Rumor Has It

by Jill Mansell

  'God, are you sure?'

  'Absolutely. I like clothes. And it's nice in here, friendly and peaceful.'

  'Until you get Stella bursting in, yelling abuse. It's OK,' Erin said hastily, 'she won't do that. I'm the one she's got it in for.'

  'Don't worry. Crikey, is that the time? I'm meant to be at the hairdresser's.' As she paid for the Von Etzdorf scarf, Kaye said wryly, 'See? This is what I'm reduced to, filling my empty days with trips to get my roots done and have my eyelashes tinted. How sad is that?'

  Tilly's phone began to ring. She rummaged in her bag and an swered it.

  'Hello, this is Mrs Heron calling from Harleston Hall.'

  'Oh! Hi!' Mrs Heron, tall and terrifying, was Lou's headmistress. Tilly unconsciously straightened her shoulders and stood to atten tion. 'Is everything all right?'

  'Louisa isn't unwell. But I'm afraid there has been an… incident.' Mrs Heron was choosing her words with care. 'I've been trying to contact Louisa's mother but she isn't answering her phone.'

  'Oh, but she's here!' Covering the receiver, Tilly said to Kaye, 'Where's your phone?'

  'At home, on charge. Who's that?'

  'Mrs Heron.' Belatedly, Tilly thrust the mobile into Kaye's hands.

  'Hello? This is Lou's mum. What's happened?'

  Tilly and Erin watched Kaye's face as she listened intently. Finally she said, 'We're on our way now,' and hung up.

  'What kind of an incident?' Tilly's heart was in her mouth.

  'She said she'd explain everything when I got there. But it's something to do with Eddie Marshall-Hicks.'

  'What?' God, Lou was only thirteen. Surely she hadn't been caught doing something sexual? 'Were they… um, kissing?' Would that warrant a phone call from the headmistress?

  'I don't know. I don't think so.' Shocked and bemused, Kaye said, 'She said there'd been a fracas.'

  A fracas. Well, that didn't sound like a kiss.

  'We'd better call Max.' Tilly reached for the mobile but Kaye snatched it away from her.

  'No, don't. Mrs Heron said not to. Lou doesn't want him to know.'

  Chapter 30

  'SO MUCH FOR SAYING I don't have anything to fill my empty days.' Having called the hairdresser to cancel her appointment, Kaye's imagination was now running riot. 'If that boy has tried anything on with Lou, I'll have him arrested. In fact, I'll rip his throat out with my bare hands.'

  They reached Harleston Hall in record time. Screeching to a halt outside the entrance, Tilly leapt out of the car and raced after Kaye up the stone steps.

  The school secretary was waiting for them in reception. She ushered them through to the head's office and showed them into a high-ceilinged wood-paneled room.

  'Oh my God… sweetheart, what did he do to you?'

  Lou's face was pinched and white. Her shirt was torn and splat tered with mud and there were holes in her black tights. With a sob, Kaye flew across the room and scooped her out of her chair. 'Oh my baby, don't worry, we're calling the police, that boy's going to suffer for this, he'll wish he'd never been born—'

  'Mrs Dineen… er, Ms McKenna, could you please let me speak?' Astrid Heron, imperious behind her desk, indicated with a tilt of her head that Kaye should take the seat next to Lou. 'I think you need to calm down and listen carefully to—'

  'Calm down? CALM DOWN? How can you say that?' bellowed Kaye. 'My daughter's been attacked and we're getting the police here this minute.'

  'Mum, I haven't,' said Lou.

  'But… but…' Kaye gazed wildly from Lou to Mrs Heron to Tilly. 'You said there'd been a fracas.'

  Mrs Heron said grimly, 'That is correct. And I'm afraid your daughter was the instigator. She launched a serious physical assault on another pupil and I'm afraid there will be consequences—'

  'Hang on, you're telling me my daughter attacked someone else? Lou!' Shaking her head in disbelief, Kaye said, 'Is this true? You were actually fighting with another girl? Over Eddie Marshall-Hicks?'

