Rev Girl

by Leigh Hutton

  ‘Um … right,’ Clover stammered, trying to align her brain with all the details. ‘So … where else will I be going?’

  ‘You and Principal Archibald, and your mom, of course, will fly to Phoenix for the day to visit four schools. Then you’ll drive to Albuquerque on Friday. After that you’ll fly to San Antonio, Austin, then Dallas, back up to Boise, Idaho, hit Salt Lake City and finish up here, in Silvertown.’

  Clover stiffened. You have got to be kidding? I have to talk in front of everyone here?

  ‘I must warn you,’ Mrs. Frost continued. ‘There’s been a lot of media attention surrounding this program, so interviews for newspapers, radio, maybe even some television, will be involved. I’m sure you won’t mind, considering your previous experience with the media.’ Mrs. Frost winked.

  Clover smiled tightly. ‘Yeah, no problems.’

  ‘Thank you for your time. I’ll start making the final arrangements. Everything’s been signed off with Mr. Archibald. He’s out in meetings all day, so you won’t see him until Wednesday in Phoenix.’

  ‘Great.’

  Mrs. Frost heaved herself from her chair. ‘I’m sorry, again, to lob this at you,’ she said. ‘But we really appreciate your cooperation. We would have been in serious trouble without you. None of the other schools in the district had responded and all the flights were booked it would have looked horrible if this chance had been wasted, especially when they’d already released information about the program and which schools would be participating. And to the media, no less. It would have been almost worse to send someone who wasn’t doing something extraordinary, too, so I’m over the moon that you are on board.’

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ Clover said, rising slowly on weak knees. ‘You can totally count on me.’

  Mrs. Frost paused, and a hand shot to her hip. ‘Don’t be nervous, dear,’ she said. ‘You’ve got the gift of the gab, you’ll be fine. But it would be a good idea to start thinking about what you would like to say in your speech, for your high school talks at least. At the elementaries, you’ll just do a brief intro, the rest will be made up of question and answer. You’ll be fine to do Silvertown on your own, too, won’t you? I can come if you would like, but Mr. Archibald had prior engagements.’

  Clover took a deep breath. No! was the first thought that popped into her mind. No, I won’t be okay!

  Mrs. Frost was heading for the door, so Clover had a few seconds to let her mind rant … What the heck am I gonna say? She thought. The kids will probably just laugh at me and that’s the little ones. What about when I get to God knows where in bloody Phoenix and they’re all chucking stuff at me and heckling from the back of the gym. I’m gonna look like a loser and She forced herself to stop, her hands were starting to shake, and followed Mrs. Frost to the door.

  ‘Yeah,’ she said, pausing in the doorway. ‘I’ll be fine.’

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Clover and Sydney weaved their way, arm-in-arm, through the busy lunchtime crowd to the centre of the school canteen. They’d spotted Dallas and a few of the other guys, who’d pushed two tables together and were laughing loudly in the middle of the room.

  Dallas looked up, and Clover’s heart skipped a beat. His eyes softened as they met hers. And she felt the same. It was so good to see him, as if an eternity had passed since she had, even though she’d spent the afternoon after the race with him and kissed him goodbye only twelve hours ago. Watching him now, in the centre of all the school’s coolest guys, so handsome and godlike in his team jacket, Clover felt the urge to pinch herself. To confirm it was all real. She was the girlfriend of Dallas Cash. She was a Pro Ladies racer, the girl who was going to be the first to represent her home country in the ‘Olympics of Motorcycling’, the girl chosen to make a difference in the lives of other kids. At this moment, Clover knew, she could actually have it all.

  It was a realisation that made her grin. Then Sydney clutched her hand a table overflowing with nervous-looking girls Clover didn’t recognise, had interrupted their path to Dallas. Clover winked at him, before breaking his gaze.

  Clover and Sydney went to squeeze past the table, but Clover paused and let go of Sydney’s hand, noticing how the girls had shied away. How their shoulders were curled, hands trembling, tightly clutching oversized notebooks.

  Clover smiled down at them. ‘Hey,’ she said.

  The blonde girl at the head of the table was the only one to look up. She resembled a baby deer in the headlights of a Mack truck.

  ‘Hi,’ the girl answered bravely.

