Carrie took a couple of steps up the stairs hoping to avoid her mother’s curious eyes.
“Oh, it’s just some chemical reaction. It was an experiment but it kind of blew up in my face and went everywhere. It’s not dangerous or anything so there’s nothing to worry about. Can you make me a sandwich before dance? I’m famished.” She ran up the rest of the stairs as her mother nodded and went back to the kitchen.
Carrie threw her bag onto her bed and looked in the mirror. She rolled her eyes and groaned in misery. Her hair was a matted smear of pink at one side and she had been talking to the man of her dreams as though there was nothing unusual in that. He must have thought she looked a right idiot.
She moved to her bedroom window as she thought of Daniel Lewis again. If she stood on the right of the glass and squinted sideways, she could just see into Daniel’s back garden.
She had only made the discovery one evening in September the year before when she had heard the weirdest thumping, grunting noises coming from outside.
She had been lying on her bed thinking that maybe someone was practicing wrestling, but later that evening when she had mentioned to her parents about the odd noise, her dad had shaken his head in resignation. He had moaned over their dinner as the grunts had carried on into the night.
“It’s that blasted kid up the road. You know, the huge one. I wish he would give up the rugby practice in the evenings. That training machine he uses is doing my head in, and the noises he makes! Sounds like a rutting elephant! He’s built like a brick shit-house as it is. You wouldn’t think he needs to build up any more. I’d complain if his whole family wasn’t so blasted huge.”
Carrie’s mother had told her husband off for using unsuitable and bad language and Carrie had slipped away up to her bedroom just to see if she could see what her father had been talking about.
She had known immediately that her father had been talking about Daniel. He was the only boy on the street who was bigger than the average.
She had been surprised that any noise from Daniel’s house would travel all the way up the street, but when she looked out of the window, she realized, for the first time that the road wasn’t quite straight and the gardens curved into a long, looping arc. The end of Daniel’s back garden was nearer to hers than she had thought possible.
She had craned her neck and pressed her face against the window and, out of the corner of her eye, less than a hundred metres away, she had seen a blur as someone charged down a garden. A few seconds later, a full throated growl could be heard as Daniel hit a big padded frame at the end of the lawn. He pushed the frame back hard with his shoulder, keeping the pressure up for several seconds, before he backed off and strode down the garden, only to turn and repeat the whole process over and over again.
Unable to help herself, Carrie had watched him night after night since.
Now she lay her cheek against the cool glass of her window and was rewarded for her uncomfortable position as Daniel stepped out of the back of his house, dressed in only shorts and a vest. He rolled his massive shoulders before eyeing up his target.
He charged with blinding speed, at the frame. But this time he didn’t stop there. He stepped straight back from it and swung his fist at the thick padding, knocking it back on its springs. It bounced back towards him but, as quick as a flash, he threw all his weight into it and caught it another hefty whack.
This time he let out a huge yell, but it wasn’t his usual yell of satisfaction. It was a yell of pure frustration and anger, and as if to make sure about it, he stood away from the bag and roared furiously into the air.
Carrie stepped back from the window and rubbed her cold cheek. What on earth was he so angry about? She thought he was over the cigarette things as he had seemed all right just before she left him. Maybe his mum and dad were arguing again.
She picked a towel up from the floor, feeling guilty about leaving it there the night before, and took it to the bathroom. She put it over the heated rail to air and began to undress.
She stepped into the shower and lathered her hair quickly, pulling the bits of congealed pink foam from the strands, then she gave an involuntary shiver as the soap sloshed down her body. She tried not to think of Daniel’s huge, muscled form as he threw himself at the padded frame.
It was too difficult. She knew it was wrong to even think it and it made her blush to the roots of her hair, but she wished that he was in the shower with her, washing the slippery soap from her hair and then wrapping the towel around her shoulders and drying her off.
Carrie shivered again as she stepped out of the cubicle and grabbed the now warm towel from the rail. She wrapped it around her body and rubbed hard. She didn’t have any more time to waste dreaming of Daniel and his beautifully sculpted muscles. She had to be out dancing in less than half an hour.
She grabbed her trackies and a baggie t-shirt and lugged them on over her still damp skin, then she picked up her trainers and a clean towel and ran back out of her room and down the stairs.
Chapter Two
Harrow High School
July 2007
Carrie put down her pen and sighed in relief. She tucked a loose strand of dark hair behind her ear, leafed back through the paper checking all her answers, then sat back in her chair. She had done as much as was possible. Her final exam was over.
She glanced around the hall and saw that several other students had slumped back in their chairs too. Only one or two were still scribbling furiously, heads bent over their work as they concentrated on cramming as much information in as possible. She looked up at the clock just as the minute hand reached the hour. The invigilator cleared his throat loudly.
“Pens down every one, thank you. Please remain seated and silent until all the papers have been collected.” His voice rang out over the heads of all the pupils.
Carrie put her pen in her blazer pocket and glanced over at her ex-best friend Jennifer Crane, who was at the next door desk. Her gaze was met by the usual icy glare.
