Everything but the Truth by Kate Kingsley

Author:Kate Kingsley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Published: 2009-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Alice slouched into an armchair in the entertaining nook that she and Tally had outfitted, kicking her fluffy white slippers onto the equally fluffy white sheepskin rug. Could this evening get any worse? Not only had she been forced to take her second shower of the day after Dylan’s assault in the flower bed, but Sharko had refused to disclose the specifics of whatever stupid punishment she was planning. How was Alice meant to talk her way out of it if she didn’t even know what it was?

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Dylan’s words kept echoing in her head. Tristan’ll find someone better than you. He probably already has. Alice shuddered. What if that were true? She hadn’t seen Tristan properly in ages. He could have been sleeping with half the girls’ schools in the country, for all she knew. No, T wouldn’t do that, he was too sensitive. But maybe those bitches from the gig at Formica had become his groupies and he’d hopelessly fallen for one of them. Shit, shit, shit.

Wrapping her arms round her knees, Alice stared forlornly at her copy of Othello, which was resting on the wooden trunk in front of her, bristling with color-coded tabs at every key point. Next to it, she’d lined up her highlighters and colored pens and sharpened pencils, all ready to write one of her brilliantly organized, teacher-friendly essays. But she couldn’t bring herself to work. Where the hell was Tally? Yet again, Tally seemed to have taken off on one of her mysterious dinnertime library visits, wearing red lipstick for no apparent reason. Who was she trying to impress—Encyclopaedia Britannica? One of these days, Alice was going to take a trip to the library herself to check out what was so bloody exciting.

Anyway, it didn’t matter; she knew what Tally would say if she were here: “Ring Boy. It’ll take your mind off things.” Alice clasped her hands and nodded. Okay, yes, she probably should. Their date was on Saturday—only three days away—meaning they really needed to make a plan. She weighed her phone on her palm for a moment, then dialed his number.

Boy picked up on the ninth ring.

“Sexy. Hi there. What’s up?”

“Not much.” Alice gave a little grin. Boy’s nickname for her really was so sweet. “Chilling and stuff. How are you?”

“Fine, babe, fine. Busy. I’m still at work.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was just wondering—do you know what time you’ll be here Saturday? I can’t wait to see where we’re going.”

Boy was silent for a second. Then he sighed. “Yeah. Shit. I’ve been meaning to tell you, turns out Saturday’s not so great.”

“S-sorry?” Alice couldn’t believe her ears. They’d arranged this days ago—and Boy had suggested it. And he’d just texted her about it yesterday.

“Yeah, something’s come up at work.”

“For Saturday night?”

“I know. Total drag. But… hey—I guess that’s life.”

“Umm, I guess so.” If it had been T on the phone, Alice would have informed him how rude and unacceptable it was when people canceled things this late.

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