The It Girl (16 page)

When I wouldn't cheer up, he rudely called me “a big grump,” and then, as he went upstairs to get ready for bed, he asked me to remind him to get the leg of lamb out of the freezer the next morning for the dinner party he was throwing tomorrow.

I smirked at Dog. Good luck with that one, Dad. That's karma for you.

Anyway, when I stepped on to the bus the next morning, I was feeling especially nervous. I'd turned up late to school because Dad had been searching for the stupid lamb, so I totally missed the rush onto the bus. It was my usual nightmare played out all over again. At least at my last school people didn't really pay attention to me on a daily basis. At this one, I was the It Girl who still had no one to sit next to.

“Forget to set your alarm today, Spidey?” Connor smiled up at me from one of the first few rows, where he was sitting next to Max. They had both come prepared for the journey with headphones around their necks, and I could see a small sketchbook sticking out of Connor's bag.

“No, there was a . . . lamb incident.” Both Connor and Max blinked up at me in confusion. “Don't worry about it,” I said hurriedly. “It's not interesting.”

“It sounds fascinating.” He grinned. “You can sit opposite us if you like.” He gestured to the next-door row, and I felt a wave of gratitude.

“I don't think so, Mr. Lawrence,” came Mrs. Ginnwell's stern high-pitched tone as she scrambled onto the bus behind me with her clipboard in hand. “I'll be sitting in the row opposite you and Mr. Gelson. I don't want any trouble on this trip, and I will be keeping a close eye on both of you.”

“Mrs. Ginnwell.” Max feigned a dramatic sigh, lifting up his headphones. “I told you that time with the cornstarch was an accident. When are you going to start trusting me?”

She narrowed her eyes. “No time soon, Mr. Gelson.”

I raised my eyebrows at Connor as Max smiled and shoved his headphones on and Mrs. Ginnwell bustled into the opposite row, almost taking me out with her clipboard.

“What happened with the cornstarch?”

“That's a story for a rainy day.” Connor chuckled. He looked at me apologetically. “There's probably some spaces farther down near Jess.”

Connor was right in that there was a space near Jess and Danny—in fact the row opposite them was completely empty. But as I neared it, a strange smell hit me, and the pained look on Jess's face didn't bring me much comfort. “Is that . . . Lysol?” I asked, scrunching my nose.

“Good going, Sherlock.” Jess glanced at Danny, who was already resting his head on her shoulder, looking very pale, a “just in case” plastic shopping bag scrunched on his lap. His eyes were closed and his mouth very slightly hanging open. “You missed the main event. Luckily, I was still making my way to the seat. The driver only turned the engine on for like one second.”

“Is he okay?”

“The nurse gave him some motion sickness tablets—I think he's got it all out now. Mrs. Ginnwell went to town on the disinfectant. It's a little overpowering, and I think the seat is still a bit damp. Sorry, Anna, I tried saving you a seat somewhere nearby but people kept nabbing them.” Jess craned her neck to look at the rows behind. “I think there's a few spare seats at the back that are fairly close.”

“I'll find one.” I nodded, waving it off like it wasn't a big deal.

“This stinks. We'll definitely sit near each other on the way back.” She kneeled up on her seat. “I'll watch for where you sit so I can come visit during the ride.”

“Yeah, course.” This made me feel a bit better, and I gave her what I hoped to be a brave smile before making my way farther down the bus. I spotted Sophie and Josie huddled together in the back with some other girls, laughing at something on Sophie's phone, but there were no free seats near them.

“Sit here if you like,” a voice piped up as I passed. Brendan Dakers smiled up at me, leaning back against the bus window with his legs draped over both seats in his row.

I stared at him. He shrugged and swung his legs down,
leaving the aisle seat next to him empty. “If you want, this seat is free.”

I glanced back at Jess, who was looking as shocked as I felt. But she nodded encouragingly toward the seat anyway.

Sophie and Josie had looked up from the phone and were watching carefully. I slid into the seat next to Brendan, trying to act as calm as possible (not very).