Things had become no better since the audition and now everyone knew about the summer tour with the band too.
It was all the fault of the performing arts head who, even though she had been asked not to mention it, had blurted it out at their leavers’ awards ceremony and had gushed endlessly about how proud the school was of Carrie’s superb achievements.
Carrie had rolled her eyes in despair and lowered her head into her shoulders as she tried not to be noticed by the other pupils.
But then the posters had been pasted up in town. The boy band Half Past Blue, were playing a two day gig at Harrow’s biggest public park and, right in the middle of the publicity photograph for the band, Carrie could be seen quite clearly. She was in the back-ground right behind the lead singer, arms pumping, hair flying, dancing like fury.
Carrie had tried to talk to Jennifer about it all again, but she still wouldn’t listen and in the end Carrie gave up. If Jennifer couldn’t get over it then that was her problem not Carrie’s. All Carrie could think about was how much hard work it all involved. She came home every night, shattered from all the rehearsals. Every bone in her body ached, muscles she never knew she had screamed in pain and on top of that, her social life was completely down the pan because most of her so called friends were green with envy and could barely speak to her for jealousy.
Carrie found the whole merry-go-round of emotions very wearing. While she loved and wanted to dance, it was now becoming a serious commitment and she would be giving up her summer holidays too. The band’s tour would take them around the whole country and the dancers had to follow them. In some ways she didn’t want to go, but in others it was all so exciting.
She sometimes lay in bed at night, unable to sleep even though she was exhausted, with the whole mad affair running over and over through her head.
The invigilator gave the signal that they could all leave and the examination hall started to empty. She stood up, shoved her chair beneath her desk and made for the door.
It was only as she pushed through the swing doors of the sports hall that she noticed Jennifer and her friends. They were standing just to the side of the entrance, staring at her as she approached.
Carrie gave them a hopeful smile. Perhaps now that they were leaving school they could all be friends again.
But her heart sank as she reached them. Their hard expressions didn’t change, and as she made to walk through the gap, they suddenly all surged forwards together, smashing the heavy hall doors back towards her.
Carrie looked disbelievingly at Jennifer through the thick glass partition and noticed the sly, twisted smile spreading across her lips just as she tried to fend off the door but it was far too late to stop the collision from happening. She was hemmed in, jammed sideways between the wall and the door.
Searing pain shot through her whole body and the next thing she knew, she was clutching at the top of her right arm almost unable to breathe through the agony.
Someone beside her was speaking, but her brain couldn’t register the words. Then one of the teachers was in front of her, steering her away from where she was crushed behind the door. He sat her down on one of the now vacant exam chairs while Carrie fought darkness as she thought she was going to pass out with the pain.
The next few moments were a blur of shouting and confusion and then suddenly someone blocked out the light.
Daniel Lewis squatted in front of her, his beautiful blue eyes on a level with her own grey ones. His huge hands rested on her shoulder, his heat travelling through her shirt to the agonized joint below and taking some of the pain away. She shook her head, trying to clear her fuzzy brain but stopped as burning agony shot up her neck.
Then Daniel spoke to her, but she didn’t know what he was saying. The screaming pain in her shoulder drowned out his gentle voice. All she could see was his lips moving sensuously. She wriggled under his hand and winced as the searing jolt brought her mind back into focus. She tried to concentrate on his words.
“Sit still Carrie. I think your shoulder is dislocated. At the very least it’s a nasty sprain. You’re going to have to go to the hospital and have some x-rays. Come on, I just finished my last exam too so I’ll take you to A & E. Paul will give us a lift in his car.”
Carrie shook her head, ignoring the burning sensation in her neck, her eyes fearful as she realized exactly what he was saying. She gasped aloud as more pain shot through her shoulder and neck.
“No!” She gasped frantically and then gulped for more air. “I can’t go to A & E. If they strap me up I won’t be allowed to dance. The tour starts in three weeks. It’s all organized. I have to be in it. I can’t let that cow beat me down any more. Please Dan, you know what to do. You took that course on injuries. Paul’s shoulder came out during practice last year and you put it back in yourself. Just do what you did then and I’ll be fine.” Carrie gritted her teeth through the throbbing.
Daniel’s blue eyes pierced her as he sat back on his heels, his brows furrowed. He shook his head.
“No way Carrie. I can’t do it. It was different with Paul. He’s a bloke for a start and built to take pain like that, you’re not. You’re so small and fragile I could make things worse and then you might never get full strength back in it. That would ruin your chances of a dancing career forever. I can’t take the risk.”
Tears began to run down her face. She blinked them away furiously hissed determinedly.
“Please Dan. Don’t take me to the hospital. If you can put it back in place, I can rest it for the next couple of weeks. Paul was playing right after you did his, I saw him.” She was begging him quietly, not wanting the hovering teacher to overhear her words. “Just give it a try, I promise you can take me to the hospital if you can’t get it back in first time, okay. Go on Dan, please, just one try.” She bargained, her eyes never leaving his.
Daniel hesitated and then shook his head again. His skin had paled and he looked as if he were about to be sick.
