Amelia Westlake Was Never Here

by Erin Gough

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Erin Gough

  Cover art and design by Karina Granda

  Cover copyright © 2019 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Poppy

  Hachette Book Group

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  Originally published in 2018 by Hardie Grant Egmont in Australia

  First U.S. Edition: May 2019

  Poppy is an imprint of Little, Brown and Company.

  The Poppy name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Gough, Erin, author.

  Title: Amelia Westlake was never here / Erin Gough.

  Description: First U.S. edition. | New York ; Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 2019. | “Poppy.” | Originally published: Australia : Hardie Grant Egmont, 2018. | Summary: Harriet Price, a prefect at elite Rosemead Grammar, risks her perfect life by joining forces with bad-girl Will Everhart in a hoax to expose the school’s many problems.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018024913| ISBN 9780316450669 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780316450652 (ebook) | ISBN 9780316450676 (library edition ebook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Sexism—Fiction. | High schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Feminism—Fiction. | Hoaxes—Fiction. | Lesbians—Fiction. | Australia—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.G686 Ame 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018024913

  ISBNs: 978-0-316-45066-9 (hardcover), 978-0-316-45065-2 (ebook)

  E3-20190402-JV-NF-ORI

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  PART ONE

  Chapter 1 WILL

  Chapter 2 HARRIET

  Chapter 3 WILL

  Chapter 4 HARRIET

  Chapter 5 WILL

  Chapter 6 HARRIET

  Chapter 7 WILL

  PART TWO

  Chapter 8 HARRIET

  Chapter 9 WILL

  Chapter 10 HARRIET

  Chapter 11 WILL

  Chapter 12 HARRIET

  Chapter 13 WILL

  Chapter 14 HARRIET

  Chapter 15 WILL

  Chapter 16 HARRIET

  Chapter 17 WILL

  Chapter 18 HARRIET

  Chapter 19 WILL

  PART THREE

  Chapter 20 HARRIET

  Chapter 21 WILL

  Chapter 22 HARRIET

  Chapter 23 WILL

  Chapter 24 HARRIET

  Chapter 25 WILL

  Chapter 26 HARRIET

  Chapter 27 WILL

  Chapter 28 HARRIET

  Chapter 29 WILL

  Chapter 30 HARRIET

  Chapter 31 WILL

  Chapter 32 HARRIET

  Chapter 33 WILL

  Chapter 34 HARRIET

  Chapter 35 WILL

  Chapter 36 HARRIET

  Chapter 37 WILL

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39 HARRIET

  Chapter 40 WILL

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  FOR EMMA AND RORY

  PART ONE

  chapter 1

  WILL

  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about hoaxes. My life, for instance. Lately it feels less like a life and more like a joke. Somebody’s practical joke.

  Don’t get me wrong. It’s nothing I can’t handle. Terrible stuff has been happening to me since I was born. Mum and Dad named me Wilhelmina for a start. I’ve had three pets hit by cars. Last winter I was mildly electrocuted by a faulty hair dryer. Then there are the elements that make up my daily slog: Having separated parents on different sides of Australia. Living in a shoebox beneath a flight path. Going to a school full of rich, selfish brats.

  But lately things have been particularly vile. Case in point: phys ed this morning. Coach Hadley held me back to swim extra laps along with Ruby Lasko and Harriet Price.

  Hadley has always been a jerk, especially to me, although it’s true he likes to pick on most of his students a few times each term. It’s his idea of equal opportunity. Today, though, he reached a special category of loathsome. When Harriet and I finished swimming, Hadley wouldn’t let us go until Ruby completed her laps. It was probably the pressure of us watching that made Ruby trip on a ladder rung on her way out of the pool and crash back into the water.

  “Too many muffins for breakfast, hey, Ruby?” said Hadley, grinning.

  Now, you don’t need a psychology degree to know Ruby is sensitive about her weight. She forced out a laugh, but I could tell she was working hard not to cry. This time, Hadley had gone too far. “What Ruby eats is none of your business,” I said.

  “Come on, Will,” he replied, a twinkle in his eye. He tried to poke me in the ribs, but I stepped out of reach. “I was kidding. Ruby knows it was a joke, don’t you, Ruby?”

  Ruby, who was struggling up the ladder again, smiled bravely.

  “See?” Hadley threw up his arms. “Why should you mind if Ruby doesn’t?”

  What a creep. I shot him a look of disgust. He met it for a second before turning away.

  “Prick,” I muttered under my breath.

  Hadley whipped around, his expression dark.

  I heard the sound of footsteps.

  “Will Everhart. What did you just say?” Miss Watson, head of the Sports Department, was standing behind us with an armful of floating aids.

  Just my luck. Watson has hated me since I skipped this year’s athletics carnival. Not to mention the ones before that. “Answer me,” she said coolly.

  “Fine. I called Coach Hadley a prick,” I said, equally coolly.

  Watson’s whole face twitched.

  “Well, he is one,” I said, and turned to Harriet Price for backup.