The journey was a long one as we drove out of London and away into the countryside. Every now and then, when Brendan got animated telling me a story, his arm would accidentally brush mine and I would forget to breathe. I tried to remember to nod and laugh in all the right places, even though most of his stories were about sports, which I didn't always understand.

When we got to the park and got off the bus, Brendan smiled and said, “See you later,” then went to join James and the other soccer boys while I stumbled toward Jess and Danny.

“You okay?” Danny croaked, still clutching his plastic bag and looking green.

“I think I should be asking you that, Danny, but thanks! I can't believe I just got to sit next to Brendan Dakers. Stuff like that never happens to me.”

“What did he talk about?” Jess asked curiously.

“I'm not really sure. I was concentrating too hard on being normal.”

Jess nudged me, and we laughed as we hooked our arms through Danny's to lead him toward where everyone was gathering for a safety talk.

We were split into two groups, with half the grade going toward the ATV courses in the open fields and the other half, which I was standing in, toward the woods. “Good thing that you're in that group,” Connor said, suddenly next to me as everyone excitedly followed the instructors. “I hear there are zip lines in the forest. You'll be right at home zipping through the air eh, Spidey?”

He winked and rushed off to join the other group.

Zip lines?
I gulped.

I hurried to catch up with my group and found myself with Josie and Sophie, who were at the back and not looking very pleased with the forest we were about to enter. “That was sweet of Brendan to ask you to sit with him,” Sophie observed. Josie watched me carefully.

“Yeah, I think he took pity on me,” I replied quickly, chuckling.

Sophie smiled. “No, I'm sure that's not it.”

We followed our group down a forest path. “Urgh,” said Josie loudly, as we navigated our way down a small but steep drop, “this is so not fun. I'm not doing anything that involves wearing a harness.”

“All the activities involve wearing a harness, Josie.” Jess laughed over her shoulder as she climbed down after the instructor. “Unless you like free fall?”

“Well, we won't be doing them,” Sophie snapped, rubbing her hands clean after gripping some dirty rocks to get down safely.

“The girls can watch.” Brendan grinned.

“Thanks, Brendan, but some of us aren't scared to join in,” Jess argued, folding her arms as we all gathered in a group around the instructor.

I didn't say anything.

Sophie and Josie categorically refused to go near the zip line, and, along with a couple of other girls—and Danny, who still looked very pale and sorry for himself as he sipped cautiously from a bottle of water—they sat on their jackets on some benches nearby, cheering on Brendan and his friends as they climbed up toward it.

I was more than happy to sit with them, but Jess can be very persuasive when she wants to be. “You'll enjoy it, I promise,”
she said, gripping my arm. “Please do it with me.”

“Okay, fine.” I sighed, reaching for a very unattractive red helmet. She was so pleased that she jumped up and down on the spot. Sophie and Josie watched with a grimace as one of the guides strapped me into a harness and attached me to a wire, instructing me to climb up the pole to the top, where the other instructor was waiting.

My confidence faded very quickly when I got to the top and looked down. I immediately regretted listening to Jess, who had gone before me and was now standing at the other side waving encouragingly. I gulped.

“Go on, Anna!” Brendan yelled from below, where he was sitting with Sophie after having had his turn.

Realizing I couldn't back out now, I leaped off the side and flew across. It was terrifying but actually exhilarating as well, and as I reached the end, I heard Brendan and the others whoop loudly.

I was so thrilled at everyone cheering that I welled up a little as I climbed down. “See?” Jess cried when I got to the bottom, helping me take my helmet off and giving me a massive hug. “You enjoyed it, right?”

“Yes, but no more scary activities for me.” I laughed. “All right?”

“Absolutely,” Jess nodded. “I'm so proud of you.”

“Me too,” Danny said, slowly coming over to pat me on the back as though that was a huge amount of effort.

•  •  •

Toward the end of the day the two groups joined back together and, utterly worn out, we were taken to the edge of the woods, which was lined by some rocks, where the stream from the woods became a small waterfall that splashed down the side and into caves. Sophie, Josie, and a group of girls had already set up camp around some benches. “Right,” began the instructor. “Anyone with enough energy left who wants to explore the caves can rappel down. If not, you can wait by the benches.”

