The New Girl (4 page)

SIX

“I thought you said no one was in,” said Polly, looking warily at the door.

“I did,” said Lila. She moved slowly up the path.

“Come back!” Polly sounded frightened. “You don't know who might be in there!”

Lila's heart was pounding in her chest, but she kept moving. Different scenarios flew through her mind. Burglars, was her first thought. Most of their valuable possessions – TV, laptops – were still in handy carry-out boxes. Talk about a burglar's dream!

“You're not going in there alone,” said Polly bravely behind her. “If we need it, I have the loudest scream in Heartside Bay.”

Santiago,
was Lila's second thought. Feeling a little hysterical as she tiptoed on towards the door, she pictured Santiago's wild black hair and moody black eyes as he ran towards her, holding out his arms and demanding to know why she wasn't answering his texts or calls.

The tiled hall was still and quiet. Lila cocked her head and listened carefully for movement. Polly crept inside behind her.

Before they could react, two guys came thundering down the stairs towards them. Polly screamed and tugged Lila back towards the front door as the figures jumped on Lila and wrapped her up in a huge hug.

“All right?” said the taller one cheerfully.

“Loving the uniform,” said the other, giving Lila a dig in the ribs.

“GET OFF HER!” Polly shrieked, still trying to heave at Lila's arm. “WE'LL CALL THE POLICE!”

“It's OK, Polly,” Lila said breathlessly. “These are my brothers, Tim and Alex. You scared the life out of us! Why didn't you say you were coming down? Mum's not expecting you until the weekend!”

“We thought we'd surprise you,” said Alex.

Lila pressed her hand to her heart and sank down on the bottom stair. “Well, you succeeded!”

“I just grew older by twenty years,” Polly groaned.

“Cool,” said Tim. “I like older women.”

“Tim is rubbish with girls,” Lila informed Polly. The shock was starting to wear off. “He thinks he has all these amazing lines that girls go mad for—”

“They do,” Tim added, winking and smoothing his green hoodie down over his stomach.

“—when in fact they just think he's a massive idiot,” Lila finished.

“Lil's right,” said Alex as Tim started protesting. “When was your last date again? Was it last year, or the year before?”

“Ha ha,” said Tim, pushing his older brother in the shoulder. He winked at Polly again. “So do you fancy a date, Lil's friend? As you can hear, I'm a bit out of practice.”

“You could take her dancing at the Grand Hotel on the front,” Alex grinned. “I hear the waltz is the latest thing.”

He grabbed Tim around the waist and started dancing around the hall with him.

“Get off!” Tim shouted.

Polly was standing by the front door and looking like she wanted to bolt. Lila felt anxious. It would be typical if her brothers scared off the only friend she had in this place.

“It's Lila now, by the way,” she said, waving to get Tim and Alex's attention. “Not Lil.”

“You'll always be Lil to us,” said Alex, dropping Tim.

“Ickle Lilzy-wilzy,” Tim snorted.

“Just remember, OK?” Lila said. She dragged Polly up the stairs. Tim and Alex were still laughing behind them about the “Ickle Lilzy-wilzy” thing, but at least they didn't follow them up.

“Sorry.” Lila showed Polly into her airy room with its cardboard boxes piled to the ceiling. “They're fools, but they're harmless. They won't be around much – Tim's at college in London and Alex is at uni.”

Polly seemed different here to how she was at school, Lila realized. Quieter, and less confident.

“It was just a shock,” Polly confessed. She hesitated. “Are they always like that?”

“Pretty much,” Lila said.

They settled down to unpack Lila's boxes. Clothes, books, make-up, ornaments, magazines – everything came tumbling out. Before long the room was a tip, without a millimetre of carpet to be seen.

Polly put a magazine on top of a pile near the wardrobe, and straightened the edges so the magazines all lined up. “Why did you change your name?” she asked.

Halfway through packing her chest of drawers, Lila hesitated. She was still unsure how much of her past she wanted to share.

