Angel Kiss - Laura Jane Cassidy [18]
‘You’re being very quiet,’ Colin observed as we walked along.
‘Am I?’ I said, pushing Ger Rapple’s business card further down in my jeans pocket.
I wanted to change the subject. I wanted to totally forget what had just happened.
‘I saw Sarah earlier,’ I said. I needed to talk about something normal.
‘Oh, yeah … she’s … she’s nice,’ said Colin, smiling half-heartedly. We arrived at the bus stop and I checked the times. There was one in six minutes.
‘She kind of blanked me,’ I said. ‘Well … maybe she just didn’t recognize me. I did only talk to her for a few minutes when I met her.’
‘She’s the most annoying girl who ever walked the planet,’ said Colin in one breath, then covered his mouth with his hand. ‘Oops,’ he said, ‘that just slipped out.’
‘You don’t like her?’ I said, intrigued. I sat down on the path beside Colin.
He crossed his arms. ‘I just find her really fake,’ he said. ‘I mean, yeah, she’s gorgeous and all, but that doesn’t give her the right to be so rude. She never makes an effort to talk to any of Nick’s mates. She thinks she’s better than all of us.’
‘Maybe she didn’t recognize me though, or maybe she thought I was being rude. I did kind of leave in a hurry the other day.’ I didn’t like to talk about people behind their backs, unless I was sure of my facts. It always came back to haunt me.
‘I doubt you did anything wrong. I don’t know any girls who like her. Worship her, yeah, terrified of her, yeah. But like her? No. Of course, most of the lads think she’s all right. Pretty girls get away with so much. I’m sure you know that.’
I blushed. I didn’t really see myself as pretty and got embarrassed when people referred to how I looked.
‘Have they been going out long?’ I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
‘About four months, I think. That’s the problem. He hasn’t been going out with her long enough.’
‘Long enough … for what?’
‘Long enough to find out what she’s really like: part stunner, part psycho.’
The way he said it made me laugh. ‘He must really like her,’ I said, thinking back to the way he’d looked at her in the shop.
‘Oh yeah, he thinks he’s totally in love with her.’
Great, that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. But it was sort of nice to know that Colin didn’t like her.
‘Crap, I need more change for the bus,’ he said, digging around in his pockets.
I took out my purse to check what I had, but he’d already run off to a nearby shop.
He came out a minute later carrying two ice-cream cones.
‘I hope you like sprinkles!’ he said just as the bus pulled up.
Chapter 6
The next afternoon Colin had to help his mum in the guesthouse, so I decided to write some lyrics. I needed to forget about what had happened at the doctor’s the day before. That had really done my head in. I just couldn’t accept that all that stuff was caused by something … What had she called it? Paranormal? Supernatural? Whatever it was, it was weird, but there was no way I was calling it any of those things. Maybe I was in denial, but I just couldn’t go there. Mum had asked me how it went and seemed relieved when I used the allergies excuse again. I wasn’t ready to tell her what Dr Cahill had really said.
I didn’t need to think about that now; anyway I had more important things to consider. It was far too long since I’d written a song. The noise on the building-site-that-was-my-home wasn’t making it the most inspirational place to write, so I threw my notebook into my patchwork bag along with my favourite pen, and headed for the village. I knew exactly where I’d go – to Avarna’s communal garden. It was in a little hidden-away spot down by the river, the perfect place to write a song.
As I walked along the road I began to feel a bit better. I was happy with this plan. Arranging words to music has always been an important part of my life. After writing a song, I feel like a weight has been lifted from me, as if some of my deepest feelings have been released. I suppose you could say it’s become my way of dealing with