The New Girl

by Cathy Cole

  She had got much warier about opening her locker since the glitter incident. Prising it open cautiously at the end of Wednesday, she reached her hand in for her bag. As she did so, she managed to knock over a stack of textbooks. Her heart skipped as a note covered in familiar writing came fluttering out from between the pages of one of the books.

  She snatched it up. Her heart was racing at a ridiculous speed. What would it say this time?

  Not everyone at Heartside takes orders from Eve Somerstown. Do you know about karma? Eve will get what she deserves, and so will you. Have faith.

  Once again there was no signature. The words weren’t romantic, but they were just what she needed. Someone was looking out for her, and believing that things would get better. She checked quickly to make sure no one was looking. Then she pressed her lips to the note.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. “Whoever you are.”

  “Hey,” said Polly, coming up behind her. “Let’s get out of here. You need a pick-me-up, and I know exactly where we should go.”

  Lila quickly slid the little piece of paper into her pocket. It felt too precious to share, even with Polly. “Where’s that?”

  “The Heartbeat Café in the Old Town. It used to be a pub, but it was turned into a gorgeous coffee house years ago. They do live music. All the local kids hang out there.”

  Lila raised her eyebrows. “Including Eve?”

  “You can’t avoid her in this town,” Polly said with an apologetic shrug. “It’s a great place, Lila. I’ll show you the sneaky way in if you’re worried about bumping into Eve. So, are you coming?”

  Drawing strength from the new note in her pocket, Lila took a deep breath. “This is my town now, whether Eve likes it or not. The Heartbeat Café sounds perfect. Let’s go.”

  The sun was nowhere to be seen as they walked from the school into the Old Town. Gulls sat on the uneven rooftops, crying and flapping their wings. To Lila it felt as if they were repeating what her secret admirer said. Have faith! Have faith!

  The roads in the Old Town were narrow and higgledy piggledy, sloping left and right, some with steps and some with cobbles. Lila was lost in moments. She wasn’t surprised tourists avoided this maze when they could spend their time on the wide, straight high street and the gently curving Marine Parade with its views of the sea instead.

  Polly dragged her down a narrow set of cobbled steps to a silvery wooden fence, and pushed hard at the creaking gate. Inside there was a little paved garden dotted with wooden tables and large, furled umbrellas.

  “That leads to the rooftop garden,” Polly said, pointing at a spiral of rusty iron steps running up the side of the old white-brick building. “It’s gorgeous in the spring, if you can face the climb. We’re going in this way. This fire door’s never locked.”

  They met a set of worn, carpeted steps as they entered the building. Polly ran up and craned her neck around the corner at the top. “Good, the table’s not taken,” she said, sounding relieved. “Come on.”

  “Oh!” Lila exclaimed when she reached the top. “It’s so cool!”

  The Heartbeat Café hummed like a hive below them, full of clatter and chatter. The red leather booths that lined the panelled walls were already half full, particularly the booths near the stage. Lila spotted Eve at once, sitting with her back to the balcony, beside Rhi and opposite a boy with dark curly hair she didn’t recognize. She nudged Polly.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Max Holmes,” Polly said promptly. “Tech genius with a rebellious streak. He’s been going out with Rhi for about a year. Cute, isn’t he?”

  Lila caught a flash of Max’s white teeth as he threw his dark head back and laughed at something Rhi had said. “Very,” she agreed.

  “Eve always gets that booth by the stage,” Polly said, settling down at the little balcony table. “People say it’s the best spot, but I think it’s better up here. You can see everything that’s going on.”

  Lila noticed that there were hundreds of carved initals inscribed into the wooden walls around her. There were messages scratched into the wooden balcony rail too, and the banister that curved down the stairs. She traced the flowing letters LW&TG on a panel by her head.

  “Carving initials and messages is a Heartbeat Café tradition,” Polly smiled. “Heartsiders have been doing it for generations. We are the love capital of the world, remember.”

