by Carmen Reid
'Min?' Gina asked.
'Yes, the lovely Min. All she would tell me as she snuck out of the side door was to mind my own business.'
'The side door?' Gina didn't know what he meant. 'Which side door?'
'Well, I don't know – it looked as if it might lead into the back garden,' Charlie told her, 'but you're the one who lives here, aren't you?'
Lives here! Ha! She felt almost insulted by the suggestion. If only Charlie could see her real home, then maybe he'd stop being so rude and obnoxious to her. Actually, that made him even worse – the fact that his opinion of her would change once he knew about her wealthy background.
No sooner had she thought this than she suddenly felt a pang of shame. Hadn't her opinion of Dermot changed once she'd seen his home? That made her no better than Charlie, didn't it?
'So, are we going to dance then, Yankee?' Charlie asked, putting an unwelcome hand around her waist.
Gina quickly moved away from his touch. 'I'd love to,' she lied, 'but first you've got to tell me what you think of my slime soup.'
With a charming smile, she handed him the cup she'd been waiting to offer Jason.
'What the hell is that?' Charlie asked, peering at the insect floating on top of the green goo.
'Liquorice bugs,' Gina assured him. 'Aren't they cute?'
'Excellent!' Angus enthused, leaning in for a look. 'Snarf that down, Charlie, unless you want to give it to me.'
'Oi, back off,' Charlie told him, then fished the beetle out with his finger. Fortunately the hot soup seemed to have finished Amy's live beetle off; otherwise his wriggling legs might have given the game away.
A moment later and the beetle was in Charlie's mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment or two before saying, 'Just tastes of soup.'
'Excuse me a minute . . .' Gina had to turn away to hide her face; then, before she exploded with laughter, she rushed off to tell Amy.
The room was hot and very crowded now and she had to nudge and jostle past people to get to the door.
Scarlett was a short story! This was almost all she could think about. Did she believe it? Had she gone and messed up everything with Dermot because she'd jumped to some stupid, jealous conclusion for no reason – other than the fact that she was just completely untrusting and insecure!
Why hadn't she just invited Dermot to this party? Then he'd be here and they'd have got talking and the whole Scarlett thing would probably have come out in conversation and she could have been laughing in relief with him. Hadn't she realized yet that he was the one and only great guy she'd met in Scotland and he was totally, totally into her, but she kept brushing him off and letting him down at every opportunity?
Gina pressed a finger to the corner of her eyes to try to stem the tears that were forming there, and as she did so, she bumped straight into the soft foamy padding of some total idiot who had come to the party dressed up as a monstrous green Shrek.
'Sorry,' Shrek mumbled through his thick rubber mask. 'I can't see where I'm going.'
'No, my fault,' Gina assured him. 'I'm trying to get to the door.'
'Gina?' Shrek asked, to her surprise.
'Yes?' she answered, wondering who was in there.
With a large green hand, Shrek clumsily raised his face mask a little.
'Dermot?' Gina asked in astonishment.
'What am I doing here? I know . . .' Dermot began. 'And, more importantly, what am I doing here dressed like a big green idiot?' he joked.
'Dermot!' Gina repeated, still completely taken aback, but totally delighted to see him, even if he was dressed like a big green idiot.
'How did you get in?' she asked next. 'You can't have slipped past security looking like that!'
'That was the easy bit,' Dermot explained. 'I just followed some guys in and got ticked off a list. I think my name is now Olly Hughes, so make sure you call me that.'
'Why are you here, Olly?' was Gina's next question. The surprised delight at seeing him was wearing off rapidly and now all she could feel was embarrassed confusion.
'I came to say sorry . . .' Dermot lifted up his Shrek mask just a little further so that Gina could see his face. 'I'm a total prat,' he added. 'I think the American translation of that is a jerk.'
'No . . .' Gina put her hand on his arm. 'No, really, it's fine. It's me. I, erm . . . is Scarlett really a story?' she had to ask.
'Yes!' Dermot replied, sounding almost exasperated. 'How do you know about Scarlett, anyway?'
