by Cathy Cole
“What?” she said in astonishment. Had she heard right? A cat burglar?
Josh grinned. “My favourite rumour is that your parents adopted you because your real parents are connected to the mob. When someone found out who you were, your parents moved down here and changed your name. There’s other stuff too, but it’s nowhere near as interesting.”
“They’re seriously saying those things about me?” Lila said, amazed. “But that’s insane!”
“Don’t worry about it. The best thing to do is keep your head down and your mouth shut. The vultures will move on to another victim sooner or later.”
The tone of his voice gave Lila the strong sense that he was speaking from experience.
“If it makes you feel any better,” he added, “I don’t believe a word that anyone is saying. Although you do look kind of Italian,” he added, with a quirk of his lips.
Lila laughed again, without thinking.
“Lila and Josh, a bit more concentration, please!” called Ms Andrews.
Lila found herself hoping that she and Josh could be proper friends. His take on life made her feel better about pretty much everything.
They walked to lunch together. Hearing everyone whispering didn’t hurt Lila’s feelings so much now. She just kept seeing herself in a cat burglar outfit, scaling the roofs of London. It was hard to feel upset with such a stupid image in her head.
Her mood was abruptly punctured as she set foot in the canteen.
“So, new girl,” said Eve loudly, from a nearby table. “Is it true?”
The canteen hushed. Hundreds of eyes looked at her. Lila was mortified. She could feel her heart banging against her ribcage. Should she take Josh’s advice and ignore the question? Or was this her chance to put everything right? She glanced at Josh for help. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. Lila caught Rhi’s eye next, sitting beside Eve. Her former friend looked at her steadily, her expression giving nothing away.
“Is what true?” she said, turning back to Eve as coolly as she could. “That I’m a cat burglar? Miaow. Or that I’m the love child of a mobster? Ciao.”
Food lay forgotten on the tables as several people laughed. Eyes swivelled from Lila to Eve and back again, as everyone waited to see what would happen next.
“Well now, aren’t you funny,” Eve drawled. She pushed her shining auburn hair back over her shoulders. “If there’s no secret, you can tell us. All of us. Why did you leave London, Lila Murray? We’re all ears.”
Lila realized that she couldn’t ignore this. Not any more. She didn’t need any extra lies in her life. It was time to come clean.
SEVENTEEN
Before she could talk herself out of it, Lila hitched up her skirt and climbed on to one of the chairs surrounding Eve’s table. Eve snatched her fingers away from the tabletop as Lila planted both feet in the middle of the table and waved to get the whole room’s attention.
“What’s she doing?”
“Is she mental?”
Whispers and roars of appreciative laughter swept through the room. Several teachers stood up with frowns on their faces.
Lila swallowed. You’re here now, she said to herself, staring at the sea of faces avidly turned in her direction. You’d better make this good.
“My name is Lila Murray,” she began. “There are some rumours about me that are going around school at the moment. I can understand that. The new girl is always interesting.” She was feeling a little dizzy at what she was doing.
“Personally? I find you very boring,” said Eve in a loud, waspish voice.
There were a few sniggers, but Lila pressed on. “When I was in London, I made mistakes that hurt people. Big mistakes.” She looked pleadingly around the room. “Everyone makes mistakes. Right?”
“Not me,” someone shouted.
A few people cheered. Others made shushing noises, keen to hear what Lila had to say next.
“I’ve paid for those mistakes, and I’ve left them behind,” she said. “Heartside Bay is a new start for me. I’m a different person now.”
“A leopard never changes its spots!” someone called.
Lila’s lips felt horribly dry. She licked them and tried to frame her next words as carefully as she could.
“You have a choice,” she said bravely. “You can believe the rumours, or you can get to know me and find out the truth for yourselves. It’s up to you.”
“Get off that table!” Mr Morrison shouted, striding through the canteen. “This is a food hall, not a theatre!”
