Hollow Pike (15 page)

The Next Day

At 8.12 a.m. Lis saw the first police car. It hurtled past her, siren wailing as she made her way to the school bus. Her red trench coat was the only splash of colour on an
otherwise monochrome morning.

She’d risen and dressed for school with a spring in her step. Would Laura even dare to show her face at school today? She must have realised by now that she’d been punked. Smiling to
herself, Lis made her way to the bus stop. Laura deserved everything she’d got. Lis knew Laura had savoured
her
fear at school, well, last night they’d turned the tables. It had
been Laura’s turn to be scared.

For once, Lis was on time for the bus. Today she boarded the vehicle with greater confidence than ever before, ready to take on the world. She saw Harry and Fiona whisper as she went past, but
didn’t even think of entering into an argument. She wondered what Laura had told them. When she’d spoken to Kitty last night, her friend had reported that no one had called the
police.

She joined Jack on the back seat. Ste and Cameron made some sort of comment as she walked by.

‘God,’ Jack said, ‘will they ever get bored?’

Lis smiled, not willing to let them bother her. ‘Probably not. They’re not going to change. But you know what? I don’t care any more; they can’t hurt me if I don’t
let them.’

He laughed. ‘Right on, sista!’

‘Jack, today is day one! A new beginning!’

‘Amen to that!’

At 10.15, midway through English, Lis asked to use the bathroom, although in truth she merely wanted to check her texts to see if there was anything from Kitty or Jack –
or even from Laura herself.

Excusing herself from class, she observed the rows upon rows of pupils as she drifted through the corridors. All these people – and, after last night, she felt she had found her place
among them. She was no longer an outsider, but an insider; she belonged with Kitty, Delilah and Jack. She giggled again at the memory of Laura’s face. Where was she? She couldn’t wait
for the punchline – when Laura saw her alive and well. Her phone found the network, but there were no new texts waiting to be read.

Leaving the girls’ bathroom, Lis drifted back towards her lesson, but was stunned to see a police officer heading into Ms Dandehunt’s office. The fluorescent yellow jacket was
unmissable. She took a detour; the long way back to B8 would take her past the head’s room. Slowing to get a good look, she saw two officers, Ms Dandehunt, the deputy head and the school
receptionist gathered around the gigantic desk in the centre of the room. Lis couldn’t hear what was being said, but through the thick glass she could see that Ms Dandehunt had turned a
sickly shade of grey. As the head pushed her chair away from her desk, she knocked a potted plant onto the floor.

Anxious not to be caught, Lis hurried back to English and slid into her seat. Leaning close to Delilah, she whispered as quietly as she could, ‘There’s something going on. There are
two policemen in Ms Dandehunt’s office. You don’t think it’s because of what we did, do you?’

‘No, it’s probably nothing.’ Delilah shrugged. ‘The school has a police liaison to deal with the naughty boys!’

‘No, it looks more serious than that. I saw Ms Dandehunt’s face; she looked pretty sick.’

‘Hmmm. Oh, well, the way gossip travels around here, I’m sure we’ll all know about it by the end of break.’

Lis smiled, oblivious to the majestic black bird perched just beyond the classroom window. She was being watched.

At 10.38, just before the break-time bell rang, Nasima Bharat was called out of English by the school receptionist. Looking confused and slightly concerned, she exited the room
and was led away down the corridor.

‘Nasima!’ yelled Ste Mangano. ‘Been a bad girl, eh?’

‘Thank you, Stephen, that is quite enough!’ barked Mrs Osborne.

This time Delilah turned to Lis. ‘Curiouser and curiouser!’

At 10.47, Lis paused at a water fountain. After a moment, she realised she was standing in a steady stream of teachers and staff members flowing into the staff room. While it
wasn’t especially surprising that teachers would use the staff room, it
was
unusual to see all of them going in at once. Something was seriously wrong, she could feel it. Even the
teachers didn’t seem to know what was going on. Lis guessed it must be connected to Nasima’s disappearance from English. The girl hadn’t returned to class.

Rachel Williams, a cool, quirky girl from Lis’s Art lessons, paused alongside the water fountain.

Lis greeted her quietly. ‘What do you think’s going on?’ she asked.

‘Well!’ Rachel announced, clearly relishing the gossip. ‘Danielle Chung told me that Nasima Bharat’s dad has cancer or something. We think that maybe he’s
died.’