  Lila felt the love of LW&TG tingling through her as she traced their time-worn initials with her fingers. She wondered who they were and what their story had been. She wanted a timeless love like that. Maybe she’d find one at Heartside Bay. Maybe I’ve already found it, she thought, picturing the note in her pocket. Only I don’t know who with.

  Down below, Max Holmes was carving something into the wall beside the booth he, Rhi and Eve were sitting at. It wasn’t hard to work out that he was adding his and Rhi’s initials to the history on the Heartbeat Café walls. Rhi and Max seemed like the perfect couple as they smiled into each other’s eyes and linked hands over the table, and Eve was laughing and teasing them both. They all looked very happy.

  “I’ll get us something to drink,” Polly offered.

  As she headed down the stairs for the bar, Lila looked back at Eve’s booth. She blinked in surprise. An extra person had slid into the booth opposite Eve. His face was turned towards the balcony, and his eyes were on Lila.

  Ollie slowly lifted his hand, apparently to scratch his ear. He quickly pointed upwards. Then he opened his hand, showing five fingers.

  Lila guessed he meant the roof garden in five minutes. She could see Polly queuing at the bar. A reckless feeling swept through her.

  Why not? she thought.

  TEN

  The rusty spiral steps up to the roof garden looked a lot more dangerous now that Lila was thinking of climbing them. Shivering a little in the cold, she set her foot on the bottom step and started to climb. The steps squealed and groaned as she passed. She held on to the handrail as tightly as she could.

  And then suddenly the handrail wasn’t there. It had rusted away to nothing, leaving a big drop to the concrete below. Lila felt sick. If she fell, she would break her neck! Focusing on thoughts of Ollie’s bright blue eyes and mischievous smile waiting for her, she forced herself onwards, keeping as far away from the yawning gap as she could.

  She caught her breath at the top, willed her legs to stop shaking – and felt a punch of horrible disappointment.

  The garden was halfway through a makeover, dotted with bags of compost, old pots, chicken wire and garden tools. There was a beautiful view: the town’s old roofs spread out like a patchwork blanket below her, and Lila could see the sweeping bay with its bracketing cliffs. But Ollie wasn’t there.

  The wind from the sea blew her hair around her face. She could feel it getting tangled and curly. What was going on? Was this one of Eve’s tricks? Suddenly she didn’t feel safe up here. The wind was strong, and the walls around the edges of the garden weren’t very high. Eve would love it if she fell off the roof.

  There was no way she was going back down those rusty outside steps. Lila tried the handle on the rooftop door, which opened on to a dark, twisting staircase. She was shaken as she held on to the banister and made her way down.

  She could hear voices now, drifting up from the café below her feet. She paused for breath on a tiny patch of landing beside a door, which suddenly flew open.

  “Sorry,” said Ollie as Lila staggered backwards, almost tumbling down the second twisting flight of stairs. “I didn’t see— Lila! Where were you?”

  “Where were you?” Lila accused, trying to straighten her skirt and flatten her windblown hair.

  “Waiting for you. I didn’t see you come up the stairs.”

  “I thought you meant the roof garden.” Her cheeks were heating up as usual. “I went up the fire escape.”

  Olli
e’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re mad. That thing’s a death trap!”

  “I know that now,” Lila said.

  Several people were coming up the stairs. In the squash and squeeze of the narrow landing, Lila was pushed right into Ollie. She froze as his hands came around her back.

  “I like your hair mussed up like that,” he said, looking down at her with those deep blue eyes. “It suits you.”

  Their faces were so close. His mouth was inches away from hers. He was about to kiss her, she was sure of it. And she knew that she would kiss him back. . .

  You hardly know him! she told herself desperately. Her thoughts were in chaos. Don’t make the same mistakes you made in London! But she didn’t seem able to stop herself. Something was drawing her towards him.

  He seized her hand. It felt warm in hers. “Listen,” he said. “I really want to tell you something. Can we find a quiet place to talk?”

