I tried to smile. ‘Levina’s having a party?’
‘It’s her birthday next week,’ Suzanne explained. ‘She’s having a massive party on the Saturday. Her house is huge and her parents are loaded, so it should be fun. And they won’t even be there!’
‘They must be crazy,’ I muttered into my hot chocolate, imagining the look on my parents’ faces if I suggested they vacate the premises so I could have a party in their precious house.
‘You should come,’ Rosie said, but I could tell by the look on her and Suzanne’s faces that they weren’t expecting me to say yes.
‘OK,’ I said before I could second-guess myself. I was gratified by their stunned expressions. ‘Sounds great. I’ll be there.’
According to Suzanne, Dylan took the sort-of-break-up pretty well. She told me, via text, that his exact words had been ‘yeah. whatever.’ but that he was still texting her in the evenings as he’d used to, asking her to come over.
‘And I haven’t!’ she said the following weekend, proud.
‘Well done, you,’ Rosie said, deadpan.
And then Tuesday happened.
Lunchtime was almost over and I was on my way to maths when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. Thinking more about the fact that I should take the vibration off before I got to the classroom than anything else, I tapped the screen.
13.58: Fuck. HIGH DRAMA. Suzanne’s been suspended.
13.59: What??? What happened?
I’d stopped right in the middle of the hall, staring anxiously at my phone.
‘You OK?’ Mishka asked, pausing between me and the departing backs of Allison and Kesh.
‘Yeah, I’ll catch you up,’ I said.
She looked worried. ‘Are you sure? Henderson hates it if we’re late.’
‘It’s fine, I’ll be there in a minute,’ I said, already turning back towards the nearest toilets. When I got there, I locked myself in the first stall and sat on the toilet lid, waiting for Rosie’s response.
14.07: OK, this might take a few texts so sorry. At lunchtime Dylan and his friends were being dicks, trying to wind Sz up.
14.07: It was just funny at first. Dylan said she was easy and Sz was like, lucky for your ugly mug, you know how she is, everythings a joke. She seemed like she didn’t care.
14.08: But then Dylan said give it easy, take it hard, and she told him to fuck off. And he called her a bitch, said she wasn’t even good, just cheap.
14.08: Then he said damaged goods come cheaper and Sz LOST IT. She threw a chair across the room, we had to hold her back
14.09: She would’ve gone for him. Mr Daniels was next door in his office, & he came in yelling at us. Sz got taken to the head, now she’s suspended.
I read the messages as they came through, one after the other, my heart pounding. My fingers angled over the keypad as I tried to figure out how to respond. I decided to text Suzanne first.
14.10: Here if you need me xxx
And then, to Rosie:
14.10: How come she got suspended? What about D?
14.12: They’re really strict about destructive behaviour here. Plus she’s on thin ice cos of all the detentions. D just got a detention.
14.13: That’s unbelievable.
14.14: I know. Wait, how are you texting from class?
14.15: I’m in the toilets.
14.16: Are you skipping class???
I looked at the time. If I went straight to maths now, I’d be fifteen minutes late and in trouble anyway.
14.17: Yes. Can’t believe any of this. Did you see her?
14.18: Wow, is that a 1st? Didnt see her. Lev did. Says she was crying, Sarah picked her up at the end of lunch.
Before I could reply to Rosie, Suzanne’s name appeared on my screen.
14.19: Are you at school?
14.20: Yes x
14.21: What good is that then.
14.21: Sorry. Just leave me alone OK.
Stung, I read over the messages again, trying to understand her hostility. I considered sending her a message reminding her that it wasn’t exactly my fault and I was only trying to help, but there didn’t seem to be much point, so I texted Rosie instead.
14.23: Did you text her?
14.25: Yep, but she hasn’t replied. Just told her to msg me whenever. All you can do.
Not replying was at least better than ‘leave me alone’, I thought. I was about to ask for more details, when I heard the main door open and then a tentative voice.
‘Caddy?’ It was Mishka.
I hesitated. ‘Yeah?’ I leaned over and released the catch on the door, letting it swing open to reveal Mishka’s earnest, searching face.
‘There you are,’ she said, looking relieved. ‘Are you OK?’
‘Yeah, there’s a big drama going on with Suzanne,’ I said, waving my phone as evidence.
‘I told Mr Henderson you felt sick,’ Mishka said, ‘so you should probably go to the nurse now and get a note. That way you don’t have to go back to class. I’ll cover for you.’
‘Thanks, Mish,’ I said, meaning it. I pushed my phone back into my pocket and stood up. ‘Tell him it’s cramps.’ It was cheap, but claiming cramps never failed with the male teachers.