Amy

by Mary Hooper

  The thing was, it was such a very real dream. So vivid and detailed. I could hear the seagulls far off, and to one side I could see my discarded clothes and my sunglasses, and the blue plastic cool box open behind Zed. Strangest of all, when he turned round to put the camera down, I saw that he had a birthmark over his lower back. A large splodge of dark red – I think they call it a port-wine mark – low down around his waist and side and over his bottom. What a weird thing to see in a dream, I thought.

  I recalled the dream in every detail, and then I must have fallen into a really deep sleep – it being Sunday and the shop being shut, Mum didn’t come in to wake me up until eleven. Then I had to have the third degree all over again: How had I got on with Beaky, did she have brothers and sisters, what were her mum and dad like? – stuff like that.

  I got rid of Mum in the end and just lay in bed for a while, going over the day before and thinking about the weird dream I’d had. For some reason, I didn’t feel that I wanted to speak to Zed. I wasn’t ready yet.

  I felt strange about him. I tried to remind myself of the nice, funny, easy relationship we’d had on the messenger service, but I couldn’t stop seeing him in the dream – bending over me, touching me, arranging me. I sent him a quick email just to let him know I’d got home all right, but I didn’t log on to chat. That could wait.

  * * *

  The next morning, getting ready for school, I was rubbing after-sun cream into my arms when I noticed that my moonstone ring was gone. I couldn’t remember taking it off when I’d got in on Saturday night, either, although the silver bracelet was back in my jewellery box.

  I thought back further and realised that I must have left it at Zed’s office. I’d gone to the loo there and taken it off while I washed my hands, so I’d probably left it on the white marble shelf.

  I decided that I’d message Zed that evening – and then thought it would be better still to ring him at work, so he could send someone into the loo there and then to have a look for it. I’d ring him at lunchtime from the phone box just outside our school gates.

  Beaky was waiting outside the shop for me, just as she’d been waiting for the last week or so. ‘You got back all right, then?’ she asked a bit awkwardly. ‘Was he all right?’

  I nodded. ‘Fantastic. We had a brilliant day.’

  ‘What did you do?’ I looked at her hard and she added hastily, ‘I don’t mean like that. I mean – did you go to the beach or what?’

  ‘Yeah. It was great. We walked round the town a bit first.’

  ‘What’s it like there?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s all right,’ I said. ‘Quite nice. Posh all along the front but with some grotty back streets.’

  ‘And did you see where he lives?’

  I shook my head. ‘His flat was being redecorated.’

  ‘Oh,’ she said, and I realised how weak that sounded. I wondered to myself then whether he lived in one of the grotty back streets but hadn’t wanted me to know. ‘There’s loads to see down there,’ I went on. ‘He took me to his office and then we walked right out of town along the sea front, right up to the sand dunes.’

  ‘Did you eat at a restaurant?’

  I shook my head. ‘He’d made us a big picnic and we took it to the beach.’ I was going to elaborate, to make it sound really romantic, but Beaky wasn’t the sort of person you tried to impress. Instead, I told her the truth. ‘I wasn’t well, actually. I fell asleep and when I woke up I felt awful and was sick all over the place.’

  She glanced at me and then she gave a giggle. ‘Gross! Did it put him off?’

  ‘Dunno.’ I grinned a bit. ‘It’s not exactly good first date behaviour though, is it – throwing up? Still, at least we were outside.’

  We were quiet for a moment, then she said, ‘But anyway, he was the bloke in the photo. At least he didn’t turn out to be some loony.’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘Of course not.’ But as I said, Beaky wasn’t a person you showed off to and there didn’t seem to be any point in lying to her. ‘Actually, he … he’s not as good looking as I thought he was. He’s only about the same height as me and his teeth are horrible.’

  ‘What sort of horrible?’

  ‘Decayed and uneven. And he’s got one of those big eye-teeth in the front.’

  ‘Like Dracula?’ she asked.

