“I know,” I say, stopping myself from saying,I’m not going to steal it.
Afterwards, Jasper’s eyes flick between Trinity, Zaina and me before stalking off.
The school bell rings, and soon the lawn is covered with students. Our bake stall is the most popular, and for the first fifteen minutes of lunch, Trinity, Zaina, and I don’t take a break. Afterwards, customers are less frequent. I check the black tin, and whistle. That’s a lot of money.
Zaina leaves to talk to Kennedy and Imogen, who are now helping out at the face-painting stall.
“You can go too,” I tell Trinity, who’s watching them. “I can hold down the fort.”
She shakes her head. “That’s okay. You can have a break, though. Get something to eat.” She takes two dollars out of her blazer pocket and buys herself one of my brownies.
My lips twitch. “You’re having a brownie for lunch?”
She smiles, before biting into the brownie. “Mm! That’s great. You should have one.”
“Maybe later.”
“You’re an amazing chef,” she continues.
“All the credit goes to the brownie mix.”
Trinity finishes the brownie, licking a crumb off her finger. I turn away, busying myself with straightening the containers on the table.
Nope. I’m not going there. Even though Trinity is very pretty. But nope. I don’t like her that way, anyway. I don’t think I could like anyone that way again.
When I look back at her after a few seconds, she smiles at me. “What’s Sydney like?”
I shrug. “Have you ever visited?”
“No. Isn’t that crazy? I’ve gone to almost all the other cities except Sydney.”
“It’s like Melbourne, I guess,” I say, then realise I’m not sounding very enthusiastic. I don’t like thinking about Sydney, because it makes me think about all the shit that happened, but I can make conversation. “You should visit,” I say, mustering a smile.
“I need to convince my parents to go there for a holiday. I’ve always wanted to see the ballet at the Sydney Opera House…”
I tell her about Luna Park and the Botanical Gardens, and it’s good because I’m talking about the inner city, not my dodgy western suburb with grey buildings covered in garish neon graffiti. I’m not thinking of my old home, and I’m not thinking of Michael.
“How’s the stall going?” Jasper says, appearing out of nowhere behind us.
“Good,” Trinity replies. “We’ve sold so much.”
“Awesome. I think all the stalls have done well, so we should beat the amount of money fundraised last year…”
Jasper wedges himself between Trinity and me, pushing me out of the conversation. I announce that I’m going to grab lunch from the canteen, and Trinity nods while Jasper ignores me.
My stomach rumbles on the way to the canteen, since I haven’t eaten since this morning. I buy a sandwich and finish it in a few bites before returning to the stall.
As I approach, I see Jasper smile and gesture with his hands. So that’s what he looks like when he’s talking to someone he doesn’t hate. Trinity laughs, and Jasper looks pleased. Then his eyes flit up and down her body.
“Lunch will end soon, so we should sell the rest of these,” Trinity says when I arrive beside her, gesturing at the table.
“We’ll go around and offer them to students at a discounted price,” Jasper says. “Trinity, if you want to grab that container —”
“I’ll leave you and Kieran to sell the rest,” Trinity interrupts. “I’ve been behind the stall all lunch, so I’m going to check on the other stalls. Okay?”
Jasper opens his mouth before closing it and nodding. Trinity waves a goodbye before disappearing to check on the lolly-jar stall. I stare after her, wondering how I can escape too.
“Alright,” Jasper says, turning back to me. “We’ll put all the food into two containers.” His voice is kinder than usual — maybe that’s a lingering effect of talking to Trinity.
