Skylarks by Karen Gregory

Author:Karen Gregory
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408883600
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2018-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

Later on, we lock up and say bye to Mrs H, then stand in the car park watching her go. I turn to Annabel. ‘Do you like him? Henry?’

I may have been stewing on this all afternoon.

She pauses. ‘I know he takes it a little far sometimes, but he can be good fun. And his father’s got something to do with Daddy’s business. We have them over for dinner parties fairly regularly. I think Daddy would love it if Henry and I were – you know.’

‘Seriously? Eww. He’s a prat. Henry, not your dad, I mean.’

‘Yes, a lot of the time he is. I remember this one dinner party, Henry came with his parents, made a load of ridiculous jokes, got pissed and I found him throwing up into the lake. He tried to kiss me straight after he’d vomited.’

‘Nice. What did you do?’

‘I sidestepped him.’ She smiles like this is funny, but I keep my face straight and her expression fades. ‘I suppose he is a bit … He celebrated when Donald Trump got elected. He’s really into winners and losers, “survival of the fittest”’ – she puts on a deep voice – ‘that sort of thing. It’s irritating.’

I give her a long look. Sounds more than ‘irritating’ to me. Annabel’s face has clouded over.

‘Do you remember the Grenfell Tower disaster the other year?’ she says.

I nod. We did a bake sale for the appeal at school. Mum and Dad scraped together the money for ingredients for an epic chocolate cake. Jamie helped me bake and decorate it.

‘Henry’s father was talking about how some of the survivors were going to live in a luxury block nearby – and how it was so ridiculous they were being given those flats for nothing, when people had worked hard to buy them, and I remember sitting there, listening to Henry agreeing, and no one said a word. I had to excuse myself and say I had a headache. That’s when I first started thinking … Oh, I don’t know.’ She makes an impatient gesture and I can see she’s about to say she’s being silly or ridiculous or whatever the word is she always seems to use to put herself down.

‘It’d be weird if that didn’t hack you off,’ I say, my voice careful.

‘Yes. And it made me feel like, well … that I don’t fit.’ There’s a long pause, then she shakes herself and says, ‘Anyhow, I’m sorry if he was rude to you. Don’t pay him any attention.’

We leave it at that, but the conversation has let me know another thing about her I was pretty sure of anyway: her parents definitely don’t know she likes girls.

Which is going to be a problem, sooner or later.

I sigh and start to unchain my bike, and Annabel gives this little squeak. ‘I almost forgot! I have something for you.’ She pushes me gently back up the steps so I’m in the doorway to the library, her car just out of sight around the corner.

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