'Erm . . . looking through your computer files and seeing it in your diary.' Gina's eyes were fixed on the large green Shrek hand; she didn't want to look into his rubbery face.
'That's quite impressive,' Shrek said finally. 'I feel as if I've been fully vetted. Do you want to phone my English teacher and ask him about the story I'm writing for my course? He knows what it's called.'
'Er, no, I think that'll be OK.'
'Well, we are quite a pair, aren't we?' Shrek asked. 'The jealous lady and the super-sensitive tramp.'
Gina didn't know what to say; she just slipped her hand into Shrek's and felt a happy and relieved smile flit across her face.
'Would you accept a peace offering?' Dermot said loudly against her ear, because the song currently belting from the sound system was making it hard to be heard.
'Yes!' Gina told him, wondering what was coming next.
He reached for the brown messenger bag that hung from his shoulder and opened up the flap. 'Look what I've made for you . . .' He held the bag open for Gina to see.
There was only a dim light in the room and they were both still being jostled by the crowd, but Gina could see something large and round carefully wrapped up with silver foil. But it was the smell from the bag that told her straight away what was in there.
'Pumpkin pie!' she exclaimed. 'You've made me a pumpkin pie? Dermot!'
'Olly,' he corrected her.
'How did you . . .? Where did you . . .? What made you . . .?' she began.
He was smiling broadly, very, very pleased with the success of his peace offering.
Gina stretched up, peeled back part of his mask and kissed him on the cheek. 'You're great!' she told him, right into his ear. 'You are totally great. I'm sorry.'
Dermot put a large green hand on her waist. 'I think we should boogie,' he said.
'No! Not until I get a piece of pie!' she insisted. 'Where in the hell did you get the outfit anyway?' she wondered.
'Ah . . . well, we did this promotion at the café once. Look, just be grateful I didn't come as the donkey,' Dermot added.
Gina put her arm around him – well, she tried to but the foam rubber padding was so thick she couldn't reach all the way.
'Let's go find a knife and a plate and then we'll boogie,' she promised.
They began to push their way towards the door when Gina spotted Amy striding into the room with a look of fury written right across her face.
Chapter Twenty-seven
'What's wrong?' Gina asked Amy, just as soon as she and Dermot had made it through the pack of ghoulishly disguised bodies.
'Jason's left. He went into the Neb's study and had the nerve to take his flowers with him! I can't believe it! My dad was so right . . .'
Amy's face looked a little strange. It was pale and blotchy, as if she had been crying but had then used face powder to try and cover it up.
'I'm so sorry.' Gina took her hand from round Dermot's waist so that she could at least give Amy a sympathetic pat.
'You're with the jolly green giant,' Amy exclaimed, noticing for the first time that Gina was actually with the person swathed in green foam rubber. 'Who's in there?'
'Dermot,' Gina told her. 'But just for tonight he's going by the name of Olly Hughes.'
'Or Shrek, to his really close friends,' Amy couldn't help adding.
'Hello,' Dermot said. With his horrible green mask back in place, he gave a small theatrical bow in Amy's direction. 'You're a funky cat,' he added. 'But where's Min?' he asked them. 'I've not seen her costu
me yet.'
'Min!' Gina remembered all of a sudden. Min!
Hadn't Charlie said she'd gone out into the garden? Gina, distracted by Dermot, hadn't thought to ask anyone else if they'd seen her.
'What's the problem? She'll be around here somewhere,' Amy said.
'No!' Gina began to feel strangely agitated. 'She's been really weird all evening. As if she's hiding something from us; as if she's got some sort of special secret from us . . . and Charlie said she'd gone out into the garden, which is totally weird. Why would she go into the garden? Amy, I just know we should look for her – now.'
'This is Min we're talking about!' Amy broke in. 'Super-sensible, swotty Min. I'm going to look around this room,' she added calmly. 'You're going to look upstairs in the bathroom and our dorm, and Dermot's going to look in the corridor and the other party rooms. If we still can't find her, then we'll think about worrying. OK?'
It was a really sensible suggestion, so Gina quickly ran out of the room and up the stairs to carry out her part of the search.
