~ CATHERINE ~
Christopher headed past me and my mum without a word, storming out the door he’d entered. A second later, his dad also stormed past us, disappearing out the other door. Mum watched him through the window, her brow furrowing as he slammed his car door shut, looking like he was swearing his head off. She shook her head, then turned to me, obviously not as angry as Christopher’s dad, but still really upset.
“Buckland’s Reserve? What were you thinking, Catherine?” she asked, Vesna’s death without a doubt weighing heavily on her mind. And I couldn’t blame her for being shocked and upset that I’d gone there. I knew I shouldn’t have gone anywhere near the place, just... when Christopher said that Vesna’s soul could be there, I had to go. But I couldn’t tell Mum that. She’d think I’d lost my marbles.
“I didn’t mean for things to happen with Chris,” I said, wanting to divert the topic to the lesser of two evils. Talking about Vesna and why I went to Buckland’s Reserve was just too hard. At least with Christopher, Mum wouldn’t burst into tears. She’d just get angry and ban me from seeing him, which I wasn’t sure was such a bad thing. Although my chemistry with him was off the charts, there was still the issue of his psycho grandfather. And if Mum didn’t step in and stop me from seeing him, I knew I’d go back for more. He was like gourmet chocolate—utterly addictive and so damn delicious that he had me drooling all over him.
Mum shook her head, having none of my pathetic excuse. “I still can’t believe you did that at Buckland’s Reserve. I ... I ... I just can’t believe you would show so little respect for your sister’s memory. Why would you even consider going to that horrible place?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“You bet I don’t understand!”
The office lady coughed.
Mum’s cheeks went bright red. “I’m sorry,” she said to the woman, then turned back to me. “We’ll talk about this after school. Now get to class.” She indicated to the door that Christopher had gone through.
I dropped my head and headed out, not looking forward to the rest of the day.
***
I wasn’t allowed to have a lunch break that day. Along with a rough-looking girl, I had to sit in a class, writing an essay on the wrongs of truancy, while a teacher watched over us. I assumed that Christopher was doing the same in a different room.
After my last class, I headed to my form room, noticing that Christopher was seated at the front of the class, facing the teacher’s desk. He turned to smile at me, jumping as the teacher whacked a ruler across his desk.
“Christopher Laboure, look straight ahead!” Mr. Stanton barked.
Christopher clenched his hands. A whisper of smoke came from his right one, so thin I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been looking. I froze a little, hoping he wasn’t going to do worse, because he was looking at Mr. Stanton as though he wanted to light him up like a bonfire.
“Catherine!” Mr. Stanton boomed, making me jump. “Go sit at the back of the class until the bell rings.”
I did as instructed, reluctantly taking the chair that Stephen had pulled out for me. I sat down and held my left hand up, giving him the finger behind it so Mr. Stanton didn’t see. Stephen just smirked wider, his dumb face already getting on my nerves.
“I’ll be happy to be your Sex ED partner next time, Cathy,” he said loudly, trying hard not to laugh as the teacher and Christopher turned to glare at him.
Sniggers broke out in the class, making me inwardly cringe. I already had a reputation for letting boys have their way, even though it wasn’t true, just false rumours spread by Kylie and her crew. I didn’t need people adding to it. And it wasn’t like I let Christopher have his way, I had my way—just not all the way, like everyone was probably thinking.
The other students started whispering. I forced myself not to react to them, instead, focusing on the clock as it ticked through the remaining minutes of school. Once the bell rang, Mr. Stanton indicated for the class to leave, except for Christopher, who he ordered to remain seated.
Grabbing my bag, I headed out the door and towards the car park, where Mum was waiting in her silver station wagon. I hopped into the front passenger seat and clicked the twisted seatbelt on. The drive home was uncomfortably quiet. For most of it, I stared out the window, wondering what Mum had said to Dad. That thought was answered as she pulled into our driveway.
She parked and turned in her seat to face me. “I don’t want your father finding out about this. It’ll upset him too much, and he’ll probably take it out on the Laboure boy, which I don’t want, because, despite what happened, I appreciate what he did for you the day Sister Cecile died. I feel obliged to at least give him a second chance. Though, for the next two weeks, you’ll not see him or talk to him, until you show some responsibility. Understand?”
I nodded, what she’d said probably the best excuse I could use to keep Christopher away, because whenever I went near him, I did stupid things.
“Good, now go straight to your room and stay there until dinner.”
“Yes, Mum,” I replied, wondering what sort of punishment Christopher was getting.