Page 32 of From Now On

‘I didn’t. I was home-schooled.’

‘Why?’

‘Mum said I don’t have the right personality for school.’

‘You are a bit… different,’ she settles upon. ‘Have you had an assessment to see if you’re on the spectrum?’

‘What do you mean?’ To Duke, spectrum means rainbows. The band of colours which aren’t really colours at all but all to do with light. How can he be on a rainbow? He thinks of himself balanced high about the sky and smiles.

‘See. This is what I mean. You’re smiling to yourself. You’re a bit weird.’

‘Nina thinks I’m a lot weird, but I don’t mind.’

‘Who’s Nina?’

‘My sister. She goes here too but she’s the right type for school so she’s okay.’

‘I don’t have any brothers or sisters. I don’t have many friends either but that’s because most people here are boring. Not you, you’re interesting.’

Duke straightens his spine and feels a Ready-Brek glow surround him.

‘You owe me a favour now that I’ve saved your life, you know?’

Duke nods.

‘You’re going to help me with something but we can’t tell anyone or we’d be in trouble. Promise you’ll help?’

Duke thinks; perhaps he has found a friend and so he doesn’t think too deeply about what Evie might want him to do or the trouble he might get into.

‘Yeah, I’ll help.’

What’s the worst that could possibly happen?

Chapter Fifteen

Charlie

Charlie video calls Pippa, an ache deep inside him as she comes into focus, curled on the sofa, Billie snuggled next to her. February has been freezing so far but they look so cosy.

‘I wasn’t sure if you’d answer,’ he says pitifully, grateful that she has after he’d texted her that he is leaving the country.

‘I wanted to say goodbye before you leave for New York tomorrow,’ she says, a finality in her voice. Charlie wonders whether this is giving her the closure she didn’t get last time he had left.

‘We can still…’ he trails off. Her attention is now on Billie who has leaped off the sofa and is barking at the sound of the doorbell.

‘Sorry, Charlie. I’ve got to go.’

‘Duke and Nina won’t pick up my calls since I told them about my transfer,’ he blurts out his confession and his shame. Telling them had been one of the worst things he’d ever had to do. The timing was particularly terrible, moving into Aunt Violet’s house had been rough on them both. Duke having to adjust to school life. He thought they might shout, cry, but instead they hadn’t said anything and that was worse somehow. As though they’d never expected anything better from him.

‘Give me ten minutes and then try them again.’ She holds the phone up as she walks, her face sliding in and out of focus. She stops at the front door and looks directly at the camera.

‘Goodbye, Charlie.’ And then she is gone and he wants to call her back but she has her own life to lead and so does he.

He waits, checking his watch frequently as the minutes tick painfully past.

After ten minutes he calls Nina, knowing that Pippa will have kept her word.

‘Hey.’ He smiles brightly as the video connects. Nina glares at him. Her face is full of heavy make-up. Mum would hate it. Duke is next to her, pale, withdrawn, his arms crossed over his chest. ‘How are you both? Any news?’

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