Lis frowned. ‘Oh, that’s sad. I wonder if that’s what it is.’

As she said it, she saw the same police officers from Ms Dandehunt’s office now following Mr Gray into the staff lounge.
Would the police really need to be here if Nasima’s dad
had died?
she wondered. It was tragic, yes, but surely no reason for a police presence.

‘I don’t think that can be it,’ she half muttered to Rachel, but she was already drifting down the corridor.

10.53 and frustration was starting to simmer in Lis’s belly. She couldn’t find Jack, Kitty or Delilah anywhere. She’d been to their usual spot under the
shelter and not only were they absent, but no one had seen them all break. Sometimes Jack went to the snack shop in the canteen. It was worth a look.

By now the whole school buzzed as gossip spread like wildfire. Everyone had seen the police or knew someone who had, and everyone was speculating. You didn’t even need to eavesdrop, the
rumours were everywhere:
Jason Briggs has been caught with . . . Apparently she’s told police that he mugged her, seriously!
Lis did her best to block it out.

A fork of lightning split the sky, drawing ‘oohs’ from awestruck pupils. Strange to see lightning without rain. A storm must be on its way. Looking to the heavens, Lis failed to see
an oncoming Danny. Their shoulders clashed, almost knocking Lis over. He grabbed her and she stumbled into his strong arms.

‘Ow!’ The noise was a reflex more than an indication of pain. Lis steadied herself.

‘Sorry!’ they said together.

Danny’s face was milk white, a deathly, unnatural shade. He moved her out of the way to continue at his hectic pace, but Lis caught his hand.

‘Hey, are you OK?’

‘No, I’m not.’ He looked at the floor, avoiding her gaze. ‘I have to go.’

Lis kept hold of his hand. ‘Danny, what is it? You look awful.’

He looked up and, on seeing the pain in his usually tranquil eyes, Lis dropped his hand. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.

‘What is it?’ she repeated.

He frowned and a single tear pooled at the side of his nose. He caught it with the back of his hand before it could tumble down his cheek. ‘Cam’s mum called him,’ Danny said,
carefully controlling his voice which threatened to tremble. ‘Laura was murdered last night.’

‘What?’ Lis gasped. She felt as though a sonic boom had hit her. No. Just,
no.
She was hearing things. Oh, hang on a minute, was this Laura’s way of getting them back?
‘Are you sure?’ she asked Danny.

‘They found her body in the copse this morning.’

‘No, this is a joke, right?’ she whispered, although Danny’s face was all the proof she needed. Laura was dead. The entire playground felt like a wildly spinning carousel. This
couldn’t be real. She’d wake up in a second. But she didn’t. Why wasn’t she waking up? Lis reached out, leaning on the nearest wall to hold herself up.

The first drop of rain fell, hitting the concrete with a thick splat. Like a drop of blood.

‘Look, I have to go find Harry and Fi. They don’t know yet.’ Danny turned and ran.

Lis struggled for breath. Kitty. Jack. Delilah. They couldn’t have . . .
What had they done?
It was meant to be a joke! She had to find them.

A fierce wind picked up and the rain fell urgently now, joining the dots on the slabs. More lightning pierced the sky, which seemed to hang impossibly low, dense cloud closing in around the
school. Lis burst into a sprint, heading straight for the canteen, barging past a group of Year Eights who cursed her loudly, but she was moving too fast to hear what they said. She became the
storm, levelling anything that stood in her way.

Then the texts started to arrive. All around her, text alerts sounded before faces fell in shock and horror and disbelief. The fire was catching, spreading, burning out of control.

Almost falling up the stairs, Lis tumbled into the dining room, scanning the sea of students shovelling sandwiches and crisps into their faces. There was no sign of her clan. Her wet hair was
plastered across her face. A couple of Year Nine girls giggled at her dishevelled state, but Lis had no time to dwell on it. She headed back out of the door. Where else could they be?

Lis prayed she was wrong. It had been a wind-up, nothing but a silly game. But now Laura was dead for real.

She stood for a second, letting the rain hit her face. It washed over her and she felt her shirt sticking to her hot skin. She took deep breaths, staving off the very real possibility that she
might vomit in a public place. Opening her eyes, she saw the briefest glimpse of Kitty entering the old G Block by the boys’ toilets.