Angel Kiss - Laura Jane Cassidy [65]
‘Yes,’ said Peter. ‘Maybe we should.’
I lay on the very comfy bed in the spare bedroom at the end of the hall, trying my best to get the image of the slit wrist out of my head. I couldn’t believe that Carla was contemplating doing that. Maybe she was just curious to see what it looked like. I had presumed the grungy clothing and heavy eye make-up were just a fashion statement, not an expression of her inner feelings. I really hoped she wasn’t planning on doing herself any harm.
A beautiful lamp stood on the bedside table to my right. It had a cream base with a blue butterfly design. Everything in the Mulveys’ house seemed glitzy and expensive. I began to imagine that if I was as rich as the Mulveys I’d build my own recording studio in the house. It was fun just to lie there and fantasize about something silly for a change. I turned off the light and tried to sleep, but I kept thinking about Carla. I considered asking her if she was OK, but I didn’t want to upset her. I didn’t want to upset any of the Mulveys. They were the one reason I was still in Avarna and not on my gran’s couch in Dublin. I needed to be in Avarna. I needed to help Jane. And I needed to fix things with Nick. I knew my chances were slim, but that didn’t stop me formulating a plan to get him back. How would I explain what had happened to me at the party? How would I convince him I wasn’t crazy?
I took my notebook out from my patchwork bag and put it inside the white bedside locker. I wanted to keep it safe. Safe like Mum and I were now, under the solid roof of a house with an electric gate, CCTV and an alarm system.
Chapter 21
The next morning I put on my Joy Division T-shirt, denim cut-offs and pink Converse, and unpacked the rest of the stuff from my suitcase. I figured we were going to be here for at least a week, so I might as well unpack everything. The house was supposed to be finished in a week, but it had been delayed before, so I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I put my clothes in the wardrobe and the rest of my things in the bedside locker. Then I saw that Mum had put a note under my door – she had gone to the big hardware store in Carrick. David’s door was closed. Downstairs, Anne was reading the paper in the kitchen.
‘Help yourself to some cereal,’ she said with a smile.
I ate quickly and told her I was going to meet a friend. I unwound my earphones and headed straight for the village. The air was sticky with heat, but a huge grey cloud threatened rain. As I passed Nick’s house I turned up the volume on my iPod to distract myself from the pain in my chest that came whenever I thought about him. I wondered if he was in there, but I couldn’t bear to face him. Not yet, not until I’d figured out a way to fix things. I dreaded having to see him at Mary’s party, but at least I wouldn’t have to stay for long. I’d just go, sing my song and leave.
I went to the Cupcake Café to use a computer. Colin and Emily and the others were busy with work and family stuff, but I didn’t mind. I wanted some time to myself. I treated myself to a strawberry smoothie and enjoyed a quiet hour chatting online to some of my Dublin friends, then I decided to go for a walk. I needed to think about Jane. I knew the clues had to be connected somehow. Mum had made me promise not to go anywhere near the forest or the mines, so I was confined to the village. I went down to the communal garden, but there were lots of kids there enjoying the last of their summer holidays. I scrolled through the music on my iPod, put on some Thin Lizzy and just walked around the village.
My mind kept wandering back to Nick. Everything on my route reminded me: Clancy’s pub, the garden and of course the shop, which I couldn’t even bear to look at. Part of me wished that Nick had been with some other girl. Then I might have had some chance of forgetting him. I wouldn’t be thinking about him every second of the day. Now it was even harder than before. There was so much damage to repair – the major freak-out and the fact that I’d completely ignored him