Stand by Me

by S. D. Robertson

  Elliot rubbed a hand over his face before replying. ‘Yeah, I heard that you two had split up. You know I think you’re better off without him, so there’s no point in me saying otherwise. But I’m sorry for what you must have been through.’

  ‘He was two-timing me again. I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. He always seemed so genuine when he promised not to do it again, begging me to forgive him; telling me how much I meant to him. You probably won’t believe this, but he actually cried when I told him it was over for good. I really thought I loved him, but …’ She sighed and shook her head, perched on the edge of Elliot’s bed.

  Elliot took off his glasses, placing them on the computer keyboard, and walked over to Lisa. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘I’m sorry for what I said too, Lise. It was wrong of me to lay a guilt trip on you about the sport and stuff – and for not trying to make up with you. I can’t believe we’ve both been so stubborn. Can we go back to the way things were? I’ve really missed you.’

  ‘I’ve missed you too,’ Lisa replied, a wave of emotion catching her unawares. She couldn’t stop the tears coming and, before she knew it, Elliot had pulled her into a hug. It felt so nice to be in her friend’s arms; the tears kept flowing.

  ‘I’d better get you some tissues,’ he said eventually, pulling away and walking back to his desk. Then he was kneeling before her, his face a few centimetres away from hers, and dabbing at her cheeks. She smiled and found she was staring into his eyes. They were so big and blue; he looked so different without his specs on.

  For a moment she thought they might …

  The sound of Wendy’s voice cut through the silence. ‘There’s a cup of tea and a biscuit for you both down here.’

  Elliot pulled back, running a hand through his curls. ‘Okay, Mum. We’ll be down in a sec.’

  If he’d felt the same thing she did, he didn’t let on. He handed her a couple more tissues and asked if she was all right.

  ‘I’m fine. Sorry to be such a crybaby. I don’t know what happened. I guess I’m relieved to have things sorted between us at last. We mustn’t ever fall out like that again.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  It was only then that Lisa spotted two Valentine’s cards on the windowsill. How had she not noticed them before?

  ‘What are these?’ she asked, walking over to them.

  ‘Oh God,’ Elliot replied, his face turning a matching red. ‘One is from Mum: the one with a question mark. She does it every year, but I usually hide it out of the way before anyone sees. She even tries to disguise her handwriting, but I can always tell.’

  ‘What about the other?’ She picked it up to have a nosy before he could stop her. The handwritten message inside read:

  To Elliot,

  Thanks for asking me to be your girlfriend.

  I’m so glad we met.

  Humongous hugs!

  Lots of love,

  Claire

  xxx

  Lisa was gobsmacked. ‘You’ve got a girlfriend called Claire? How do I not know about this?’

  Elliot shrugged. ‘We’ve barely spoken for the past six weeks or so, have we? What can I say? I took your advice.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You told me to get a life, so I did. Well, I got a hobby.’

  Elliot explained how he’d joined an outdoor pursuits club that his mum had heard about at the hospital. It was for kids of secondary school age and ran every Saturday from a place about ten miles away called Skelton Country Park, which included a big lake, a series of woods and lots of open space.

  ‘We do all sorts,’ he said. ‘Canoeing, orienteering, windsurfing, abseiling. I was a bit dubious when Mum suggested it, but it’s turned out to be really good fun.’

  ‘And this Claire goes too?’

  ‘That’s right. We both started at the same time. Because neither of us knew anyone else, we got chatting and – well – it turned out we had loads in common. She’s even really into computers.’

  ‘Where’s she from?’

  ‘She lives and goes to school near Bolton, so not that close, but at least we see each other once a week at OP.’

  Lisa, who took a moment to realise that OP stood for ‘outdoor pursuits’, was shocked to find herself feeling jealous.

  She’d never known Elliot to have a girlfriend before and, especially after everything the two of them had been through recently, it threw her. It felt like he’d replaced her or something, although she knew how ridiculous that was, since she’d never been his girlfriend.

