The Islanders

by FJ Campbell

  Milo’s plans for the holiday, apart from the party, were the same as ever. He had four weeks’ work at The Island and two weeks at Melchester Racecourse. Mrs Toms had set up some work experience for him at a veterinary surgery in Melchester. He might get a few shifts in the Buck’s Head if he asked the landlord, who was an old friend of his dad’s and the man who had taught Milo, as a child, to swear. Milo had by this time nearly run out of his Easter holiday money; he’d had the phone and the electricity cut off, which he thought he could do without for the rest of the summer. He was very relieved that he could start earning again and vowed to be more careful next year, and not go buying watches for people, and he’d have to hitch-hike everywhere. He’d had a piece of luck, because the groundsman offered to buy his mum’s Beatles records off him and he’d made five hundred pounds. He had been gobsmacked when that sum had been mentioned, and although he was sad to lose half of his mum’s music collection, he was desperate for the money and told himself not to be sentimental about the records.

  *

  In the last week of term, all anyone could talk about was the holidays. On the Friday, all the upper-sixth-formers were due back at school for Speech Day, at the end of which everyone else would leave, so that the school was empty for everyone but the upper sixth for the Leavers’ Ball.

  On Thursday afternoon, Beth found a note pushed under her door. She opened it and read:

  Dickon requests the presence of Mary at ten o’clock.

  She went to bed as usual and later crept out of her window, which Livvy closed behind her, giggling and whispering, ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.’

  ‘It’s not like that,’ insisted Beth.

  ‘Then why are you wearing perfume?’

  Beth ignored her.

  ‘And lipstick. I want to see all that lipstick still on your lips later.’

  When Beth arrived at the walled garden gate, she knocked gently and heard Milo’s footsteps on the gravel before he opened it, filling the doorway, and ushered her inside. In the middle of the grass square, he’d spread out blankets and had brought food and a bottle of wine. There were even a couple of candles. She smiled.

  ‘Mel busy tonight?’

  ‘No idea. I’ve never brought her here.’

  ‘How come?’

  ‘I promised you, this place was only for us. Plus, she’d probably only want to come here and…’

  Beth scowled at him. She wandered over to the blanket and lay down on her front. ‘Just because you’re head boy and you’re finally getting laid, it doesn’t mean you should become all big-headed, you know. It doesn’t suit you.’

  He sat next to her. As he did so, he brushed her leg with his arm. ‘I’ll keep that in mind. But, for the record, I’m not… um… getting laid.’

  Beth sat up and pretended to be busy pouring wine into two plastic cups. Her hands were shaking. She was so relieved, she could have cried. What on earth was going on with her? She couldn’t understand why her heart was beating so fast. Her palms were sweaty and she nearly dropped the wine.

  She was on the point of turning up her face towards his, when he said, ‘Anyway, enough about that. Are you looking forward to Edward’s party? How are things with him, d’you reckon?’

  Edward. He wants to talk about Edward. Of course. She turned around to Milo and handed over a cup, afterwards lighting a cigarette. One of her hands was next to his on the blanket; their little fingers were millimetres away from each other.

  ‘Umm. I don’t really know. He’ll probably be OK, now that his exams are over; it’ll do him good to be at home. He said in his last letter that Bonnie’s doing really well too. They’re even thinking about asking if she can come back to The Island for her sixth form.’

  ‘Can I ask you something? I’m not being nosy, or trying to hassle you…’

  ‘Once again, Milo, please spit it out.’

  ‘Has he… have you… you know?’

  ‘Mmm, not at all nosy, then? No, Milo, he hasn’t and we haven’t. I won’t and he isn’t. We’re not and he never will be.’

  Milo scratched his ear. ‘Well, that’s good to know. I think.’

  ‘I… if you must know, I had a conversation with him before he left school. He’s sort of… I think he’s under the impression that I’m going to succumb to his charms at his party.’

  ‘And are you?’

  ‘I just told you, I think in a very clear and concise way, that I won’t.’

  Milo thought about it. ‘I’m glad Zack’s gone. And I’m glad Edward’s gone now too, in a way.’

