by Cathy Cole
Overwhelmed by everything, Lila felt the tears squeezing from the corners of her eyes. She didn’t want to cry but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t deserve any of this. She was so tired of everything. Never before had the thought of London felt so appealing. She leaned her face into her knees and closed her eyes.
When she felt uncomfortably numb and cold, she got to her feet again. If she spread out her hands, she could almost touch the walls of her prison. The frosted glass in the tiny window looked thick and unbreakable. Fear gripped her round the throat. Food kept better in airtight conditions. How long before the oxygen ran out?
Stop terrifying yourself, Lila commanded. Do something!
She walked back to the door, folded her fingers into a fist and started pounding again. Someone was bound to come eventually. Weren’t they?
“Let me out! Let me out!”
She shouted until her throat felt raw, and hammered until her hands felt bruised.
Finally, the door opened.
“Lila?”
Lila gaped at her dad, standing there in his full police uniform. She felt a strange mixture of relief and apprehension.
“What are you doing here, Dad?”
Her father sighed. “I was going to ask you the same question! We’ve been looking for you everywhere. What happened?”
A hundred accusations jumped through Lila’s head, quicker than lightning. The urge to get Eve Somerstown into trouble was overwhelming. But why would he believe her?
“Why were you hiding in here?” her dad asked with a frown.
He thought she’d been hiding? Lila wanted to groan. He didn’t trust her any more than he had in London.
“I was . . . locked in,” she managed.
“But what were you doing in here in the first place?” Still frowning, he looked around at the tins of beans, the huge plastic bottles of mustard and barbecue sauce. He snapped his gaze back towards at her. “I hope you weren’t up to anything.”
“I got locked in,” Lila repeated numbly. She couldn’t say it was Eve. Her father would only lecture her about blaming other people for your own mistakes. She’d heard that lecture a hundred times. And even if, by some miracle, he did believe her, Eve would make her life in Heartside Bay even more difficult than it already was. It wasn’t worth it.
Her father fixed her with a hard stare. “Do you know who set off the fire alarm?”
“The person who found the fire, I guess,” Lila said.
She hated herself for lying. Her first lie in Heartside Bay. So much for a new start.
“It was a false alarm,” her father said, watching her closely. “Someone tripped it on purpose.”
“Oh?”
Her father waited for her to say something else. Lila kept her mouth shut. He sighed, a familiar mix of disappointment and disbelief.
“Come on, then,” he said impatiently. He held open the pantry door. “Your friends have been worrying about you.”
Lila followed him slowly out of the kitchen, towards the open back door. She was almost knocked over by Eve, who came racing towards her.
“Lila!” Eve’s eyes were wide and anxious. “Are you OK? We’ve all been going crazy with worry! One minute you were with us as we left the building – and the next minute we couldn’t see you anywhere! You scared the life out of us!”
Lila’s whole body went rigid as Eve pulled her into a tight hug. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn’t this! Over Eve’s shoulder she could see the others gathered in the Heartbeat Café’s back garden: Rhi and Max, Ollie and Polly. They were all looking as surprised as Lila.
“How are you?” Eve insisted, as if she hugged Lila every day.
“Aren’t you going to answer your friend?” said her father.
“I’m . . . fine,” Lila said at last.
Being hugged by Eve felt like being choked by a poisonous jungle vine. After several seconds, Eve gave the appearance of reluctantly letting go.
“However can we thank you for finding her, Officer?” Eve said, looking up through her long eyelashes at Lila’s dad.
“It’s Chief Murray,” he said. “I’m Lila’s father.”
Polly was the only one of the group whose face wasn’t a picture of shock. It would have been funny if it hadn’t been so embarrassing. Now she wasn’t just the new girl trying to steal Ollie, but the daughter of Heartside’s new police chief as well. Can you be a double pariah? Lila wondered in despair.
“Wow,” said Eve, recovering first. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Chief Murray. I’m Eve, Eve Somerstown. My father has already told me a lot about you. I had no idea you were Lila’s father!”
Lila was pleased to see that Eve’s charm offensive totally failed. Her dad simply nodded, patted his pocket and pulled out a notebook.
“Can any of you tell me what happened in here this afternoon?” he asked, looking round at everyone.
“There was a fire,” said Eve. She looked sweetly confused. “Wasn’t there?”
“Someone pulled the alarm under false pretences. It has caused a great deal of confusion, and has lost the Heartside Café valuable business. They are understandably angry, and would like to discover the culprit.”
Was she imagining it, Lila wondered unhappily, or did her dad shoot her a particular glance when he said that?
“None of us would do something like that on purpose,” said Rhi.
The others looked just as shocked at the suggestion that someone had set the alarm off for fun. Lila had a feeling she was the only one who knew the truth.
“Lila?” her father rapped. “Have you remembered anything useful yet?”
Lila knew she should tell him the truth. Her dad hadn’t risen through the ranks of the police for nothing. He could spot a lie a mile off.
“No,” she said. “Nothing.”
