‘Mm-hmm. That doesn’t sound suss at all.’ Lena looked at Guy. ‘He’s not some kind of criminal, is he?’
Guy was currently licking a piece of melted Tim Tam from where it had fallen onto his forearm. He straightened up when he noticed everyone staring at him and smiled. There was chocolate smeared across his lips.
‘Come off it. He just needs a place to stay for a little while. What’s the big deal?’
Lena crossed her arms. ‘Have you even asked Dad? I know he gave you your own space but you can’t just –’
‘Isn’t that for Dad to worry about? Why do you care?’
Lena mimed whacking Theo on the back of the head, but she didn’t actually make contact.
‘Well, at least this explains your appetite suddenly doubling in size. I wondered why you were sneaking so much food out there. You’re fat enough as it is.’
Theo’s family were always making jokes about his weight. It made me cringe, but he didn’t seem to mind. I mean, he usually gave back as good as he got. But today all he said was, ‘Come on, let’s go out the back.’
‘Just you wait until Dad gets home!’ Lena called after us.
I was at home helping my own dad make dinner when Theo’s dad, Nick, arrived home from work, so I missed the big confrontation. Except it wasn’t so big in the end. As we’d expected, Nick was way more chill about it than Lena had been.
Theo messaged me to say his dad had just kind of shrugged, asked how long Guy was staying for, and gone off to have a shower. Which set Lena off about how Theo gets away with everything – a complaint she’s made at least, oh, 6074 times in her life. I got how she felt. I mean, Luke was allowed to do way more than I was – and sure, he was older, but it always felt like it was more because he was a boy. Somehow the sexism argument never convinced Mum, though.
Still, this was one time I was really glad that Theo was the baby of his family and also a boy and his dad was past the point of caring much about what he did.
Although there was something about that which seemed a little sad, too.
The second noteworthy thing that happened that week – which actually came first, whoops – was that Declan Bell Jones and I hung out after school.
Yes, you read that right.
He made good on his promise to help me with my glasses. When I saw his message on the Tuesday, asking if I was free that arvo to sort it out, it almost made the few days of mockery I’d endured over the shabby masking-taped state of my glasses feel worth it. Almost. (Even my friends had thought it was hilarious, especially when they heard the whole story of how it had happened. My friend Jordan started calling me Harry Potter. I told her she wasn’t as clever as she thought she was, but she laughed so much she got the hiccups.)
I was in Geography when I got the messages.
Hey Harry Potter, meet me by the bike racks after school?
I’m no Hermione but I think I can still help with those glasses.
This is Declan, by the way.
I stared at the back of Declan’s head as a dozen questions exploded in my brain. Like, how had Jordan’s terrible joke made it all the way to him? Or had he come up with it all on his own? The Hermione part was original. Had he read Harry Potter? Or seen the movies? Did we actually have something in common?
And why was he messaging me in class as opposed to, I don’t know, just turning around and talking to me?
But then, did any of that even matter, considering Declan Bell Jones was messaging me?
At least I could answer the last question: No, it did not matter. All that mattered was that DECLAN BELL JONES was messaging me.
When I messaged him back with a Hi! and a Sounds good! (totally nonchalant and chill, right?) he turned around and smiled at me.
I nearly screamed right there in class.
For the rest of the day all that went through my head was meet me by the bike racks after school meet me by the bike racks after school meet me by the bike racks after school meet me by the bike racks after school –
‘What about Guy?’ Libby asked when I told her to walk home without me because I was meeting Declan Bell Jones at the bike racks after school.
‘What about Guy?’ I tried to sound all casual, but a pang of guilt shot through me. The truth was, I’d barely given Guy a second thought since Declan Bell Jones had messaged me. Was I a terrible person?
‘You’re still into Declan Bell Jones even when you’ve got your very own walking, talking Ken doll at home?’
‘We’re just going to get my glasses fixed. It’s not like we’re going to dry hump in the parking lot.’
Libby screwed up her face. ‘Gross.’
‘And there’s no rule book that says it’s a crime to hang out with another guy, even if you . . . have a boyfriend.’ It still felt really strange for me to say that. ‘Right?’
