Is that why I can’t let this go? Even though I’d vowed to myself that I didn’t want to get involved with any drama in this school, here I am, wondering how I can help.
I think back to his business card, and the number I have saved on my phone. Check out the Magpie Society. But what do I know? I’d never even seen a magpie up close until I arrived here – and now I see them everywhere. They have a strange sort of plumage that looks black and white at first glance, but really has this kind of oily sheen that turns blueish-purple in different lights. It’s sort of beautiful. They stalk the grounds, popping up whenever I go out to get some fresh air. And, of course, there’s the magpie pond.
I never did go back with an offering. The thought makes me shiver. Maybe all this bad luck isn’t a coincidence.
I take a deep breath, check for teachers (or lurking prefects) and then send a text message to Patrick.
Nice to see you today. I hope
Clover ends up a better detective
than me.
I head to the common room, where there are a few people hanging out. I wave at Rhonda, one of the girls in my history class, but she’s sitting next to Bonnie, who gives her a kick in the shins. Rhonda shrugs at me sheepishly, before looking back down at her book.
Fan-freakin’-tastic.
Only eighteen months left.
If they want to cut me out for standing up against a bully, then for all I care this place can burn to the ground.
25
Audrey
With an overly loud sigh, I slump down in an armchair, making a show of opening up a textbook. The IB diploma work is intense, and I definitely haven’t been devoting enough time to it. Certainly not like Ivy anyway. That girl seems to find extra hours in the day. Thankfully, before I can even bother to pretend to be interested in my English coursework, my phone buzzes against my leg. I look down at the screen. To my surprise, it’s Theodore. I wonder what prompted him to get in touch. I haven’t heard from him in ages – I assumed, like everyone else, he had me marked down as PARIAH.
Hey! What are you up to?
Oh, just chilling out in the
common room. What about you?
I’m docking Old Sheila.
I read the text and actually make a gagging sound. Autocorrect has a lot to answer for.
… What the hell? That’s disgusting.
I’m just about to hit the block button when a message comes through from Theodore.
MY BOAT. Old Sheila is the name of my boat.
You have like a yacht or something?
Something like that! Not in the
Abramovich kind of way – it’s a
little sailing boat. I keep it
moored in a harbour near
school. I’m bringing her into the
dock right now. Hence …
docking. You should drop by some
time. I’d love to take you out.
Sounds cool. Not sure how good I am on the water though.
I’d keep you safe.
By the time dinner rolls around, our flirty conversation hasn’t let up for a second. I’m beginning to really like this guy, I can feel it. He’s smart and considerate and somehow more mature than most of the guys back home. He’s also a bit of a nerd, in a good way – and now I learn that he’s into sailing too.
Oh God. He’s probably exactly the kind of guy that my dad would want me to date. Ew. Gross. But that’s just it: Theodore isn’t gross. I’m thinking maybe I should ask him out. Our paths haven’t crossed much since that first day, and it’d be nice to get to know him.
‘Everything OK?’
I look up to see Araminta standing on the opposite side of the dining table. She’s got a puzzled look on her face.
‘Oh, all good. Lost in my own world,’ I reply. I chew my lip, feeling awkward.
She sits down opposite me. ‘Look, I’m really sorry about what you had to witness in the bathroom. It was really wrong of me and definitely not very head girl of me. I want you to know that I’ve apologized to Clover too.’
‘OK,’ I reply. I give her a small smile. I think she’s waiting for more, but I don’t have anything else to give. She stands up.
‘Right. Well – see you around.’
‘See you.’ I appreciate that she’s trying to reach out to me, but I feel too drained to make any more effort. I’m not the same people-pleaser I was back home. She’s apologized, I’ve accepted, but I don’t have to be her friend.
After dinner, I head back to the room. I assume Ivy will be there when I get back, so I walk extra slow. But, to my surprise, she’s not. I flop down on to my bed just as my phone buzzes again.
What are you doing now?
Wild night. Heading to bed!