  She used to get the feeling that Elliot fancied her, from the way he looked at her and so on. She’d never minded. If anything, she’d found it sweet. She’d just never thought of him that way – and, what’s more, he’d not given her that impression for some time. So why did she feel like this now?

  It even smarted when Claire was mentioned again, once Lisa and Elliot had joined Wendy downstairs for the tea and biscuits. Commenting how nice she seemed from the brief few times they’d met, Wendy said: ‘Elliot’s not invited her over here yet, but I’m hoping he will do soon.’ She added in a mock whisper directed at Lisa: ‘I’m not that embarrassing a mum, am I?’

  ‘Of course not. You’re lovely.’

  She meant it too. She’d always enjoyed visiting Elliot’s house; the friendly welcome she got from the ever-glamorous Wendy, with her fantastic fashion creations and immaculate make-up, was a big part of that. Thinking about this, remembering all the good times they’d had here, was what shook Lisa out of her momentary spell as a green-eyed monster.

  Soon she found herself chatting away about her own three Valentine’s cards, all of which had been signed with a question mark and bore a Westwich postmark on the envelope. Other than the fact they were probably boys from King George’s, she had no idea who these admirers were and nor did Elliot. She was flattered to have received the cards, though, especially considering she hadn’t sent any herself. Secretly, she had a couple of candidates in mind who she hoped they might be from. She was single at the moment, but perhaps not for much longer.

  When she got home, having forgotten altogether about buying a magazine, the only thing on her mind was how happy she was to have made up with her friend. Well, at least until Jamie turned up at her door singing Boyzone again.

  CHAPTER 30

  NOW

  Wednesday, 25 July 2018

  Lisa parked the Octavia on the road outside what used to be her old school. ‘Here we are. There’s a sign over there for the show apartment. Shall we have a look around?’

  El gave her a toothy grin before opening his door. ‘Definitely.’

  ‘Give me a second to fix my make-up.’ Lisa pulled a compact mirror, lipstick and eyeliner out of her handbag.

  Standing on the pavement, his car door still open, Elliot ran a hand across the silver paint on the bonnet. ‘Smooth ride. Not like the Skoda cars of old. Remember the jokes about them and Ladas when we were kids?’ He winked at Lisa before adding: ‘What do you call a Skoda with a sun roof?’

  ‘A skip,’ she replied in a flash. ‘How do you double the value of a Skoda?’

  ‘Fill the tank. Sorry, it’s naughty of me to bring that up, Lise. You can take it, right?’

  ‘Of course. It was Mike’s choice, anyway, not mine.’

  ‘I wonder what your dad would think.’

  ‘He’d turn in his grave, for sure. It was part of the reason I agreed to get one, if I’m honest.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Elliot climbed back inside the car as the rain started up again.

  ‘Well, he didn’t exactly provide for us when he died. It was unexpected, since he had a heart attack, but all he left us with was a load of gambling debts. There were no savings or investments. Mum’s only option was to sell the family house. He was selfish. If he’d looked after himself better, for his family’s sake, maybe he’d still be around.’

  Lisa’s fears about Mike going the same way were on the tip of her tongue,
but it felt like saying those words to Elliot would have been a betrayal, so she stopped herself.

  ‘Buying a Skoda was your way of getting your own back?’

  Lisa puffed. ‘Maybe. A little bit. Let’s just say I’ll never buy a BMW. What do you drive in Australia?’

  Elliot shuffled in his seat and cleared his throat. ‘Um—’

  ‘Don’t tell me. A BMW?’

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, wincing. ‘An M4 Convertible.’

  ‘I don’t even know what that means. The main thing I care about in a car is that it doesn’t break down. But I guess that’s a fancy one?’

  ‘What can I say? I always admired your dad’s ever-changing cars as a kid.’

  Looking around the show apartment was weird, particularly for Lisa. El had never spent much time in the girls’ school, so it was harder for him to put things into context. But Lisa had been a pupil there for the best part of seven years, from eleven to eighteen.