I was hoping Libby would reassure me, but she just shook her head. ‘No. But is that what this is?’
When I didn’t respond, she added, ‘Your thirst truly knows no bounds.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ I said, more breezily than I felt.
Theo and Alex appeared in the throng of people pushing to get into the cage that enclosed the bike racks. Libby waved them towards us and they both nodded in acknowledgement. Alex had his bike unlocked first and he wheeled it our way.
‘Heeeey,’ he said.
‘Hey. Can you double me home?’ Libby got straight to the point.
‘Sure. You gonna ride with Theo, Katie? Katie?’
‘What?’ I said. I’d only been half listening, lost in my own thoughts, my eyes scanning the crowd for Declan Bell Jones.
‘What’s happening?’ Theo said as he pushed his bike towards us.
‘The girls wanna ride with us.’
‘Nope, just me,’ Libby said. ‘Katie has a hot date.’
Theo frowned. ‘But Guy told me –’
‘Shut up, there he is,’ I said quietly.
Declan Bell Jones was walking towards us, moving slowly through the chaos around him as though he didn’t have a care in the world. He adjusted the strap of his backpack with one hand – the other was clutching his skateboard – and raised his chin in greeting as he approached.
How did he manage to look so hot while doing the absolute bare minimum?
‘Ready, Harry Potter?’ he said to me.
I grinned and let out a high-pitched ‘Yes!’
I didn’t look back as I walked away from my friends with Declan Bell Jones at my side, but I could feel their eyes practically shooting holes right through me.
‘Jonesy! Slumming it today?’ I heard someone call out as we walked past the basketball courts. I stared at the ground in front of me, not daring to raise my head. Suddenly the exhilaration I’d been feeling a moment earlier began leaking out of me.
‘Piss off, Kiwi,’ Declan Bell Jones called back, but there was laughter in his voice.
Kiwi said something else, but I couldn’t hear it over the roar of blood in my ears. I knew my face was bright red. I hastily pulled my hair out and ran my fingers through it before shaking it so it fell in front of my face. Then I remembered Mikayla calling me Cousin It and reached up to tie it back again.
Beside me, Declan Bell Jones started whistling. He was the only person I knew who whistled as much as my grandpa, but his whistling made me feel very different from the way my grandpa’s did. Especially when I saw the shape his lips made as he did it.
His whistling trailed off as he looked at me out of the corner of his eye. I realised I was staring.
‘Oh!’ I cried out, not entirely voluntarily. Crap. Quick, think of something to say. Be cool. ‘Um, how did you get the scar on your top lip?’
Real cool, Katie.
In my defence, it was a question I’d been pondering literally for years.
Thankfully, Declan Bell Jones wasn’t really fazed. He traced the outline of the scar with his index finger. I had the urge to follow its path with my tongue.
Ew.
I resisted!
Such willpower.
‘This?’ Declan said. ‘Hmmm. Do you want the cool story, or the truth?’
‘Um . . . the cool story?’
Declan chuckled. ‘Well, I went for a surf early one morning, right? The sun was just above the horizon, and everything was peaceful, you know?’ He gestured in the air with one hand as he spoke. ‘Then I noticed this dolphin coming towards me. “Sweet,” I said to myself. “I’ve always wanted to surf with dolphins.” I could just see his fin cutting through the surface of the water.’
‘Oh no,’ I said.
‘Oh yes.’ Declan raised his eyebrows and nodded. He was enjoying himself. It made me smile. ‘I paddled closer and you’ll never guess what it was – well, you probably can guess –’
‘Shark!’ we both yelled at the same time. Declan laughed. ‘That’s right,’ he said.
‘So what did you do?’ I asked, making my voice sound breathless to fit his thrilling story.
‘I headbutted it, of course.’ He shrugged, his shoulders adding an unspoken no big deal.
I laughed, and Declan let out a fake sigh. ‘Yep. That’s how I ended up with this.’ He shook his head in pretend dismay, raising his finger to his scar again. ‘You should’ve seen the other guy, though.’
