Haunting of Lily Frost (10 page)

9

danny taylor

I can't believe I made it through the night. I'm not sure I actually slept, but at least I'm still here. Now I just have to convince Mum I'm sick enough to stay home from school.

Mum is cleaning when I find her – as usual. She says it relaxes her, but I think she's trying to scrub herself happy. She doesn't look very relaxed when she's scrubbing. She sort of looks manic and no one else is allowed into the kitchen when she's got her hands squashed into pink plastic gloves.

‘Mum, I feel awful.'

She doesn't even look up from the cupboard she's scrubbing. ‘Still, honey?'

‘Yep.'

‘You look okay.'

‘How can you tell when your head's in the cupboard?'

She stands up fast and bangs her head. I hear the crack as it hits the edge of the bench. I want to swear for her because I'm sure that hurt. It hurt me and I was only watching.

‘You look fine.'

‘But what if I'm sick again? What would they think if you sent your sick child to school?'

She smiles then and slowly plucks the pink plastic gloves from each finger. It's an awful noise and I know she's doing it just to annoy me. ‘Pancakes?'

‘I'm sick.'

‘There's maple syrup.'

‘Maybe just one. I'll see how that goes.'

Pancakes are another of her answers for everything. She hardly ever makes them on a school morning, so she must be really desperate to get me off to school.

‘I think we're going to like Gideon, Lil.'

‘Really?'

‘Yeah. It has a good feel, don't you think?'

I wish I could tell her what's been going on: explain about fainting and the dead girl who has the same letters in her name as me. But how do I tell her all that? She'd probably think I was making it up because I don't want
to stay in this dump of a town. Sometimes it's just easier to
say what she wants to hear, so we don't get into a fight and I don't have to try to explain things.

‘So how was school yesterday? Make some friends?'

I give her what I hope is a sarcastic smile.

‘It'll happen,' she says.

‘Yeah. No one can resist me for long.'

Mum slides a plate of pancakes onto the table in front of me. ‘Here you are. Don't go crazy with the maple syrup.'

‘Where's Max?'

‘He's already gone. Said he had some basketball practice to go to.'

‘What? Since when does he play basketball?'

‘Maybe Gideon will be good for us all.'

Then Mum does something I really wish she wouldn't. Before I can even take a bite, she holds up the red hoodie. ‘Honey, I found this jumper in the bathroom this morning. Is it Ruby's?'

‘In the bathroom? You sure?'

‘The bathroom is that room with the bath, isn't it?'

‘It might be Ruby's. I'll check.'

The pancakes don't taste like they should now because the red hoodie is lying on the table in front of me. How did the hoodie get from my room down the stairs to the bathroom, unless someone moved it?

Mum notices that I've only nibbled one pancake.

‘I just don't feel well, Mum.'

‘Oh. So you're not pretending? Do you want to stay home?'

‘No.'

As I say this I surprise myself. Normally any excuse to stay away from school would make me happy, but now I want to go. I want to confront Danny and his friends and find out what's going on in this town before I go psycho.

Dad walks in and notices my plate. ‘Any for me?'

I shoot the plate across to him, like I'm in a western movie. He grabs it just before it flies off the edge of the table and he's got one in his mouth before I can say anything. It's my half-eaten one, which just proves how tragically we all love pancakes.

‘Hungry, Dad?'

‘Yep. It's all this country air.'

I grab an apple from the bowl and push it into my lunchbox. I can smell the sandwiches leaking out and groan at the idea of having cheese, apple and sultanas again. I wish I could just have Vegemite or something boring. At least at my old school I could share Ruby's lunch if Mum got all creative.

‘Honey, I've washed your other jeans.'

‘It's okay, Mum. I'll be late.'

‘I don't like you going off in dirty clothes.'

This makes me smile because as usual she's left it until we're about to leave the house. So really she doesn't care; she just wants it noted that she should care, but by telling me now, she knows I'm not going to do anything about it. I understand her. I'm the same. I love that Mum's so obvious and that even though she's old, I still get where she's coming from.