There was the sound of applause. Lila looked around to see Ollie with his hands above his head, clapping. Polly joined in, whooping and stamping her shiny brogues on the canteen floor.
Others started clapping now and stamping their feet. Before Mr Morrison had a total meltdown, Lila climbed off the table with trembling legs, hoping she wouldn’t trip on anything on her way back to the floor. A few people patted her on the back; others nodded, or smiled, or looked thoughtful. Eve still had a sneer on her face, but Lila was more interested in the look on Rhi’s face. She thought she could see tears in her old friend’s eyes.
“Rhi,” she said, feeling a wobble in her own voice. “I’m so, so sorry about the way I treated you in London. I was a total cow and I deeply regret it. Can you forgive me? After your—”
Rhi walked up to Lila and hugged her, stopping her from finishing her sentence.
“You’re not the only one who wants to leave the past behind,” she said, her voice muffled against Lila’s shoulder. “Don’t say any more, OK?”
“Very touching,” sneered Eve, dragging Rhi away from Lila’s embrace. “You know how to milk an audience, new girl – I’ll give you that. But stay away from my friend. You’ve hurt her enough.”
“But—” Lila began.
She felt a hand on her arm.
“That was quite a speech,” Polly said, smiling.
Lila decided to try and find Rhi later. They had a lot to talk about. “Did I make any sense?” she asked Polly. “My head was spinning so much. . .”
“You sounded great,” Ollie butted in. “Doing that really took some courage, Lila. It was amazing, what you just did,” he said, in a husky voice.
Lila felt almost blinded by the admiration in his blue eyes. She glanced around for Josh, but as usual he had disappeared.
“So what did you do?” Polly asked after school. “In London, I mean?”
“I didn’t rob any footballers,” Lila said. She felt lighter than she had in weeks as they walked down the corridor towards the lockers. “I had a party that went wrong. Santiago’s friends turned up and got really drunk. I lost control, the house was wrecked, and Dad nearly lost his job over it. It almost ended up on the news. It nearly ruined everything. That’s why we moved here.” She still felt a hot wave of shame at the thought of that night. But it really was behind her now.
“Something tells me you didn’t polish your shoes or brush your hair quite as much as you do these days,” Polly remarked.
Lila turned her head upside down and gave it a vigorous rub. Then she flipped her head back again, rumpling the top of her hair one more time. The curls and mess that resulted felt comfortable, and familiar. “I looked more like this,” she said. “Only all over.”
Polly laughed. Smiling, Lila opened her locker.
A note sat looking at her.
The secret admirer! was Lila’s first tumbling thought. Had he forgiven her? She snatched up the note and unfolded it.
Sorry we couldn’t talk earlier. Meet me at the end of the pier after school? Message me if you can’t make it. Rhi xx
Lila stared at the number Rhi had scribbled at the bottom of the note. She didn’t have her phone; it was in her dad’s desk. She was supposed to go straight home after school, but she couldn’t let Rhi down – not now they had turned such a major corner. Cou
ld she meet her and just get home a little later? There would be hell to pay. Without her phone, she couldn’t warn anyone that she would be late.
Deciding it was worth a telling-off, Lila folded the note and put it in her bag.
“I have to go,” she told Polly, whose head was deep inside her own locker.
“Sure,” said Polly, pulling her head out again. “See you tomorrow. And Lila?”
“Yes?”
Polly grinned. “Well done again, for today.”
It was blustery outside today, and bitterly cold. Lila walked as fast as she could, mindful that every minute would count. The road to the beach was getting more and more familiar these days.
She saw Rhi standing alone at the end of the pier several minutes before she reached her. Seagulls dived around Lila as she jogged the length of the old wooden boards, ducking to avoid the worst of the sea as it smashed loudly against the struts of the pier.
“Sorry about this,” Rhi said, waving at the windswept pier. “It’s kind of cold for a meeting place. But I didn’t want anyone to overhear us.”
Rhi’s face had grown thinner since London, Lila thought. She could still see the grief in her old friend’s eyes.
