Page 36 of When We Were Friends
Paige didn’t say a thing.
Morgan shivered and Paige led her back to the dunes near the shop. The four of them sat huddled in front of one, protected from the coastal breeze, on a patch of dry sand, arms rubbing against each other – the closest they’d been for almost two decades. Morgan opened her rucksack to take a swig of water. She offered it around. The others hesitated and then drank out of it. As she put it back, Morgan spotted an item she’d forgotten to unpack at the villa. She pulled out the notebook. Tiff gasped. Emily’s eyes widened. Paige started to laugh.
‘Christ, what were we thinking?’ Paige took it and read the front. ‘Top secret. Closed cases. We were just a little self-important!’
‘It was a serious business,’ said Emily and she reached for it. She flicked through, the others leaning to look. ‘The Case of the Stolen Packed Lunches. Milly… Smith, that was it. This case was at the end of Year Nine. Do you remember? She kept finding her lunchbox, in her locker, with items missing – an empty crisp packet or a sandwich without filling?’
‘Logically, it could have only been her best friend, Imani,’ said Morgan. ‘Their lockers were next to each other and I quizzed Milly. She hadn’t thought to mention that they shared keys as she never suspected her best friend, they’d been in the same classes since nursery. Milly said they stuffed smelly PE kits into one, and would keep their books and lunchboxes in the other. They got replica keys made in town. Imani was the obvious culprit, hiding in plain sight, or so I believed. So you had a chat with her,’ Morgan said to Emily.
‘We had geography together,’ said Emily. ‘Both of us found it so boring. I complimented her new hairstyle: braided cornrows. When Imani smiled, I noticed how tired she looked. Whilst waiting for the teacher, I mentioned how my sleep was crap. Mum was always coming in late, singing at the top of her voice. Imani said she was awake half the night. I asked if everything was all right. Then the teacher came in and she clammed up.’
‘But you kindly searched her out after school, didn’t you?’ said Tiff.
‘I saved her half of my chocolate bar from lunch. Anyone else would have if they’d seen how much she needed cheering up. Slowly, it came out: how she’d been diagnosed with Crohn’s. It was really painful and she had to be careful what she ate. It couldn’t have been her randomly eating Milly’s lunch. She even refused my chocolate.’
‘I’d always empathised with Milly,’ said Tiff. ‘She was a bit overweight, like me. I found her crying in the corridor once. A boy from the year above had called her thunder thighs. It made me think that perhaps she was on a diet, and made up the stealing story to hide the fact she did care and was attempting to lose weight. I totally got that. Then we saw her mum at parents evening and I empathised even more.’
‘She was stick thin and so glamorous with her costume jewellery,’ said Paige. ‘Aggressively opinionated too, the way she spoke to the teachers. She kept embarrassing Milly, saying what a sensitive child she was. My gut told me she had something to do with it. I reckoned she wasn’t filling the sandwiches, emptying crisp packets, because she wanted Milly to slim down, but didn’t want to make her upset.’
‘Milly’s face, when we told her.’ Morgan lifted up a handful of sand and let it trickle out of her fingers. ‘It all fell into place.’
‘Shocking behaviour from a mother,’ said Paige.
‘Not even mine would have gone that far,’ said Tiff.
‘Mine would have,’ said Emily. She picked up a bit of driftwood and drew circles in the sand.
They flicked through the notebook some more, memories flooding back of their friendship. A French bulldog trotted past. Emily called it over and stroked its head. The striking owner said, ‘Bonjour’and bowed his head, rugged, laidback and effortlessly handsome. When he’d gone by, the four of them glanced at each other and grinned.
‘What were we like back in high school, playing detective,’ said Paige and she shook her head. ‘If I’m honest, I saw myself as Scully out ofThe X-Files: cool and assertive, following leads…’
‘I fangirled over Jessica Fletcher out ofMurder She Wrote,’ said Emily, ‘Mum called it a boring, old-fashioned television show but Dad and I used to hunt it down on digital channels.’
‘Sherlock Holmes for me.’ Morgan bowed. ‘His brain works like no one else’s.’
Tiff gave a sheepish smile. ‘Daphne out ofScooby-Doo. Her clothes were so glamorous.’
The four of them laughed with equal pitch and equal warmth. Paige was the first to stop. She gulped and turned away for a moment. Morgan understood. After so long apart, the harmony felt overwhelming.
‘Remember tic tac toe?’ asked Emily. They’d played noughts and crosses in Mlle Vachon’s lesson many times. Tic tac toe was the name of that game in French. A catchy phrase, the girls started to use if one of them dropped a secret – it meant the others had to follow and share one of theirs too. ‘We shared everything, or so we thought,’ said Emily. ‘Crushes. Fears. The best thing was that no one ever laughed. We supported each other. Until the prom.’
‘I… I’ve missed that,’ said Morgan quietly. Without waiting for an answer, she stood up. ‘I need a bracing walk.’ She held out her hand. Paige hesitated and then took it, as Morgan pulled her to her feet. Then Paige pulled up Tiff. She pulled up Emily. They brushed themselves down. Morgan put her trainers back on and they walked along the sand, Tiff’s ankle giving way, now and again, in her heels. Talk soon turned to their families.
‘My mum works at a different branch of the supermarket now,’ said Morgan. ‘She got a promotion and is now supervisor. Dad is still a warehouse manager.’
‘I always admired your parents sticking together from such a young age,’ said Emily. She glanced down at her left hand, at the wedding band she hadn’t removed yet.
‘They’ve been a great help with Olly over the years. I know they’re going to love meeting Vikram, his boyfriend – not that I’m allowed to call him that.’
‘You haven’t turned into an embarrassing mum, have you Morgan?’ asked Tiff and she grinned.
Morgan grinned back. ‘Goes with the territory.’ She turned to Paige. ‘Although both your parents were always pretty cool.’
‘They’ve retired now and are not in the slightest bit cool, spending most of their time baking in the sun at their Thai holiday home. Felix won’t be cool either in Dubai at the moment. Not that he’ll have any time to sunbathe. The future success of the company he works for is depending on him doing a good job.’ She turned to Tiff. ‘What about your parents, how are they doing?’
Tiff groaned. ‘They are about to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary and have already hinted about me taking a plus one.’
‘How about taking that Joe?’ said Emily, a mischievous look on her face.
