Page 17 of Now and Again

Juliet nodded. ‘It would, wouldn’t it?’

Riley sighed. ‘So from now on, we just greet each other like normal people.’

‘Normal people. Let’s give it a bash,’ Juliet agreed.

They smiled at each other for a moment, and then Juliet felt like it had gone on slightly too long, and she said, ‘Well, bye, normal person!’ She backed up from the door as Riley said, ‘Yeah, b-bye normal person!’

Juliet walked briskly down the hall as Riley’s door closed.

As she got on the bus to go home, she was awash with relief. It would have been too much to keep scuttling around Riley all the time. But it was all sorted out now; they’d drawn a line under the past. Riley was right; they had been kids with a lot of growing up to do, mistakes to make. It was just a shame they’d had to make so many of those mistakes on each other.

THEN

The following Monday after the Friday cafeteria hoo-ha, it was all people could talk about. Almost everyone claimed to have either thrown a punch or received one.Juliet didn’t comment either way, even though there could have been somesocial currencyin being the one who’d started the whole thing.She was happy to have it forgotten, though. It was all a bit embarrassing.

What was truly embarrassing was talking to Riley while they were cleaning. God, she’d said some stupid stuff. Really, really dumb. That thing aboutThe Breakfast Club? She must have sounded like she had such a crush on Riley; it was pathetic. Whereas she just admired her. She wasn’t so stupid as to start crushing on people that far out of her league. It would be like suddenly deciding she wanted to be an astronaut. She wasn’t gonna have any kind of connection with Riley any more than she was going to the moon. Even though Riley had made that comment about her being hot. At best, it was a kind lie.

Juliet had liked getting an excuse to spend some private time with Riley, but that opportunity had ended when she’d finished picking spud off the wall. She thought they might probably be on nodding terms now, which would be kind of nice. But that would be the end of it.

For instance, here Riley came now, into the English lit classroom she’d shared with Juliet for almost two years, and she was sitting down at her usual table with her usual people. And oh look, a nod hello that Juliet returned before Riley turned back to her best buddy, that horrible witch, India. That was the end of the affair, so to speak.

It was quite funny that out of the twenty or so A level options their school offered, Juliet and Riley had one together. Somehow, it still felt like they were in two different classes. Riley always said remarkably interesting and clever things during class. Meanwhile, Juliet read the book and kept her face shut. She loved reading, but she wasn’t up for voicing her opinions on books. She felt strongly that no good could come of it. Anyway, it wasn’t like anyone ever asked. But it was proof - if proof were needed - that Juliet and Riley lived in different countries, even if they did occasionally wander near the borders that separated them.

‘So!’ the teacher said, clapping her hands together and making everyone jump. ‘Gatsby! Did we all read chapter six? That’s a rhetorical question; obviously we did since we wererequiredto. What did we think?’

Hands shot up. Juliet’s stayed on her lap. India was first out of the gate. ‘I thought it was a load of crap, actually.’

The teacher raised an interested eyebrow. ‘Oh?’

‘Yeah, I mean, we’re supposed to think that it was alright for him to be a bootlegger because he grew up poor and he loved someone rich? I mean, what a crock. It wasn’t even about her.’

‘What was it about?’ the teacher asked, intrigued.

‘He just wanted to be super rich!’ India exclaimed angrily.

‘Say that’s true. What’s wrong with him making himself rich?’ Riley asked her, turning.

‘Well, I mean, nothing. If you go about it the right way,’ India sputtered.

‘Maybe he couldn’t go about it the right way?’ Riley shrugged. ‘I mean, making a lot of money sounds quite complicated to me.’

‘That’s what they all say,’ India said. ‘But if you work hard, you can be rich legally.’

‘Easy for you to say,’ Juliet muttered to herself. She was shocked when every set of eyes in the room turned to her. She’d been louder than she thought. Juliet had once read a quote from Dorothy Parker that said, “a girl’s best friend is her mutter”, and Juliet believed it sincerely. But that only worked when you kept it down. Which she hadn’t managed to do. And now the focus was unhappily on her.

India’s gaze was the scariest. She looked almost happy to have been contradicted. ‘And why is it easy for me to say?’ she asked with quiet intensity.

Juliet was quick to back down. ‘Erm, no, sorry. I didn’t mean that.’

India smiled at her like a hungry wolf. ‘Whatdidyou mean?’

‘Err…’ Juliet tried to think, but fear was freezing her brain. There was no exit plan.

‘Look, we all know your mum has that Jag dealership, India,’ Riley suddenly said. ‘So maybe what she means is that if you’re born into money, you don’t know how hard it is to actually, you know… make it?’

Juliet gaped, as did India. ‘Yeah, and your dad is like, president of the Bank of England or something. You’re one to talk.’

Riley shrugged and smiled. ‘Yeah, true. And if my dad were a ballerina (the room tittered), I might think being a ballerina sounded within reach.’

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