Page 153 of Vying Girls
Keeping my eyes closed, I replay those moments over and over, trying to imprint them in my mind. To think on the truth and not all the ugly things beside it.
Nic does care about me. I just have to be patient and hope I don’t kill myself on her thorns in the meantime.
I check my phone, in the habit of doing that when I can’t sleep. It’s gone three now. I’m going to be shattered come morning. I feel better now though, the sloshing ocean in my mind for the moment quiet and still. I try not to think of Nic and Skylar and those enticing glass rooms.
I’m finally drifting off when my phone illuminates again, this time with a phone call. Blinking blurriness from my eyes, I see it’s an unknown number. My heart clenches thinking it might somehow behim.Then it slides to thinking it could be something to do with Mum, not ignorant to the statistics of pregnant woman homicides. I’ve no doubt Callum took it all out on her after I left. He’s just the type.
Half sitting up, I put the phone to my ear. ‘Hello?’
‘Tilda? Thank fuck, you’re awake. Yeah, this is Skylar.’
‘Um.’ I shift, sitting up fully. ‘Hi?’
‘Hi. Look, things are kinda fucked here. Wait—are you alone?’
‘Yeah, I’m alone. Why, what’s up?’
‘Nic’s heart’s doing some weird shit and she’s freaking out and asking for you.’
‘What?’ I feel the whole of me turn to stone. ‘What do you mean?’
She sighs noisily. ‘I think it’s the drugs. She didn’t have much, but—look, can you get here or not? She’s refusing an ambulance or anything without you. Pissing me the fuck off, honestly.’
Heart pounding, I struggle out of my duvet. ‘Well, yeah, where are you?’
‘The dock for the Vaults. Do you know it?’
‘Um, yeah, kinda.’
‘Good. Just get here fast, will you, fuck. And don’t tell the others. She keeps saying that.’
‘Wait, can you just put her on a minute?’
‘Yeah, don’t think so. You can deal with her when you get here.’
She hangs up, and for a moment I’m filled with dislike for the girl, no matter how nice she tattooed me. Then my fuzzy brain catches up to the situation and with a curse, I unlock my door and fly from the room.
All the way downstairs, I keep my ears open. There’s no light beneath Elly’s or Haz’s doors. With any luck they’re fast asleep. Then I’m filled with something other than panic. Hesitancy, guilt. I can’t just run out on them again.
Once I’ve got my coat and shoes on, I dither for a long, anxious moment in the kitchen, before pulling out some paper and penning a quick note.
Just gone out with Nic. Don’t worry, I’m safe and not doing a runner, I promise xx
I don’t know if that’s true, but I figured a handwritten note would be better than a message in the group chat. If, by some miracle, I get in before they wake, I can bin the note and they’ll be none the wiser.
Just before I leave, I draw out a knife and stick it in my pocket.
Even in late spring, Hazelhurst is cold at night. I keep my arms wrapped around myself as I traipse purposefully through the forest, not allowing myself to look around, damning every tiny noise that make my ears twitch.
From running after me and saving me from Damien’s potential clutches, to forcing me to walk through the forest alone—it’s clear she’s on drugs. Those actions alone suggest that.
‘Nic,’I hiss, worry and anger growing by the second. ‘For fuck’s sake.’
I wish I could turn my phone torch off, to develop a sudden ability to see in the dark. I feel like a lighthouse, beckoning to me whatever might be out there. Wolves; drunk, male students who might seek to take advantage of similarly drunk, female students; crazy, psycho, money-hungry stalkers.
It’s with both relief and terror that I finally break through the trees onto the shore. Two hulking figures sit on a bench to my left, half-hidden in shrubbery. Skylar looks up at the crunch of my shoes. She’s sitting on the back of the bench, her arm around Nic. Her face caves in relief.
‘Fucking finally. Hey, Nic.’ She puts a palm on top of Nic’s head and forces her to face me. ‘Look, your girl’s here. How about we call that ambulance now?’
