CHAPTER SIX
THE GIRL WITH PURPLE HAIR
Millie drove us to the movie theatre in her new car, a second-hand Toyota Matrix she had been drooling over and saving for all summer. Despite the fact we almost crashed at several intersections, and she had absolutely no respect for the speed limit, we made it in one piece. I got out, feeling marginally strengthened by the fact that fate must be back on my side.
Friday night wasn’t exactly the best time to go to the movies. The whole place was wedged with people and every time someone brushed against me, I jumped a little. I did my best to loosen up, but it was hard to let go completely without scoping out our surroundings every couple of minutes.
Millie and I trickled into the line at the concession stand.
‘Are you getting popcorn?’ she asked.
I was looking over my shoulder. I felt shivery, like something was amiss. I tried to relax. I was too aware of my heartbeat, and my palms were slicking with sweat. Focus. Calm down.
Millie prodded me. ‘Helloooo.’
‘What?’ I stroked the switchblade in my pocket. I hadn’t wanted to bring it with me, but the idea of going to the movie theatre had just felt so huge at the time. I needed it to keep my anxiety under control.
‘Popcorn,’ said Millie, snapping her fingers in front of my face. ‘Full disclosure: there will be rivers of butter on my popcorn. Lakes, in fact. I’m getting popcorn with my butter, OK? Is that what you want to hear? I’ll be drowning in a vat of my own buttery shame. And don’t you dare look at me with those judgy eyes, Sophie Gracewell, don’t you dare judge me.’
‘Moi?’ I protested, clenching and unclenching my fist around the switchblade and offering her a blithe smile. ‘I would never. I actually think that decision is very inspired. I may even copy you.’
Millie twirled her hands. ‘And that is why I’m the trailblazer.’
I bristled as the woman behind me brushed against my back. I stood a little straighter, and flicked my gaze over my shoulder. Not a threat. ‘And what am I?’ I asked Millie, keeping up with the flow of conversation while my brain whirred.
‘You’re the sarcastic one.’
‘So you get “trailblazer” and I get “sarcastic”?’
‘OK, then. You’re the one with the little face dents.’
‘I prefer the term “dimples”. And that’s still terrible.’
‘Fine.’ She studied me in quiet contemplation. ‘You’re …’
‘The moron who walks herself into danger?’
‘You’re the moron who walks herself out of danger!’ She clapped her hands in celebration. ‘That’s a good one, actually. You’re slippery.’
I moved my gaze over her shoulder. A woman with plum-coloured hair was hovering across the foyer. It was cut short, styled into a severe bob with the heaviest bangs I’d ever seen. My recent love affair with America’s Next Top Model had attuned me to hairstyles, and as far as dramatic cuts went, this one was hard to miss. It covered her eyebrows and hung low over theatrical eye make-up.
Millie noticed my distraction. ‘Cute boy?’ She followed my gaze. ‘You’re being woefully obvious.’
‘See the girl with the purple hair?’
Millie turned her whole body around. ‘Who? Lego-head over there?’
I pinched her. ‘Stop being so obvious. I swear she’s watching us.’
‘She probably can’t even see us through her fringe.’
‘I’m serious. There’s something up with her.’
Millie rolled her eyes. ‘Soph, come on. We’ve been over this a hundred times. Nobody is out to get you. You’re safe.’
We edged closer to the till. ‘Just hear me out,’ I said, still keeping an eye on the purple-haired girl. She was pacing now, looping around the theatre in a circle. If she was trying to play it cool, she was failing; I was on to her. ‘She was in the parking lot the same time we were. She was staring at us so hard I thought she was going to hit on you. Then she was standing behind us the whole time we were getting our tickets, and now she’s lingering here but she hasn’t bought one thing.’
Millie was gaping at me. ‘Soph, has it really gotten this bad …’
‘I know what you’re going to tell me. You’re going to tell me it’s a movie theatre and there’s loads of people here and that’s the whole point and I’m being paranoid …’
She nodded along with me.
‘But Mil, the more I think about it, I’m pretty sure she was driving a black Mercedes in the parking lot. That’s the same type of car that’s been driving by my house!’
Millie opened her mouth like she was going to say something. She stopped, closed it, and swallowed. She sighed. ‘OK, well, what do you want to do about this? Do you want me to go over there and talk to her? Would that make you feel better?’
I thumbed the closed blade in my pocket. ‘Just watch her. Let’s see what she does.’
‘OK,’ she resolved, looking around. ‘I don’t even know where she’s gone.’
‘She’s by the windows over there. Don’t look now. She’s doing something on her phone.’
‘Right, well, just forget about it for now. I bet she’s just waiting for a date, or an adequate hairdresser.’
The couple in front of us moved off. We took our place at the counter. Millie ordered our food and we made our way to the screen, carrying obnoxiously large buckets of popcorn.
I waited for Purple Hair to follow us in, but she didn’t. I kept my other hand in my pocket, clenched around the closed switchblade. Calmness trickled over me. Deep down I knew I was just being paranoid, but outings like this would help it ease over time. I just had to push myself. After a while my heart rate settled to a steady pace. I popped a handful of popcorn into my mouth and revelled in the taste of butter on my tongue. The lights dimmed and the screen flickered to life.
Afterwards, we used the restroom because the movie had, against all odds, managed to emotionally obliterate Millie.
‘You don’t have to look so smug about it,’ she told my reflection, as she scrubbed the mascara tracks from her face.
‘You wept,’ I said, triumph stretching the smile on my face. ‘You wept like a baby.’
‘Oh, excuse me for caring about the love story. You didn’t tell me she was going to have to murder him in the end.’ She sniffed. ‘I mean, she dismantled him.’
