Tori gives me a quick sideways glance but says nothing as I put my purchase on the counter.
“Be right with you,” a voice says, and I tense up.
Crap, it’s Kit.I didn’t know he was working in his parents’ shop today.
He emerges from between the shelves and comes up to the till.“How are you?”he asks, glancing at my shopping.“That all?”
“Yeah,” I say cautiously, not even sure why I’m so nervous.It’s just tablet—there’s nothing wrong with that.But I’ve noticed lately that Kit and Colin seem to be making friends with each other.They spend their breaks together and usually sit together at mealtimes too.
Kit scans the little packet with a somewhat knowing expression.
“Cut that out,” I snarl at him, holding out a fiver.
He grins.“What?”
“Don’t know.Just cut it out.”
“No worries, Olive,” he says soothingly.“Need a bag?”
“No, thanks,” I mutter.
“Great.”His lips twitch as he digs my change out of the till.“Here you are, your change and your receipt.”I take it from Kit and wait for him to scan Tori’s and Emma’s shopping through too.He’s still looking at me in that amused way as they take their bags and head for the exit.
“See you,” I mumble.
“Byeee,” calls Kit.
“So want to talk about Colin now?”Tori asks, once we’ve left the shop.
I slip the tablet into my jacket pocket and don’t look at Tori.“No.Why?”
“Well, I thought, now you know that he...”
“That he has diabetes?”I laugh softly.“That sadly doesn’t alter the fact that he’s an arsehole.”
“But you were talking at the party the other night?”
“We were arguing,” I lie.It’s not like my friends didn’t seethrough me long ago, but I don’t feel any need to let them know I had something approaching a proper conversation with Fantino for the first time.
“You’d make such great enemies to lovers,” Tori remarks, giggling as I glare at her.
Emma sighs.“You read too many of those books, Tori.”
“And you don’t read enough.Besides, you’re not one to talk.You and Henry were classic insta-love.”
“Explain, please.”Emma raises her eyebrows.
“Love at first sight.”
“It was not love at first sight.”
“You had a crush on him before you even got here last year,” Tori says.“I saw it when you were standing in the courtyard looking so lost and trying to spot him.”
“I wasn’t looking for him,” Emma contradicts, but the flush in her cheeks gives her away.
I can’t help smiling, and I don’t know whether to be pleased or shocked at myself when I grasp that.Emma joined the school at about the same time that I saw Mum kiss the other man.Nobody could miss the serious chemistry between Emma and Henry, but he was with Grace then.It made me so angry, because suddenly they were everywhere—people hurting the people who loved them.Although I know now that I can’t accuse Henry of cheating.
God, we’re so grown up now, but we don’t know who we are or what we want from life.Maybe this is just a painful phase when you have to learn that nothing in this world lasts forever.Especially not if you try to cling to it with all your strength.But there’s no changing how worried I am about Grace, whohasn’t been herself since she and Henry split up.And even Gideon doesn’t seem able to change that, however much time they’ve been spending together since last year’s play rehearsals.
