To his relief, she smiled. “It seems that way.”
“So, shall we go get a drink? Or a taco?”
Sam glanced at the door Tabby had just dragged Matt out of. “You know, I think Tabby’s up to something. That usually means you should run while you still can.”
Oh God, she was letting him down gently. Scott cleared his throat. “If you want to head home without me, I d-d-don’t mind.”
The stutter came out of nowhere, turning his voice to rush. He turned away, rubbing at his mouth and feeling betrayed.
“I don’t stutter anymore,” he told Sam. “Ineverstutter anymore.”
Then something wonderful happened. Samantha DaSilva took his hand. “I know. Come on, let’s go not get tacos.”
Chapter 10
April 15, 2007
Sam spotted herunderwear almost a block away. Nine pairs of panties and three bras were strung up in the bush in front of her house like fairy lights. She and Nicole ran to collect them, their school skirts flapping around their knees like flags.
Nicole tugged Sam’s leopard print bikini bottoms off a particularly prickly twig. “Who would do this?”
“I’ll give you three guesses.”
“Scott?”
Sam yanked her favourite hot pink hipsters from the bush, tearing the already worn elastic. “No, Peter Pan. Of course, it was Scott. Who else has stolen my underwear and enjoys tormenting me? It was only a matter of time until he combined the two.”
Nicole frowned. “But he would have been at school today, wouldn’t he?”
“I don’t know, all I know is he did it.” Sam jumped to collect her bright red push-up bra. “God, he’s a knob.”
“You’re not going to do anything back, are you? His mum’s still sick.”
Sam glanced up at the Sanderson’s house, large, gated and even more sinister than when they were kids. Inside those walls was Elaine Sanderson who’d they’d learned six months ago had terminal ovarian cancer. Sam hadn’t seen her in months, no one had. When she was first diagnosed, her dad had gone over every day with tea and cakes but now Elaine didn’t open the door for anyone.
“I know his mum’s sick,” she told Nicole. “That’s terrible and I wish she wasn’t, but why should Galahad be allowed to rummage through my underwear, willy-nilly?”
Nicole covered her hand with her mouth.
“You can’t seriously be laughing at ‘willy-nilly.’ You’re the fucking school captain!”
“It was the way you said it. Look, I know this is shit and gross but please don’t confront Scott about this? We’ll just…get a lock and put it on the inside of your window or something, okay?”
Sam looked up at the Sanderson house. What would it be like to watch your mother fade away? She hadn’t heard from hers in forever, but Scott had it worse. She wanted to talk to him about it, make sure he was okay, but the last time they’d seen each other he’d been with a group of his private school mates. One of them had whistled at her and they’d all laughed as she’d flipped them the bird. He didn’t want her help.
“Fine,” she told Nicole. “But you should put a lock on your window, too.”
“Why would I do that? Scott Sanderson doesn’t hateme.”
Present Day
“Are you disappointed?”Scott asked as they walked through the car park. “Sorry, that’s a stupid question, of course you would be. Ignore that question.”
Sam looked across at him. He looked tense and seemed legitimately nervous about offending her. Jesus, did she come across as that hostile? She didn’t want to, but she’d just snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and her hopes of tattooing at Fadeout were circling the can. Silver Daughter was still firmly in the red zone and she had no idea what to do next.
You could ask Scott Sanderson if he’d like to spank you?a small voice piped up.You get the release, he can punish you for that time you did those things that got him arrested. Everyone wins.
Everyone except common sense, Sam reminded herself.