  'Oh Mum, no.' Vehemently, Lou shook her own head. 'How can you even think that? Of course I wasn't fighting with another girl!'

  'Edward Marshall-Hicks is the person she attacked,' said Mrs Heron.

  'What?'

  'I blacked his eye.' Lou was unrepentant. 'And I almost broke his nose.'

  Bloody hell. Tilly, watching from her position at the back of the office, heard the pride in Lou's voice.

  Kaye's hand had flown to her mouth. 'But why? Why would you do that?'

  'Because he deserved it.'

  'But… I thought you liked him.'

  'Mum, I told you I hated him. He's a bastard.'

  'Louisa,' thundered Mrs Heron. 'Aren't you in enough trouble already? I will not tolerate that kind of language in my school.'

  'Oh well, I'm probably expelled anyway.' Lou shrugged and folded her arms. 'In fact, why don't I just clear my locker and leave now?'

  'Stop it!' Kaye was beside herself. 'Stop saying things like that and tell me why you did it.'

  'OK, you really want to know? Because I have put up and up with that brain-dead idiot making pathetic comments and saying horrible stuff and today I decided not to take it anymore. I told him to stop.' Lou's voice rose. 'And he didn't; he just laughed. So I made him stop. And don't ask me to regret it because I don't. I hate Eddie Marshall-Hicks and today I taught him a lesson. Plus, he deserves everything he got.'

  'Oh sweetheart, what's he been saying to you? Has he been making fun of your hair?' Bewildered, Kaye said, 'Is it your freckles?'

  Lou bit her lip and said nothing.

  'Louisa.' Mrs Heron employed her headmistressy don't-mess with-me voice. 'We need to know.'

  'OK, it's not about my red hair. Or my freckles. Believe it or not, it isn't even about my flat chest, my knobbly knees, or my tragic chicken legs. If you must know,' Lou said evenly, 'it's to do with having a dad who's gay.'

  Kaye asked to see Eddie Marshall-Hicks, who was being kept in a separate room. Tilly stayed behind with Lou while Mrs Heron took Kaye through to another smaller office. As the door opened, she braced herself.

  Eddie was standing gazing out of the window. Mr Lewis the PE teacher was sitting on the desk. But now wasn't the time to admire his stupendous physique.

  'Hello, I'm Lou's mum.' Kaye hung on to her handbag; somehow shaking hands didn't seem appropriate. 'I've come to see how you are.'

  Turning, Eddie said, 'I don't know, how do you think I am?'

  Maybe sarcasm was allowable, given the circumstances. His left eye was almost completely closed, his nose was swollen, and there were splashes of blood on the front of his untucked white shirt. He looked as if he'd been set upon by a gang of muggers.

  Kaye experienced a secret surge of pride that her skinny thirteen year-old daughter had managed to wreak such havoc. Calmly, she said, 'I'm sorry this happened. But I gather Lou was provoked.'

  'She just went mental. Started yelling and screaming. Then she launched herself at me and started throwing punches. It was like being attacked by a wild animal,' Eddie said furiously. 'Look what she did to my face!'

  Hooray!

  'He's been thoroughly checked out by matron,' Tom Lewis put in. 'His nose isn't broken. There's no permanent damage to the eye.'

  'Well, that's good. But I'm sure you can understand why Lou was upset,' said Kaye. 'Apparently, you've been making comments about her father for several months.'

  Eddie's face reddened and he stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets. 'It was just a bit of fun.'

  'To you, maybe. It hurt her. A lot.'

  'Oh yeah?' He pointed at his face. 'Snap.'

  The phone began to ring in his pocket at that moment. Eddie checked caller ID and answered it.

  'Dad? Uh… yeah, I know you're busy. Sorry. The school said I had to call and tell you I was in a fight today.' He paused, listened, then said, 'No, nothing serious. I'm fine. And I didn't start it, right? Mrs Heron just said I had to ask if you wanted to come over and talk about it.' Another pause. 'No, that's OK, you
go to your meeting. I'll see you tonight. Bye.' Eddie switched off his phone and mumbled, 'He's got stuff on at work. Anyway, he's cool about it.'