  Clover raised her eyebrows, waiting for the other girls to acknowledge her. She had no idea why these pretty little things, obviously freshmen girls and new to the school, were so scared of her. Kids usually looked at her, sometimes whispered, others even glared. But she’d never sensed fear in any of her classmates before. She was the one who feared the older kids.

  Clover shifted her weight onto one hip, letting her head cock to the side.

  And then the penny dropped.

  Power rushed up from the floor of the school. Power left from those seniors who had walked these halls before. A warmth surged up through her limbs, pumping them full of strength. She was among the eldest now. No more scary seniors, no more Dee Harding. And the final piece of the puzzle as to why Mrs. Frost had asked her to be the speaker finally fell into place.

  She dropped to one knee, and placed her palms on the table.

  The girls flinched back with surprise, then, when they must have realised how broadly Clover was smiling, grinned themselves.

  ‘So what do you guys think of the school?’ Clover asked.

  The blonde was the first to answer. ‘It’s awesome! So much bigger than my elementary school was.’

  ‘Are you from Silvertown?’

  ‘No, Nevada, actually. We moved in a few months ago, just down the road from you. Been listening to you ride your dirt bike all summer.’

  ‘Sorry, I hope the noise wasn’t a nuisance?’

  The girl laughed nervously. ‘Not for me, but my dad isn’t so sure. I’ve been hounding him to buy me a dirt bike, ever since I snuck across our land to watch you ride.’

  ‘We all like dirt bikes!’ Another girl piped up from the far end of the table. Her face went beet red.

  After chatting with the girls, Clover and Sydney made their way to their table; Dallas nodded at the empty seat beside him. Travis the quarterback was sitting on his opposite side, and tried to pull Sydney down onto his lap. She smacked his hand away, and opted for the vacant spot at the head of the table beside Chris and his new girlfriend, Adriana. He’d been dating the brunette since the end of last term, after he dumped Sera.

  Clover tried to expel the name from her mind before any of its unhappiness lay a wet blanket over her. Sera … it was a name that too often fought its way into her consciousness when she heard their song, or visited one of their favourite stores at the mall. Sydney had mentioned Sera a few times that summer, to say she’d fallen in with a rough older crowd, which to Clover, was no surprise. Sera had always seemed like a leaf in the wind, but she was tough, could look after herself, and had never made any effort to apologise for what she’d done, to restore their once unbreakable bond.

  But now Clover was back at school, she knew it would get hard again. Hard to pretend her ex-best-friend didn’t exist. Hard to ignore the niggling in the pit of her stomach, whining that it was time to forgive and forget. But No! Clover screamed to herself. This is just like Sera! Sneaking up on me when I’m at my happiest and dragging me down no more!

  Dallas’s hand slipped around her waist, pulling her down onto his lap. He smelt clean, his cologne fresh, like he’d just had a shower. She leant in and snuggled against his team jacket, which now had a ‘C’ above his heart. After his performance last season, Dallas had been named Captain of the team.

  ‘Here,’ Dallas said, leaning back and unsnapping the jacket. ‘Can you keep an eye on this for me, for a bit?’

  ‘Oh, Clover,’ Travis said. ‘Ya
gonna let him brand you again this year, are ya?’

  Clover stuck out her tongue, and stood up, to thread her arms into the jacket. She snapped it up quickly, before settling back into Dallas’s lap. She’d missed this jacket. It seemed to her the perfect confirmation that she belonged. That she was, finally and forever, in the popular crowd.

  Dallas’s lips brushed against her cheek, and she shivered from the heat it sent jolting through her body.

  But Clover didn’t have time to relax into his warmth because a figure she thought she recognised, a figure dressed all in black, was struggling to push open the glass door to the school.

  Clover squinted, trying to see the face of the skeleton of a girl who shook with the effort of opening the glass door. She couldn’t see the girl’s whole face, as her hood was up, with straws of dull hair poking out, shrouding her gaunt cheeks.

  Clover shivered as the girl paused in the middle of the entryway. Her sickly face turned, and her sunken eyes fixed on Clover’s.

  Her stomach lurched. She lifted her head from Dallas’s chest, ignoring the banter of the boys and the noise from the rest of the packed tables, as her world fell silent.

  Sera?