“It’s going to be too painful. Carrie, I don’t want to hurt you. I can’t. Please don’t make me.”
Carrie took a deep breath, narrowed her eyes and glared at him as she spoke with a voice of steel.
“Do it Daniel. I’m not nearly as fragile as you seem to think. I can take a bit of pain. Can’t you see, if you don’t try for me, then Jennifer Crane wins. Do you really want to see her gloating all over me saying that I’m a weaking.” She paused as she watched his expression harden and then pressed home her advantage. “Do it now Daniel.” She pressed her lips tightly together and set her jaw as she stared hard at him.
He stared back, hesitating for just one more moment before his eyes became even more intense, and then he nodded firmly. She closed her eyes as he pushed her hair back behind her neck and scrutinized her shoulder carefully, touching her lightly as he looked. Then he moved his hands a fraction, feeling around her shoulder joint, pressing with a gentle pressure on her skin. He grasped her arm more firmly between his palms as he spoke gently into her ear.
“Look at me Carrie. Open your eyes and look right at me.” He breathed quietly and shifted back an inch or two. She lifted her dark lashes and gasped. His gaze was burning into hers as his grip tightened and Carrie gazed right back at him as she clamped her teeth together.
There was a sudden sickening crunch echoing around the hall. Carrie didn’t understand what the noise was for a second, and then a wall of agony slammed into her. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out and then the room began to spin as she fell forwards into Daniel’s outstretched arms, her head slamming into the rock hard wall of his chest.
The next second she was being lifted from the chair. Daniel swept her up into his arms and fended off with a harsh look the teacher who came rushing up, demanding to know what Daniel had done.
Daniel’s extreme height and confident manner had the teacher backing off just seconds later.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry, she’s fine. Just a bit faint. I’m a qualified first-aider. She’s my neighbour so I can take her home. Her mum’s there. She’ll be better off with her family.” The teacher looked relieved that he wasn’t going to be held up and the small crowd that had gathered around them parted as Daniel carried her from the hall.
He strode out into the corridor, Carrie’s head flopping limply against his shoulder, his huge arms cradling her gently. Daniel looked around the corridor frantically. He lifted his chin as he spotted his friend.
“Hey, Paul! Over here! Get your car out the front! We need to take Carrie home now!” He yelled over the crowd to his best friend. Paul looked surprised for a moment and then noticed Carrie’s wilting form cradled in is friend’s arms. He shoved through the curious crowd.
“What the hell happened?” Paul stood astonished for a second. He fell into step beside his best friend as they moved away from the staring pupils and strode quickly down the corridor.
Daniel looked very worried. He bit his lip to stop the concern coming out in his voice.
“I just shoved her shoulder back into place. Some bunch of idiots slammed the fire doors on her as she came out of the hall and knocked it right out of its socket. I was just coming out of my last exam and saw the whole thing. They did it on purpose Paul. They wanted to injure her.” He sounded appalled.
Paul narrowed his eyes and winced as he shoved pupils aside, clearing the way to the doors.
“Bastards!” He growled with conviction. “Have they any idea what an injury like that can do? That could finish your career. They need their bloody necks wringing. And she let you put it back in? Shit, that’s gonna hurt man. Damn near killed me when you did mine.” He winced at the memory and glanced down at Carrie again. “You think she’s okay? She looks pretty pale.”
Daniel gazed down at Carrie, an almost bewildered look covering his face.
“She’s always pale Paul. I don’t think she looks any paler than normal. I think she’s just gone faint from the pain. At least I’m hoping that’s what it is. It went back in okay, mad
e a horrible crunch but then it slipped right back into the socket, didn’t even feel like anything tore. I just want to get her out of here so I can check it out properly without half the school as an audience.” Daniel stared at Carrie’s paler than pale face. Even her lips had lost their usual rosy colour.
Paul strode out in front of Daniel, driving a path through the crowds of curious students who had just finished their exams.
“I’ll get the car. You need to sign her out?” He called over his shoulder as he began to jog along the corridor.
Daniel shook his head.
“Don’t think so. That was her last exam so I think we can just leave. I’ll meet you at the gate.”
Carrie could hear them talking above her, but she felt as though she wasn’t really there. She wasn’t in pain any longer, but there was a strange numbness down one side of her neck. She tried to twist her head, but Daniel clamped the palm of his warm hand hard against the side of her face and pressed her into his iron chest. He glanced down and gave a grim smile.
“No, don’t move until I can take a proper look at you. We’re going to take you back to mine. If there’s any problem at all we can take you on to the hospital from there.”
Carrie found her voice at last.
“Why your place Dan? Why not take me home? My mum will be there.” She sounded horribly weak and feeble.
Daniel raised his eyebrows as he glanced down at her again.
“I thought the whole point of me putting you back together was so that no one found out about it. Your mum will have you out of that dance group in a flash if she knows what happened. She’d probably be right to do it too. God Carrie, I feel awful. I shouldn’t have done it.” His guilt ridden voice was agonized and he clutched her closer to him.
Silent Treatment Page 3
