Night School

Allie nodded.

‘Well, that wasn’t completely true.’ Rachel looked down at her hands. ‘I had a huge crush on Lucas when I first started here two years ago. He kind of took me under his wing. There aren’t many Asians here and I was a bit self-conscious. But he made me feel completely welcome. I was just a kid and, well, you know how it goes. A fun, good-looking guy almost adopts you … I fell completely in love with him.’

Allie looked up at her in surprise, and Rachel shrugged. ‘A few weeks later, a pretty blonde girl arrives late in the term, Lucas takes one look at her and …’ She slapped her hands together and let them fall apart. ‘Lucas became my best guy friend for ever.’

Allie looked at her, puzzled. ‘But … they broke up, right?’

‘Oh yeah,’ Rachel rolled her eyes. ‘They broke up. After she had a complete meltdown.’ She sighed. ‘But I guess some part of me could never forgive him for choosing her over me. And some other part of me could never forgive her for letting him make that choice. Or maybe that was all the same part of me.’

‘That sucks,’ Allie said.

Rachel smiled sadly. ‘Yes, it does.’

For weeks now, Rachel had been Allie’s rock. She seemed so wise and mature beyond her years – Allie had longed to tell her what she and Carter had learned. If anybody would know what to do, she reasoned, Rachel would. She had held off because she had promised Carter she’d tell nobody. But keeping all that information to herself was just about impossible. And there was nobody else to tell. And maybe she and Carter could use Rachel’s help.

She looked at Rachel for a long moment as she fought an inner battle.

‘What?’ Rachel asked, puzzled.

Allie wiped the last tears from her eyes. ‘There’s something I have to tell you.’

‘You did what?’

Carter’s incredulous voice echoed in the summerhouse. It was after supper and the sun was dipping low in the sky, gilding the tops of the trees around them. They were sitting on a stone bench in a pool of warm sun.

Allie raised her chin stubbornly. ‘I trust her, Carter. And it can’t be just us dealing with this.’

‘No, but we should both be involved in deciding who to tell, Allie. It’s not going to be a secret for long if we go around telling people we think we can trust without talking about it first,’ he said. ‘I mean, I didn’t just go off and tell Lucas.’

Allie thought about Lucas crashing through the woods.

‘Don’t do that,’ she said quickly.

Carter shot her an exasperated look. ‘Seriously, Allie, how much do you really know about her? Have you, for example, ever wondered if she had anything to do with spreading the gossip about you finding Ruth’s body?’

Allie thought her heart might have stopped.

‘What? Are you saying she did?’ she asked, fighting to stay calm.

‘I’m saying I don’t know and neither do you,’ he said. ‘I’m saying she loves to gossip. I’m saying it’s a bloody big coincidence that you told her about it and suddenly everybody knows.’

‘She wouldn’t …’ Allie faltered. Who could she trust any more, anyway? Why should Rachel be any different from Jo or Sylvain? Both of whom she’d trusted. Both of whom betrayed her trust.

‘You don’t know that, Allie.’ Carter’s voice was more gentle now. ‘I don’t know enough about her to know whether or not we can trust her. She’s always kept to herself.’

‘Like you,’ Allie pointed out.

‘Like me,’ he conceded reluctantly. ‘But her father is very big in Night School. He runs security for huge corporations, advises governments … He’s an insider, Allie.’

‘I know that. Rachel told me her dad was some bigwig on the board,’ she said. ‘But Rachel isn’t in Night School, is she?’

‘No, and that is unusual.’

‘So it’s possible she’s not an insider like her dad,’ she said.

‘Yes. But you just took a pretty big chance on “possible”,’ he said.

She knew he had a point. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.’

Mollified, he sat thinking for a moment.

‘What did she say when you told her?’ he asked.

‘She didn’t know what to think. But she was quite certain she’d heard her dad talking about some bloke named Nathaniel and complaining that he was causing trouble.’ She looked over at him cautiously. ‘She wondered if she should ask him about it.’

‘What?’ Carter nearly shouted the word and Allie ducked.

‘She’s not going to do it,’ she hastily reassured him. ‘She just wanted us to talk about the possibility. She thinks we can trust him.’

‘Oh bloody hell.’ Carter buried his head in his hands.

‘What?’ Allie asked innocently.

‘This is how you keep a secret Allie? Seriously?’

‘No … I mean, yes.’ She shot him a look. ‘I’ve only told one person, Carter. I think you’re overreacting.’

‘Al, we could get in a lot of trouble.’