  “About what?”

  He dragged her all the way downstairs, away from the bar area and into a corridor ending at a disabled toilet.

  “Perfect,” he said in relief. He pushed open the door, ushering Lila inside, then locked it behind them.

  Lila looked round the dingy little room with its buzzing overhead light. What was going on? Why were they hiding in here?

  “I’ve known Eve a long time,” Ollie began. “We were at primary school together. We don’t live far apart, our parents are friends, and I know she wants to go out with me. The trouble is, I don’t like her. Not in that way.” His eyes softened. “But I do like you. I really like you. Eve just makes it impossible for me to go out with anyone else. I need to straighten things out with her before taking things any further, OK? I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Can you be patient? Can you trust me?”

  He ran his hands through his hair and gazed beseechingly at her. Lila felt a hopeless tug in her gut. She couldn’t help herself. Even in a smelly toilet she felt herself falling for him. His gaze was smouldering. She leaned towards him. . . There was a hammering at the door. Lila and Ollie sprang apart.

  “I know you’re in there,” Eve said furiously, hammering again. “Open the door!”

  ELEVEN

  Lila felt the blood draining from her face. Of all the people. . . How could she possibly explain that they had only been talking? OK, so they had nearly kissed. But it wouldn’t look that way. It wouldn’t look that way when she opened the door and faced the one person she really, really didn’t want to see.

  “I said, open it!” Eve shouted, banging on the door again.

  Ollie looked as worried as Lila felt. “This is going to be nasty,” he said. “But we can handle it. Right?”

  You’ve had worse than this! Lil whispered in Lila’s head. Face her and get it over with! Unlike in the past, you have nothing to be ashamed of. “I can if you can,” she said shakily. An even nastier thought struck her. “Are you going to tell her what you just told me?”

  Ollie looked uncomfortable. “It’s not really a good time, is it?”

  “There’s never a good time for things like this.” Wisdom was coming from somewhere and pulling Lila’s scattered thoughts together.

  He stared at her. “So I should do it now?”

  “No!” Lila said quickly. She cringed at the thought of witnessing the conversation. “Don’t do it where I can see it. OK?”

  “Open the door,” Eve bawled.

  “Promise me,” Lila begged.

  There was more banging. Ollie flinched and rubbed his hands through his hair. “We’d better open the door before Eve kicks it in.”

  Lila reached out her hand and slowly turned the lock.

  The door crashed open at once. A crowd of people were standing outside in the corridor. Eve’s arms were tightly folded across her body, her face burning with anger. Rhi looked uncomfortable. Max was openly laughing. In the background, Lila couldn’t make out Polly’s expression at all.

  “Eve,” Ollie began, raising his hands. “This isn’t what it looks like. I swear we weren’t doing what you think we were doing.”

  “Don’t lie to me,” Eve spat. The look she gave Lila was incendiary. “Who locks themselves in a toilet just to talk? How long has this been going on?”

  “Nothing happened!” Ollie repeated.

  “I don’t believe you,” Eve raged.

  Ollie’s shoulders slumped. “OK, it’s like this. Lila and I—”

  Lila felt panicky. He was going to do it right here and now, she realized, with a swoop in her stomach.

  She didn’t like Eve, but being rejected by a boy in front of your friends? She wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Despite herself, Lila felt a little rush of pleasure mixed in with the horror. Ollie liked her. Her heart fluttered just thinking about it. But rejecting Eve like this, out in public for everyone to see. . . Something told her that the Heartbeat Café grapevine would love it. The word was probably already spreading about her and Ollie being locked in the toilet together. A public humiliation like this would be one more reason for Eve Somerstown to hate her.

  “Ollie,” she began in warning.

  Suddenly, the air split open. Rhi screamed and covered her ears as the fire alarm by her head started shrilling at full volume. A cry went up from somewhere.

  “Fire!”

  Doors burst open on all sides. Empty moments before, the corridor was suddenly full of running people. The cry passed among them, loud and fearful.