  Some parts, like the main entrance and the corridors, were instantly recognisable in spite of the conversion. Overall the building still retained its air of grandeur. However, the living space had been changed beyond recognition. It was a nice roomy flat with a contemporary feel and all the mod cons, but there was little to remind Lisa of her years studying there.

  The estate agent soon cottoned on to the fact that Lisa was a former pupil.

  ‘I bet I’m not the first, am I?’ Lisa said.

  ‘Not by a long way,’ the woman replied, flicking back the floppy fringe of her short red hair. She raised the corners of her mouth for the briefest of moments – a haughty almost-smile probably reserved for timewasters – then pulled out her mobile and turned to make a call.

  ‘I think she knows we’re window shoppers,’ Lisa whispered.

  ‘Let’s have some fun, then.’

  Elliot spent the next fifteen minutes or so bugging her with all manner of questions about the complex. These covered everything from the exact types of locks, windows and insulation materials used, to predicted rates of utility bills and home insurance for the various different sized properties available. By the end, she appeared firmly convinced that Elliot and Lisa were genuinely interested in making a purchase.

  ‘Would you both like a coffee while I put some numbers together for you?’ she said, beaming at Elliot. ‘Cappuccino? Latte? It’s the real deal. Not the usual instant stuff.’

  Lisa jumped in. ‘Thank you, but we really need to get going.’

  ‘My wife’s very choosy,’ Elliot said with a wink. ‘But don’t you worry. I’ll work on her. Do you have a business card?’

  ‘Of course.’ She pulled one out from her handbag and handed it over, the white contrasting with the deep red of her perfectly manicured fingernails. ‘Could I possibly take a contact number for you? I could give you a call in a few days.’

  ‘Sure,’ Elliot said, reeling off a mobile number, which she duly wrote down.

  Before they were even outside, Elliot burst into his seal laugh, which promptly set Lisa off.

  ‘You’re wicked,’ she said in between giggles.

  ‘She shouldn’t have been so snooty.’

  ‘What was that number you gave her?’

  ‘Oh, just one I made up.’

  ‘I knew it,’ she said, digging him in the ribs. ‘You don’t even have a UK mobile number, do you?’

  ‘No. I’m glad to get away from all that, to be honest. I’ve found it really liberating not using a mobile over here.’

  ‘I didn’t think I’d ever seen you with one. What about your work? Don’t they need to be able to contact you?’

  ‘They can always get me at the hotel if they need to. Don’t forget the time difference.’

  ‘True. But what about the business you came over here for? How’s that going? You seem to have been spending a lot of your time with us.’

  ‘Are you complaining?’

  ‘Of course not, but—’

  ‘Leave me to worry about my business, Lisa.’

  ‘Why so secretive?’

  ‘I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.’ He grinned. ‘So are we going to have a look at this new amalgamated school, or what?’

  Despite now being called The Royal School, Westwich and admitting girls as well as boys, the former King George’s building didn’t look especially different to Lisa. As the two of them walked up to the front entrance, it brought back memories of school discos. These were the occasions Lisa most remembered from the infrequent visits she’d made to the boys’ school over the years.

  ‘Remember that disco here when I ended up snogging Neil Walsh all night?’

  ‘How could I forget? It was the first one I ever went to, after you convinced me. It was also the time I ended up kissing that poor Nicola girl on the ear.’

  This made Lisa laugh. ‘God, I remember you telling me about that. You were mortified, weren’t you?’

  ‘Too right. I thought she’d tell everyone and it would be all around the school by Monday morning, but it was fine in the end.’

  ‘I had a word with her for you.’

  ‘You didn’t.’

  ‘I did.’

  ‘You never told me that.’

  Lisa shrugged. ‘Looking out for you was one of my hobbies in those days.’

  ‘You did always have my back,’ Elliot said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. ‘I’ve never forgotten that. Especially—’

  Lisa jumped in. ‘Oh, look.’ She pointed at one of the first-floor classroom windows. ‘There’s someone in there, I think. Did you see them?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘I’m sure I saw a figure moving around,’ she said. ‘They must have gone. Still, that’s a good sign.’

