Chapter 11

[The following chapter contains strong language. Reader caution is advised.]

Thursday 3rd September 1998

It’s crazy to think that summer’s already over. The past two months or so have really flown by…

Lucy turned 15 on Sunday. Went to hang out with friends and didn’t come back until midnight. The shouting that ensued woke me up. And she was promising to throw a huge house party on the weekend of her 16th… I think I’ll pass on that, dear sister. (Not that she would definitely invite me.)

School was looming, getting closer by the day. We took yet another stab at our suspect board but eventually gave up, agreeing to work on it as school started. At the least, we could scope out the classmates that had continued on into Sixth Form.

(Right, erm… for those of you who don’t know, education after you’ve done your GCSEs is optional. You can go straight into work, do an apprenticeship, or take on A Levels (A for Advanced) at college or at Sixth Form, which could be in school. Thankfully, the four of us had all decided to stay on for Sixth Form, but not everyone in our year group was. For all we know, the person who delivered the Lokon weapons to us had chosen to go elsewhere.)

The other concern, of course, was how we could possibly work around any monsters appearing while we were in school. It really felt like we were headed for cliché territory: battling monsters and homework! We figured that at least one of us was likely to have a free-study period at any one time. Hopefully. That would give us a window to handle stuff if necessary.

Of course, if a monster (or monsters) came into the school… well, uh, we did our best to shrug that idea away.

(Wait, sorry… you only usually take three subjects for A Level, so aside from any additional lessons, there are periods of free study in each day.)

At the least, Dakota would presumably be available at the drop of a hat, since she obviously wouldn’t be flying back out to Ireland to continue her education there. She had breezily concurred with that suggestion, and proposed that she might try to find herself a part-time job to keep herself busy.

Our last day of summer wasn’t too different from any other. We played video games, took a stroll around the park, fought a monster and ate pizza. I was uneasy leaving Dakota’s house come the evening, with Neil’s words ringing in my head. Dakota could get lonely. Without the rest of us here every day, she might struggle…

And so, the day arrived. I dragged myself out of bed at 7am with an overwhelming sense of despair – not that I loathe school, but there’s always that terrible feeling of the routine beginning again and not being able to lie in. Freedom curtailed. Or maybe that’s too melodramatic…

Lucy, at least, was taking her time getting up, so I managed to grab some toast and was in the bathroom by the time she was out of bed. Freshened-up and squeaky-clean, it was time to put on my smart new uniform. Shirt, trousers, tie, and a crimson blazer to complete the look. And with this being the first day, all I needed in my new satchel-y bag thing was a lined notebook and my exam-friendly clear pencil-case. Oh, and a packed lunch… I slung an apple and a packet of crisps in my lunchbox. That seemed balanced.

And, well, that was all I needed. While Lucy was busy doing everything but what she actually needed to do, I was out the door and off on my bike to make the short journey to school. I was fortunate enough to not live too far from school, and cycling made the whole ordeal a lot easier. The familiar streets and sights whizzed past me as I drew ever closer to the start of another year of school.

Okay, look, I know this is super mundane. Sadly, that’s kind of what school means. I promise I won’t tell you about every class I had or anything. I shall only tell you the interesting bits, just like I always have! Well, not all the interesting bits, obviously… but the best bits!

“’sup Alex?”

Kendal’s now-familiar voice called out from behind me, as the clattering of skateboard wheels drew close. A moment later, she was riding along at my side, easily keeping pace with me, wearing a crimson sweater over shirt and tie, and a black skirt accompanied with knee-length socks and smart shoes. Honestly, considering how often she’d ride to school, I was surprised at how odd it felt to see her on her skateboard. I’d spent the past two months seeing her walking (and running… mainly running) near-enough every day.

“Tired,” I told her, as I stifled a yawn which seemed to have been summoned by the word.

“Awh, I can get that,” she said with vigour. “Took me, like, two whole minutes to get up.”

“Do you eat batteries for breakfast…?”

“Nope, isn’t that dangerous?”

Before I could respond:

“I could always try it and see…”

“No, it is dangerous and I don’t think you should try it…” I cautioned her. I could see the headlines: ‘Teenage Girl Swallows Batteries on Friend’s Advice’.

