Silent Treatment (3 page)

She laughed and felt her cheeks flush at his
compliments.

“So you’re a big fan of the band then?” She laughed again as he rolled his
eyes meaningfully, and then she carried on. “They’re all-right actually, really friendly and most people seem to enjoy their singing even if you don’t. We’re doing another video for them already. They were so pleased with the first one they wanted us for their follow up and there’s talk about us joining them for their first live tour. It’s really hard work though and what with my GCSE’s I’m finding it difficult to fit everything in. I don’t need this kind of hassle as well.” She nodded back to the locker. “And now I’m going to miss Thursday evening’s revision classes too. Evans will just make me sit in his dingy office for a whole hour, doing nothing. I could get so much done in that time.”

Dan
iel looked worried for a moment, then his face brightened.

“I’ll see if I can have a word with him.
I’m coming in early tomorrow for another training session with the team. The season’s nearly over but we have the biggest two games coming up and Simms wants us in every day this week. Evans is always about then. I’ve been giving his son some tips on training so perhaps he’ll listen to me.” He puffed out his huge chest and Carrie thought that she would definitely listen if he came and talked to her. His size could be very frightening if you didn’t know what a nice guy he was. She giggled as she thought how the year sevens cowered and fell back whenever either Daniel or any of his huge friends were around.

They walked down the corridor together and Carrie suddenly noticed that there were two or three other enormous year thirteen’s hovering at the school door. They were looking slightly impatient and she
realized that they were part of the rugby team. They had obviously been waiting for Daniel.

For a moment she felt overwhelmed by the size of them all as they gathered around their team captain, talking about the match and slapping each other on their backs as they congratulated themselves on the latest win.

Carrie quietly ducked under their massive arms and managed to slip away from the group unnoticed. She walked quickly out of the school gates and headed off down the road but she soon heard running footsteps and was suddenly grabbed on the shoulder.

Dan
iel’s huge hand stopped her in her tracks. He looked down at her, a slight frown on his face.

“Do you want me to walk you home in case anyone’s hanging around for you?” His face was full of concern.

Carrie felt her cheeks blush a deep red. Although they always walked in to school together, on the way home it was more of a falling into step because they were going in the same direction, rather than a deliberate thing. Sometimes they didn’t even see each other due to clubs or meetings. This was the first time he had ever asked her if she wanted him there. She gulped before she answered.

“No.” Her voice was just a little too high pitched. “Thanks for the offer but
I’m sure I’ll be fine. You stay with your mates. Nobody has ever done anything to me outside school.” She swung her bag up onto her shoulder again and walked down the road, wondering why he had felt the need to ask her. It was nice of him, but she didn’t have far to go and he would be walking that way himself. He was probably only a few yards behind her.

She chanced a look back over her shoulder and noticed the group was following her slowly. Dan
iel’s friend Paul was looking right at her. He glanced away as he caught her eye, then he looked up at her and raised his eyebrows as he turned back to Daniel. He shook his head at something Daniel had said and then laughed loudly and thumped his friend playfully on the shoulder.

Dan
iel looked momentarily furious, almost dangerous and then he glanced back over to Carrie. She smiled at him and gave a quick wave as he smiled back. Suddenly his scowl was gone and he was laughing with his mates again.

Carrie turned around and headed for home without looking back again. At the path near the park she heard them head off in different directions and then she heard giant feet pounding along behind her.

Daniel caught up within a few seconds.

“Hang on Carrie.” He puffed up to her. “We can walk together now.
Paul’s gone to pick up his kid sister from drama class, but those other idiots are going to have a fag in the park. Why they feel they have to go to the park I have no idea. It’s not like they’re twelve anymore.” He looked back over his shoulder and frowned at the clouds of smoke wafting around his friends. “I wonder if I can ban it if they want to stay on the team?”

Carrie laughed.

“I’d like to see you try. You’re more likely to have a mutiny on your hands and end up with a team consisting of just you and Paul.”

Dan
iel glared down at her furiously.

“It’s n
ot funny Carrie. I hate smoking. It’s a vile habit and I can’t believe they’d mess around with their fitness like that. They’re obviously not taking their rugby seriously. I think I’m going to drop them if they don’t quit.” He frowned in obvious irritation and suddenly noticed Carrie’s surprised expression. She obviously hadn’t known how serious he was about his career. He hoped that she was serious about hers. “Just tell me you’ll never smoke Carrie, promise me you won’t.”

There was an
urgency in his tone that Carrie didn’t understand. She looked up at him curiously.

Why was he so concerned if she smoked or not?
She never would, she hated the habit as much as Daniel did but why did it matter to him what she did?
Maybe he did care about her after all.
Hope thundered in her chest.

“Of course I won’t smoke Da
n. Apart from the fact that it makes your breath stink, if I’m going to get anywhere with this dancing lark, there’s no way I can let anything like smoking interfere with my health.”

Daniels shoulders slumped as h
e breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

“Good, but it’s such a disgusting habit, I’m not going to let you get away without promising me.” They were standing at his gate, but he didn’t make any move to go inside.

She held her hand over her heart and grinned.

“That’s easy Dan. I promise you, most faithfully, cross my heart and hope to die, that I will never smoke. Is that good enough for you?” She smiled up at him, but he didn’t return the smile. He nodded grimly, his face remaining very serious.

He moved a little nearer to her and lifted his hand to her hair. His touch was so gentle and she felt a thrill run all the way down through her body. He had never touched her like this before.