“I did . . . some bad stuff in London. I want to leave it behind, you know? Changing my name feels like a clean start.”

Polly eyed the magazine stack again, and straightened it minutely. “The guy who texted you,” she said. “Is he part of it?”

Lila nodded.

“With Eve's behaviour today, you probably wish you were still in London.”

“Believe me, I don't,” Lila said firmly.

Polly stopped playing with the magazine at the sound of a car drawing up outside. She peeked through the curtains.

“It's the police!” she said, wide-eyed. “Someone must have heard me scream earlier and called them. What do we do?”

Lila saw a police officer getting out of the squad car parked by the kerb. Her tummy did its usual jumpy thing.
It's stupid to feel this nervous every time
,
she thought a little hopelessly. She hadn't even done anything! But old habits died hard.

“What are we going to say?” Polly gabbled in panic. “It's a crime if you call the police for no reason!”

“Don't worry, it's just my dad,” Lila said, dropping the curtain back into place. “He's a police officer.” She decided not to explain that her dad was the new chief of police in Heartside. It was too embarrassing. “Come and say hi.”

Polly straightened the edge of the curtain so it hung better. Her new friend was clearly a bit of a neat freak, Lila thought. No wonder Lila's house had spooked her.

Lila's dad looked sharply at Polly as the girls came downstairs.

“Dad, this is Polly,” said Lila, waving her hand in introduction.

“Pleased to meet you,” said Polly.

Lila's dad put his peaked cap on the hall table, and wiped a bit of dust off the brim. The braiding on his shoulders caught the light.

“The official title is Chief Murray,” he said. Then he smiled. It reminded Lila of the flash of sunlight they'd seen on Heartside beach earlier. “But you can call me Greg.”

Lila wanted to cringe. That was typical of her dad. Unnerving you one minute, and turning friendly the next. Polly smiled back uncertainly.

“How was your first day, Lil?” asked her dad. “Not in trouble yet, I hope.”

Why did he have to embarrass her with a question like that? It wasn't much of a morale boost. She was trying her best. At some point he had to forgive her.

“I was a model student,” she said shortly. “And I'm calling myself Lila now.”

“Oh yes, your mum told me,” said her dad in a jovial voice. “Talking of which, is your mum back yet? I'm starving.”

The front door opened on cue. The smell of heavily vinegared fish and chips wafted down the hall, bringing Tim and Alex tumbling out of the living room and adding to the general squeeze at the foot of the stairs.

Lila's mum peered over a stack of greasy paper bags at the crowd in the hallway. “Boys!” she protested as Tim and Alex peppered her cheeks with kisses. “You should have let me know you were coming. I've only got fish and chips for three.” She caught sight of Polly. “Oh, hello. . .”

“I'd better be going,” said Polly, backing towards the front door.

Lila felt dismayed. Her family was a
nightmare
. “You don't have to,” she said, starting after her friend.

“I do,” Polly muttered, holding her bag tightly against her. “See you at school tomorrow, OK? Nice to meet you all.”

She squeezed out of the front door and was gone.

“Polly!” Lila hurried through the front door. What had happened? Had she done something to annoy her? Had her dad? Her brothers? She felt panicky at the thought of school tomorrow, Polly ignoring her along with everyone else. But Polly had already vanished into the gloom.

“It's probably best, Lil,” said her dad, in his bossy family-time voice as Lila came slowly back inside.

“It's
Lila
now, Greg,” her mum scolded. She gave Lila an encouraging smile. “She seemed nice, love. Sorry I wasn't able to say a proper hello. Boys, get the plates out.”

“First things first,” said Lila's dad. He held out his hand. “Phones.”

“I don't have to do that any more,” said Alex. “I'm an
adult
, Dad.”

“Yes you do,” said Lila's dad firmly. “This is family time, whether you're fifteen or twenty. Hand it over.”