  “Fire! There’s a fire!”

  The alarm wailed on like a banshee. Frozen to the spot, Lila thought of the old building they stood in: the old timbers, and the dry, threadbare carpets, the wooden stairs and the plush curtains that hung on either side of the stage. It didn’t take much imagination to picture the whole place burning to the ground.

  Ollie abandoned whatever he had been going to say. “We have to get out of here,” he said urgently. “Where’s the closest exit?”

  Lila felt someone grab her arm. As she was pulled down the corridor, pushed and shoved on all sides by people trying to reach the exit, she noticed the fire alarm on the wall beside the disabled toilet door. The handle pointed downwards. Someone had pulled it. But . . . that didn’t make sense! There was no fire here.

  “No need to panic! Everyone this way!” said a boy Lila recognized from behind the café counter. He stood calmly by the door into the bar, ushering frightened people past. “Exit through the kitchen.”

  Then it hit her. Eve had pulled the alarm to save face. She wasn’t stupid. She knew Ollie had been about to dump her in public. She had created the perfect diversion.

  Lila wanted to tell someone what Eve had done. But no one was looking at her or listening to her as she tried to speak. The alarm screamed on above her head, making it hard to think straight as she was pushed and jostled onwards.

  The hand was still firmly on her arm. As she stumbled into the kitchens on a wave of people, she looked down – and recognized the silver watch on the wrist that held her.

  Eve shoved her sideways, vicious and determined. Lila stumbled and almost fell through a half-open door to the left of the exit.

  Eve’s grey eyes drilled into her. Lila realized with a kick of adrenaline that this was the first time she and Eve had been alone.

  “Let me put this really simply, new girl, so that even a lowlife like you can understand.” Eve advanced towards Lila. “Leave. Ollie. Alone.”

  “We were just talking,” Lila gasped, steadying herself against a nearby shelf. They were in a walk-in pantry, among shelves stacked with huge tubs of mayonnaise and ketchup. “There’s no law against talking.”

  Eve curled her lip into a sneer. “Oh dear. Still not listening, are you? You think it’s been bad so far? You have no idea what I can do to you. I can make your life hell. You can’t waltz into Heartside and help yourself to my cookie jar.”

  “Ollie’s not
a cookie,” Lila snapped, finding the courage from somewhere. “I know you pulled the fire alarm, Eve. You could get into a lot of trouble for that. I could tell someone.”

  Eve flicked the threat away like a fly. “Maybe it worked like that back in London, but it’s not going to work here. I know about you, you see. I know you’re a nasty piece of work. Rhi’s little stories were very . . . illuminating on the subject of your past.”

  Lila squirmed helplessly. “Eve, you—”

  “If you don’t leave him alone, I will tell Ollie everything.” Eve gave a giggle, relishing her power. “Every nasty little detail. When everyone hears what you’re really like, you won’t last five minutes in Heartside. But of course, they’ll have to find you first. Won’t they?”

  With a smile and a little wave, Eve backed out of the pantry, shut the door – and locked Lila inside.

  TWELVE

  Lila ran to the door and pounded on it. A quick scan of it told her the bad news. No handle.

  “Let me out!” she hollered. “Let me out of here!”

  Eve wasn’t there. No one was listening. Lila’s heart jumped frantically in her chest. She pressed her ear to the door and listened, doing her best to keep calm. Feet were rushing past, trying to get outside. They hadn’t realized there was no fire. No one knew Eve had set off the alarm, or that Lila was locked in here.

  “Please!” she yelled.

  No one came.

  Soon even the muffled sound of running feet faded to nothing. Defeated, Lila sank on to the floor with her head in her hands. The room was small and dark, and the floor tiles were cold beneath her. Until someone opened the door from the outside, there was no escape. She shivered, and pulled her blazer more tightly around herself. It was cold in here, and likely to get colder. Outside it was getting dark. What if no one came back for hours? She could freeze to death.