Haha, wow. So close and yet so
far away. I just got back from the
harbour.
Old Sheila doing all right?
I gave her a lick.
…
Of paint.
You’re gross ☺
While I’m busy searching for a gif to send to Theo, a text from Patrick flashes up on my screen.
How are you?
I stare at my phone, shocked that I’m hearing from him again.
I’m good. How are you?
Listen, I had an idea. You’re in
Helios House, aren’t you?
Yeah …
Lola’s room last year was
number 7. I don’t know who’s in
there now, but would you be
able to check it for me? Those
old rooms have tons of hiding
places – and Clover won’t have
access since she’s in a different
house.
Oh God. I don’t know whether to tell Patrick that this is the room I’m in now. Suddenly I think back to the envelope I found in the cubby behind the wooden panel near Ivy’s desk. What if … My phone buzzes again.
She loved writing. Maybe she
hid a diary or something? Any
insight into why she might have
done this.
I can almost feel his grief radiating off the message.
I’ll see what I can do.
Thank you. And the next coffee is on me.
I wish, I think. Somehow I feel like getting involved with Lola’s hot older brother would be very bad news, no matter how cute he is. But I walk over to my desk, where I hid the letter. I take it out, staring at the handwriting on the front. Lola … is this you? I wonder.
My finger hovers at the edge of the envelope flap, but just then the door opens. I stuff the letter back in my desk, shutting the drawer quickly.
When I turn around, Ivy’s staring at me. ‘Everything OK?’ she asks, eyeing me suspiciously.
‘Yeah, fine,’ I reply. ‘Just, um, finishing up some work.’
‘Cool.’ She empties her bag, placing her books neatly on her shelf, then changes for bed. Even though she’s clearly exhausted, she’s still organized. If we were friends, I’d be worried about her. She’s the definition of burning the candle at both ends. No wonder she didn’t want a room-mate as a witness to her intensity.
I’m about to reach out, but she shifts in the bed, turning her back to me.
Point taken. I reach over to turn out the light, and I can see a glow from her side of the room. She must be texting as well.
I find myself thinking of Theo, and our flirty conversation earlier. Right on cue, my phone vibrates with a text from him.
I wish I was the one sharing a
room with you, creeper.
It’s so unexpected that I actually let out an inadvertent snort of shock.
‘Everything all right over there?’ Ivy asks.
‘Yeah, sorry.’ I pause. Is this my chance to break through the wall between us? I sit up. ‘Look, I’m not that used to British guys and maybe this is normal … You have a boyfriend, right?’
Ivy sits up in bed too, dropping her phone face down. ‘Sort of. Yeah.’
/>
‘OK, would you say that “creeper” is … what’s the phrase? Like, a term of endearment over here? Because it sounds like he thinks I’m some kind of a stalker or something when really it’s him that’s being weird …’ I’m rambling so much that I don’t notice immediately that Ivy has gone very still.
‘This guy called you “creeper”?’ Her voice is dark.
I frown. ‘Yeah … is that bad? Sounds like it’s really bad.’
‘Can I see the message?’
‘Oh, um, I guess.’
This is the closest we’ve come to having a proper conversation since I started at Illumen. I pad over to her bed and she shifts to make room for me. I show her my screen. She lets out a low bark of a laugh.
‘What’s up?’ I ask, frowning. It’s a weird message, but it’s not particularly funny.
She turns her phone screen to me. I don’t really understand, but I scan it anyway. The opening words are Hey, creeper. My fingers suddenly feel like ice. The name at the top is Teddy.
I feel sick. ‘Oh God. Teddy is a nickname for Theodore, isn’t it?’
‘Yup. You guessed it. I’m pretty sure that message on your phone is meant for me.’
‘Oh, that’s gross,’ I say, dropping my phone on the mattress as if it’s on fire. ‘He’s been talking to us both at the same time, while knowing we were in the same room, and then was stupid enough to send a message meant for you to me?!’
‘Looks like it.’