Five minutes later the three of them met up again at the bottom of the stairs to admit that they'd drawn a blank.
'I can't believe this!' Gina said, now seriously worried. 'Something's not right.'
'Calm down,' Amy insisted.
'But did you ask people? Has anyone seen her?'
'No one I've spoken to has seen her since the party began,' Amy had to admit.
It was time for Gina to tell Amy about Min's secret. Yes, she'd made a promise not to, but she would worry about breaking her promise just as soon as they'd found Min safe and sound.
'Amy, there's something you don't know,' Gina began. 'Min has this guy she talks to on the Internet—'
As she registered both Amy and Dermot's shocked looks, she cursed herself for keeping all this to herself for so long.
'You are kidding . . .' Amy said slowly, immediately understanding the seriousness of the situation now. 'Has she met him before?'
'No,' Gina answered, 'but she told me she was thinking about meeting him. I warned her to do it in a public place and to take one of us along, but do you think she might have gone out to meet him tonight?'
'Min?' Amy asked incredulously. 'Min? I don't know if she's even shaken hands with a boy before. This can't be happening.'
'It doesn't sound good,' Dermot added.
Already, without discussing it, the three of them were heading towards the back door of the boarding house.
'Do you think we should tell the Neb?' Gina wondered.
'No,' Amy said firmly. 'No need to make things worse than they already are. If we just cut through here' – she pointed to a door into the kitchen that Gina had never noticed before – 'we'll be able to reach the back door without too many people noticing.'
'You know,' Dermot began, 'I've never been to the boarding house before and I got a bit lost – I think I ended up on the school playing fields round the back and I saw someone waiting out there . . .'
Gina and Amy both looked at him expectantly, hoping he had seen Min and that she was OK.
'Well,' he continued, wishing he'd mentioned this before now, 'he gave me a bit of a scare – hiding in some bushes wearing a nasty-looking mask.'
'Oh no!' Amy exclaimed. Suddenly she was beginning to feel really frightened.
'I think we should tell Mrs Knebworth,' Gina added anxiously.
'Not yet – wait here!' Amy instructed, then ran off, her cat tail swishing behind her.
'Wait here?' Dermot repeated. 'We need to get out there and look for Min.'
But within minutes Amy was back, along with two beefy Sixth Form girls armed with hockey sticks. Amy was also carrying three hockey sticks and matter-of-factly handed one to Dermot and one to Gina, keeping the third for herself.
'Right!' the beefiest sixth former, a girl called Helen, said with obvious relish. 'Ready to go and rescue Min?'
She pushed open the door to the kitchen and everyone else fell in behind her. A moment later, the four girls plus Dermot were out in the boarding-house garden.
It was dark outside. A damp and chilling Halloween dark.
'OK – we'll split up and circle the garden,' Helen instructed. 'Milly and I will go this way, you go the other – poke about in the bushes and call Min's name.'
'Min,' Gina shouted into the darkness, 'are you out here?'
The wind rustling in the many trees and bushes seemed to swallow her voice up immediately.
'C'mon,' Dermot urged, and the three of them moved forward and began to search in earnest.
Within a few minutes Dermot, Gina and Amy had made their way right round their half of the gardens; they were sure that Min was not there.
As Milly and Helen approached them, it was obvious they'd not seen anything either.
'Where did you think you saw this other person?' Gina asked Dermot.
'Behind the boarding house – out round the back on those playing fields,' he told her, pointing in the direction he'd come from at the start of the party.
'Let's get out there,' Amy said. She sounded braver than she felt. It was cold out here in the dark in just a cat costume, and despite the heavy stick in her hands, she felt scared – not just for herself, but for Min.
How could Min have been so stupid? Not to even tell them she was thinking about doing something like this. It was insane!
As they headed out of the gardens, with a churn of fear, Amy saw something white flash in the trees ahead of them.
'What was that?' she said, hating the way she had grabbed Dermot's padded arm in fright.
'I don't know. Let's go and have a look,' he replied.