  The girl slowly pulled back her hood, and as Clover watched, her eyes didn’t want to see anymore. The only feature remaining of Clover’s ex-best-friend were her wide brown eyes. But even they had lost their gloss, their flame stubbed out by a lack of fuel.

  Clover’s mouth fell open, but she had to turn her attention to Travis, who’d grabbed her by the arm and was practically shouting at her from across the table. ‘Hey! Listen!’ he said, shaking her. ‘I said I missed ya at my party on Saturday!’

  Clover blinked a few times, her eyes struggling to adjust to this new face in front of her, her mind still on the girl paused in the entryway.

  Travis’s eyes snaked from her face, down the V-neck of her black, REV GIRL T-shirt, and stopped abruptly at her cleavage.

  Dallas hardened against her, and then his hand shot out, swiping Travis’s away, before falling on the table, balled into a fist.

  Travis’s face took on a sneering, malicious expression. He was even more aggressive than normal today and Dallas was certainly taking the bait. But Clover couldn’t get her mind off Sera. Sera, she thought. Is it really you? She tore her eyes from Travis, to seek out her friend.

  Sera stood in front of the doors, swaying like a naked aspen tree on high, strappy heels. Heels that looked too big for her bony feet. A stab of guilt penetrated Clover’s heart as she watched a tear roll down Sera’s pasty cheek. Sera took a step towards the table. Her eyes widened, flecks of hope emerging from the darkness.

  ‘Clover!’ Travis was yelling again. ‘Listen!’ Someone slapped the table, causing her to jump. ‘Will we be seeing Little Miss Goody Two-Shoes at any parties this year? Or will she still be married to the books?’

  But Clover closed her ears to him. Her eyes were locked with Sera’s. Voices in her mind screamed for her to jump up, to wrap her arms around the shrivelling frame of the girl she had once loved like a sister. But her body was too comfortable in the safety of Dallas’s heat to venture into the wasteland she’d avoided treading for so long. Clover ripped her eyes from Sera’s face, searching desperately for Sydney.

  But Sydney’s nose was in her mobile.

  Clover widened her eyes, willing Sydney to look up and see Sera. She’d have the strength to go to her. But Sydney was staring intently at the screen, her fingers typing madly.

  SYDNEY! Look up, for God’s sake! The last thing Clover wanted to do was cause a scene, for Chris and his new girl to see Sera the way she was it was clear Sera only wanted to be recognised by Clover, by the way she was standing, back from the tables, hiding within her baggy clothes. Clover wanted to go to her, needed to help, but now was not the time. The girl she once loved still loved looked almost starved to death.

  Screw Chris Sera, I’m here! I’m sorry! Shrugging off Dallas’s arm, she jumped up from his lap.

  But she was too late. Sera was gone. The front entryway was empty. Clover was about to bolt, to find Sera, when someone grabbed her by the arm.

  ‘Clover?’ Dallas was standing now. His face set with concern, confusion. ‘What’s up?’

  Clover noticed everyone at the table for the first time since she’d spotted Sera. Sydney was rising. Chris and Adriana were glancing around, confused. Travis was laughing.

  ‘What the heck’s the matter with you?’ Travis asked.

  ‘Yeah, Clove,’ Sydney said, hurrying to her side. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost!’

  Clover dug her nails into her palms. ‘I just, saw someone . . . shoot a bird.’

  Travis laughed. ‘You really are losing it.’

  Dallas pulled her into his arms, then back down into his lap. Sydney knelt down next to her. ‘You okay?’ she asked quietly.

  Clover desperately wanted to tell Sydney everything, so she could help find Sera and make things right. But she was all too aware of the eyes of those around her, particularly Chris and Adriana’s, boring into her.

  ‘Syd can we?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course.’ Sydney threaded an arm through hers, but Dallas held her in his lap.

  ‘We’ll go soon, okay?’ he said. ‘I was thinking Subway?’

  ‘Um, yeah, whatever,’ Clover said. She wriggled from his arms and stood up. ‘Can Sydney and I meet you guys down there?’

  Dallas eyed her suspiciously. ‘Don’t you want to come with me?’

  ‘Of course, I just … ’

  ‘Oh, let her go, Dallas,’ Travis said, leaning back on his stool.

  ‘I don’t want to leave him, dickwad,’ Clover said, panic rising in her voice.

