A Quiet Kind of Thunder(64)

‘Have you talked to Karam?’

‘Oh God no.’ Her nose wrinkles. ‘He’s, like, super genius. It’s bad enough that I’m doing sports science instead of a “real subject”. I don’t want him to know what a total dunce I am.’

‘You’re not a dunce, Tem.’

‘OK, fine. I don’t want him to know I have dunce-like tendencies.’

I can tell she’s starting to steer back into jokey-Tem territory, so I try to anchor her. ‘Can I help?’

She sighs. ‘I don’t know. Can you? You’d probably find it really easy. But it’s still me that’d have to know it, at the end of the day.’

‘OK, you’re going to have to give me something solid here,’ I say, reaching over and nudging her shoulder. ‘A plan. It’s not like you to mope.’

‘I know.’ A half-smile flickers on her face. ‘I just feel a bit lost.’ Her voice has quietened. ‘I thought going to college instead of sixth form would be best for me. Sports science sounded so perfect. I could run and actually study something cool. But the work is hard and I don’t have many friends and maybe I should just’ve stayed at Windham. With you.’

‘With me?’ I repeat, surprised into laughter. ‘What difference would I make?’

Tem looks at me, forehead still creased, eyes strained. ‘I’m not really sure who I am now, when I’m not one half of Steftember.’

‘You’re Tem,’ I say promptly. ‘Do you want to give me a list of all the reasons you’re the best?’

Tem rests her head on my shoulder. ‘Yes, please.’

‘You have the best hair,’ I begin, reaching up and twirling one of her curls.

‘Racist,’ she murmurs. I can hear the smile in her voice.

‘You always tell me when I’m being racist,’ I say, ‘which is very helpful.’ I feel the breath of her laugh against my neck and I smile. ‘You run like the wind. You always bring me sweet treats. You brought me back that Minnie Mouse figurine from Disneyland even though it took your bag over the weight limit and you had to pay a fine at the airport.’

‘That’s true,’ Tem says. ‘I’m basically selfless.’

‘Totally selfless,’ I agree. ‘And we’re not even getting into the whole being-my-translator thing. Shall we talk about how I survived my childhood because of you?’

Tem curls her arm round mine and gives me a little squeeze. She doesn’t answer because she doesn’t need to. We sit together like that for a while, sharing the silence, until she feels ready to go home.

It’s unusual for Tem to be down, and the image of her furrowed forehead lingers over the next several days, worrying me. I tell Rhys, of course, and though he makes a sympathetic face and signs something vague and reassuring, I know that the intricacies and depth of girl friendship are too beyond him for him to be much help. Tem can convey her unhappiness to me in two sentences and an expression. Explaining the context and history that cause it to Rhys would take years. Fourteen years, in fact.

But he still manages to surprise me.

At school on Wednesday, Rhys comes in to Maths with a huge smile on his face. I have an idea! he says as his greeting, kissing me on the cheek.

Go on, I say, smiling in expectation. What is it?

I was thinking about cheering Tem up, and how I don’t really know her that well, and you don’t know Karam. And how you and I wanted to have a little adventure. So how about we go to Whipsnade this weekend? A double date?

My hand falls into an automatic, thrilled YES! I love Whipsnade. Whipsnade, the zoo on the edge of Dunstable, is my favourite place on earth. As kids, Tem and I used to go there all the time. I had my birthday there three years in a row.

Great. He looks pleased, settling against his chair as Mr Al-Hafi comes hurrying into the classroom, looking like he just rolled out of bed. Let me know what Tem says.

Tem is thrilled by the idea of our first ever double date and agrees for both her and Karam, even with the short notice.

‘He’s said the same thing about wanting to get to know you and Rhys better,’ she says. ‘It’ll be great! Brilliant! It’ll be like a mini road trip! With lions! What kind of snacks does Rhys like? I’ll stock up.’

Her enthusiasm doesn’t wane for the rest of the week, which is why I’m expecting to see Tem and Karam waiting for us both at the end of the driveway, armed with tortilla chips and Revels, when Rhys and I pull up outside her house on Saturday morning. But it’s just Tem waving to us through the window. I get out to greet her.

‘Good morning,’ she sings out.

‘Hi,’ I say. ‘Where’s Karam?’ I don’t quite mean to be so blunt, but it comes out anyway.

‘Oh, he couldn’t make it,’ she says casually, and if I were anyone else I’d have missed the way her eyes narrow slightly and then flick away from me. But I’m her best friend, so I notice.

‘How come?’ I ask, matching her casual tone.

‘He has to work today,’ she says. ‘He was trying to swap his shifts around, which is why I couldn’t tell you before today. I only found out late last night. Is that OK?’ She’s anxious, her fingers circling over each other. ‘If you just want it to be you two, I’ll understand. I don’t want to be the third wheel or anything.’