‘Damn, that’s shady.’ I pause. ‘Oh God, Ivy, I’m so sorry. I had no idea that Theo … Teddy was your boyfriend. Nothing has happened beyond this texting. I swear I never would have –’
She waves her hands in front of her face. ‘Ugh, don’t worry about it. Clearly you didn’t know. He’s a prick, obviously, and not only that but an idiot too. I should have known! I told him I wanted to cool things down and obviously this is his interpretation of it.’
She’s being so strong in her response, but I can see a wobble in her lip and I wonder if it’s affecting her more than she’s letting on. Even if you’re the strongest person in the world, and even if you were preparing to dump the guy, it would still sting to know that your boyfriend was texting another girl. And he dared to call me the creeper?
As if she’s read my mind, Ivy explains. ‘It has to do with my name. Ivy … creeping Ivy … creeper. It was one of those in-joke-type things I always kind of hated, but also …’ Her voice trails off.
‘Also it was yours. Oh, Ivy, he’s a bum.’
‘A bum?’ Ivy snorts, and it sets me off too. Before we know it, we’re rolling around on her bed, giggling – then roaring – with laughter.
When we finally calm down – which seems to take forever, because we keep setting each other off with different words for crappy men – we’re both breathing hard. Ivy gathers up some of the covers in her fist. ‘We can’t let him get away with this.’
‘I’m game. What do you have in mind?’
There’s a twinkle in her eye. ‘I think I have just the thing.’
26
Ivy
‘Are we really doing this?’
Audrey’s cheeks are flushed and, even though her legs are much longer than mine, she’s struggling to keep up. We hopped on a bus down to the boat docks and now we’re scouring the harbour looking for Old Sheila.
There’s obviously a small part of me that feels jealous about Teddy and Audrey. But my pride is bruised more than my heart. I cooled it off with Teddy. I wanted this. Plus, Audrey is so not Teddy’s type. Like … at all. She has no edge to her. In fact, I haven’t seen Audrey be passionate about anything – except maybe the latest memes circulating the internet.
After discovering Teddy’s deception, we lay in bed in the dark, cheeks aching from laughter. In that moment, we felt like friends.
‘Do you really think this is gonna work?’ Audrey asks me, jumping over a coil of rope on the slatted boards of the pier.
‘Well, at least we’ll find out if he really likes you,’ I reply with a wink. ‘I think he needs a dose of his own medicine. Saturdays are pretty boring around here in case you hadn’t noticed. It’s just a bit of light-hearted weekend tomfoolery.’ I smile to reassure her.
‘Who’s Tom?’ She stares back at me blankly.
‘Oh, sorry, it’s a British saying. Aha! Here we are. Knew it was around here somewhere.’
Audrey grabs my arm. ‘Ivy …’
‘What?’
‘Thank you. For being so cool about this. I mean … Theo … Teddy is your “sort of” ex. This breaks a whole bunch of girl codes where I’m from. I don’t know about here, but this would have gone very differently back home. I really didn’t know you guys knew each other and …’
‘Honestly, I don’t care. Teddy and I were a summer fling. We aren’t a proper couple – we never really were. He’s a good guy really.’
‘OK, well, I really appreciate it. I’d kinda get if you wanted to stab out my eye with the end of a stiletto though.’
‘That’s tomorrow’s plan,’ I say with a wicked grin. Thankfully, she grins back.
Fishing nets and crab pots litter the walkway and there are elderly fishermen pottering about, getting ready for a day out on the water or unloading their catches. Teddy’s boat is a few metres away, sandwiched between two flashy yachts, making poor Old Sheila stick out like a sore thumb.
I can’t help thinking of the first time I set foot on her. It was after we’d been forced to come back to Winferne Bay to give our police statements, so it was kind of a rough day. A group of us ended up drinking beers and playing card games until four a.m. It had been the perfect way to let off steam.
Old Sheila is pretty unique. Teddy’s great-grandad was a fisherman and the boat was passed down to Teddy’s dad, who put it into storage and never used it. But Teddy loves tinkering with things and it was only a matter of time before he was renovating her and making her all sparkly again. Her red-and-white painted exterior and little circular windows give her a proper homely feel.