“I wonder how they found out, though? Did someone try swallowing batteries and they died? That’s grim,” she reasoned.

“I dunno… maybe?”

I know that didn’t open much opportunity for a response, but Kendal fell silent for the next several seconds. When I glanced over to her, she appeared to be deep in thought.

“What’s up?” I asked her.

“I’m weighing up the likelihood of me dying if I tried to eat a battery,” she answered casually as though the subject was commonplace.

“No, Kendal. Please don’t.”

“Just a little one! Maybe one of those little round ones you put in digital watches!” my apparently-suicidal friend assured me. “I’d swallow it whole like a pelican or something!”

“And what happens if you die because of it?” I asked with a serious stare.

“Then I’d know it’s definitely fatal to swallow a battery!”

She seemed happy with that conclusion. And oddly sincere.

Soon enough, we reached the front gate to our school. Students were slowly flooding through and spreading out across the school grounds. In amongst the crowds, I spotted Bao, looking a little dishevelled and rather distracted. Day-dreaming, perhaps.

“Bao! Hey, Bao!” Kendal cried out next to me, at the top of her lungs. Snapping out of his trance, Bao turned in our direction, as did at least half of everyone else. I winced awkwardly while Bao struggled his way through the hustle and bustle to join us.

“Hi,” he finally addressed us upon reaching us. I immediately noticed that his blazer was buttoned up wrong.

“How’s the new blazer?” I asked, trying to spare him the potential awkwardness of plain pointing it out to him.

“Sitting a little weirdly but it’s cool, I guess,” he replied obliviously.

“D’you know why you’re not supposed to eat batteries?” Kendal quizzed him before I could make another attempt at alerting him of the mishap.

“Yeah, it could kill you, right?” Bao informed her.

“I know that,” she groaned, “I mean how does it kill you? Could you eat batteries and just get an energy boost?”

“You could eat a load of sugary foods and get that…” I noted, knowing it was probably pointless to even try. Hell, my gaze was already off elsewhere since I figured there was no room for reason in this conversation.

So, I saw her before Bao or Kendal.

Dakota was approaching us, sporting the same school uniform as Kendal and all the other Sixth Form girls milling about, grinning brightly.

“What?!” I blurted despite myself, and Dakota giggled.

“Surprise!”

She spun on one foot mid-stride, showing off her new uniform and her backpack, her skirt rising a little from the resulting lift like a half-opened parasol.

“What d’you think?”

“Hblwr… Amazing…” I spoke as I took in the sight. How in the hell did a school uniform look good on her?

“But… what?!”

“Did you mug someone for their uniform to sneak in? Was it Harriet?” Bao suggested.

“Err… nope,” the Irish girl assured us. “Neil helped me get in here! We thought it’d be best for me to stay in education and keep close to you guys. And I thought it’d be fun to keep it a surprise!”

She was grinning even brighter now, evidently pleased with herself.

“That’s great!” Kendal enthused, grabbing Dakota into a hug. I felt a prod to my ribs, and (while reeling) turned in the direction of a grinning Bao.

“I bet you’re happy!”

“Dude!” I snapped back quietly. I mean… yes, I was, of course. But he was hinting at…

“I bet you wanna be hugging her right now…” he added in a half-whisper.

“Oh my god Bao-”

(He wasn’t wrong though…)

“So,” Dakota spoke up with Kendal still hanging onto her, “where are we headed?”

With that, the four of us made our way through the gate, and took a quick stop at the bike shed for me to lock my bike up for the day; then onwards, heading to the Sixth Form Centre as Dakota absorbed her surroundings. It was the same old school I’d attended for five years for me, but for her, it was a whole new place to get to know.

The Sixth Form Centre looked a little newer than the rest of the school – I believe it was only built (or at least renovated) a year or two before I first came here – and Dakota let out a little impressed “ooh” as we walked up to it and through the double-doors. A small reception area greeted us inside, and we continued on to the left, following the trickle of students into the large hall. Rows of seats facing the raised stage were steadily getting filled up as a drone of chatter coloured the atmosphere.

“I spy Zahid!” Kendal declared.

“Great, let’s walk over to him like mature students-”

“ZAHIIIID!”

Why did I bother…?

The entire hall turned to the four of us in abrupt silence. Bao waved at everyone nonchalantly. To no surprise, Zahid sunk into his seat.