  ‘Sure ya don’t. That’s why Dallas was the one at all the parties this summer, minus his girl.’

  ‘What?’ Clover looked at Dallas.

  For a second, his eyes evaded her. ‘You know I only went to a few, and I didn’t drink.’

  ‘Huh!’ Travis exclaimed. ‘The things a man will say to placate his ball and chain.’

  Dallas grabbed him by the front of his shirt, urging Clover back into Sydney with his free hand. ‘I swear to God, if you don’t … ’

  ‘It would have been fine,’ Travis said. ‘You guys coulda partied together, if Clover hadn’t gone all loser on us.’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Travis!’ Sydney yelled, stepping up to the two guys. ‘She can’t party, she has to get ready for her World’s!’

  ‘Oh, that’s right.’ Travis grinned obviously delighted by this new information. ‘She’s off to find some Aussie, to replace the new Captain.’

  But Travis didn’t get a chance to finish. Dallas’s fist had crashed against the side of his face.

  TWENTY-SIX

  The sharp whack of bone to bone. The sound was sickening, unnatural. It was the first time Clover had witnessed a fight for real, and it was nothing like the movies. Way too raw, in no way glamorous, and utterly unsettling. Dallas, bigger and obviously more powerful, had Travis on the ground in a flash and was driving punches into his face. Repeatedly.

  ‘Dallas STOP!’ Clover was grabbing for him, but someone’s hands held her back. All she heard was that terrible sound, and Travis moaning.

  Travis might have been leaner than Dallas in build, but he still had a lot of fight in him, and managed to get Dallas off, pinning him for just long enough to land a punch himself. Maybe not the best thing to do. It enraged Dallas even more, bringing his fist back even harder, straight to Travis’s mouth. His top lip split open and his head smacked back against the floor. Blood sprayed out in an arc, splattering the tiles, the table, the seat of a chair. The room quickly filled with excited students, cheering. Chanting ‘Fight, fight, FIGHT!’

  Chris lunged in, trying to reef Dallas off his opponent. ‘Guys teachers!’

  ‘You’re dead!’ Dallas kicked a writhing Travis hard in the side, and spun around, grabbing Clover by the arm. He pulled her past the tables and into the
hallway leading to the gym and the back door of the school.

  Teachers appeared, running to the canteen. Dallas pushed Clover up against the wall, and put his head to hers, kissing her on the cheek.

  She shoved him off, this brutal person, who, at this moment, she actually hated. She’d known Dallas was rough. He often got into fights during his games. But she’d never witnessed any herself. Now, all she heard was that sickening sound. Bone crunching bone. All she saw was blood spurting from Travis’s smashed up face.

  She ran for it, down the hall towards the gym. But Dallas was too fast. He had her by the arms, and pulled her against him and into the small passageway before the doors to the gymnasium.

  He held a finger to her lips. ‘Shhhh.’

  Clover’s chest burned from the quickness of her breaths. She flinched against him, then shut her eyes, letting her head fall back against the wall. Her eyes burned with tears, strain, confusion. She was raging inside. Raging at Dallas for beating the crap out of another human being. Raging at Sera for letting herself get so out of control, for letting her body wither up, and nearly die. But most of all, Clover was raging at herself for not reaching out sooner.

  ‘Dallas!’ She pushed hard against his chest, but he held her tight. ‘I have to go!’

  ‘To the Czech Republic?’ he said quietly, between panting breaths. ‘To find some other guy?’

  ‘Huh?’ His comment caused her to relax her fight. She was genuinely caught off guard. But Dallas was serious. There was pain in his eyes, deep veins of it.

  It was quiet in the narrow passage. An eerie, still silence. Clover lifted her hand, wiped the tears from her sore eyes. Dallas turned his back to her, and ran his fingers through his hair.

  ‘I told you I was going,’ she said. She knew full well it was Travis’s comment about the ‘Aussie’ maybe Dallas had told him about the poster of Ryder in her room? that had set him off. He’d lashed out, done the wrong thing, but she understood why he did it. She’d feared it was coming, considering he had kept his feelings, his fears, bottled inside for so long. And now they were out, he was really hurting. The guy she loved, in serious pain, not because of her, but because of something she was planning to do. Clover reached out to put a hand on his shoulder.