‘Right, got the camera?’ I ask.
Audrey digs in her handbag for the instant camera we’d brought with us. ‘Yep.’
‘OK, you stay here behind this yacht and I’ll go on board. Then wait a few seconds before coming in.’
As I walk up to his boat, I can hear Teddy inside, swearing at something. My stomach churns – he’s really preparing the boat for a date with Audrey, just as they arranged after we discovered his treachery.
I clamber on to the boat, gripping tightly to the rope barriers. I tap on the nearest bench to signal my (or he’d think Audrey’s) arrival.
‘Oh, you’re here!’ shouts Teddy. ‘Come through the side door. I’ll just be a second.’
I don’t answer him, but make my footsteps extra loud as I clamber down towards the door to the main cabin. I push it open slowly, hiding my face for as long as possible.
I almost scream, the sight that greets me is so absurd.
Teddy is lying on the bench in the cabin, dressed only in his boxer shorts, a pirate hat and an eyepatch. In his hand is a plastic sword, which he’s using to protect his modesty. I gasp and throw my hands over my mouth.
‘SHIT … Ivy!’ He jumps up, his eyes wide and confused.
‘Oh my God, Teddy. Weren’t you expecting me?’
‘Uh …’
‘You invited me over last night! I didn’t realize I was supposed to be in costume …’
‘I … no? I don’t think …’ He looks around, then grabs his phone from the side table and panic-scrolls. At that very moment, Audrey appears in the door behind me with the camera and snaps a picture.
Teddy blinks.
‘Or was it me you thought was coming?’ she says as the camera begins to whir.
He looks from me to Audrey and back to me again.
‘I’m very confused right now …’ He blinks at Audrey. ‘So you don’t have a thing for pirates then?’ He drops the plastic sword and pulls off the hat.
‘Afraid not.’
‘But I have a thing for blackmail,’ I say, taking the Polaroid from the bottom of the camera and laughing as it develops into the goofiest photo of Teddy: the most ridiculous pirate I’ve ever seen. ‘If you don’t want this photo to become the front page of the yearbook, you’re going to owe us big time.’
‘And you won’t play two girls off against each other, like you did with us, got it?’
‘I promise. I swear. Ivy … Audrey …’ He still looks shell-shocked.
I spin round and grab Audrey’s arm. ‘Come on, let’s go while he thinks about what he’s done.’
‘Old Sheila stinks pretty bad anyway,’ she says.
I turn back and stare at Teddy. ‘Smells like a rat to me.’
27
Audrey
‘I still can’t believe we got this picture! It’s hilarious.’ I stare at the Polaroid as we walk back along the coast from the harbour. Neither of us are in a rush to get back to school, and a long walk feels like a balm for our weary souls. The sun is shining and the sea sparkles, rising and falling with each one of its big ocean breaths.
‘I know. We can get a lot of favours out of that,’ Ivy laughs.
My hands are buried in my pockets, my fingers tingling with the cold. The bright October sunshine is deceptive; it looks like it should be warm, but the persistent wind brings a chill to every movement. My lungs burn with the effort of walking up and down the cliffs, each one a miniature mountain.
‘Lola never thought he was good enough for me. She said he’d break my heart, but I never let myself get in that deep,’ says Ivy.
‘Did Teddy and Lola know each other well?’ I ask when we reach the crest of one of the hills.
‘A bit. They weren’t super close or anything, but they were in the same year, started at Illumen at the same time,’ she says. ‘He wasn’t actually at the party at the time her body was found.’
‘He wasn’t? I thought everyone went to it.’
‘He was supposed to come. But I remember distinctly that I was looking all over for him. He keeps telling me he was stuck with his family and didn’t arrive until after, but then his younger sister said he was out.’ She shrugs. ‘Hard to know what to believe.’
The Magpie Society One for Sorrow Page 13
