Page 47 of Save Me

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” Lin says, looking pointedly at James.

I shake my head and stare at my noodles again.

“Hey, are you ever going to tell me what happened?”

“I did.”

Lin raises an eyebrow. “All you said was ‘we got the costumes,’ but I’m not an idiot.”

I take a deep breath. “It was OK. More than OK, actually. Until his parents suddenly turned up.”

Lin inhales sharply. “You met the Beauforts?”

I nod pensively. “They were…very impressive. Especially his mother,” I begin. “I didn’t get to talk to them much because they weren’t there long. After that, James went back to normal.”

“What did he do?” Lin asks, apparently remembering that I’m not the only one with a tray of food in front of her. She bites into her sandwich and gazes intently at me.

“He chucked me out. I was escorted out of the shop.”

She stops chewing and stares.

My shoulders twitch helplessly. I really don’t want to think about the horrible drive back on Saturday, where I had to force myself to take deep breaths in and out to calm down.

“It was the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever experienced,” I mumble, risking another glance at James.

At this exact moment, he looks over to me. As our eyes meet, the rage bubbles up again, and I’m on the verge of standing up and whacking him with my tray.

But he blinks, breaks off the connection, and turns his attention back to his friends.

“But why did he throw you out?” Lin asks.

That’s exactly what was baffling me the whole rest of the weekend. And there was only one vaguely plausible sounding explanation that I could come up with.

“I think he was embarrassed by me. You should have seen the way his father looked at me. Like I was dirt on the bottom of hisshoe.” I pull over my little bowl of pudding: chocolate mousse with whipped cream, topped with a strawberry and a sprig of mint. At least there’s going to be one nice thing in my day.

“That’s rubbish. You mustn’t let anyone make you feel that way,” Lin says, sounding so angry that I look up.

“It’s the truth,” I reply. “Even you would never have looked twice at me if it hadn’t been for the stuff with your parents.”

Lin flinches like I’ve thrown my dessert in her face. The color drains from her skin, and it’s only then that I realize what I just said. I immediately open my mouth to apologize, but she jumps up.

“Nice to know you have such a good opinion of me,” she snaps, grabbing her tray even though she hasn’t finished eating. She dumps it back at the tray station and leaves the dining hall without looking back at me.

I stare into my mousse and realize that I’ve lost my appetite. What a shitty day.

By the time I head to the library in the afternoon, I’ve almost got used to whispers and funny looks in the corridors. I’m finding it easier to ignore them, although their voices still echo in my ears. It never occurred to me before we went that a single day with James could have such an effect on my life at Maxton Hall. What was I thinking? James is the king of this school—of course people are interested in who he spends his free time with. Getting into that car with him was a massive mistake. And now I’m paying for it with my invisibility.

The events meeting is a nightmare. Lin won’t look at me, and I can’t look at James. It’s hard even to tell the others about the costumes without letting on how hurt and angry I feel. But it must have worked because once I’m done, everyone seems thrilled with the photos. Then Camille says that her parents know the peoplewho own a big cutlery factory and that they’ll let us have whatever we need for the party. Jessalyn has been getting quotes for decoration rentals, which she goes through with us, and Kieran’s been finding music that he plays for us on his laptop.

I only take about half of it in.

Once we’ve sorted out the jobs for next time and I’ve closed the meeting, I catch hold of Lin’s arm. She’s still avoiding eye contact but waits for the rest of the team to leave the room. I shut the door behind them and turn to my friend.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I begin. “I’m sorry for what I said. All I meant was…you used to be friends with completely different people. I just wonder if we’d have got to know each other this well if things had been different with your parents.”

Lin looks at me for a while. Eventually, she sighs and whispers: “You’re right.”

I’m startled. “Am I?”

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