The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale

Author:Alexia Casale
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780571295630
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2013-04-29T07:00:00+00:00

I should be huddled, shivering, on the edge of the playing field, with Lynne and Phee getting told off for ignoring the ball and coming over to chat to me. I should be splitting my attention between the desultory lacrosse game and my stupid pencil case, the shivering making me even clumsier with the big needle than usual until I end up accidentally shoving it halfway down under one of my fingernails and give up. But I’m not sitting there, biting my hair, wishing that Phee and Lynne would come over to distract me. Instead, I’m in the headmistress’s office with Amy and Paul, waiting for Mrs Henderson to finish her business in the anteroom with her secretary, so that we can talk about Sonny Rawlins.

It’s the perfect opportunity to focus on how much I hate him: it’s probably the one time when no one would fault me for thinking of nothing else. But for some reason even I can’t put my finger on, I am not cooperating with Amy’s attempts to make his life as miserable as possible.

I try to concentrate on making out Mrs Henderson’s voice from behind the office door, but there are too many other people talking out there and, in any case, I don’t really care what she’s got to say. Paul shifts with a sigh and rubs at the bridge of his nose. Amy glares at him, then sets about arranging her skirt over her knees in little pleats. Paul heaves in a deep breath as if he’s going to sigh again, then makes a face and lets his breath out silently.

Amy, Paul and I are fed up with each other. Amy wants to show me that they’re ready to stick up for me and not let anyone else get away with hurting me. I get it. I really do. And I appreciate it. I really, really do, but . . . But I’m not quite sure what. Just but. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it’s Amy who’s baying for blood, while Paul seems oddly unwilling to rock the boat at school by bringing in the police or lawyers. So Amy’s cross with Paul, while I’m openly cross with Amy for pushing and less openly cross with Paul because he’s not.

I’m actually looking forward to talking it over tonight with Ms Winters: maybe she’ll be able to help me figure it out, provided she’s done apologising, that is. She came over the day after the thing at the pool, all distraught that she’d somehow ignored hints that something like this would happen . . . But I was so matter-of-fact about how even I hadn’t ever expected Sonny Rawlins to do more than pinch me in the corridor that the weird spots of colour in her cheeks faded away and she went all normal again. Then Amy made us each a huge mug of hot chocolate and she stayed to play Cluedo with us for an hour.

But I was

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