‘The shark?’
‘Yeah. Didn’t even have a fin left by the time I was through with him. “That’s the last time you’ll ever fool me!”’ Declan was shaking his fist at the air now, as if the imaginary shark was hovering right in front of him.
I was laughing so hard I almost doubled over. When I looked up at Declan seemed quite proud of himself.
‘Alright,’ I said when I had calmed down a bit. ‘That was a cool story. But what’s the truth?’
Declan cocked an eyebrow. ‘Ohhh, you want the truth? Okay. I stopped this guy from robbing an old lady in front of Woolies, and he elbowed me in the face.’
I gasped. ‘No way!’
Declan looked at me for a moment, then his face broke into a grin. ‘Nah, no way.’
My mouth was wide open and I let out a noise of disbelief. Declan chuckled. ‘You’re too easy, Harry.’
He took a couple of quick steps and dropped his skateboard on the ground, landing on it in one smooth movement and then propelling himself forward with one leg. When he was a few houses away from me he turned, a smile on his face as he circled back and right around me.
‘Now that is cool,’ I said with a giggle.
Unlike you in this situation.
Shhhh.
‘Nah,’ Declan said. ‘This is cool.’ And he took off again, this time doing something with the skateboard that involved flipping it and riding it along the gutter before twisting it in the air.
I clapped and Declan bowed, picking up his skateboard as he did. When he straightened, his face was red. It made him even more adorable.
I felt light for the rest of the walk.
It wasn’t until later I realised he never did tell me how he got that scar.
Guy enveloped me in a bear hug the moment I stepped through Theo’s door.
I heard Theo cry, ‘Victoryyyyy!’ Guy had abandoned whatever game the two of them were playing on PS4, so I guess Theo had won by default.
‘I missed you so much,’ Guy was saying as he squeezed me tighter and tighter.
‘I can tell,’ I squeaked out.
He loosened his hold but didn’t let go except to lift one hand to smooth hair back from my face. ‘Did you miss me?’
‘Yeah. Did you miss him?’ Theo chimed in. His tone was combative.
‘Of course,’ I said to Guy, ignoring Theo. Guilt fluttered in my chest, but I squashed it down. I hadn’t done anything wrong, I told myself. I got another flutter in response. ‘How was your day?’
As Guy rattled off the list of things he’d read and discovered online and eaten that day, I extracted myself from his arms and plopped myself down on the bed.
‘See you got your glasses fixed then,’ Theo said, interrupting Guy’s monologue.
‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Good as new.’
It hadn’t taken long for my glasses to be fixed in the end. I actually kind of wished it had taken longer. While we were waiting, Declan Bell Jones and I had wandered around the store, trying on all the hideous glasses we could find. Of course, he looked good in most of them. I looked ridiculous, especially when I tried on these big round ones that did nothing to dispel the ‘Harry Potter’ nickname I had going. But it made Declan Bell Jones laugh – I made Declan Bell Jones laugh. And not in an ‘at’ me way, either. It was with me. He was with me.
At one point he’d asked me if I had ever considered contacts, and I told him about an article I’d read where a woman had a whole load of lenses stuck behind her eye and how that had scared me off them for life, and instead of being grossed out, he laughed again, and he . . . he told me I was cute.
I kid you not, he actually said, ‘You’re cute.’
‘And how was Declan Bell Jones?’ Theo said, cutting into my thoughts.
He thinks I’m cute.
‘Who’s Declan Bell Jones?’ Guy said.
I shot Theo a look and composed my face before turning to Guy. ‘He’s just a guy. From school. He, uh, broke my glasses on Friday so he paid to get them fixed.’ I sounded casual. Like it was no big deal. Because it wasn’t. Right?
Except if it was no big deal, why had hanging out with Declan Bell Jones left me feeling so exhilarated?
And why had I still wanted to kiss him so much?
Guy stiffened. ‘He broke your glasses? How? Are you okay?’ His hands were on my face again.
‘Yeah, of course. I’m fine. It was nothing. It was kind of my fault. I got in the way of . . . his soccer ball.’
