Page 11 of Now and Again

‘People don’t get to use violence to solve disputes. Not in my school.’

Riley’s brow wrinkled. ‘For fuck’s sake!’ she said, thumping her fist on Mrs. Traynor’s desk. A picture frame was upset and slid off the desk, falling to the ground with a crack. Juliet was shocked. She thought Riley floated through life on a serene cloud of perfection. She’d never seen this side of her. She was having a shit fit at the deputy head. On her behalf, too.

Mrs. Traynor heaved a sigh. ‘What was that supposed to achieve?’

‘I don’t know!’ Riley said. ‘But you’re just being… you’re being a dictator.’

‘Riley, I didn’t expect this from you. I always thought you had a good head on your shoulders. You too, Juliet.’

Juliet blushed. Riley, far less humbled, crossed her arms tightly. ‘You’re being unfair. You’re punishing everyone without a thought.’

‘That’s right,’ Mrs. Traynor agreed. ‘Which is whyyoucan join Juliet for clean-up duty.’

‘Me? What didIdo?’ Riley demanded.

‘You just broke my picture and you’re being belligerent. That enough?’

Riley opened her mouth but couldn’t seem to find a good comeback, so she got to her feet and stormed out instead. Juliet was left with Mrs. Traynor. ‘Go and get her. And then find the caretaker. She can direct you to the things you need to clean up the cafeteria.’

Juliet stood and sloped out. Riley was stood down the corridor. Juliet walked down the corridor, not sure she wanted to approach her right now. She looked het up. ‘We’ve, erm, got to, err, go and get some, mmm, cleaning supplies,’ Juliet told her, breaking out in a light sweat.

Riley had hell in her eyes. ‘That… bloody… woman!’

Juliet shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Ididtrip Jack.’

Riley looked at her. ‘You’re too nice.’

‘People always tell me that,’ Juliet sighed.

Riley cast one last evil look to Mrs. Traynor’s door and then said, ‘Right. Better get this done.’ She headed off down the corridor. Juliet scurried to keep up with her. She felt worried, nervous. She’d tripped up one of the most popular guys in the school. She was in trouble with the deputy head, which had never happened before. That was all a bit scary. But the scariest thing was knowing she was about to spend the next few hours with Riley Powell, alone. Scary and exciting.

NOW

As Juliet legged it away from the Powell residence, she was thinking,I can’t take that job now. Not a chance.

But as she got on the bus, she was already doubting the doubt. There were two reasons she wasn’t sure she could say no to the job. First, she’d already said yes to it. And Amanda had seemed to need help and support. It would feel cruel to tell her she’d changed her mind.

The second problem was that she’d be making herself unemployed. That scared the cream cheese out of Juliet. Her family had always been ten minutes away from financial disaster; the only thing that kept the wolf from the door was that everyone worked, and they worked all the time. Juliet had gotten a part-time job when she was thirteen, washing cars, and stayed there until the place closed when she was eighteen. While she was getting her NVQ in childcare and education, she was working in a call centre. The minute she was out of training, she got a job in a nursery. A couple of years later, she was poached out of the nursery by Helen to be a private nanny. Work was a constant fact of life. The idea of being voluntarily jobless sent a chill down her spine.

But how the hell could she possibly go and work in the same household as Riley? Even though all that business had been ten years ago, she still thought about it sometimes. She didn’t like to admit it, but it still pained her.

As Juliet made her way home from her interview, she swilled the memory of that day around, the fight, and the clean-up. It was just the start. But was this the end, here and now? Was she going to call Amanda and tell her she was reneging?

Six

Riley was checking her watch. It was Monday morning. She had to head out in a minute; she was going to be late if she didn’t leave soon. But she was waiting to see if something was going to happen. Or not happen. She was waiting to see if Juliet was going to show up today.

Amanda hadn’t said otherwise. She was going about whistling this morning. Riley didn’t need to ask her if she believed Juliet was coming. That was obvious. But Riley found it hard to believe that Juliet would turn up, given the speed at which she’d sprinted from the house when she realised who lived there.

Riley checked her watch. It was eight twenty-nine, and she had to go. She let herself out the front door and shut it behind her.

‘Oh, err…’ said a voice, and Riley turned around on the doorstep to find herself eyeball-to-eyeball with Juliet. ‘Hi,’ she said. And then, ‘Morning.’

‘Good… good morning,’ Juliet said, swallowing nervously.

‘So, you’re here,’ Riley said.

‘Yeah, of course. Said I would be, didn’t I?’ Juliet said, looking at her phone. ‘Speaking of which, I’d better get in.’

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