  Tom Lewis looked relieved; evidently, they'd been worried Eddie's father might roar up, all guns blazing and flanked by lawyers at the first mention of assault. Meanwhile, Eddie was torn between embarrassment at having been punched by a girl and the desire to see her punished as a result. But they clearly weren't out of the woods yet. His busy father might well change his mind when he saw the damage that had been done to his formerly handsome son's face. 'She didn't want you to know,' Kaye told Max when he arrived home that evening, 'but I said we had to tell you. Oh Max, she's in a terrible state.'

  Max briefly closed his eyes. And he'd thought today had been stressful, what with Jamie Michaels and Tandy faffing about and finally deciding that the lapis lazuli Italian tiles in the downstairs cloakroom were the wrong shade of lapis lazuli.

  Now this. He pictured Lou being tormented at school because of him and thought his heart would break.

  Shit. Shit. How could he have ever imagined his daughter wouldn't be made to suffer as a result of his own selfishness? His chest tightening, Max left Kaye and Tilly in the living room and made his way upstairs.

  'Oh Daddy, I'm sorry.' As soon as Lou saw him, she burst into tears. 'I told them not to tell you.'

  Max crossed the room. The great thing about a hug was that the person you were hugging couldn't see if your eyes were misting up. Clasping her tightly, he said, 'Don't you dare apologize. It's my fault.'

  'It is not. It's his fault. Boys are just so immature. And ignorant. I hate hate hate Eddie Marshall-Hicks.' Wiping her wet face furiously with the back of her sleeve, Lou said, 'I know I shouldn't have done it, but you know what? I really wish I'd knocked his teeth out.'

  There was a lump in Max's throat. He stroked her bony shoul ders. 'You should have said something before.'

  'I couldn't tell you. And Mum was over in LA when it started.' Lou shrugged. 'Then after a while, you just kind of get used to not saying anything. Boys are horrible, they like to make fun of people. The hilarious thing is, Mum and Tilly both thought I fancied Eddie because they kept seeing us together.' Her lip curled with a mixture of derision and amusement. 'But that was because he was taunting me, saying vile things, and being obnoxious. Once they saw me chasing him and ripping up a piece of paper, and they thought it was a love letter. As if.'

  'What was it?'

  'A horrible note he'd stuck on my back. Don't ask me to tell you what it said.'

  'Oh sweetheart.' Max exhaled slowly. 'What have I put you through?'

  'Dad, this isn't your fault. You're you.'

  So much for thinking that being honest and open about their situation had worked out well. Max now wished with all his heart he'd simply carried on living a lie. The fact that everyone in Roxborough had been fine about it—to his face, at least—had lulled him into a false sense of security. His big mistake had been believing Lou when she'd told him everyone she knew had been fine about it too.

  'I'm not ashamed of you.' As if reading his mind, she said fiercely, 'I'm proud.'

  Oh shit, now she'd stopped crying and he was in danger of breaking down completely. What had he ever done to deserve a daughter like this?

  'Is it just the one guy?' Max's tone was gruff. 'Or more?'

  Lou hesitated for a moment. 'More. But Eddie's the worst.'

  'What about the girls?'

  She shrugged. 'Sometimes they'll laugh at something he says. But they're pretty much OK.'

  'Do you want to switch schools?'

  'No.' Shaking her head and hugging him, Lou said, 'Who's to say any other school would be different? You're always going to get idiots who are too ignorant to know better.'

  'If you ever want to leave, you can. I mean that.'

  She pulled a face. 'I might have to leave. We don't know yet. I could be out on my ear by next week.'

  'I'll make sure that doesn't happen. After what that little bas tard's been putting you through? No way. I'm going to meet up with Mrs Heron tomorrow.' Max gazed at Lou intently. 'One way or another, we'll sort this out.'

  Chapter 31

  THE THING ABOUT FANCYING someone rotten was it made you want to make more of an effort with your appearance so when you bumped into them you could at least relax in the knowledge that you were looking great.

