practically drooling. It’s a wonder you haven’t noticed.”

Dwight could have looked down at his neatly completed homework. He could have excused himself, gone to the toilet until the teacher arrived, one of his most-used escape routes. Or he could have just stayed silent. But maybe he saw the greed in Opal’s eyes, sensed that for once, he wasn’t her real target, not this time. Maybe it was that note of sly complicity in her voice, the way she was looking at him, as if he were a friend. He wanted to please her.

“Who?” he said, boldly now. “Who is it?”

“She’s very shy. You’d be perfect for each other like that.”

She was no longer looking at Dwight. Her gaze cut right past him.

He turned, together with the rest of the class. Now they were all looking at Lea, who sat, still as salt, at her desk.

She looked back at them with mild interest, as if through a screen. When

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