  ‘Exactly.’ I felt a bit horrible criticising him then. I mean, he couldn’t help what he looked like – so I added, ‘Apart from that it all went OK. He didn’t seem to mind about me being sick. And he’s nice. Really nice.’

  That morning at school I managed to tell two people about the date, and I heard one of them relating it to Bethany later, so at least they knew about it. At lunchtime, as I made my way to the phone box outside the school, I was feeling OK and I’d shaken off the weird spaced-out-and-sick feeling. Maybe, I thought, I’d just had a touch of the sun.

  I got the number of Burlington Office Supplies from Directory Enquiries, and while their number was ringing I pictured the office as I’d seen it on Saturday. I wondered who would answer it. Zed himself, with a bit of luck.

  It was a woman, though. ‘Burlington Office Supplies all your needs! Fiona speaking!’ she trilled in a silly voice.

  ‘Could I speak to Adam, please?’ I asked.

  There was a pause. ‘Adam who?’

  ‘I’m, er, not sure of his second name,’ I said. ‘He’s a manager there. Or some sort of salesman,’ I added awkwardly.

  ‘I’m afraid we have no one of that name working for us,’ she said. ‘Not a salesman and certainly not a manager.’

  I stared out of the phone booth window, mystified. ‘But there must be,’ I said.

  ‘Just a moment.’ She put her hand over the mouthpiece and I heard her ask, ‘We haven’t got anyone called Adam working here, have we? Did we have someone recently?’

  She came back and said, ‘I’m sorry, but there’s no one of that name. And as far as I can remember, we haven’t had anyone here by that name at all.’

  Stunned, I said, ‘Is there … do you have a Matthew, then?’

  ‘I thought it was Adam you wanted?’

  ‘Well,’ I said slowly, ‘he might be known as Matthew. Or Zed.’

  ‘It all sounds rather odd,’ she said. ‘But no, I’m afraid we’ve got no Adams, Matthews or Zeds.’

  ‘That is Burlington Office Supplies? In the Global Business Park at Hurley-on-Sea?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘I’m almost positive he works there. Could he be on a different floor or something?’

  ‘No, there’s just us. We’re all one big happy family!’ she said. ‘Can anyone else help you at all?’

  ‘That’s all right,’ I said, and because I didn’t know what else to say, I just put down the receiver.

  What on earth was going on?

  I went back into school and told Beaky what had happened. She shook her head, puzzled. ‘What if he was on a short-term contract or something? Maybe he’s left there.’

  ‘But someone would have known him, wouldn’t they? She said they’re all there together, on one floor.’

  ‘Maybe you’ve got the wrong place.’

  ‘No, I asked the girl. It was Burlington Office Supplies in the Global Business Park. There can’t be more than one of those, can there?’

  ‘I shouldn’t think so,’ she said slowly, looking as puzzled as I was. ‘I dunno. Sounds mad. Doesn’t make sense.’

  Baffled, we began to walk back towards the school doors. As we did so, Bethany and Lou came past, whistling. I realised they were whistling the birdie song and I just looked up and gave them a filthy look.

  ‘Ooh dear. Amy looks a little bit annoyed with us,’ Bethany said.

  ‘Perhaps she’s been pecked by a birdie!’ said Lou, and they shrieked with laughter.

  ‘Drop dead,’ I said. I couldn’t have cared less about them right then. I was too worried about what was going on with Zed.

  Section 10

  Begins w
ith text conversation (vi), also text conversation (vii)

  Text conversation (vi)

  B: Hi! Who’s online?

  S: Just little ole me!

  B: Hello, Sexylegs. Is Zed around?

  S: Haven’t heard from him 2nite. Hey, how did the date go?

  B: Fine. GR8.

  S: Good. Had a pretty hot time myself on Sat nite!

  B: Someone U met online?

  S: Nah. A punter. Someone who came in the club.

  B: Are you supposed to date customers?

  S: No! But who’s telling? And wow, did he know what it was about!