“I really am sorry about your sister,” Lila said, feeling for the right words. “I didn’t know what to say to you when she died. I should have been a better friend when you needed me.”
Rhi smiled sadly. “We were kids,” she said. “Like you said in the canteen, kids make mistakes. I made a mistake too. I told Eve what happened in London. I never thought she’d use it to turn the whole school against you the way she has.”
“I can’t believe you’re friends with Eve Somerstown,” said Lila. It was hard not to sound bitter.
“Eve has a good side to her,” Rhi said loyally. “When I moved to Heartside, I was a grieving mess. She helped me a lot. She and you are the only ones who know about Ruth and the car accident. Like you, there are things I want to leave behind.”
Lila frowned. Was Rhi trying to forget her sister?
“I’ll never forget Ruth,” Rhi said softly, as if she had read Lila’s mind. “I think about her every day, and I miss her like a limb. But in Heartside, I want to be more than the girl with a dead sister. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes,” said Lila. She knew exactly what Rhi meant.
“Of course you do,” Rhi nodded. “So how about I help you with your fresh start, and you keep my secret?”
“It’s a deal,” Lila promised.
They smiled at each other.
“Friends again?” Lila said hopefully. With Rhi, Polly, Ollie and Josh, she could start to feel at home in Heartside.
“I’d like that,” Rhi said. “But with Eve around, that’s going to be tricky.” She shook her head. “You really walked into a wasps’ nest when you went after Ollie.”
“I didn’t go after Ollie,” Lila protested. “He came after me. And we can’t help who we fall for.”
Rhi pulled a face. “Eve doesn’t see it like that. I’d like to be friends, Lila, and I’m glad you feel the same—”
She stopped. Through the crash of the waves, Lila heard the sound of footsteps on the boards behind her. She swung round. Eve was striding towards them, the smaller figure of Polly right behind her.
And Eve didn’t look happy.
EIGHTEEN
Eve came right up to Lila and poked her hard on the shoulder. “Stealing my boyfriend not enough for you, so you thought you’d steal my friend as well?”
Now that she had made that speech in the canteen, and talked properly with Rhi, Lila felt powerful again. She flicked Eve’s fingers off like flies. “I’ll talk to whoever I like,” she said coolly.
“I thought you had to go home straight after school, Lila?” said Polly from behind Eve.
Eve pulled out her phone. “I’m sure Daddy the police officer would be thrilled to know that his daughter is disobeying orders,” she said with a nasty smile. “Let’s call the police station and tell him.”
A great wave of rage swelled up in Lila’s heart. Eve was the cause of so much that had gone wrong for her in Heartside. She lunged towards her. Eve tucked her phone away and curled her hands like a cat preparing to scratch. Polly jumped between them, waving her arms for calm.
“Stop it,” said Rhi sharply.
It was the first thing she had said, and she said it with such authority that Lila, Eve and Polly all stopped in their tracks, and turned their heads, and fell silent.
“This is so stupid.” Tears brightened Rhi’s dark eyes. “Why do you have to fight? Life is too short for arguments about who’s friends with who, and who’s going out with who. I learned that the hard way when I lost my sister.”
“I didn’t know you lost a sister,” Polly said, looking upset. “I’m sorry, Rhi.”
Rhi dashed her tears away impatiently. “We don’t have to be best friends,” she said, looking at them all. “No one can click their fingers and make that happen overnight. But can’t we just . . . get along?”
Lila lowered her hands. The red mist of rage was passing now. All she felt was embarrassment that she’d lost control like that, and let her feelings take over. She was no better than Santiago.
“I’m sorry,” she said stiffly.
Eve tossed her head. “Whatever.”
“I want to stop fighting too,” said Polly, putting a tentative hand on Eve’s arm. “Can we maybe call a truce as well?”
“Fine,” Eve said, rolling her eyes. She looked at Lila again. “I’m so over Ollie, by the way,” she said. “You’re welcome to him, if dating rejects is your thing. I’m bringing a new guy to my party who makes Ollie look like a dumb little kid.”