Her father raised his eyebrows. “You don’t remember who locked the pantry door on you either, I suppose?”
Lila could feel Eve’s gaze boring into her. She shook her head. Perhaps her silence would make Eve like her a bit more. She hated herself for wanting Eve to like her.
With a sigh, her father put his notebook away. “Time to go home, everyone. Lila, I’ll give you a lift.”
Eve towed Ollie away. Rhi did the same with Max. Lingering briefly, Polly gave Lila a look that was part sympathy, part something else. Before Lila could put her finger on it, her father had taken her firmly by the arm.
“The car’s out the front.”
Lila had barely settled herself in the front seat of her dad’s squad car before it began.
“I don’t like the crowd you’ve got involved with, Lila,” her father began, turning the car around and heading out of the town centre. “How can you expect me to trust you when something like this happens and you lie to me?”
Lila wanted to say she hadn’t lied. But she had. So she stayed quiet.
“Heartside Bay is supposed to be a fresh start,” her father continued.
Lila closed her eyes. She knew what was coming next.
“I think,” said her father seriously, “you need to spend some time thinking about why we moved here in the first place. We cannot have that happen again.”
THIRTEEN
Lila kept to herself for the next couple of days. It wasn’t hard, because Polly, Ollie and, weirdly, Josh were the only people who spoke to her. Polly was acting like the whole thing at the Heartbeat Café had never happened, while Ollie gave her lots of flirty smiles, which Lila appreciated. Josh said hi when they saw each other in class, but still not much else. The rest of the school continued to ignore her in the classroom, corridor and canteen like she had a contagious disease. She heard a few whispers on Thursday afternoon about her dad being the new chief of police as she walked around with her head bowed over her books. The gossip hadn’t taken long to get around.
/> After the Heartside Café disaster, her dad had told her to come straight home after school for the rest of the week. The weather was vile on Thursday, so she had been glad to trudge up the hill back to her cosy room. Now that everything was unpacked, it was starting to feel more like home. Lila sorted out her bookshelves and clothes cupboards, throwing out old Lil-style outfits and trying not to dream of Ollie. But Friday dawned bright and clear, and by lunchtime she was feeling stir crazy and craving a walk to the beach.
It hadn’t taken long for the seaside to take hold of Lila’s heart. There was something about the wide horizon, the scudding waves, the gulls and the smell of salt and the sense of a huge world beyond the sea that made her feel better than anywhere else in Heartside. She took herself down to the beach as soon as she finished lunch. Polly would probably have come with her, she thought, but today she wanted to be alone.
She stood with her feet in the sand and her hands deep in her pockets, the wind tugging at her hair and cheeks. There was a ship on the horizon, sending plumes of smoke from its stacks into the blue sky. Lila wished she was on it, and sailing far away from here, somewhere where the ocean and the clouds above were all she could see.
Josh was sitting in his usual place by the pier, drawing in his sketchbook. An apple sat beside him. As if he felt her looking, he glanced up. Their eyes met.
Lila wasn’t sure what to do. Should she call out? Go over and speak to him? She settled for lifting her hand awkwardly and waving. His pencil looked like a conductor’s baton as he waved it back.
Her phone started buzzing. Still wondering about Josh, Lila answered it without thinking.
The voice on the other end was deep, with a hint of an accent.
“I thought you were never going to answer your phone, Lil.”
Blood rushed into Lila’s cheeks. “Santiago?”
“Of course it’s me. It’s so good to hear your voice. How are you?”
What was she doing? Hang up! she told herself urgently. But her fingers wouldn’t obey.
“I’m broken-hearted, baby,” he whispered. “I miss you so much, I am thinking of tattooing your initials on my left arm, to match the right. I need to talk to you.”
She glanced at her own tattoo. It had seemed like such a romantic thing to do – to get each other’s initials etched on to their wrists. She’d been such an idiot. Now, even though the tattooist had reworked the initials so they looked like an abstract pattern, she could still see the SG threaded through the centre of the swirling heart. He was, quite literally, in her blood.
“Talking’s not a crime, you know,” he said temptingly.
His words reminded Lila of what she’d said to Eve in the Heartbeat Café. Talking to a guy wasn’t the same as seeing him, was it? She and Ollie were proof of that. In the midst of the mess that surrounded her in this strange new place, all Lila wanted was to feel normal. It would be so nice, just talking to someone who liked her. Someone she didn’t have to explain things to, or hide who she really was from.
“Fine,” she said, feeling a strange mixture of relief and guilt. “Let’s talk.”
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said at once. “When can I see you?”
Whoa! she thought, feeling alarmed. This was already getting out of hand. She should have hung up when she had the chance.
“It’s difficult,” she said helplessly. “I’m here, you’re in London. It’s over.”
His voice caressed her. “Heartside is not so far away. I can come and visit. I like the sea.”
“No,” Lila said quickly. “That would be a really bad idea. My parents would kill me if they knew I was talking to you—”
“Why do they need to know?”