“Zahid! We’re here! Dakota’s with us too!” our afro-sporting friend shouted out across the hall, leading us in his direction. He was pinching the bridge of his nose and appeared to be muttering to himself… he’d stopped by the time we reached him.

“Kendal, next time you’re in trouble, I’m leaving you to fend for yourself,” he growled as she took the empty seat next to him.

“I was just getting your attention…” she pouted as the rest of us sat down in the next three chairs.

“You got my attention. You got everyone’s attention.”

“That’s a bonus, then!”

Choosing to leave the conversation there, Zahid leant forward and looked over to the rest of us.

“Hey Dakota. You know you need to be registered as a student to be here, right?”

“Neil told me something about that when he was sorting it all out for me,” she quipped back at him. “Happy to be here, fellow student.”

We chatted idly for the next five minutes or so, while a steady stream of familiar year-mates filled out the hall seating. It wasn’t long until the Head of Sixth Form, Mrs Bath, headed up on the stage and brought us to attention (still took her a little longer than Kendal, though). She carried an approachable air despite her prim and proper clothing and horn-rimmed glasses. Something about her prevailed past all of that. That said, from what little I’d seen and heard of her before now, she was plenty capable of switching to the full disciplinarian temperament when needed. Essentially, one of those people who you know not to get on the wrong side of.

She talked us through the basics of how Sixth Form would work and what was expected of us. Nothing out of the ordinary or surprising. This level of ordinary was oddly comforting now.

With that done, the assembly came to a close and we were directed back to reception to check the noticeboard and see what our new form groups were.

(Okay, final side-step explanation, I promise… each year group is broken up into multiple form groups, each assigned to a classroom where we’ll meet up, be registered and be informed of any important school news and information at the start of the school day. With a portion of our year group gone off to pastures new, our form groups had been reorganised to some extent.)

The five of us weren’t the first out of the hall, so we waited around in-line and chatted more as we steadily shuffled forward.

“So, it really is true.”

Oh, I knew that voice.

I turned slowly and was greeted by the sight of Melody Hill, her own hazel eyes piercing through me with uncomfortable intensity.

“The four of you are best friends now, huh?” she remarked coolly, as her gaze moved from me to the others. They finally settled on Dakota.

“I’m Dakota. Dakota Radley,” she introduced herself, reaching out a hand.

“Of course. I heard about you from your friends. Hopefully we’ll have the chance to get to know each other.”

Melody smiled, and took Dakota’s hand, shaking it firmly.

“Melody Hill. It’s a pleasure.”

“Ah! Dakota, huh?” spoke a second voice: a moment later, Harmony popped up behind her twin sister. Maybe it was just an illusion from how Harmony wore her hair longer than Melody, but it was amazing how identical siblings could somehow look so different. Where Melody had a businesswoman’s smile only at the moment she went to shake Dakota’s hand, Harmony was beaming with curiosity immediately. It seemed to shape their faces. They were so easily distinguishable.

“I’m Harmony! I guess you heard a little about us. Sorry you couldn’t come to the party! Nice to meet you though!” she blurted, practically taking Dakota’s hand from Melody.

“You too! Both of you!” Dakota smiled back. It seemed a little forced, to me… like she was putting on a brave face.

“Hiii Harmony,” Kendal purred, reminding me inadvertently that the two of them had apparently shared a drunken kiss only a month ago. Harmony giggled giddily in response.

“I’ll leave you all to it,” Melody remarked at that point, strolling off past us. “Time waits for no woman.”

And she began forcing her way through the crowd like a shark chasing its prey through a shoal.

“She’s the girl you had a crush on?” Dakota clarified with me in whisper.

“Uh! I-I mean, I can’t really explain it, I guess she’s just got some kind of appeal of some kind so-”

Really, though. I just… only saw one side of her back then, I guess. The charm and strength.

“Yeah, you were so not subtle, Alex,” Harmony laughed at me.

“Gee, thanks…” I groaned.

… so. Do I have to tell you who was in my form group or is this cosmic joke predictable?

“I think someone’s trying to prove a point,” Melody suggested to me as I sat down in our new mutual form room. I opted for the table next to the one she was at. God knows what compelled me to sit there.