  He reached across her to pull some crisps out of a bag and she breathed in his smell, of sweat and soap and something minty. Her heart started thumping again. She clenched her fists.

  ‘You know, you once told me that you weren’t interested in having a boyfriend. Do you remember?’

  She nodded and smiled.

  ‘You know what I think? Zack was bad news, and Edward, well, he’s crazy about you, but he’s kind of intense. I think…’ he looked her right in the eyes, thickening the air between them, ‘…next year you should try to stay single. What do you think?’

  The air deflated. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Smile harder, nod, don’t give it away. ‘Yes, good idea. Excellent idea. I’ll do that.’

  Not far off, outside the garden, they heard a whirring and grinding sound. They looked at each other, confused, and Milo put his finger to his lips. Beth stubbed out her cigarette. They crept to the door and slowly opened it, peering out into the darkness in the direction of the noise. They couldn’t see a thing.

  ‘What’s going on? Is it something to do with Speech Day?’ she whispered.

  ‘Beats me.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this. It’s nothing to do with the grounds staff.’ He mulled it over and glanced at the blanket with regret. ‘I hate to say it, but I think we should call it a night. There’s something about this – it’s dodgy, I know it is, and when one of the teachers hears what we’re hearing, we should be safely tucked up in our beds.’

  Beth helped him pack up the rest of their picnic. They left everything in the shed and scarpered back to their houses.

  *

  In the morning, they had lessons until lunchtime, after which Speech Day would begin. But there was a rumour going around that something was happening on the sports fields, so at breaktime Livvy and Beth wandered down with a large crowd towards the cricket pitch. They saw it from half a mile away. Someone had made a beach volleyball court, complete with net and pristine sand, on the grass next to the road, where every car that passed would see it. There was a banner proclaiming that the beach volleyball tournament would begin after the speeches.

  ‘I don’t get it,’ said Beth. ‘Since when was there a beach volleyball tournament?’

  ‘It’s a prank.’ Livvy stared in wonder at the sight.

  ‘But why? What is the point of that?’

  ‘There’s no point to a prank. The point is the prank.’

  ‘Livs.’ She waved her hand in front of Livvy’s glazed-over eyes. ‘I’m terrified to ask you this but… do you know who did this… prank?’

  Livvy nodded very slowly. ‘This has got BJ written all over it.’

  ‘No it hasn’t, that would’ve been too obvious,’ shouted voices behind them. ‘Hello, little sis. Hello, Atkinson.’

  CHAPTER 23

  Milo spent the first week of the summer holidays supervising the clear-up of BJ’s beach volleyball court, which had been a big hit on Speech Day with parents and pupils alike. Mr Toms – who had raged about it in private – had taken his wife’s excellent advice and pretended to the parents that it had been planned as an official part of Speech Day. Milo hadn’t complained about the extra work, as he directed the diggers and trucks that Mr Rose had sent from his farm. Billy and Jake had been jubilant about their prank. It had taken weeks of planning and Milo suspected that Mr Rose had been involved as well. Nobody would ever forget it, which was exactly the effect they wa
nted, and they’d got away with it because of Mr Toms having to save face.

  Milo had been called up to the stage to receive his head boy badge, handed over by Edward, and had worn the new suit that he’d bought in Melchester with his Beatles money. Edward had shaken his hand proudly, Guy had whooped loudly, Beth and Livvy had hugged him, and Mrs Toms was in floods of tears.

  The morning after the Leavers’ Ball, BJ had stopped off at Milo’s cottage. They were grey-skinned underneath their suntans and Milo plied them with coffee, worried that they were still drunk and about to drive home. But he couldn’t stop them – they had another party to get to, and one every night until Edward’s party, the day after which they were going Interrailing around Europe for the summer. It had been an awesome night. Edward had been so smashed that they’d had to stop him from taking off all his clothes in the middle of the dance floor. He’d woken up in the morning on the roof of the school and didn’t know how he’d got there. Milo knew two people who might have been involved.