Guy frowned. ‘I don’t like the sound of this Declan Bell Jones.’
Theo snorted. ‘Yeah. Me either.’
‘Move over,’ I said to him, tired of the conversation and the confused emotions it was stirring within me. ‘It’s my turn to play.’
Eleven
‘Um, why is Mikayla Fitzsimmons walking this way?’
I looked over my shoulder to where my friend Nat was staring with panicked eyes. Sure enough, there was Mikayla, flanked by Emily and Olivia, heading across the girls’ quad . . . straight towards where we were sitting. I turned back to my friends, who were all fiddling with their lunches, trying to act casual, looking at anything or anyone other than Mikayla and her cronies. It was like when you’re a little kid and you believe that if you just squeeze your eyes shut tight enough, the monsters in the shadows of your room won’t be able to see you, and they might even disappear.
But Mikayla wasn’t disappearing. She was still headed our way.
‘What is she doing?’ Jordan muttered.
‘I thought we were safe here,’ Libby whispered sharply. We’d claimed our seat in the girls’ quad because it was quiet and leafy and nice to sit in . . . and also because the likes of Mikayla Fitzsimmons would never be caught dead in here. They all called it the ‘lemons’ quad’, because they were homophobic dickwads like that.
You didn’t sit here if you were cool. You didn’t even come within a ten-metre radius of the place if you were cool.
But Mikayla Fitzsimmons was here.
Like, here here. She had stopped right in front of us.
I looked up at her and gulped. I’m pretty sure you could hear it.
You could.
You were also bricking it, Libby.
I was.
‘Hey guys! What’s up!’ This too-bright greeting came from my friend Amina, who, bless her, was always nice to everyone. Even if they were the devil incarnate.
Mikayla ignored Amina and zeroed in on me. She took a step closer so she was looming above me, blocking my vision of anything else.
‘Listen, hag,’ she said. She was speaking quietly, but it was somehow far more intimidating than it would have been if she was yelling. ‘Just because you’re a desperado,
doesn’t mean you can cosy up to other people’s boyfriends.’
She used ‘desperado’ wrong, by the way. I would have said so at the time but I was trying really hard to follow my parents’ ‘do not engage’ directive.
And I would have said it at the time but a) I was trying to process what she was even talking about, and b) I was also trying not to get murdered right there in the girls’ quad.
‘What?’ was the only response I could come up with.
Around me, the air felt impossibly still. Like everyone was holding their breath.
We were.
‘I know it’s sad you’ll never get a boyfriend of your own, but it’s even sadder to try and take mine. I mean, it’d be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.’ Mikayla exchanged looks with Emily and Olivia, and they sniggered on cue.
I stared at Mikayla, still trying to figure out what she was talking about. Then I realised. Of course. Declan Bell Jones. So they really were together now? Together together? And I had hung out with him the day before. Oh sh–
‘I didn’t! I mean, I wasn’t. We just – it was nothing. You have to know that, Mikayla.’ I was babbling, and hating myself more and more by the second. ‘Besides, I have a boyfriend!’
Mikayla snorted. ‘Yeah, right.’
‘It’s true!’ Jordan said. ‘She does.’
In that moment, Jordan had no idea about Guy. She was lying out of her butt. I loved her for it.
‘Oh yeah? Where is he then?’ Mikayla said.
‘He doesn’t go to this school,’ I said. ‘He’s . . . new. In town. He’s new in town.’
Olivia scoffed. ‘Let me guess, his name is George? George Glass?’
Mikayla looked at her sharply.
‘You know, like from The Brady Bu– uh, never mind,’ Olivia said. She looked down.
Mikayla turned back to me. I laughed nervously. ‘His name is Guy, actually.’
‘Yeah, and he’s really hot.’ This was Jordan again. Bless her and her big mouth. She didn’t know it, but she was telling the truth.
Mikayla laughed. ‘You guys really are tragic. Look, it’s not like Declan is ever going to be interested in you anyway. It’s just annoying to have to scrub the stench of loser off him after you’ve been near.’
You Were Made For Me Page 10