  B: !

  S: So U had a cool time with Zed, did U?

  B: Yeah.

  S: You’re not telling me much! What occurred? Did U lose your virginity?

  B: That’s none of your business.

  S: Don’t be like that! Rn’t we friends? We’re both girlies.

  B: I did lose something – my moonstone ring. I left it in the loo in Zed’s office.

  S: Maybe Zed will buy you another one. Are you going down there again?

  B: Don’t know yet.

  S: Will U stay the nite next time?

  B: Don’t know that, either. I wasn’t that well when I was down there.

  S: MayB you’re allergic to Zed. Move over, Buzybee!

  B: Do U know where Zed works?

  S: A stationery office or something. He’s a sales manager.

  B: That’s what I thought. I’ve been in the office. He took me to it.

  S: So?

  B: So when I phoned there today to ask about my ring, they said they’d never heard of him.

  B: LO, Sexylegs – U still there?

  S: You must have got onto the wrong place.

  B: Maybe. I wish Zed was around so I could ask. Did you say he hadn’t been on today?

  S: Nah. Chatted 2 him yesterday, though. He told me all about your date.

  B: So U knew already – about me being sick.

  S: Yeah. I wanted to hear it from your angle, though. Just food poisoning I xpect. UOK now?

  B: Yeah.

  S: Gotta go. Gotta put on the full slap ready to go and pull those punters.

  B: CU, then.

  S: CU, Babes!

  She logged off, and when I tried a moment later to get her, just to check whether she’d gone offline or not, the message came up: Sexylegs is no longer online.

  I sat and stared at my screen, thinking. There was something odd going on, but I couldn’t work out what it was. Something about her, and something about Zed. Were they together? An item?

  It was six-thirty. I decided to go online again in an hour’s time to try and speak to Zed. With my thumb, I felt again the bare space on my finger where my moonstone ring usually sat. There had to be some sort of explanation.

  I went downstairs to the kitchen and had something to eat, and was just going up to my bedroom again, not thinking about anything in particular, when there was a sort of flash in my head and then clearly – all too clearly – the dream I’d had the night before was being re-enacted all over again. I was lying on the sand dunes and couldn’t move, and Zed was looming over me, smoothing down my hair, smiling at me, stroking me, moving me about as if I was a doll. He stood up and turned and I could see the strangely shaped birthmark, like a large blood-red blot. And then the vision, or whatever it was, receded and I was back on the stairs again. It had been like – well, the only thing I can think is when you turn over onto a different programme on the TV, look at it for a moment and then turn back again. For just one instant you get a whole, complete picture, and then it disappears.

  I stopped walking upstairs and, shuddering all over, held on tightly to the banister. What was going on? Why had I suddenly remembered the dream? Usually dreams fade as time goes on, become more and more fuzzy until they disappear from your mind altogether and you can hardly remember them. This, though, this flashback or whatever it had been, had been more vivid than the dream itself.

  I went upstairs and logged on, but there was something wrong with the connection and I couldn’t get through to the messenger service. I looked on one of the music networks for details of when one of my favourite bands was touring, and then about half an hour later the little symbol at the bottom of the screen started flashing and the message came up: Zed has logged on.

  Not quite sure what I was going to say, I clicked my mouse to say that I was there too.

  Text conversation (vii)

  Z: Hi, Babes. How RU?

  B: Hi, Zed. Didn’t think I’d hear from you this L8.

  Z: Only just got back to the office. We had this important meeting all afternoon and then we went for nosh, so I couldn’t log on before. Anyway, where U been? I thought U would log on to chat yesterday.

  B: Sorry. I didn’t feel good.

  Z: Not being sick again?

  B: Just felt funny.

  Z: OK now?

  B: Yeah.

  Z: It was cool having you down here. We had a GR8 day, didn’t we? Apart from you being sick, that is.

  B: Yeah. It was good.

  Z: It’s a shame about your ring.

  B: :-o! How did you know about that?

