Girl Online(85)

I love the old pier in Brighton. With its blackened, crumbling frame it looks like something from a spooky old film. And it looks even more atmospheric today with the wind whipping around it and the waves crashing at its legs. Behind me I hear a sharp whistle, like someone whistling for their dog.

I crouch down and zoom in on the pier thinking how cool it would be if I spotted the pale outline of a ghost hovering. I hear the whistle again, longer and more insistent this time. Maybe someone’s lost their dog or maybe it’s gone swimming in the sea. I turn around but I can’t see anyone. Then I spot a flash of color on top of the shingle where I was sitting. A flash of auburn. I instinctively train my camera on the object and zoom in.

“What the . . . ?”

I blink and look back through the lens.

Princess Autumn is sitting on top of the shingle. But it can’t be. I left her with Bella in New York. I start striding back up the beach, the pebbles crunching beneath my feet. There must be some explanation. I must have made a mistake. However, the closer I get, the more certain I become that it is her. I can see her blue velvet dress and the creamy-white color of her face and her hair billowing in the wind.

When I get within a few feet, I stop walking and look around. This has to be some kind of trick. But who’s playing it? And how? And why? Did Mum and Dad bring the doll home with them? Have they put it there? But why would they do that? It doesn’t make any sense. I turn and scan the length of the beach right down to the sea but there’s no one in sight at all. Then I hear a crunch on the stones behind me and I spin around.

“Oh my God!”

Noah is standing next to the shingle. He must have been crouching behind it. He’s wearing his leather jacket, black jeans, and scuffed boots, with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head.

“Bella told me she was missing you,” he says, nodding at Princess Autumn.

I’m actually unable to say a word. I’m so sure that I must be hallucinating, that this cannot be real.

Noah takes a step toward me and I instinctively take a step back.

“I need to speak to you,” he says with real urgency in his voice.

“But—I don’t understand.” A fresh gust of wind hits me straight in the face and snaps me back into reality. “Why did you—why did you lie to me?”

Noah looks down at the stones. “I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you the truth but I didn’t want to ruin everything.”

What?! Now my shock is giving way to anger. “Yes, I guess telling me you already had a girlfriend would have that kind of effect.”

Noah digs his hands into his jeans pockets. “I don’t have a girlfriend. I didn’t.”

“Oh my God.” I’m feeling really angry now. “Have you seriously come all this way just to carry on lying to me?”

“No—I—I’m not lying.”

“Yes, you are! I’ve seen it all online. All the tweets and the articles and the—”

He interrupts me. “It’s all crap.”

“What? Even Leah Brown’s tweets about you?”

“Yes! Especially those.”

I glare at him. How can he lie so brazenly to me? And how can he expect me to believe him? “What do you mean ‘especially those’?”

Noah finally manages to look at me. “Her last album bombed. The record label was panicking. So, when they signed me, the marketing people said they wanted to orchestrate some kind of phony romance between us. They said it would help both our album sales. I didn’t want to go along with it but they said all it needed was a few staged photos and tweets. Although I couldn’t bring myself to do that bit,” he mutters. “It felt so sketchy. I hated it. I even thought about turning the deal down but I couldn’t; I’d signed a contract. I was locked in. So I figured, what the hell, it wasn’t as if I was actually going out with anyone. And then you came along.”

I stare at him, trying to compute everything he’s just said. “So you and Leah aren’t . . .”

“No! We never were.”

“So, she hasn’t been hurt by what’s happened?”

Noah laughs. “No. She was a bit pissed at first cos she said I made her look like an idiot but then her record sales went through the roof because everyone felt so sorry for her so she got over it pretty quick.”

“But I can’t believe a record company would make you do something like that.”

Noah shrugs. “I know. But apparently it happens all the time.”

I feel my anger beginning to fade. “So why didn’t you just tell me?”

Noah sighs. “I wanted to. And Sadie Lee kept on begging me to but I was scared.”

“Of what?”

“Losing you.” He looks out to sea. “Who wants to go out with a guy with a pretend girlfriend? And it’s so hard to find someone . . . who doesn’t just want their moment in the spotlight too.”

I can’t help laughing now, and as I do, hope starts fizzing inside of me. Noah is here. In Brighton. On the beach just a few feet in front of me. He hasn’t got a girlfriend. He isn’t going out with Leah Brown. He never was. But . . .

“Why did you get so angry at me? Why did you change your phone number?”

He starts shifting from foot to foot. “I thought you’d sold a story on me. I thought it had all been to get publicity for your blog.”