  *

  The day before Edward’s party, Milo hitch-hiked to Bodmin station, where Edward picked him up, as they’d agreed. Edward was on good form. He was more relaxed than Milo had seen him in ages, since last winter in fact. Bonnie was looking well, a little thinner and paler than he remembered her, but happy. They had dinner and Mrs Markham was kind and effusive about Milo becoming head boy. Everyone had an early night. Milo slept late and by the time he woke up, Mr and Mrs Markham and Bonnie had already left for Scotland.

  The day of the party was swelteringly hot. A heat haze rippled off the park and Edward and Milo spent the morning lazing in the shade in their shorts. Mid afternoon, when the caterers arrived, they tried to help but the manager told them to go away and relax, as they were getting in the way, so they went back to the shade and played chess and drank a cold beer. Edward was starting to tense up again. Milo could see he was distracted and beat him easily and quickly, again and again before Edward gave up altogether.

  ‘What are we supposed to be wearing tonight?’ asked Milo, half asleep on the dry, brown grass. He couldn’t even be bothered to open his eyes, he was so hot.

  ‘Nothing. We should wear nothing. Birthday suits.’

  Milo groaned. ‘Not that again. It’s becoming a habit with you. The Naked Head Boy. They’ll write a story about you in Viz.’

  *

  At the rented house in St Emit, Beth searched through all the clothes in her wardrobe and decided on a short skirt and a black top with spaghetti straps.

  ‘What are you wearing black for, in this heat?’ said Livvy, in a sundress. She was flushed and sweating, but looked gorgeous, thought Beth fondly. ‘Not that you don’t look like an angel, as usual,’ continued Livvy. ‘This is going to be such a fab party. I can’t wait.’ She lowered her voice. ‘D’you think I should sleep with Henry tonight?’

  Beth smiled lovingly at her friend and said, ‘Um, Livs, we need to talk…’

  *

  Edward paced through the house with the catering manager, checking that everything was in the right place, picking up things and putting them down again, finding fault when it all looked perfect. There were long tables and benches set out on the patio and the doors and windows to the house had been flung open in the hope that a non-existent breeze would cool it. From the kitchen drifted smells of delicious food. The living-room floor had been cleared for dancing and the DJ was setting up. Outside, bunting and strings of lights had been hung on every tree. There were kegs of beer and champagne bottles cooling in large tubs of ice.

  Milo had a cold shower, changed into shorts and a clean white T-shirt and wandered downstairs as Edward was coming up to find him. Milo noticed that Edward’s hands were shaking.

  ‘Help me choose what to wear, will you, Milo?’

  He followed Edward upstairs and thought he could hear him muttering to himself, ‘What will she like, what’s her favourite colour, what did she say that time…?’

  Up in his room, Edward rummaged around and pulled out all his clothes and dumped them on the bed.

  Milo smiled. ‘It looks to me like a pair of khaki shorts and a white shirt is the way to go.’ Those were the only colours that he had, over and over again. ‘Are you OK? Looking forward to tonight?’ They could hear the DJ practising in the background.

  ‘Yes, yes, I think Beth will like it.’ Edward looked up at Milo. ‘Have you spoken to her? Did she say anything at the end of term?’

  Milo didn’t know what to tell him.

  Edward went on, ‘You know her well, she’s your friend. What would you say are my chances with her? I can’t stop thinking about her. I really think she likes me, what do you think?’

  ‘I—’

  ‘Of course, I know you liked her too, but you’re with Melanie now, so that’s all OK with us now, isn’t it? I think, if Beth likes all this’ – he waved his hand in the direction of the music – ‘I think it could be tonight, do you think…?’

  ‘Don’t get your hopes up too much, OK? It’s not exactly been an easy time for her lately.’

  ‘Yes, yes, I know all that, but she’s such a good girl. She knows it’s right. She must do. It’s all coming together.’

  *

  At Waterloo station, two boys were standing on the platform, waiting for the train to Exonbury.

  ‘Sure you’re not coming?’ asked one.

  ‘No, it’s a waste of time. Look, are you sure this is a good idea? Why not blow it off? Bonnie probably won’t be there anyway.’

  ‘I’m going. At least Beth’ll be there.’

  ‘What do you think’s going to happen with her?’