She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “This is a fresh start for me, Santiago. Don’t you understand? No more lies.”
“There’s a difference between lying and not saying anything at all, Lil. Meet me. Please?”
A memory of Santiago’s dark, laughing eyes and thick ebony-coloured hair made Lila’s heart thud. They had spent some great times together. He was exciting and a little dangerous and for a while it had seemed so refreshing that he didn’t just follow the rules like everyone else. Maybe she could meet him. . .
You’re Lila now, not Lil! she told herself with some desperation. She had to be strong.
“No,” she said. She felt calm again suddenly, knowing she’d made the right decision. “Please don’t call or text me again, Santiago. You know I can’t see you.”
With the last threads of her resolve, she hung up. Then she turned the phone off completely and stuffed it deep into her pocket. It pushed against the notes from her locker, making them crinkle.
She focused on her surroundings again, feeling dazed by the aching feeling in her heart. Realizing Josh wasn’t sitting by the pier any more, she checked her watch – and gasped. Class started in ten minutes. If she didn’t hurry, she would be late!
This is your fault, Santiago! she thought angrily, running as fast as she could to the steps leading up from the beach to the road. He was still making trouble for her, even from a distance.
Lila made it back into the reception area as the first bell went. She sped down the corridor, relieved that no one else was around, and threw herself through the door of her classroom just in time.
“Cutting it a bit fine, aren’t you?” said Polly as Lila collapsed, panting, in her chair.
Lila paused. She still wasn’t sure how Polly felt about the way she had vanished with Ollie on Wednesday.
Polly grinned, and Lila felt her shoulders drop in relief. Maybe they were OK after all.
She was about to open her bag and pull out her books when one of the school secretaries put her head around the door.
“Can Lila Murray go to the office, please?”
There were a few mutters, and a couple of glances in Lila’s direction. Eve smiled sweetly and drew her finger across her throat. Panicking, Lila got to her feet. What had she done?
Maybe I wasn’t meant to leave the school building at lunch, she thought nervously, following the secretary down the corridor. Had she broken a rule without realizing? She could imagine how well that would go down with her dad – especially this week. Josh must have told someone he’d seen her. But he wouldn’t do that, would he? You never knew, with Josh. If I’m not allowed on the beach in the day, then surely he isn’t either, she reminded herself, twisting her hands together as she reached the office door.
“Wait here, please,” rapped the secretary.
She sank into a comfy chair. It probably wasn’t Josh. But being called to the office was never good. She had learned that in London. She felt sick to her stomach. What more could go wrong?
FOURTEEN
The secretary reappeared with a frown on her face. Lila leaped to her feet, filled with dread.
“I don’t know how it worked in London, Miss Murray,” said the secretary coldly, “but at Heartside, the students don’t have personal mail delivered to the school. Don’t let it happen again.”
Lila stared at the letter in the secretary’s hand. She didn’t understand.
The secretary waved the letter impatiently at her. “Aren’t you going to take it?”
Lila took the letter. Her heart started to race at the familiar handwriting on the envelope. Lila Murray, 10Y.
“Thanks,” she stammered. Her brain was bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. Another note! What would this one say?
“Back to class now,” said the secretary, and shut the office door.
Lila clutched the letter, feeling the grain of the paper between her fingers. Just holding it made her feel happy. She almost didn’t want to open it and break the spell. Walking slowly back down the corridor, she turned into the girls’ toilets and locked herself in a cubicle. Her fingers trembled as she prised open the flap.
Meet me at midnight on Saturday? There’s a hidden cove in the cliffs, along from the main beach. Take the path by Kissing Island.
I’ll be there waiting.
Lila’s heart skipped at the thought of meeting her admirer on the beach. Surely it must be Ollie. Would it be a full moon tomorrow night? She almost swooned about how romantic that would be.
Thoughts of Ollie stayed in her mind. He wanted to remember their first kiss. What could be more romantic than kissing on a secret beach at midnight? She folded the letter up carefully and tucked it back inside its envelope. If she was going to do this, it would require careful planning.
Lila paced impatiently in her bedroom on Saturday evening, waiting for the doorbell. When it rang, she took the stairs three at a time.
“Hey,” she said breathlessly. “Come in.”
Polly hefted her overnight bag over her shoulder. “Thanks for inviting me over. I haven’t had a sleepover in ages.” She looked over Lila’s shoulder at the softly lit hallway. Everything had finally been unpacked. There were pictures on the walls, and a coat rack had been screwed into place beside the glass-panelled front door. A round wooden tub at the foot of the stairs held umbrellas and sticks and a few wellington boots. “Are your brothers going to jump out at me again?” she added, a little cautiously.
“They’re out,” Lila replied. “Dad’s working. It’s just me and Mum tonight.” She dragged Polly inside. “Come upstairs, I want to show you something.”
When they reached Lila’s bedroom, Lila pressed the latest note into Polly’s hands.
Polly peered at the handwriting. “Your secret admirer again? What’s that now – two notes?”