Max is shooting hoops with a bunch of other geeky ten-year-olds when I walk in through the school gate. They're laughing and chasing each other around, trying to steal the ball. As I watch him, jealous as hell, I can't believe he's already found friends and doesn't care that he's living here. He's clearly not being spooked by something in the house.

He sees me watching him and throws the ball to me. I let it hit the ground and roll away, so he runs after it. ‘What's up
your
bum, Lil?'

‘Charming.'

‘Want to meet my friends?'

‘Nope.'

‘Might be the only other kids you talk to today.'

‘Hilarious.'

‘It's not that bad here.'

‘So you keep saying.'

One of his friends yells out to him. He shrugs at me like I'm a lost cause and runs past, dribbling the ball. I can't believe how fast he is or that I've never noticed my little brother can run. The others laugh as he aims for a hoop and misses, then they keep going and I'm forgotten.

Sitting on the edge of the basketball court, I watch the seven boys play. Max is in the middle, tall and confident as they jostle with each other, desperate to wrest the ball away so they can take a shot. He looks so loose and easy, his arms almost elastic as they work the ball from hand to hand, spinning and turning as he leaps up to dunk it. He's always been like that. Effortless. He tries things and can just do them. People smile at him wherever he goes and they become instant friends. Even when he was little, we'd go to a park and he'd make a new best friend straightaway. Mostly he didn't bother finding out their name, but he'd play with them for hours and forget them the next day. How is it possible that he and I are actually related?

All around me groups of kids are coming to school. It's like I'm totally invisible, sitting here on the sidelines, being squeezed past or stepped over. Mum would say I was in the way, and I am, but I want someone to notice me: trip on my legs, crash down and see me waiting here, watching.

Julia doesn't look down as she walks past, surrounded by her friends. They're chattering on about something, and I know I should make the effort to say hello, but what's the point?

Then Danny rides up, already climbing off his bike before he's stopped in that way that really confident riders can. If I tried it, I'd probably stack. He leans his bike against the rack but doesn't bother locking it because maybe you don't need to in Gideon. Then he sees me sitting on the sidelines, mooches over and plonks down next to me. My face immediately feels hot and I wish he'd stepped over me like his sister did.

‘Ready for another exciting day in Gideon?'

‘Ooh yeah. Can't wait.'

‘Any reason you're sitting here?'

‘I was watching my brother play basketball.'

‘The one in the black jeans?'

‘Yep.' Just at that moment, in full Max style, he chucks the ball lazily at the ring and it goes straight in.

‘Fluke,' says Danny.

I'm glad he's resisting Max's charms. ‘He didn't even know how to play basketball last week,' I say.

‘Then it's definitely a fluke.'

‘His whole life is.'

‘You jealous?'

‘No. Just amazed. About the only thing I'm better at than him is being older.'

‘I dunno. You're prettier than him.' Then he just gets up, walks away and I'm left sitting on the sidelines with a comment that I can't possibly react to, because it's totally shocking. No one's ever said anything like that to me. Ever. I think I might be grinning secretly quite a bit.

Maybe not so secretly, because as the bell goes and Max lopes past with his other extra-tall buddies, he stares at me. ‘Lil? You finally had that lobotomy?'

‘What?'

I jump up, grab my bag and almost elbow him out of the way to get to class. His friends laugh.

As I walk across the schoolyard I make a decision. I can't be in this town if I'm spooked out and jumping at every noise. It's totally possible that I'm making up everything that's happened so far. Really, it's an old house and it creaks. Doors slam. The attic's cold because there's a draught. There was a girl called Matilda who lived there before me, and it's just a coincidence that we have the same letters in our name. I can even explain away the fact that she went missing. People do all the time. I bet there's a teenager reported missing every hour across Australia; some of them turn up and some of them don't. Maybe she's already come back. I didn't actually check that bit. Maybe she's with her mum, right now, and they've moved towns to get away from whatever happened.