  For the record, it’s not that I couldn’t manage Watson on my own. I’ve got experience in Crappy Life Moments, as I’ve said. But I knew that having Harriet’s support would help. She’s a prefect. She’s won debating competitions. Plus, Watson worships her because she plays for the tennis squad. She’s also on some fancy sports committee Hadley set up. She heard what Hadley said to Ruby. She could have called him on it.

  The problem with Harriet Price is that she’s also a prime suck-up.

  You know those ads for vacuum cleaners so powerful that they can pick up furniture? When I see those ads, I think of Harriet Price: groveling to the principal, or ass-kissing one of the teachers, or giving a speech at assembly about how Rosemead is educating “Australia’s future leaders.”

  I shouldn’t have been surprised when, instead of backing me up, Harriet stood there with her mouth hanging open like one of those clown heads waiting for a Ping-Pong ball at the Sydney Easter Fair.

  I wish I’d had a Ping-Pong ball.

>   “I’m sick and tired of these performances, Will,” said Watson, once her twitching face had settled down. “This is not the first time I’ve had to speak to you about inappropriate language, but you’d better hope it’s the last. I am quite frankly disgusted.…”

  On and on she went. As she was ranting, I let the sound of her voice wash over me, and my mind wandered to an old movie Dad and I watched a few years ago. It’s called The Truman Show, and it’s about a guy whose whole world is the set of a reality TV show in which he’s the unwitting star.

  “You’ll hate it,” Dad told me, by which he meant “you’ll love it.” He and I have been playing a game of opposites since he was feeding me with an airplane spoon. He’s progressed from “you’ll love these mushy beans” to “you’ll love washing the car for me, Monster Child.” In true opposite game spirit I always reply, “You are the best father in the whole wide world,” before giving him the finger.

  I was skeptical about The Truman Show. “What makes you so sure I’ll think it’s the worst film ever?”

  “Because you love reality television, and the film critiques that whole genre.”

  Dad adores the word “genre.” He also likes “hegemony” and “oeuvre.” This is what I’ve had to put up with as the daughter of a fine-arts journalist. But he was right about the movie. It was great. At the end, Truman figures out the whole living-in-a-reality-TV-show thing. He gets in a boat and travels to the domed edge of his bogus world. The boat’s bow pierces the dome’s painted sky, revealing what he’s long suspected: He’s been trapped in a farce.

  Watson’s rant went on for so long that I missed half of biology. After that, there didn’t seem much point in showing up for the rest. So I headed to the year-twelve common room for twenty minutes of peace.

  I’m sitting there now, eating someone else’s cookies from the fridge and thinking about the final scene from that movie. It’s exactly what I’m waiting for, I realize. I’m hanging out for the day I get to launch a boat off the wrecked shore of my own existence to discover my true unblemished destiny beyond the EXIT sign.

  What will I find there? A world in which people like Hadley get what they deserve. A world where my classmates care about sticking up for each other more than they care about whose parents have the most expensive car. A world where there are no teachers, no swimming coaches, no prefects.

  And no bloody Rosemead.

  chapter 2

  HARRIET

  I adore my history class. It is one of the absolute highlights of my week. Today’s class is especially wonderful because we are discussing Defining Moments.

  “History is about turning points,” Ms. Bracken explains. “I want each of you to share with us one big event that has influenced your life.”

  We go around the room.

  “When I learned to read,” says Eileen Sarmiento.

  “When I got my platinum credit card,” says Millie.

  “My first ski trip to Aspen,” says Beth.

  Then it is my turn. “In all honesty? My Defining Moment was when I first set foot on the grounds of Rosemead.”

  A few loud groans and sick noises come from predictable corners. Apparently it is “in vogue” to be critical of this school and the opportunities we have as students here. I think this is basically a very ungrateful attitude given the fees our parents pay, especially since not everyone’s parents are lucky enough to be oral surgeons as both of mine are.

  The truth is, I owe a heck of a lot to Rosemead. If you said, “Harriet Price, please name three reasons why your life is great,” I would answer first that it is difficult to isolate just three reasons because there are so many reasons why my life is great! Then I would tell you the top three excellent aspects of my life, all of which are Rosemead related:

  1. My excellent marks.

  2. Being on the brink of winning the Tawney Shield for senior girls’ tennis doubles, something I have been working toward for almost six years (as in one-third of my life).

  3. Having Edie Marshall, future prime minister of Australia, as my girlfriend.

  People think I’m exaggerating when I say Edie will be prime minister one day, but I am definitely not. Not only is she the captain of Blessingwood Girls, our sister school, but she is also a talented sportsperson and the best school-age public speaker in New South Wales. This has been formally recognized by three statewide competitions in which she won first place last year: SpeakOut (topic: “democracy is the best form of government”), SpeakEasy (topic: “fashion victims I have known”), and SaySomething (topic: “discipline is not a dirty word”). After she blitzes the exams this year, she is going to go to university and get a Rhodes Scholarship. And when she comes back from Oxford, she will enter politics, and everyone will vote her in because she is incredible.