A
nd then the long strands fell from his hand.

“Don’t forget to wash your hair. That stuff is difficult to get out if it dries too hard.” His v
oice was husky and Carrie gulped as she caught another waft of his fabulous aftershave.

She lifted her o
wn hand and touched the stiffening strands, feeling very stupid as she realized that he was only reminding her about the silly string. She had forgotten about it completely.

“No, I won’t forget,” s
he whispered and she dropped her gaze to the pavement suddenly sure that he would be able to see what she was feeling.

H
e stepped away from her.

“Bye Carrie, I’ll
see you in the morning. I’m going in at eight but you could come in early too and get some of that revision done. I’ll meet you again tomorrow night and let you know what Evans says about letting you off the detention.” He turned and pushed through the gate and walked slowly to his front door.

Carrie moved immediately. She almost ran up the road. Her cheeks were flaming, her heart pounding in her chest.

He was worried about her health and he had touched her hair twice. That had to mean something surely! It can’t have just been about the silly string! More importantly he was going to wait for her tomorrow after school again too!

She
shoved her key in the lock and charged through her front door, slamming it behind her and breathing heavily as she leaned against the cool wood.

“That you Carrie?” Her mother shouted
her usual greeting from the kitchen.

Carrie sighed and caught her breath.
Who else did her mother think it would be
? There was no one else in the house until her dad came in later.

Carrie rolled her eyes.

“Yes mum. I’m going up for a shower. I got some stuff in my hair in science.” She yelled back.

Her mother’s head suddenly appeared around the kitchen door and Carrie caught
sight of her mother’s dipped eyebrows and curious frown.

“What sort of stuff?
I’ve a good mind to come up to that school and complain. That’s the second time in a month that something has got into your hair.” Her mother peered at her.

Carrie fended her
mother off, waving her hand across her face as she dismissed her reaction as unnecessary.

“It’s nothing serious
mum, it’s just a bit sticky. It’ll come out easily enough. Are you taking me to rehearsals later or do I have to get the bus?”

Distracted
, her mother answered quickly.

“I can drive you tonight. Antonio only wants you for an hour
so I’ll probably sit and wait for you. He’s got some big producer chap coming down from central London so he can’t be with the group for too long. I think they have managed to negotiate a tour for you lot. He sounded very excited.”

Carrie stopped at the bottom of the stairs thinking about what Dan
iel had said earlier. His words suddenly seemed very important.

“I ca
n’t go trecking about the country right now mum. I have to do my exams. I can’t give them up for some tour. I need to get good qualifications for if this doesn’t work out. I don’t want to end up stacking shelves in the supermarket for the rest of my life.”

Her mother walked along the hall to her.

“There’s nothing wrong with a bit of shelf stacking but I don’t think it will come to that Carrie. You are bright enough to do anything you want, but I understand what you are saying. I think Antonio was talking about a tour during the summer holidays. The band has been booked for some of the big festivals, but I don’t want you to worry about it until we know for sure, okay. Now go get that stuff out of your hair.” She peered at Carrie’s head suspiciously. “It looks a vile colour. Whatever were you doing in class to make that kind of mess?”

Carrie took a couple of steps up the stairs
hoping to avoid her mother’s curious eyes.

“Oh, it’s just some chemical reaction. It was an experiment but it kind of blew up
in my face and went everywhere. It’s not dangerous or anything so there’s nothing to worry about. Can you make me a sandwich before dance? I’m famished.” She ran up the rest of the stairs as her mother nodded and went back to the kitchen.

Carrie threw her bag on
to her bed and looked in the mirror. She rolled her eyes and groaned in misery. Her hair was a matted smear of pink at one side and she had been talking to the man of her dreams as though there was nothing unusual in that. He must have thought she looked a right idiot.

She moved to her bedroom window as she thought of Daniel Lewis again. If she stood on the right of the glass and squinted sideways, she could just see
into Daniel’s back garden.

She had only made the discovery one evening in September the year before when she had heard the weirdest thumping, grunting noises coming from outside.

She had been l
ying on her bed thinking that maybe someone was practicing wrestling, but later that evening when she had mentioned to her parents about the odd noise, her dad had shaken his head in resignation. He had moaned over their dinner as the grunts had carried on into the night.

“It’s that blasted
kid up the road. You know, the huge one. I wish he would give up the rugby practice in the evenings. That training machine he uses is doing my head in, and the noises he makes! Sounds like a rutting elephant! He’s built like a brick shit-house as it is. You wouldn’t think he needs to build up any more. I’d complain if his whole family wasn’t so blasted huge.”

Carrie
’s mother had told her husband off for using unsuitable and bad language and Carrie had slipped away up to her bedroom just to see if she could see what her father had been talking about.

She
had known immediately that her father had been talking about Daniel. He was the only boy on the street who was bigger than the average.

She
had been surprised that any noise from Daniel’s house would travel all the way up the street, but when she looked out of the window, she realized, for the first time that the road wasn’t quite straight and the gardens curved into a long, looping arc. The end of Daniel’s back garden was nearer to hers than she had thought possible.

She had craned her neck
and pressed her face against the window and, out of the corner of her eye, less than a hundred metres away, she had seen a blur as someone charged down a garden. A few seconds later, a full throated growl could be heard as Daniel hit a big padded frame at the end of the lawn. He pushed the frame back hard with his shoulder, keeping the pressure up for several seconds, before he backed off and strode down the garden, only to turn and repeat the whole process over and over again.