I hate to admit it, but Max is right. If I'm stuck here, I need to accept it. So I'm not going to dig into Tilly's life anymore. I'm going to try to lie low and just fit in as much as I can. I don't want to be the freaky outsider. If Max can hack it, I can too.

Today's going to be a good day; someone said that I'm pretty.

Hiding out in the toilets, I text Ruby. ‘How's maths?'

She texts back in seconds. ‘Mr Parks still away. Think he's missing u.'

It makes me smile. How's she managing to answer me when her class has already started?

‘That guy Danny said I was pretty.'

‘WHAT???'

‘True.'

‘Girlfriend?'

‘Yeah. Dunno.'

I'm forgetting about Julia, the girlfriend, if that's what she is. The second bell goes and I have to hurry or Mrs Jarvis will be frowning by the time I try to sneak in. I really wish I could talk to Ruby.

‘L8R.'

‘XX'

I pocket my phone, making sure the mute button's on. If Mrs Jarvis is anything like some of my old teachers, she'll confiscate the phone if it rings in class. As I swing open the cubicle door, I almost collide with Julia. ‘Sorry!'

‘Oh it's you. Lily Frost.'

‘That's me.'

Julia's wearing a t-shirt Ruby would love. Maybe I could add stealing to my list of new habits in Gideon.

‘Julia, I'm sorry about yesterday – the hoodie. It was in my room. I thought it was my best friend's.'

‘It was actually
my
best friend's.'

‘Yeah, I know. So here, you can have it back.' I reach into my backpack and try to pull the hoodie out, but of course everything else tumbles out with it. My apple. Lunchbox. Books. All this dirt and crap falls onto the toilet floor. I finally grab the hoodie and hold it out to her. She looks totally horrified.

‘I don't want it.'

‘I just assumed –'

‘No thanks.'

‘Well, does Tilly want it back?'

So many emotions flash across Julia's face, I can't work her out. She's angry, sad or furious that I've dared to mention her friend. And I don't really know why I did. Sometimes things just pour out of my mouth without me thinking about them.

‘What is
wrong
with you? Do you like upsetting people? She's missing. Okay? Do you understand that?'

‘Still?'

‘Yes. Of course still.'

‘I just thought maybe she – came back – you know. Got found.'

‘Got
found!
Are you a complete moron?'

‘I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you.'

‘Don't mention her again, okay. Just because you're living in her house doesn't give you any right to talk about her.'

‘Have it your way.' I shove the hoodie back into my bag as she watches me. I'm not quite sure why she's still standing there, but it's like having to change in front of someone you don't know. It's really freaky when people watch you closely.

‘Why
did
you come here?'

‘To Gideon? You'll have to ask my parents that. Something about unemployment and a cheap house.'

‘So are you staying?'

Her tone makes me laugh, and she glares at me, under her long blonde fringe.

‘You don't need to sound so happy about it.'

‘I don't care if you stay or not. It doesn't make any difference to me.'

This day is just going so well. I can't believe I'm having an argument with the arch bitch in the toilets before school starts.

‘Well good,' I mutter.

‘Good then.' And with that, I squeeze past her, hoping my backpack bashes into her shoulder, relieved to walk away and find my class.

*

‘Lily?'

Daydreaming's always a disaster. I look up, hoping to work out what I'm supposed to be listening to, but it's beyond me. Mrs Jarvis is looking at me with an unreadable expression. I'm hoping it's curiosity, but I suspect it's closer to frustration.

‘Yes?'

‘What do you think?'

There's no way out of this. I can't wing it because I have no idea what she's talking about and as soon as I open my mouth that will be obvious. So I try stalling. Sometimes that works. If Ruby's close enough it does, because she whispers something to me and I can muddle through. But of course sitting off to the side of the class where everyone can look at me, but no one's close enough to save me, means I'm on my own. And really, none of them would want to save me anyway. Julia's actually smiling as I stutter my way through an answer.