Remember where your loyalties lie…
“Look,” Lucas said. “Hear him out. It’s not what you think.”
Lucas had never had someone put enough faith in him to know what betrayal looked like, but that’s what he was seeing in Kellan. The widening of his eyes and the slight, shocked gape that came a second before his face transformed into nothing but snarl and savagery.
“You knew?”
“No – I didn’t—”
As Kellan lunged towards him, Ryan sprang up and whatever violence Kellan thought he could threaten against one of them faded at the prospect of taking on both.
“He didn’t know anything till today,” Ryan said. “And whatever you think, Kell, you don’t either.”
“I saw what was in that letter. Or did you think I couldn’t read?”
“It happened after. I swear!” There was a plea in the way Ryan was saying it, the desperation of someone who’d never had anyone believe them. “I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t.”
Kellan’s eyes narrowed like he might actually be listening, but then he curled his lip and shook his head.
“Do you think I’m that gullible? You slept with my girlfriend—”
“I slept with Freya. She’s got a name,” Ryan shot back. “And she wasn’t your girlfriend when it happened. I swear.”
Ryan trembled so hard with the need for his cousin to believe him that Lucas could feel it – judging by the cruel twist of his lips, Kellan could see it too. The best way to hurt Ryan wasn’t with his fists, but with his faith.
“You’re a fucking liar. I should have expected it. You always want whatever it is I’ve got. Why should my girlfriend be any different?”
Lucas planted an arm in front of Ryan to stop him taking any further steps towards Kellan.
“Freya’s not a prize to fight over,” he murmured. “Kellan, mate—”
“I’m not your mate,” Kellan spat back. “Mates stick together.”
“Mates can tell each other when they’re out of order,” Lucas said, calm coming along with the words. “But if you can’t hear me say that, then I guess you’re right. We aren’t mates at all.”
For a long moment, Lucas held Kellan’s eye, hoping that there might still be a way back from this – that he could accept Ryan’s explanation and let Lucas get away with sticking up for him. He didn’t want to lose the first friend he’d made at Campion for the sake of someone else’s pride.
“Well then. Fuck you.” The words hit hard, spat through narrowed lips and accompanied with a look so cold that Lucas felt it spread to his own skin. A numbing of something that used to bring warmth.
When Kellan opened the door Lucas saw his rucksack on the front step – the one he’d left round Kellan’s – and felt a fleeting twang of guilt that Kellan had cared enough to drop it off. Kellan kicked it on his way out, then turned to look back at where Lucas and Ryan remained in the hall.
“I’m done with both of you.”
But as he sloped off down the front path, Lucas had a feeling it was he and Ryan who were finally done with Kellan Spencer.
WIN
The first any of them knew about Kellan’s visit was when Sophie interrupted them by turning the radio down as Sunny belted out the chorus to “Starships”, pointing out of the window and saying, “Er. Why is Kellan walking out of Lucas’s front door?”
After that there’d been a flurry of concern as they hurried up the path, only to meet Ryan and Lucas at the door. Despite the fact that Ryan was the one bleeding (again), Sunny launched herself at Lucas and held him so tight that rather than prise her off him, Win suggested Lucas walk Sunny home while she dropped off the others.
“What the hell was all that about?” Sophie asked from the back, having relinquished the front seat.
“Really bad timing,” Ryan said, looking utterly shattered as he collapsed back against the headrest.
“Are you going to be OK?” Win asked. “Or should we take shifts giving you round-the-clock protection?”
When Ryan let out a mirthless “Huh!” Win felt a tiny glow of pride at finally landing a joke on that one.
“Right now I’m just glad I don’t have to avoid him in the exam hall like Lucas.”
“Don’t say the cursed word!” Sophie yelled from the back and Ryan grinned once more.
When they dropped him off, it almost felt like peace. The drive to Sophie’s house was too short, and when Win pulled up at the bottom of her drive once more, neither seemed inclined to say goodbye.
Sophie had faded fast on the drive back from the sea. Several times, Win had glanced over to see her resting her head against the window, eyes closed. Shadowed crescents touched the tops of her cheeks and for all she was smiling, when she blinked, her lids only managed it halfway towards open.
“My mum’s going to kill me,” Sophie said, not making any move at all towards getting out. “At the very least I’m in for a lot of Sophie Eleanor Charbonneau-ing.”
“See you only have that level – same as the Winnie Su level. But my parents have the option of going extra and pulling out my Chinese name. If they go full Su Qiuyue I know I’m never leaving the house till uni.”
“And I bet you’ve never been Su Qiuyue-d once in your life.” When Sophie said her name, she copied the sound perfectly.
“Once or twice – not nearly as often as Sunny gets Xiaohui-d.” She saw Sophie’s interested eyebrow twitch. “Although if you really want to wind her up, call her Amy. She hates it.”
Sophie was chuckling, “Amy? You’re kidding. She’s so not an Amy.”
Win held Sophie’s gaze and thought about the way this had been happening with greater frequency since she’d shown her Freya’s letter. Nerves rippled through her. This stuff was so much easier online, when she could analyse all the flirty messages in the safety of her own room and dissect a screengrab on a private chat.
“If I survive the Sophie Eleanor Charbonneau-ing, do you think we could hang out again?” Sophie said.
“I think we could.”
“Not just with the others…”
“I would definitely like not to have to hang out with my sister every time I see you.”
“Or Ryan.”
“Lucas is OK, but … then we’re back to the Sunny problem.”
“So. Just us.”
“Just us.”
Just. Us.
“I should go.”
“Same.”
There was one moment more of sharing a smile, a moment that unspooled every last bit of resolve that Win had wound round herself. That made her think that if – if – Sophie could like her as something more than a friend, then maybe Win wouldn’t be waiting until university before she kissed someone else…
She watched as Sophie climbed out of the car and slumped up the drive, casting one last look over her shoulder before she put her key to the door and disappeared from view.
SOPHIE
Mum was in the hall before Sophie was through the door. Storm-dark expression, landline in one hand, mobile in the other. The two of them stood in silence, staring at each other as if prepared to duel. Then Mum let out a sob and pulled Sophie into a hug as desperate as the day she was diagnosed.