  The first boy shrugged. ‘We’ll see. She’s still hot. Perhaps she’s been missing me.’

  ‘You’re deluding yourself.’

  ‘Well, it’s worth a try.’ The train pulled up at the platform and Zack climbed on. ‘You know how I like a challenge, Justin.’

  *

  The St Emit group was ready to leave for the party. Billy and Jake were wearing only shorts and flip-flops. Guy’s pockets were bulging with packets of condoms; he had to take them all out before he could even sit down. Finn and Susanna sat either side of him in BJ’s car. Henry, Livvy and Tab went in Beth’s car. Livvy had been knocked for six about Henry, but once she got over the shock, it all made sense and she was even pleased about it. It had frustrated her on several occasions that Henry hadn’t fancied her as much as she did him. Now she knew why.

  ‘So,’ she said, rubbing her hands together as they drove towards Bodmin, ‘Who else is coming to the party? I feel like lurve is in the air tonight.’

  They went through the names of all the boys they knew, and Henry wanted to give them all marks out of ten, so that kept them busy until they turned into the Markhams’ driveway. Edward got nine, because he was so handsome and was the host.

  ‘Wait, we forgot about Milo. What score does he get?’

  Beth, Henry, Livvy and Tab all shouted together, ‘Eleven!’

  *

  Edward and Milo heard the first few cars and taxis arriving, and Edward bounded downstairs to welcome everyone. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and said, ‘Thanks for being such a good mate, Milo. I really appreciate it.’

  Milo smiled awkwardly but didn’t reply.

  ‘Things are going to be great from now on. Nothing’s going to go wrong.’

  CHAPTER 24

  It was a legendary party. A party that was talked about for months and years afterwards. There was enough champagne to make every single person sick, but no one was. There were new couples made and old ones unmade, but no fights and no tears. The heat was stifling, but the DJ mixed in segments of songs about rain – I Wish It Would Rain; I Can’t Stand the Rain; It’s Raining Men – that signalled it was time for everyone to run outside and cool down under the lawn sprinkler.

  There was a feeling at that party that anything could happen.

  *

  About an hour after the St Emit group had arrived, a line of tax
is snaked up the driveway: the guests from the London train. Sleeping bags and rucksacks were dumped upstairs, champagne bottles were popped, outfits admired, all with the maximum of noise and spectacle. Milo watched quietly as people who’d seen each other only last week greeted each other as though it had been years. He slipped into the kitchen to see if he could find a beer and got chatting to a very pretty waitress. There was a tap on his shoulder.

  ‘West, sorry to interrupt.’ A friend of Milo’s from the rugby team was standing behind him, grinning at the waitress. ‘Thought I should give you a heads-up. It might be nothing, but on the train, in a different carriage, a bunch of us thought we saw Zack.’

  Milo’s thoughts snapped away from the girl. ‘Zack? On the same train?’

  ‘Yup. We thought it was strange, given what he did to Atkinson, but maybe…? Did Markham invite him?’

  ‘No, no way. Not possible. Sure it was him?’

  ‘Fairly. Maybe he was on his way somewhere else. We didn’t see him change at Exonbury.’

  Milo mused over this information, and whether he should tell Edward or Beth. He decided it had to be a coincidence – after all, everyone else on that train was already at the party. And Edward would surely have told him if he’d invited Zack.

  The pretty waitress left to hand out drinks, so Milo wandered through to the patio and watched the dancing for a while. Beth was on the dance floor with Edward, deep in conversation, oblivious to everyone else. He had his hand on her lower back, and his other hand was on her bare shoulder. The sun was sinking and the heat was going out of the day. Milo shivered and put down his beer. He didn’t feel like drinking it any more.

  He sat chatting with some of his rugby friends about their plans for the summer and beyond. When someone suggested playing Truth or Dare, Milo excused himself. He saw Jake, or it could have been Billy, disappearing into the darkness at the edge of the garden with Susanna and Finn. Someone had started a food fight with the pudding and the catering staff had retired to the kitchen. Milo caught his waitress’ eye and shrugged apologetically: she would have to clear it up later.