Both Amy and Gina couldn't help noticing how totally cool he sounded. Maybe if they were wearing several thick layers of foam rubber instead of tutus and tights, they would be feeling braver too.
They all went over to where Amy had seen the flash of white. Dermot delved into the undergrowth, and when he came out he was carrying something that made Amy recoil. It was one of those horrible masks – a ghostly white skull in a twisted silent scream.
'Oh!' Amy gasped.
'I did see someone wearing this earlier,' Dermot said, 'but they've obviously taken it off.'
'Maybe's Min's stalker is the prowler?' Gina wondered out loud, her voice tense.
Dermot tossed the mask over the wall into the gardens.
Amy turned to face the black blankness of the school playing fields in front of them. Putting her hands up to cup her lips, she took a deep breath, then bellowed, 'Min!' at the top of her voice. 'Miiiinnn!' she shouted a second time.
They all waited in silence, desperate to hear any sort of reply above the trees, the wind and the other sounds of the night.
'Over there!' Helen said suddenly. She was pointing to the far side of the field, where a clump of trees marked the boundary of the school grounds.
The rest of the group strained their eyes to see if they could make anything out.
'There!' she repeated. 'There are two people over there. They're struggling!'
'Hurry!' Gina urged, and they all began to run towards the figures.
As they drew closer, the two figures, both dressed in black, became slightly clearer. Long dark hair, long dark dress – it was Min! Surely it was Min!
Min seemed to have spotted them and was trying to push the man with her away, but he grabbed her round the waist and buried his head against her neck.
At that, Amy found her courage. Lifting up her hockey stick, she began to sprint towards the figures, letting out a very scary, throaty, Glaswegian-sounding 'Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!'
Gina, Dermot and the sixth formers followed her lead. The man let go of Min as soon as he saw the group heading towards him, sticks at the ready. He turned and began to run away.
'Aaaaaaaaargh! Arsehole!' Amy screamed, charging on, furious at the thought of this louse, this lowlife, getting away from them.
'You look after Min!' Dermot was now outrunning Gina and Amy. 'We'll get him.'
So he
, Helen and Milly raced across the playing field after the fleeing man while Amy and Gina ran towards Min.
Only when they were twenty metres away did they realize that it wasn't her at all. There, dressed in a clingy black dress and a gothy black wig, holding a wine bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other, was a very annoyed-looking Mel.
'What the hell was all that about?' she demanded.
'Mel, you stupid tart!' Amy stormed.
'Oh, I'm the stupid tart! You've just frightened the living daylights out of Jono. I don't know where the bloody hell he's off to. Why are two jolly hockey sticks and a Shrek chasing after him? Hmm? What the hell is going on?'
'Oh, shut up, you stupid cow.' Amy was so angry and so worried, she really didn't have a second to be polite to anyone, especially Miss Melanie Where-are-my- knickers!
'We've lost Min,' Gina explained, on the verge of tears. 'We think she's out here with some stalker she's met on the Internet.'
'What?' Mel sounded incredulous. 'Min? I saw her about ten minutes ago. She was on a bench, over there' – she pointed towards the main school building – 'beside the school, chatting to some boy . . . A stalker?' She sounded almost impressed. 'He looked pretty harmless to me – but then you never can tell.'
Without another word Amy and Gina turned and began to run towards the main school building. As they rounded the corner where three benches overlooked the tennis courts, they immediately caught sight of the sleek dark head of their friend. She was deep in conversation with a boy!
Amy and Gina had almost reached the bench before Min and her friend turned towards them in surprise.
'Min!' Amy shrieked. 'We've been frantic!'
The boy stood up and looked at them nervously.
'It's OK, Greg, these are my friends,' Min assured him.
'Greg?' Gina asked. 'Are you the Gecko?'
Greg, who looked about fifteen or sixteen, just like them, had a friendly, freckly face surrounded by a thick mop of brown hair. He was dressed in jeans and a casual jacket over a T-shirt with a green lizard design on the front. Maybe this was how Min was supposed to recognize him or something.
He smiled at them shyly, before saying, 'Hello . . . Amy and Gina?'
'Yeah,' they replied together.