Alex muttered, but passed over his phone. Tim did the same. They knew their dad too well to offer any serious argument. Lila was about to hand hers over too when she froze. She had remembered something crucial.

“Come on, Lila,” said her dad impatiently. “There's a plate of fish and chips in the kitchen with my name on it.”

She hadn't deleted the string of texts she'd got from Santiago. The last thing she needed was her dad knowing she was still in touch with him.

“I . . . I think I left it in my room,” she stuttered.

Buzz.

“I don't think so,” said her dad, pointedly looking at her pocket.

There was a crash from the kitchen, and the sound of swearing. It sounded like her mum had dropped something. Her dad and her brothers all looked round at the interruption.

Seizing her chance, Lila yanked her phone from her pocket and frantically pressed DELETE ALL. The texts winked at her for a half a second, and the screen went blank.

She pressed her phone into her dad's outstretched hand. She hoped he couldn't feel the way her fingers were shaking.

That had been close.

SEVEN

Lila kept her head down on the walk to school the next day. The weather was colder and greyer than the day before, which didn't improve her mood. Who would ignore her today, she wondered glumly. Maybe Eve had moved things along with Ollie after school yesterday, at some really cool place where the kids of Heartside hung out together in the evenings and laughed about not inviting the new girl along.

By the time she reached the high street, she had created a whole world where Eve and Ollie were going out and her life here had become completely impossible. It was almost a surprise to see Ollie all by himself, waiting at the bottom of the steps. The collar on his blazer was turned up against the wind. It made him look even better-looking than usual. A couple of girls shot hopeful looks at him as they went past.

“About time you got here,” he said, shivering.

Lila was surprised and grateful. “Were you waiting for me?”

“No, I just like hanging out on the steps in a gale,” he joked.

He put his hands out and grabbed her. Lila almost stumbled backwards in surprise. He wasn't going to kiss her, was he? What would she do if he tried? There was no question that a kiss would cheer her up – and drive Eve mad with jealousy. It was almost worth doing just for that. But Lila Murray hadn't moved to Heartside Bay to kiss boys on her second day at school. Although maybe she could be persuaded. . .

Ollie squeezed her shoulders and then let go again. “Just checking you're still alive. I thought Eve might send a squad of assassins down your chimney in the night.”

It was ridiculous to feel this disappointed. Did she seriously want her first kiss at Heartside to be on a set of concrete steps, in the wind and the cold, where everyone could see? It didn't exactly match the romance of a moonlit midnight on Kissing Island.

She forced a laugh. “They'd have trouble getting down the chimney. We don't have one.”

The thought of going inside was more bearable with Ollie beside her. A reckless part of her wanted Eve to see them together, to prove that Eve's campaign against her wasn't working on the most important person of all. Was Ollie her secret admirer? She'd taken the note out last night and read it again. When she woke up this morning, it had still been clutched in her hand. Now it was folded up in her blazer pocket like a lucky talisman.

“What did you do last night?” Ollie asked as they climbed the steps together. “I would have hung around but I had football practice. The school pitches are right up on the cliffs. It was freezing.”

Part of Lila wanted to punch the air in relief. Ollie hadn't been with Eve at all. She should have remembered the football practice thing; she'd even heard the PE teacher yelling at Ollie about it.

“Polly took me to the beach. We saw Josh.”

Good move, Lila
, she thought, feeling annoyed with herself as soon as the words were out.
Mentioning another guy to the guy you're really interested in.

“Don't tell me,” said Ollie, rolling his eyes. “He was staring soulfully out to sea and drawing seagulls.”

“I didn't see what he was drawing.”

“He's not as interesting as he likes to think,” Ollie said grumpily.

It dawned on Lila with a little thrill that Ollie was jealous. Maybe mentioning Josh hadn't been a bad move after all.

“Anyway,” she said, trying to contain the smile she could feel growing on her face, “Polly came back to mine afterwards. I think my family freaked her out a bit.”