Lila felt awash with relief. It looked like she was getting somewhere with Eve at last. She felt a little jump of pleasure at the thought of Ollie, his bright blue eyes and the way he had looked at her in that smelly old bathroom. She didn’t care whether he was a reject or not.
“We’re still not friends, by the way,” Eve added in a hard voice. Her eyes flickered a little. “But we’re not enemies either. If Rhi can tolerate you, then I guess I can too.”
The smile that broke over Rhi’s face was like the sun coming out of the clouds.
“This is where we start again, OK?” she said happily. “Now let’s go to the Heartbeat to celebrate our truce. I could really use a hot chocolate – I’m freezing.”
The wind coming in from the sea was bitter. Lila was suddenly aware that she was almost wet through from the spray which had been thundering against the pier the whole time they had been talking. Hot chocolate at the Heartbeat sounded perfect.
They were almost there – Rhi arm in arm with Eve, Lila with Polly – when Lila stopped and groaned. “I can’t come,” she said. “I was supposed to be home half an hour ago!”
“What a pity,” said Eve. “I’m sure we’ll all miss your company.”
“Eve,” Rhi reminded her gently.
Eve puffed her fringe away from her face. Even in the damp air, her hair looked perfect. “OK,” she said a little gruffly. “That was uncalled for.”
Lila grinned. An almost-apology from Eve? That was a first. Maybe things would work out in Heartside after all. “Another time, maybe?” she said.
“Sure,” Rhi promised with a warm smile.
Lila ran back towards the beach, and along the seafront to where the road curved up towards the cliff. As she jogged, she looked wistfully across the sand, towards Kissing Island and the start of the path to the secret cove. She still hadn’t seen the cove for herself. There will be other opportunities, she told herself, getting a little breathless now as the road began to tilt uphill. Maybe even with a gang of friends. Unbelievably, it was starting to feel as if that might actually happen one day.
She suddenly stumbled over a stone and stopped. Shading her eyes
, her heart thudding, she gazed back at the start of the secret path again. Ollie was standing there with his hands in his pockets. He was looking straight at her.
She couldn’t decide what to do. She ought to go home; she was really late now, and if she didn’t get back her dad would no doubt ground her for another week. Any kind of social life – especially one that might revolve around a secret beach – would be out of the window before it had even started. But she had to talk to Ollie too. Surely it wasn’t a coicidence that he was standing exactly where she had seen – or thought she had seen – her secret admirer in the moonlight, beyond Santiago, on Saturday night? What should she do?
Dad’ll kill me, she thought, racing back towards the beach with her heart fluttering in her chest. But I have to know.
“That’s what I like to see,” Ollie grinned as Lila stopped in front of him, panting, with her hands resting on her knees. “A beautiful girl running towards me like something from a movie.”
He was looking particularly gorgeous, with the wind in his hair and his cheeks a healthy pink colour. The smile on his face told her how pleased he was to see her, and Lila’s heart skipped.
Please be my letter-writer, she prayed to herself. She had never wanted anything so badly in her life.
“I’ve spoken to Eve,” she gasped, straightening up and pressing her hand to her side. “She says she doesn’t mind about you and me.”
Ollie looked surprised. “How did you do that?”
“It wasn’t me. It was Rhi.”
Puzzlement replaced surprise on Ollie’s face. “Rhi? Why would she get involved?”
“We go back a long way,” Lila confessed. “Anyway, Eve says she’s got someone else now.”
Ollie pushed her flyaway hair away from her face.
“You’re beautiful, Lila,” he said. “I could gaze at you all day long.”
The sun glimmered through the grey clouds, rich and orange as it settled towards the horizon. Lila’s heart was so full she could hardly breathe. Ollie was coming closer. Was this it? Would this be the first kiss of true love? Would she one day stroll out to Kissing Island at low tide, hand in hand with Ollie?