“Those were gifts, remember?” I fake a confused expression. “Why d’you need them?” I ask in my politest voice. “Got a second boyfriend stashed away somewhere?”
“What d’you—?”
The only nice thing about Em is how easy it is to read her emotions. Like right now, for instance, when her face turns such a mottled shade of red, it clearly conveys her anger, shame, and doubt.
It’s the last one that makes it so delicious.
After weeks of people fucking with me, it’s a rare treat to fuck with them right back.
“She doesn’t need a second boyfriend,” a girl whose name I either can’t remember or was never given says. “Em’s dating the best-looking boy in school.”
“Dating’s such a strong word,” I tell the unknown teen. “I mean, you could say that a boy coming to your house, buying you groceries, then cooking you and your flatmates an enjoyable meal before staying over was a date, but…” I put a finger to my cheek. “Sorry. I forgot where I was going with this.”
A flurry of expressive faces and gestures flows through the group while I lean back from the counter and grab the stool. This looks like it could take a while.
“Zach’s at your house?” the slower of the friends asked.
“Well, not now.” I gesture around the dairy. “I’m at work.”
“He was with Caylon today on a job,” Em spits at me. “Nowhere near you.”
“You should thank me,” I tell her, unperturbed. “With an appetite like his, I would’ve thought you’d be grateful I wore him out.”
She slams the stack of lollipops off the counter, and they scatter in a rainbow display across the floor. “Oops. I’m so clumsy.”
Mrs Kuzmanic scurries through the side door. “What’s going on here? You making a mess?”
“It was an accident,” I say, moving around the counter to pick them up. As I kneel in front of Em, I push my tongue into the side of my mouth. “Don’t worry. I’ve had a lot of practice in this position.”
Her friends give horrified laughs as Em’s eyes widen and her hands clench into fists. For one tense second, I think she’s about to punch me, but then she takes a step back.
“Have you paid for those chips?” Mrs Kuzmanic asks, nodding at Dee.
“These are on the house,” the girl says with a haughty tilt of her head. “Ask Lily. She gave the offer to everyone in school. When she’s on the counter, we can take what we want for free.”
Icy dread seizes me, and Em’s expression turns to delight as she understands how deep her friend’s playful gouge went.
“Yeah,” she says as the vein on Mrs Kuzmanic’s temple throbs. “I’ll just take a pack of cigarettes, too, like yesterday.”
“You give these girls things for free?” My employer turns her sad wet eyes towards me. “When you know how close we are to shutting the doors once and for all?”
Even with Em and her friends leaving, I don’t know how to explain the situation to my boss. Rational people don’t act as she did, and the more I fumble for the right words, the less sense I make.
And just like that, I’m out of a job.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
LILAC
The next morning,I can’t face going to school. There’s no point. My sister is gone, and I’ve lost the flat. Why drag myself through another day of failure in public education when I can sit at home and lick my wounds?
It’s hard to believe how quickly I fucked up my last chance. A world record, maybe? No. Probably not. I can’t even get that silver lining.
Over breakfast, Rosa makes a few attempts at small talk, but I drift back to my room as soon as I can do it without being rude. When she leaves for uni an hour later, I finally have the house to myself and find peace listening to the creaks as it slowly expands in the sun.
My thoughts turn back to Tessa. She stood behind me when I went to battle for my right to visit Sierra. She’d been happy at our minor victory, sure that the longer my behaviour stayed on track, the more I’d be granted.
Instead, it had stalled and now it was probably gone altogether.
