Page 24 of Save Me

His face changes. Suddenly, he doesn’t seem to be looking through me anymore—he’s looking into my soul. There’s a fire in his eyes that burns me and makes me shiver. There are butterflies in my stomach. He looks abruptly away and turns on his heel to return to the back. “That doesn’t alter the fact that I hate all this.”

My heart is hammering, and I swallow hard as he sits down, arms folded, and stares out of the window.

I don’t know what he means by “all this.” Not being allowed to play lacrosse. Or having to spend his time here. Or maybe he just means me. But I can live with that.

There’s too much at stake to let a spoiled rich boy mess with my head. We both have to get through this, whether we like it or not, and the sooner we face up to that, the easier this time will be.

Without another word, I turn to the whiteboard and write up the agenda for today’s meeting. I don’t know whether or not James is watching me, and that’s making me antsy, but I’m too proud to turn around. Luckily, the door soon opens. “Sorry I’m late, our printer at home went haywire, so I had to find somewhere here to print out my statement, but I’ve got it done now and…” Lin stops mid-sentence as she spots James.

“Hey,” he says.

I wonder if that’s how he greets everyone. I bet he’ll say “hey” to all the panels at his university interviews.

“What’s he doing here?” Lin asks me, not taking her eyes off him.

“Community service,” I answer truthfully.

James says nothing. He bends down, opens his bag, and pulls out a notebook. He puts it on the table in front of him. It has a black leather cover, embossed with the elaborate “B” of the Beaufort logo. I bet it’s worth a fortune. Dad and I went into a branch of Beaufort’s in London once, looking for a new suit for him. It was a few years ago when he had to spend a lot of time in court after his accident. I have a very clear memory of the four-figure price tags that made us turn tail after no more than two minutes and creep out of the shop as unobtrusively as possible.

Next to me, Lin coughs. Guiltily, I tear my eyes away from James and curse the way my cheeks are flushing yet again. Thankfully, Lin has the tact not to mention it.

“Here,” she says, holding out a clear plastic folder that contains several sheets of paper. “My statement.”

I fish mine out of my folder and hand it to her. “Here’s mine, but it’s not perfect yet.”

“Neither is mine,” says Lin. “That’s why we’re reading them for each other. Do you think you’ll have a chance to look at it this evening?”

“No can do, sorry. We can go through them tomorrow in the free period after maths.” I pull out my gold pen and jot downRead Lin’s statementin my planner.

“I’m honored to have my name written in your top-tier pen,” Lin whispers with a grin. I smile back at her then finish putting the agenda on the board as the rest of the team gradually drifts in. Everyone sneaks sideways glances at James, apart from Camille, who kisses him on either cheek.

Once we’re all here, we start the discussion.

“The most important thing today is planning the second big event of this term,” Lin opens, her face glowing. “Halloween.”

Kieran makes a quiet, spooky “oh-ooooh” noise, and everyone laughs.

“Last year’s masked ball was really popular,” Lin continues, opening a slideshow of pictures on her laptop. She turns the screen so that we can all see.

“Can’t we just do the same thing again? I mean, if it was so popular?” Camille suggests. “That would save a ton of work.”

“Certainly not,” Lin snaps, and Camille just shrugs. I walk over to the whiteboard and writeHalloweenin the middle of the right-hand side. Then I put a circle around it.

“We need to come up with a theme,” Lin says. “Let’s just brainstorm, OK?”

For a moment, there’s silence.

“I know what I don’t want,” Jessalyn says in the end.

“What’s that? Then we can rule it out from the start,” I say, gesturing to her to go on.

“I don’t want orange. Black-and-orange decorations are so childish; it’s not the look we want for Maxton Hall.”

I nod and writestylish décorin the top right-hand corner.

“How about black-and-white?” Doug asks. He’s the quietest person on the team and hardly ever speaks, so I’m pleasantly surprised that he’s made a suggestion. I smile at him and turn back to the board.

“It’s been done.”

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