All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(84)

‘You consider going to prom with the gimpy boy something for you?’ I said cruelly. ‘Perhaps you’ve set your standards a tad low, Scar.’

‘That remark was below you,’ she said. She picked up her schoolbag and left the locker room.

I used my last quarter to splash my face. I seriously felt like I might kill someone.

I went into the cafeteria. Scarlet must have already been in the lunch line. I didn’t see Win, but across the chessboard floor of the cafeteria, I did see Gable Arsley.

At this point, the whole world went into slow motion.

I was running towards Gable.

I picked up a tray from one of the other tables.

‘Hey! That’ my food!’ called Chai Pinter, but her voice sounded like she was under water.

Now I was running towards him carrying the tray, red sauce splashing in tiny spikes.

Suddenly, I was standing an inch in front of him. I was about to pour the lasagne over his head when I noticed his face. The ruined texture of it. The strange pinkish hue where the skin graft was. And further down, the missing fingertips which, had they been there, might have pointed me towards his missing foot.

I felt Win’s hand on my arm.

And then Scarlet was there, too. ‘Anya, leave him alone! Please, you have no idea how much pain he’s in.’

‘Shh,’ Gable said to Scarlet. ‘It’s fine.’

I set the tray on the table in front of Gable.

I leaned down. It was the most intimate I’d been with Gable since that afternoon at the rehab centre. My cheek was lightly brushing his cheek when I whispered in his ear, ‘You may have Scarlet fooled, but you and me have known each other too long, Gable. If anything ever happens to her, don’t expect to live. You know who my family is and what they’re capable of.’

‘I thought you were going to pour that lasagne over my head again,’ Gable cracked. ‘Just like old times.’

I didn’t reply. I wouldn’t sit with Gable and Scarlet. Or speak to them either. I picked up Chai Pinter’s tray and returned it to her.

‘Sorry,’ I said.

‘Ooh, is something happening between Gable and Scarlet?’ Chai asked. ‘Are you totally mad?’

I walked away without answering. I sat down at a table that was as far away from Gable as possible. Win sat down across from me. He took an orange out of his bag and began to peel it.

‘Did you know about this?’ I asked him.

He shrugged. ‘Not for sure. I kind of thought something might be happening, but . . . I honestly thought they might just be friends.’

‘That’s what Scarlet claimed, but still. It’s the principle of the thing. She wants to go to prom with him. Can you imagine the absurdity of that?’

Win broke off a section of orange for me. ‘Prom, by definition, is sort of absurd, Annie. The tuxedos. The ball gowns. The punch bowl. I don’t see how Scarlet going with Gable makes it any more absurd than normal.’

‘Whose side are you on here?’

‘Yours,’ Win replied. ‘But also theirs,’ he added with a sigh. ‘One of the best things about your friend Scarlet is how compassionate she is. No one at our entire school likes Gable Arsley, Annie. Every single one of his old friends abandoned him. If we hadn’t eaten lunch with him, he would have eaten alone. You know this. So, I can’t help but think that if Scarlet can find it in her heart to be kind to Gable Arsley, who are we to stop her?’

‘But she betrayed me, Win. How can I ever forgive that?’

Win shook his head. ‘I don’t know what to tell you, Annie. She happens to be the most loyal friend you have.’

For a guy whose father was a tough political operative, Win sure was naive.

‘So I guess we won’t be double-dating to prom?’ Win joked.

‘Technically I think it’s too soon for that sort of joke,’ I told him. ‘And furthermore, I don’t think I agreed to go with you yet.’ I was annoyed that he’d ruined my plan to ask him.

‘But you will,’ he said. ‘I’m the only friend you have left.’

I threw an orange slice at him.

Halfway through Mr Weir’s class, I was summoned to the principal’s office. I assumed it was something to do with my lunchtime behaviour. Either someone (Chai Pinter perhaps? Or Scarlet – who knew what she was capable of?) had reported me for running across the cafeteria like a madwoman or, alternatively, Gable himself had tattled about the threats I’d whispered in his ear. In any case, it was annoying. I hadn’t done anything to anyone. Considering the circumstances, I thought I’d shown admirable restraint. ‘They’re waiting for you,’ the school secretary said as I entered the foyer.

Who’re they? I thought.

Two police officers were seated in front of the principal’s desk. I recognized one of them from last fall when I’d been arrested. This seemed a bit excessive for what had happened at lunch. They couldn’t arrest me for running across a dining hall carrying a tray that wasn’t mine. Could they?

‘Hello, Anya,’ the principal said. ‘Have a seat.’

I didn’t.

‘Detective Frappe,’ I said to the one I recognized. ‘You cut your hair.’

‘I had it relaxed,’ Frappe replied. ‘Thanks for noticing. So, let’s get to it, shall we? You aren’t in any trouble, Anya, but we do need to talk to you about something that’s happened.’