  I would have never met Edie if it weren’t for the Tawney Shield. We have both been playing in the competition since year nine. This year, Edie and I are competing as a team in the doubles competition against different school groups. This is perfect for us since we (a) are ranked in the top players at Blessingwood and Rosemead, respectively, which are in the same school group, and (b) happen to be going out.

  Interesting fact: My mother won the shield when she was at Rosemead, as did my grandmother. They like to tease that if I don’t win this year, I’ll be excommunicated from the family!

  After history, I find myself at a bit of a loose end. While Edie and I usually train on Tuesday afternoons, today Edie is hosting an afternoon tea at Blessingwood to raise funds for refugees. I would ordinarily make my way home, but Arthur, my little brother, jams with his band at home on Tuesdays, and although they are nice guys, the music gives me a headache. So when the final bell rings, I collect my things from my locker and head across to the staff building to find Ms. Bracken.

  Ms. Bracken relies on me a lot because she knows how diligent and responsible I am. She suffers from arthritis and a few other degenerative diseases, so I like to assist her with odd jobs when I can. When I reach her office, I find her struggling with a PowerPoint presentation. (Ms. Bracken is far from technologically savvy.) I offer to lend a hand.

  “It’s perfectly fine, Harriet,” she says, bent over a paper-strewn desk that I am tempted to help her tidy: That level of mess can bring on one of my migraines. “Thank you, but I don’t need your assistance.”

  This is exactly the response I anticipated. Ms. Bracken always feels so guilty about taking up my time. “Don’t give it a second thought, Ms. B. I happen to have a free window this afternoon.”

  “But I don’t. I’m on detention duty.” She gathers her books.

  “Oh. Well, I’m sure we can do the presentation and monitor the detention students at the same time.”

  “I don’t know about that.” She hurries down the hallway. “There’s only one student in detention, and she’s in your year. I think that would be awkward.”

  “That’s kind of you, Ms. Bracken,” I pant. For someone with arthritis she is walking at a startling pace. “But I’m used to this kind of thing.” It’s true. As a prefect, I constantly have to monitor the behavior of other students, including those in year twelve. I can’t exactly tell off a year-seven girl for failing to wear a regulation Rosemead hair ribbon and not do the same to someone in my own year.

  “Awkward for her, I mean,” Ms. Bracken says.

  “The presentation will be done twice as quickly with me helping.” I follow her into the detention room.

  I hear Ms. Bracken sigh quietly. “Good afternoon, Will,” she says.

  That is when I see Will Everhart sitting at the very back of the room, slouched over a notebook.

  Oh dear. After what happened at the pool this morning, I really could have done without encountering her again today. She seemed terribly put out when I didn’t defend her to Miss Watson.

  I was not comfortable with what Coach said to Ruby. Ruby was clearly upset, and understandably so. But I am sure he was only trying to make a joke, albeit one in poor taste.
Anyway, how could I possibly have taken Will’s side? I am Coach’s chosen representative on the school’s Sports Committee. An incredible honor. And as a prefect, I am duty bound to uphold the authority of Rosemead’s staff.

  Will Everhart’s problem is that insolence is her trademark. She is one of those girls who thinks asymmetrical haircuts are the definition of “edgy” and who takes every opportunity to show her disrespect for teachers. I personally will never forget our food technology class in year ten when Mrs. Lavender taught us how to cook pad thai with prawns. After everyone agreed it was the most delicious meal of their lives (it was important to be nice to Mrs. Lavender that year; her husband had just left her for a hand model), Will Everhart launched into a story about how prawn trawling kills kilos of unwanted fish that are accidentally scooped up by the nets. She finished by saying we were all morally obliged to be vegetarian, before scraping the contents of her plate into the trash.

  That is just the type of impertinent person Will Everhart is.

  Now I wish I hadn’t come to detention with Ms. Bracken after all. But it is too late to walk out. Instead, I make a point of greeting Will with a cheery wave.

  She does not wave back.

  Ms. Bracken puts her laptop on the teacher’s desk and walks up to collect Will’s detention slip. “What have you done this time?” she asks.

  “Why don’t you ask Harriet?” Will says, eyeing me with contempt. “She was there.”

  I feel a throbbing in my forehead. I hold my mouth in a firm smile and open Ms. Bracken’s laptop.

  “Gone quiet again, Harriet—just like this morning?” Will calls.

  Really. Why does she have to bring up this morning? She is the most provocative person I have ever met.

  Ms. Bracken examines the detention slip. “Swearing at Coach Hadley. Why did you do that?” she asks Will, and not in the weary, slightly cross way she usually asks questions, but more like she is genuinely interested. Her prescription painkillers must have just kicked in.

  “Because he’s a sexist creep,” says Will, chin in hand.

  I genuinely cannot believe the things that come out of that girl’s mouth. Yes, I can see how some of Coach’s remarks might come across as sexist, but I am fairly certain he does not mean them in that way. He is probably just trying to relate to us. He knows how important it is to hold up Rosemead’s core value of respect regardless of a person’s identity, background, and abilities. Besides, he deserves veneration as our teacher, not to mention in his capacity as a former Olympian. There are photos of him wearing his silver medal in all the Rosemead brochures.