“What point?” I asked, already not wanting to engage with her.

“Making up for lost time.”

“Err… I dunno about time, but you’ve lost me…”

I thought she’d appreciate that wordplay, at least. No reaction.

“Plainly, Alex. Next time I open an invitation to you, you take it.”

I looked over at her. For some reason, I expected another intense stare, but instead she was fiddling with a Swiss army knife. Ballsy to sneak that in…

“Sure…”

“Not ‘sure’. A little courtesy would’ve been nice.”

She began scratching and picking at the table with the corkscrew.

“Frankly, I don’t give a shit if you don’t want to dance. It’s not like I’m not going to force you to.”

“Why does it matter?” I grumbled. She was getting under my skin now. I’d honestly forgotten about the house party over the past few weeks and she was bringing that frustration back up.

“Because it was disrespectful,” she insisted, the rubber edge of the table giving way to the sharpened metal tip of her corkscrew. She was still keeping her eyes on her work rather than me… like this conversation came second to damaging the table. Like, despite what she was saying, I meant that little to her.

“I’m not asking. I’m telling it as it is. You take me up on the offers I give you. You should be thankful to get any at all.”

“Right, right,” I agreed airily, hoping to curtail this exchange sharpish.

“Still. I guess you and Dakota had fun. Did you fuck her?”

“What?! Wh-What ar- I mean no, I didn’t, but- and- what- ?!”

“Jesus…” she sighed. “What a waste of a night.”

Not like you would understand, Melody…

She probed (and scolded) no further, and left me to my thoughts. Dakota had wound up being placed in a form group separate from any of us. She had to go into a room with a dozen strangers and… well, I’m sure she’d make new friends. After all, she was who she was: charming, sweet-natured, positive, helpful. And… well. She’d be spending the majority of her time without the rest of us around.

The past couple of months had been the five of us hanging out together, and Dakota was… my new friend. My teammate. My crush. The girl I had fallen in love with. But now she was going to be here in my stomping grounds doing her own thing, building up her own relationships independent of us Painters. And logically, that was fine. She was her own person. But it did unsettle me, despite myself. What if she preferred her new friends to us? School was already an obstacle to the five of us hanging out, but what if she opted to spend time with her new friends instead? What if she met and bonded with someone, and wound up dating him?

As our new form tutor, Mr Davies, walked into the room, my heart was busy sinking into my churning guts.

…

“So, anyone learn anything useful?” Zahid asked us as we began making our way back towards Dakota’s.

“I mean, we were taught some stuff about Van Gogh in Art but I dunno if that’s useful…” Bao reasoned.

“No, anything about who sent us the weapons…”

“Oh. Then no.”

“I asked Miss Pryce if we would be using any weapons in P.E.,” Kendal informed us, “to see how she’d react. She just said no.”

“No signs of… weird interest or anything on my front,” I spoke up, walking with my bike so as to keep pace with the others. “Had some interesting conversations but nobody’s given any signs. I was thinking of asking Russell if he could keep an eye out too. Maybe whoever it was wouldn’t suspect him if he investigated, y’know?”

“What about you, Dakota?” Zahid turned to her.

“Sorry, I was kinda overwhelmed just… getting used to everything. Getting my head around the school layout and remembering all the faces and names… Oh!”

She turned to Bao.

“I told Harriet what you said. She’s not happy.”

“Ah! What? Why would you do such a thing?” he asked, panicked.

“I thought it was funny!” she replied cheerfully. “I mean, she didn’t take it bad, but she was all ‘hmm, I’m gonna have to quiz him on why he thought of me’.”

“It wasn’t meant in a bad way…!”

“Basically, no progress?”

Zahid spoke over Dakota’s giggling in an attempt to steer us back on-track.

“I guess not…” I shrugged.

“Right. This is going to be difficult, isn’t it…?” he groaned, kicking a timely pebble.

“Oh, speaking of which…” Dakota began. “I’m laying down a new rule.”

The rest of us all ground to a halt the moment she said that. I can’t speak for the others, but I got a mild sense of dread from it.

“Homework comes first. Anything you need to do, it gets done. At mine or at your own places. No slacking, no chatting, no gaming. We get it over with and then we unwind. Okay?”

… there were times when I absolutely adored Dakota. This was not one of them.