  Despite the summer holidays being underway, she and El had already decided there was a good chance of someone being around at the school, even if it was just the caretaker. But the lack of cars parked in the grounds as they walked across from Queen Anne’s had led to them wondering whether they might have been mistaken. At least it wasn’t raining any more, although the heavy cloud cover gave little hope of sunshine.

  She was the first to reach the main entrance – a high wooden door flanked by stone pillars – and before she tried to enter, she asked Elliot what they were going to say to whoever they encountered.

  ‘Let’s tell them the truth: that we’re former pupils and we were hoping for a quick look around. You never know, it might be someone who remembers us.’

  ‘After twenty years? I wouldn’t count on it.’

  She grabbed the doorknob, only to find it was locked. ‘Dammit.’ Striding back to the spot where she’d seen someone inside the building, she looked again, but this time no one was visible. All the same, she cupped her hands around her mouth and called out: ‘Hello? Is anyone there?’

  Her voice echoed across the empty space at the front of the grand school, an ivy-coated blend of red brick and white dressings, which stretched around them in a U-shape.

  Elliot, who’d remained at the front entrance, called out: ‘Wait, Lisa. The door is open after all. I think it must have been stuck. The wood’s probably swollen or something.’

  Lisa was puzzled by this, as she’d given the door a really hard yank. But sure enough, he was standing there, holding it wide open and gesturing for her to follow him inside.

  ‘That’s weird,’ she said. ‘I could have sworn it was locked.’

  ‘Not to worry. At least we’re in now.’

  Inside, the lights were all switched off and there was a sober, silent air about the place that instinctively led them to lower their voices. The foyer was dull rather than dark, enough natural light seeping through to enable them to see everything, while retaining a definite sense of not being open for business.

  ‘What now?’ Lisa asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

  El shrugged. ‘There doesn’t seem to be anyone around.’

  ‘What about that person I saw on the first floor? They might think we’re bu
rglars.’

  ‘Let’s have a quick wander and, if we see them, we can wing it.’

  ‘Okay,’ she replied. ‘Hey, that’s where the discos used to be held, isn’t it?’

  She pointed towards a set of double doors immediately across from the entrance and Elliot nodded. ‘That’s right. That’s the main hall in there. Let’s have a peek.’

  The pair of them headed inside the large room, which was considerably lighter than the foyer, thanks to a row of sash windows along the outside wall. The space was filled with row upon row of benches, directed towards a stage at the front, upon which stood a wooden lectern surrounded by chairs.

  ‘Wow. This hasn’t changed at all.’ Elliot’s eyes looked up and lingered on the decorative plasterwork covering the two-storey ceiling above.

  ‘Really?’ Lisa scanned the hall. ‘It’s not at all how I remember it from the discos. Mind you, it was always dark then. ’

  ‘And all the benches were either stacked elsewhere or lining the sides of the dancefloor.’ He winked. ‘For couples to snog on. No, I know what you’re saying, but this was how it always looked for morning assembly. We pupils would be down here, with the head and all the teachers facing us from the stage. It almost feels like stepping back in time.’

  ‘Um, sorry to break the spell and all, but I really need to visit the ladies’ room.’

  He led her down the empty corridor to where the main toilet block used to be, the clip-clop of their footsteps jabbing into the silence. At one point he stopped and knelt in front of a row of wooden lockers standing against one wall. Placing his palm on one of the doors, he declared: ‘This was mine.’ Then he peered at it, so his nose was a few centimetres away from the wood, adding. ‘Yep. There you go. Have a look.’

  He got up and gestured for her to take his place. ‘Okay, what am I looking for?’ she asked. And then she saw it: a tiny ‘E.T.’ etched into the wood near one of the hinges. ‘You rebel. When did you do that?’

  ‘My last day, with a compass.’

  ‘You used full stops, like in the film. I thought you hated being called E.T.’

  ‘Only by Samo. That was my way of claiming it back.’