“Why, have they all got two heads?”

Lila frowned. “She just went a bit funny and left. I hope she's OK. I could murder my family sometimes.” She looked around. “Have you seen her this morning?”

“She'll be hiding somewhere, trying to stay out of Eve's way. There's nothing like invitation day to make a person feel welcome.”

Lila frowned. “What's invitation day?”

“Forget it,” said Ollie, suddenly looking awkward. “I have to go and have a word with Mr Slater – PE teacher, you met him yesterday. See you at break.”

Lila watched him jog off down the corridor. Was it her imagination, or had Ollie just made that excuse so he wouldn't be seen with her inside school? And what was invitation day? Something else to worry about. She felt alone and exposed. Putting her hand in her pocket, she tried to draw strength from the feel of the note nestled into the lining.

She made her way towards the Year 10 corridor, looking for Polly's familiar hair in the crowd. She caught a drift of conversation from a group of girls she recognized from science the day before, and a flash of something sparkly in their hands.

“What are you wearing? Everyone takes the glamorous dress code really seriously, Eve won't let you—”

The girls stopped talking as Lila walked past. She hurried on towards her locker, aware of their eyes on her back. Why should she care what they were talking about?
I won't cry
, she thought fiercely.

She stopped dead.
Eve was standing a little further down the corridor, handing out sparkly envelopes and laughing with Rhi. She had put her hair up today, which made her neck look long and swanlike. She was beautiful, Lila thought wistfully. Beautiful and evil. For a brief moment she imagined what her life at Heartside would be like with Eve as her friend.

The relief she felt when she saw Polly waiting by her locker made her feel a bit dizzy. Only now could she admit how much she had been counting on Polly still being her friend. She wouldn't have been able to bear another day at Heartside High without her.

There was a red stripe in Polly's hair today, and red laces in her shiny brogues.

“Sorry about last night,” Polly said as Lila approached. She looked embarrassed.

“Me too,” said Lila fervently. “I was worried about you, but we hadn't swapped numbers yet so I couldn't call. I hope no one said anything horrible to you that made you leave? Tim and Alex can be—”

“It's no one's fault,” Polly said. “My home life is a little different than yours. Quieter, you know? I was just a bit overwhelmed. That's all. Let's talk about something else.”

Lila was happy to change the subject. There was something she really needed to know.

“Polly, what's invitation day?”

Polly nodded in Eve's direction. “The Ice Queen has a Valentine's party every year. They're incredibly glamorous. Each one is bigger and better than the last. There's always a band, and amazing decorations, and a love theme. Everyone talks about it for days beforehand, and weeks afterwards, about who kissed who and who wore what. I don't know what she's trying to prove. That Daddy has pots of money, I guess.”

She sounded bitter.

“Don't tell me,” said Lila. “You haven't been invited?”

“Of course not. I'm not in the cool gang any more. But you know what? I wouldn't go even if she had invited me. I've got more self-respect than that.”

The way her hazel eyes flicked towards Eve handing out the sparkly envelopes told Lila a different story. Of course Polly wanted to go. Who wouldn't want to go to a party like that?

“That makes two of us,” Lila said loyally. “Let's make a date to hang out, OK? We can have a party of our own instead.”

Polly laughed. “Sounds great. What band are you going to get?”

“Someone really big,” Lila improvised. “Someone to wipe the floor with Eve's band.”

Polly's eyes sparkled, getting into the game. “What's the theme?”

Before Lila could frame an answer, Ollie jogged around the corner.

“Slater wasn't there,” he said a little breathlessly. “I'll catch him later. Want to head to class?”

Lila felt a rush of gratitude for Polly and Ollie. Maybe he didn't mind being seen with her. Whatever Eve Somerstown might do, at least these two were sticking by her.

There was a waft of lemony scent on the air. Polly's eyes darkened and Lila's heart gave an unpleasant thump. Eve had swished up to them. Lila didn't like the smile on her face one bit.