Sophie and Josie didn't even look up, they were in such deep conversation about something on their phones. Intrigued by what they were talking about and completely exhausted, I slouched toward them.

“Anna, can you come with me?” I looked around to see Jess holding two helmets.

“No, no, no.” I smiled at her. “I don't want to rappel into dark, murky caves thank you.”

“Please, Anna,” she pleaded, dropping the helmets to her sides in defeat.

“Take Danny,” I said, gesturing to him. He was sitting
on one of the benches, clutching his plastic bag.

“Is he
still
not better?” I huffed, realizing what this probably meant.

Jess looked at me pleadingly. “Pleeeeease, no other girls will come. You'll enjoy it; it'll be like an adventure. I'll be scared on my own!”

“You won't be on your own,” Josie said, obviously listening to our conversation. Jess and I turned to see the group of girls watching us. “All the boys are going.”

“I know,” Jess said, looking at her feet. “But it would be nice if I had another girl with me. Sisterhood and girl power and all of that. Heard of it, Josie?”

Josie scowled in response.

I noticed for the first time that, despite the front she was putting up, Jess looked nervous. I don't think I've ever seen Jess look nervous before. I took one of the helmets. “I'll come with you.” I gulped.

She looked at me in surprise, her eyes filled with gratitude. “Really?”

“Really?” Sophie repeated.

“Yeah,” I said, my voice wobbling slightly. “It'll be fun.”

“Anna.” Josie sighed. “If I were you, I wouldn't. It's not very cool. Come and sit with us.”

I took a deep breath. “It's okay. We'll come over after.”

“Um,
you
can,” Jess muttered under her breath. I gave her a look, and she had the good grace to give me an apologetic smile. I put on the helmet and walked toward the edge. Josie leaned in toward Sophie and whispered something to her as the instructor tightened the harness around the top of my legs.

I shuffled about with the strap around my waist, trying to make my harness a bit more comfortable, when Connor came over. He was strapped up for the rappel too. “You don't have to do this if you don't want to,” he said quietly. “People won't care. Do what you want to do.”

“I don't mind. Jess is all excited,” I said by way of explanation and then attempted to tuck my top back into my harness as it kept rising up. “I'm sure it will be fine.”

“Yeah, well I hear you've at least tackled a few of the activities today, unlike some people.” He rolled his eyes toward Sophie, who was debriefing Josie on all her break plans. “Apparently you're a dark horse on an ATV.”

“Okay, firstly, I do not appreciate your sarcasm, and secondly, I swear someone must have moved that stack of tires to the middle of the track for my turn.”

“See you down there, Spidey.” He grinned and joined the line of rappelers. I waited for Jess before attempting to
walk after him as elegantly as possible while wearing a safety harness.

It was not an easy task.

•  •  •

The boys had made their way down, and it was Jess's turn. She looked nervous leaning over the edge, but she navigated her way down quickly, laughing about her sneakers getting wet in the water. “Come on, Anna, it's easy! You'll love it!” she yelled up. I peered over and saw Brendan standing next to her, giving me the thumbs-up. Connor was next to Max, away from the rest of the group. He nodded at me encouragingly.

“Ready, Anna?” the instructor, Evan, asked as he signaled to the other guide below.

“No.” I shook my head.

“You're completely safe,” he said softly so only I could hear. “Just go as slow as you like, one step at a time. I've got you.”

I took a deep breath and, trying to act like I was very cool and collected like Jess, I leaned slowly backward. “That's it.” Evan smiled. “Perfect. Now off you go—pop that left foot into the first hold. Can you see that dip there? Take your time.”

I did as I was told and placed my shaking leg down into the hold. Then I did the same with the right. Suddenly I felt a rush of confidence. Feeling the harness tighten, I felt safe with
Evan holding on. I cautiously began to descend backward, my canvas sneakers slowly becoming soaked as I found each foothold next to the gentle waterfall.

I knew I was getting near the end when I could hear Jess shouting up kind words of encouragement. Feeling braver, I sped up, taking step after step down. I started to enjoy it and thought happily about how the guys below must be pretty impressed. I wondered if Brendan was still watching.