Maybe she and Gideon should take the two lead roles, but Mr Acevedo would never do that to Eleanor. It wouldn’t be fair. She deserves to play Juliet. And I wish it wasn’t like this, but it feels like I’ve left her in the lurch. I know that Eleanor and I would have worked on stage. Acting with her was so much fun. But the price is too high. It’s Tori’s peace of mind, and I can’t risk that. Not for a bit of personal fulfilment on stage. Not if I imagine the way I’d feel seeing her up there with somebody else. I know she wants to try not to be jealous, and to be happy for me. But I can’t demand that of her. So, no Romeo for me. We can try again next year. And our real-life love story is more important than the theatrical version.
22
TORI
Ms Barnett left it to me to decide if I wanted to go to classes today, and under normal circumstances, I’d probably have stayed in my room. I slept amazingly well, but this morning I still feel like I was hit by a truck. The only thing that got me out of bed was the thought of seeing Charlie. I want to see him. I really want to see him. It’s bad enough that I have to wait until history in period four because I was too late for breakfast.
Almost the moment I enter the classroom, Charlie looks at me in a way that makes me weak at the knees, and he takes my hand under the desk. ‘Are you all right?’ he asks.
There’s something lovely about how important that is to him. I nod. ‘Are you?’
‘Couldn’t be better,’ he declares.
‘Hello, who are you?’ Omar comes cheerily towards us and Charlie lets go of my hand. ‘Hey, guys, I think there’s a new girl here.’
‘Are you feeling better?’ Grace asks, popping up behind Gideon. Olive, who is standing beside her, turns away and sits down without comment. Or so I think, because she does look over when I answer Grace’s question.
‘Yeah, much better,’ I reply.
‘Isn’t that lucky?’ Olive says, almost under her breath.
I try to keep smiling. Charlie is pressing his knee gently against mine. Ms Kelleher enters the room. As we stand up to greet her, Charlie puts his hand on my back.
When I turn to him, he keeps his eyes to the front, but he’s smiling.
It’s hard to focus and I don’t know whether that’s down to the slight headache and tiredness, or to Charlie’s hand, which is always on my leg or arm.
‘Want to go back upstairs?’ he asks, as we’re packing away our stuff after class. It would be naïve to think he wouldn’t notice how tired I am.
I shake my head. Before I can say anything, he’s swept up into a conversation with Gideon and Omar.
‘By the way, we have to do a group project for English,’ says Henry, appearing out of nowhere at my elbow. ‘Emma, Sinclair and I took you into our group. Want to sit down and get started?’
I nod. ‘Yes, sure.’
‘How about tomorrow afternoon?’
‘Yeah, I’ve only got classes till half past two,’ I say, turning to one side. ‘Charlie?’ I ask.
He immediately turns to me. Before I can ask him, I realize I’ve never called him by his first name in front of the others before. Or if I have, it was only to be annoying. That occurs to me as Henry’s eyes dart in surprise between us, then take on a knowing expression.
‘Tomorrow, just after half past two, library, English presentation?’ he asks. Charlie nods. Henry smiles.
‘Perfect. See you then, Tori.’ He bites his bottom lip. ‘See you then, Charlie.’
‘Shut it,’ Charlie says, but the red in his cheeks takes the sharpness from his words.
‘Sorry,’ I murmur, once Henry’s gone.
Charlie shakes his head. ‘Just takes some getting used to.’
‘Would you prefer me to call you Sinclair in front of the others?’
‘No,’ he says, without a second’s hesitation.
‘OK.’
We leave the classroom. It’s not until the others have gone a few steps ahead of us down the corridor that Charlie pulls me aside.