  Not just with the help of makeup either. Clothes too. Even down to and including the underwear. Tilly knew how completely illogi cal this was, but still found herself doing it anyway. Instead of just chucking on any old bra and panties, she was choosing, well, not her best ones, but the really quite good kind that you wouldn't be embar rassed to be seen in. Similarly, she was wearing nicer clothes, taking more care with her hair and makeup, and had upped her leg-shaving rate from once-a-fortnight-if-you're-lucky to twice a week.

  At first she'd tried to pretend it wasn't happening.

  Then she admitted it was happening and pretended she was doing it for herself.

  When Max noticed and started teasing, she told him it was because she'd felt so scruffy compared with Tandy and all her glossy, high-maintenance WAG friends.

  But really Tilly knew it was all for Jack's benefit.

  Which just made the fact that she hadn't clapped eyes on him for the last fortnight all the more infuriating. Every day she'd subtly done herself up, and every damn day he hadn't shown up.

  All in all, it had been a total waste of matching underwear and mascara.

  She didn't even know where he was. Max was going full steam ahead with the Tandy and Jamie refurb. Maybe Jack was away on holiday somewhere. He could have met and fallen for a girl who was occupying all his time. The more Tilly considered this option, the sicker she felt. Or maybe he was just super-busy building up his property empire… yes, that was an easier prospect to handle. Oh God, she was turning into Stella. Was this how the madness took hold, a creeping vine of jealousy stealthily reaching up and up until it tightened around your neck?

  'Yeek!' Lou dodged out of the way as Tilly, not concentrating on the task in hand, accidentally sprayed her with the hose.

  'Sorry, sorry.' But it was a hot day, the warmest of the year so far, so Tilly wasn't too apologetic. Playfully she sprayed her again. Lou danced sideways, spluttering and squealing then darting out of sight behind the garage.

  Amused, Tilly carried on washing and rinsing the car. Any minute now, Lou would race back and attempt to turn the hose on her, but she'd be ready and waiting, and Lou wouldn't get a chance to seize control. Before long, she heard stealthy footsteps on the gravel behind her and gripped the hose tightly. OK, this was it, this time she was going to really soak her from head to—

  'WAAAHHH!' Tilly let out a shriek as a torrent of ice-cold water almost knocked her off her feet. Staggering backwards, she turned and realized, too late, that Lou had flung only half the contents of the bucket at her back. Whoosh, the rest of the water hit its target, drenching the front of her T-shirt, her jeans and her hair.

  'Right, that's it. You're in big trouble now.' Blinking water out of her eyes and shaking herself like a dog, Tilly turned the nozzle on the hose from medium-fine spray to superjet. Clutching the gun in both hands and taking aim Clint Eastwood style, she prepared to squeeze the trigger. 'You're going to wish you hadn't done that.'

  'Help! Child abuse!' Shrieking with laughter as an icy jet hit her in the leg, Lou yelped, 'Someone ring Childline!'

  'Do I win?' Tilly aimed at the other leg.

  'No way! Look, somebody's coming. Now you're the one in trouble.' Lou pointed exaggeratedly behind Tilly, urging her to turn round. 'It's Esther Rantzen, she's come to arrest you.'

  'Yeah yeah.' What did Lou think she was, five years old? 'Of course I'm going to look behind me so you can grab the hose, because I'm that gullible.'

  Lou, hopping from foot to foot, waved her arms at the imaginary rescuer and cried piteously, 'Help, help!'

  Having shaken the water out of her
ears, Tilly belatedly heard the sound of wheels on gravel and realized Lou hadn't been bluffing after all. Although it hopefully wasn't Esther Rantzen. Keeping Lou covered, knees bent and arms outstretched as she maintained a firm grip on the gun, Tilly slowly turned her head.

  Oh sodding buggering poo.

  Did other people actually get through their lives without having this kind of thing happen to them?

  'Jack, help me, Tilly's being cruuuuel…'