‘Yeah, well, sometimes robots go bad. Besides, I thought you said you couldn’t connect with non-human love stories anyway, so why are you getting all weepy about it?’
‘You didn’t tell me he’d be a hot robot! I was picturing the gold guy from Star Wars.’
I laughed and the feeling was an airy tickle in my chest – something I hadn’t felt in a while. I wasn’t thinking about the switchblade or the warehouse or the paranoia. I was thinking about my best friend and how funny she was without even meaning it, and I might have kept laughing if we hadn’t run into the purple-haired girl the second we left the bathroom.
She was hovering in the foyer, like she had never left. Suspicion surged inside me – uncomfortable and suffocating. My throat went tight. She was standing by the windows, slumped casually against the wall, her phone in her hands, but her gaze was roving.
‘I see her,’ said Millie, under her breath. ‘So before you start freaking out, don’t. Her movie’s clearly just finished, and we’re going to the car anyway, so just ignore it.’
God, was I that obvious?
I side-glanced at her as we shuffled by. At closer range I noted that she wasn’t particularly scary. She was young and short – about my height – and she chewed on her lip with a self-consciousness that didn’t exactly terrify me. She was on the phone, and it looked like she was having an argument. Maybe she had been stood up. Maybe she had been waiting this whole time for a date or a friend. God, she was so young. I was suddenly highly embarrassed by my jumpiness. I could feel my skin flooding with patches of red. What the hell was wrong with me? It was worse than being afraid of my own shadow. She was probably more afraid of me at this point. I had been staring at her non-stop for most of the evening. And I was the one with a knife in my pocket.
‘I think I’m freaking her out,’ I whispered to Millie.
‘Oh, you definitely are.’
In the parking lot Millie had to dig through her purse to find her keys. ‘Why do they make them so easy to lose in there?’ she huffed. ‘I swear, if this isn’t the most annoying thing about driving I don’t know what is.’
‘Just put your key in a separate pocket or something.’
‘Great idea. If you could just mail that to two hours ago that would be great.’ She dropped her bag and crouched beside it as she rifled through it.
The lot was almost empty now. Our movie had been the last to finish and the remaining cars were thinning out, leaving open spaces lit up in circles from the street lamps.
Purple Hair was jogging towards her car. When she stopped, she turned in my direction. We stared at each other for a second before she looked away. She leant against her car, just like I was, and started examining her fingernails. I watched her in sulky silence. Her Mercedes had black rims. After a couple of seconds, she flicked her gaze up again and started walking towards me. I felt myself tense. Either she was going to yell at me for staring at her or admit to her stalkery.
Millie sprang up, key in hand. ‘Suck it, universe!’
Purple Hair, who was less than twenty feet away now, froze mid-step and swivelled abruptly, marching back towards her car. She flung the door open and jumped in.
What the hell? Was I going insane? Was I supposed to know her?
Was she a Falcone?
I shook myself out of my delusions before they took me over completely. Most of this was in my head. Focus. Breathe. We got in the car and Millie revved the engine, humming to herself as she adjusted the air conditioner. The black Mercedes was behind us as we made our way out of the lot, I decided not to say anything this time. We drove with the radio on and I almost bit through my fingers.
‘Weird,’ Millie said finally, when we were turning into Cedar Hill fifteen minutes later. ‘I swear that Mercedes has been behind us the whole way.’
‘I told you!’ I flooded with triumph. ‘She’s stalking us!’
‘What?’ she said, narrowing her eyes at the rear-view mirror. ‘Is that Lego-head?’
‘She’s been behind us the whole way.’
‘Huh.’ Millie flicked an indicator at the last minute and turned up a side street. The Mercedes followed. ‘You know what? I think you’re right. There’s something up with this chick. Let’s see if we can lose her.’
‘Mil, don’t do anyth—’
Millie slammed on the brakes and turned on to another side street with a deafening squeal. I was thrown, shrieking, against the side of the car. She crushed the accelerator and we sped down the street, taking a last-minute turn on to another residential row of houses and zigzagging around the neighbourhood.
After twenty minutes of what Millie called ‘stealth driving’ around Cedar Hill, we doubled back and pulled up outside my house. I got out, feeling a passing urge to kiss the pavement.
‘Told ya we’d lose Lego-head!’ She was cackling to herself. She didn’t really feel threatened. Suspicious maybe, but only mildly, and I could tell the chase was for my benefit. She offered me a brace-filled grin as she pulled away. ‘See ya tomorrow for phase two of our rehabilitation plan!’
My mother greeted me at the door. ‘How was it?’ Her tone was anxious but her expression was going for enthusiasm. ‘Was it fun? Did you have fun?’
I felt a sudden urge to hug her, but I stifled it. I didn’t want to freak her out. ‘It was good,’ I said. ‘I had fun.’ I kept the memory of the black Mercedes wiped from my expression.
She smiled, a whisper of relief in her response. ‘I’m so glad, sweetheart.’
I wondered how long she had been watching the driveway, waiting for me to come home. ‘What did you get up to?’ I asked. ‘Did you see the girls?’
She waved her hand around as I shut the door behind us. ‘I didn’t get around to it,’ she said airily. ‘I did some gardening instead. Watched some TV. Did you eat?’
‘Popcorn. A mountain of it.’
She laughed, ruffling my hair. ‘Well, you’re definitely back to your old self!’
I kept the threads of panic bound up in my throat. ‘Yup, I’m feeling much better.’
She rested her hand on my shoulder and I touched my head against hers. She smelt of lavender and peppermint. We went into the kitchen, both of us walking carefully on eggshells.
That night I lay awake in bed imagining a car rumbling down my street, every hour, like clockwork.