  Z: They told me at the office.

  B: But when I rang, they said they’d never heard of U!

  Z: They would say that. Jokers, they are. Think they’re funny.

  B: The girl who answered the phone asked around and no one knew U.

  Z: Sad, eh? They think they’re comedians.

  B: What name do you use at work?

  Z: My real one, of course. Adam.

  B: I can’t believe they did that to me. What if my call had been really urgent?

  Z: They’d still have done it. We’re always getting 1 over on each other. Other day 1 guy had a wreath delivered to his mate on the next desk with RIP on it.

  B: And they think that’s funny, do they?

  Z: Blokes, eh?

  B: So were you there all the time?

  Z: Not when you called. I was out at the meeting.

  B: Oh. But my ring wasn’t in the loo?

  Z: One of the girls looked and it wasn’t. Maybe you left it somewhere else. Maybe it fell off in the sand dunes?

  B: Maybe.

  Z: But I’ll get U another, Babes. U come down here again and I’ll buy U whatever U want. I’ve got a bonus coming this month. I reached my target – Salesman of the Month.

  B: That’s good.

  Z: So, when RU coming down again?

  B: Soon.

  Z: Maybe I’ll invite Sexylegs down 2!

  B: Have U spoken 2 her today?

  Z: Nah. Been out of the office – I told you. Spoke to her yesterday, though. She’s quite keen 2 come down here.

  B: Yeah. So she said.

  Z: So, what sort of day did you have? Not much longer till the end of term, eh?

  B: Few days. Sorry, Zed, I’ve got to log off. My dad wants to use the phone line.

  Z: So soon! OK, Babes. UB good, mind!

  B: Sure. Bye!

  Z: Love and kisses.

  I logged off and then just sat there, stunned. OK, it was plausible, just about, that what he’d said was true, that he really did work in that office and that his mates had just been having a laugh. But – well, I was sure the girl who answered hadn’t been messing around when she’d said he didn’t work there. She just hadn’t sounded the type.

  There was another, bigger thing troubling me, though: when I’d rung the office and spoken to her, I hadn’t mentioned the ring at all.

  But Zed knew all about it now.

  What was going on?

  I phoned Beaky. We’d swopped phone numbers the other day at school but it was the first time I’d actually rung her. Part of me realised that it was a landmark, that it signalled that we were friends, but I couldn’t be bothered to think about that now. I asked her if she could just drop everything and come round for an hour or so.

  ‘Something funny’s happened,’ I said, when she was up in my
room with the door shut. I told her Zed had said that the people in his office had just been messing about, and she listened quietly, head on one side, like a, well, a bit like a bird, really.

  ‘I definitely didn’t tell the girl in the office anything about the ring,’ I said, ‘but now he knows all about it. I told Sexylegs, but then she said she was going to work and she logged off. I checked she was logged off, too. And Zed said he hadn’t spoken to her since yesterday.’

  Beaky was quiet for a while, thinking, and then she said, ‘I think there’s something funny about this Sexylegs person. I was thinking that the other day – when you told me she said that she’d go down and see Zed herself.’

  ‘D’you think they’re down there together?’ I asked suddenly. ‘D’you think she works with him in the office or something, and maybe that’s why she pretended he wasn’t there?’

  Beaky shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think that,’ she said.

  ‘They, they sort of talk the same,’ I said, and I suddenly remembered something. ‘She called me “Babes” tonight! He always calls me that.’

  Beaky was silent, frowning.

  ‘What do you think, then?’ I asked her.

  ‘He showed you round the office, did you say? The office where no one knows him?’

  ‘Yeah. He showed me his desk – his computer. His two computers, actually.’ Beaky gave a little cry and I looked at her. ‘He said he uses two different computers because they hot-desk,’ I said. ‘What are you thinking?’

  ‘It would be easy,’ she said, ‘with two computers. I mean, you could do it with one, but it would be tricky. With two, it would be OK though.’