Page 34 of Now and Again

India laughed sharply. ‘Checkyouout. Tough girl now, are we? Come to one party withrealpeople and you think you’ve got the right to talk to me like that? Fucking think again,’ she said, shoving the intact book into Juliet’s chest. Juliet felt, in a small way, that it was a victory to get the book back unharmed. Although that party comment… She hadn’t even seen India. How did India know she was there?

Actually, who cared? Juliet hadn’t backed down just now, and she’d won. That was the thing to focus on. ‘India, you know what? You can really just fu—’

‘Oh, and don’t think I don’t know about you and Riley,’ India sneered.

Juliet stopped cold. She’d assumed Riley wouldn’t say anything to India about them. The way Riley talked about India, Juliet had thought they weren’t that close. But just in case India knew less than she was making out, Juliet played it cool. ‘What are you talking about?’

India smiled like a cat playing with a mouse. ‘You know you’re just a joke to her, don’t you?’

Juliet felt less bold. ‘You don’t know anything.’

‘No?’ India laughed horribly. ‘She told me everything. She told me she snogged you for a laugh, and that it wasreallybad. Worse than she thought it would be.’

Juliet was angry and slightly afraid. ‘I don’t believe she said that. She’s not like that.’

India looked Juliet up and down. ‘Oh, you know her so well after a few conversations, yeah?’ She laughed bitterly. ‘She told me all about it. Everything. Because she’s mine. My friend. You couldneverget between us.’ India snorted. ‘She told me that story you told her too. About that boy that kissed you and ripped your mouth up? Jesus, I almost felt sorry for you when she told me that.’

Juliet’s heart stopped. That was a lot of detail for India to know. It had to be true.

She’d thought she was inCarriebefore and then found out she was wrong. But what if she was in another movie? What if she was in one of those films where the cool kids made a bet? To mess with someone like her, a nobody? It always ended with the cool kid realising they loved the sad little nerd. But this wasn’t a movie. If India was telling the truth, it was just a cruel joke. She was the joke.

India wasn’t done. ‘Oh, and she said that when you kissed her, the amount of tongue you used was fucking gross-’

WHACK

Juliet looked at the slightly creased book in her hand, and then at India standing back, clutching her cheek. It took her a second to connect those two things and understand that she’d slapped India around the face with her book.

India, a lovely red mark on her face, looked at Juliet in surprise. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ she asked angrily. She took a step toward Juliet. Any other day, Juliet would have backed up at the sight of India advancing on her. But if India wanted to smack her one, Juliet was ready for it. The day she’d had, a punch in the face was nothing. Juliet almost relished it.

But India didn’t come any closer. She looked… hesitant, and Juliet knew in a second why. The girl India thought she was dealing with, the mouse, the coward, she was gone. India didn’t know who she was looking at now. For that matter, neither did Juliet. She felt brand-new. And to think, all it had taken was one good heartbreak.

‘Fucking… Youfucking…’ India sputtered. She turned around. ‘You’re a fucking loser!’ she said over her shoulder, almost running.

Juliet watched her go, thinking she was right. She had lost something. A few things. Fear of India, which was magnificent. But Juliet had also lost hope. Hope that she and Riley could be something. That she could really and truly have her. Juliet had been a fool to even imagine it.

She got out her phone and tapped her rage and sadness into one brief statement and hit send without hesitation.I thought you were different. Guess I was wrong. You’re the same as all of them.

***

Juliet managed to avoid Riley for the rest of the term. It wasn’t that hard, even in lit. Riley had moved right to the other end of the class, along with India, who no longer smirked when she saw Juliet. She avoided eye contact altogether. As did Riley.

NOW

Yes, that had stung. That it was all just a way for Riley to amuse herself. But Juliet had walked away from the experience a little stronger, a little wiser. And now, as an adult, she could see it clearer. She didn’t know precisely why Riley had done something so cruel, but maybe she’d had stuff going on. Hadn’t she said so? Her parents had been on the verge of divorce, one they’d clearly gone through with. And if Juliet knew anything, it was that hurt people hurt people. Especially kids. Which they had been. Riley, despite everything about her screaming sophistication, had been the same age as cossetted, virginal Juliet.

But then again, maybe looking a bit harder at Riley’s early unkindness was a good way to rid herself of these current unwanted feelings?

Hmmm. She’d have to come back to that one.

BANG BANG!

Juliet was so startled that she fell clean out of bed at the bang on her door. She got to her feet, rubbing her coccyx. She opened her door to find Riley standing in a huge, worn t-shirt with a picture of a sweaty wrestler on the front, and there went the fantasy of Riley’s sexy nightwear.

‘God, sorry to… I can’t believe I’m doing this… I just need… I don’t want to wake Amanda and my dad won’t help, I know he won’t…’ Riley said, panic bright in her voice.

‘What’s up?’ Juliet asked.

Riley sighed, and though it was dark in the hall and Juliet couldn’t see it, she could hear the blush in her voice. ‘There’s a spider.’

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