Now there’s a teacher walking my way. ‘New girl. Office, now.’
‘What, I didn’t…’ It’s no good. I then see Harry staring at me from across the dinner hall. His frown tells me that he’s not happy with me either. He thinks I was defending him again.
His cheeks burn red. ‘How could you, Morgan?’ he says as I’m frog-marched past him by the teacher.
I go to turn around to tell Harry what really happened, but it’s too late. The teacher glances my way. ‘I don’t know what your last school was like, but we have a zero-violence policy here.’
Sure you do, I want to say, but I bite my tongue. One day here and I’ve blown it. They’re going to expel me, I know they are and my parents are going to absolutely freak out.
Seventeen
Gemma
Wow, Quinn’s house is everything I wish Clover House to be and more. I hold Cora in my arms and she coos a little as she plays with my hair.
‘Come through to my studio.’
Quinn leads the way along her stretched hallway. The floor-to-ceiling glass all along the left-hand side is a sight to behold, and so much thought has gone into the exterior. With every step, the outside strip is picture perfect. My mouth is ajar so I close it. A small channel has been dug out alongside the building and it’s lush with Koi carp.
‘Wow, your place is gorgeous.’ The wall to my right is full of framed pictures of children’s characters, some of them I recognise, then there are doors which must lead to other rooms. I realise I don’t even know what Quinn does for a living. She used to like art. She was always drawing cartoons and making up stories. I find myself catching my breath. Quinn liked to make things up which caused rifts between me and the other kids. She’d tell me things about them that weren’t true to make me not want to befriend them. It’s like she wanted me all to herself. I shake my negative thoughts away. People grow up. It’s wrong to dwell on the past.
Cora is enthralled by the wall art and she points excitedly as we pass each picture.
Quinn’s parents used to own this house but it’s changed a lot since back then.
‘What is it you do in your studio?’
She lets out a small laugh as she unlocks the door at the end of the hallway. ‘You know me, I was only ever good at art.’
‘You’re an artist?’ I’m impressed but not at all surprised. She must be an amazing artist to afford all this. I almost envy her talent. I was good with numbers but not much else, although Ethan opened my eyes to the world of interior design, so I got better at being creative.
‘I started out as an illustrator,’ she continues, ‘then I started writing. In fact, your aunt mentored me, when she wasn’t out there foraging in the woods for fruit.’
I smile at the memory. Aunt Dorette used to have a little basket that she’d fill with berries and pears. She used to call the outdoors nature’s pantry.
‘I have so much to thank her for.’ Quinn comes closer and smiles at Cora. ‘I really miss Harry being this small. He was adorable with his puffy cheeks. It goes in a blink. She is such a sweetheart.’
‘She is, we love her to bits.’ A twinge of sadness washes through me. I wish I’d tried to get Aunt Dorette to come and stay with us because she was good to me. My mother and her used to argue so they didn’t speak often, but after Mum died almost ten years ago, I should have made an effort.
I think back to my last summer spent at Clover Lane and I wonder if Quinn is thinking about our summers more now I’m back. I’m struggling to get the last one out of my mind and I know she must feel the same. She must think about Jasmine. I feel a little sick so I swallow a couple of times. The marmalade on toast repeats on me.
As we enter her studio, I take in the huge white space, almost double height with skylights. I may have said wow under my breath but Quinn isn’t looking at me, so maybe I didn’t.
‘Shiny,’ Cora shouts at the skylights.
‘Yes, they are shiny, darling.’
The floor is pristine oak. It’s not laminated, it’s the real deal. Everything oozes high-end quality. Her desk spans along the whole of the one wall. There are storyboards hanging up above it, then I click Mika’s Magical Bicycle. ‘Morgan grew up watching that programme. Did you do all this?’ I’m in awe of all her pictures on the opposite wall. My daughter used to be enthralled by Mika’s world, and she’s even enjoyed watching the cartoons again with Cora. The animated series centred around a poor girl whose father bought her an old bike from a garage sale, only for her to find out that when she cycled, it would take her anywhere in the universe. She’d land on planets and get sucked into black holes. I smile at the cat illustration. ‘And that’s Curly, her cat.’ I can see my aunt’s influence in her work. Aunt Dorette loved anything magical.
Quinn nods. ‘Yep, Curly, her trusty companion who travelled everywhere in the bike basket.’
‘Curly,’ Cora says with a giggle.
‘How did I not know that you created all this?’ I glance at a drawing of a girl in a cape with a baby dragon by her side. ‘Is that something you’re working on?’
Quinn nods. ‘That’s Project Klara. Klara has a dragon called Mindy and Mindy has had her fire stolen. Klara helps her to find the fire in her belly so that she can defeat her enemies and get her fire back. She’ll hopefully be coming to our TVs early next year on a streaming service. I can’t say who with yet, and I think they’re talking about merch too.’ She holds her crossed fingers up.
‘Congratulations. That’s amazing.’
