I sit like this for at least an hour, with my eyes closed, focusing on my breathing and listening to the seagulls. Then there’s a knock on my door.
“Pen, can I come in?” Tom says.
I open my eyes and sit up straight. “Sure.”
As soon as he walks into the room, I know he knows. I’ve never seen him look so worried.
“I’ve just been online,” he says, sitting on the end of my bed. “Is it true? Did you and Noah Flynn . . . ?”
I look down at my lap.
“Is he the Noah Mum and Dad have been going on about? The one you were staying with?”
I nod, then I look up at Tom. “But I didn’t know who he was, honestly. I’d never heard of him before. Had you?”
Tom nods. “Yeah. I’d heard on a music site that he’d been signed to the same label as Leah Brown and that they were an item. Didn’t he tell you?”
I shake my head. “No! I’d never get involved with someone who had a girlfriend.”
Tom frowns. “So he lied to you?”
I nod. “How did you find out?”
“It’s all over Facebook. And Twitter. And Tumblr. And—”
“OK, OK.”
“Have you seen what people are saying?”
I nod again and hot tears start burning my eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Tom. I’m so scared.”
Tom takes hold of my hand. “It’s all right, sis. We’re gonna sort this. How did that website find out?”
“I don’t know. Someone must have told them.”
“But who?”
I shrug. There’s no way I can tell Tom I think it was Elliot—not until I’m absolutely sure.
“OK, well that doesn’t matter for now. What matters is getting your side of the story out there.”
Instantly, I start to panic. “Oh no. I can’t. I can’t go online again. No way.”
Tom looks me straight in the eye. “Do you remember when I started secondary school and that kid Jonathan Price started picking on me and starting rumors about me?”
“The one who used to take your lunch?”
“Yeah. And do you remember how I’d pretend to be sick and beg Mum and Dad not to make me go in?”
“Yes.”
“And then one day you said to me”—Tom puts on a squeaky high-pitched voice—“But if you don’t ever go back to school, no one will realize that he’s lying.”
“Did I say that?”
Tom nods.
“But I didn’t sound like a Smurf.”
Tom smiles. “Oh, yes you did. But you were right. And it was the one thing, out of everything that everyone said to me back then, that I actually listened to. It was the one thing that made me go back to school.”
I stare at him. “Really?”
“Yes. Because you were right. If I hadn’t gone back and kept hiding away in my bedroom, everyone would have believed him.” He grins. “And they’d never have got to know what a truly incredible, gifted, and wonderful person I am.”
I smile. “Not to mention modest.”
“Yeah, that too. But it’s the same for you now. If you hide away and let them say all that crap about you, then they’ll never get the chance to see what an amazing person you are.”
My eyes fill with tears. “Tom!”
“It’s true. You are. And you know that I’ll stick up for you always, but I really think you should say something. Tell your side of the story.” Tom pulls his fierce face, the one he always used to pull when he had play-fights with Dad. “Then I want you to give me Noah Flynn’s address and I’m going to go around there to New York or wherever and I’m going to kill him.”
I laugh.
“I mean it, Pen—well, the bit about telling your side of the story anyway.”
“OK, I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t just think about it—do it. You’ll feel way better. I know I did when I went back to school and told Jonathan Price where he could shove it.” Tom gives me a hug. “Love you, sis.”
“Love you too. Please don’t tell Mum and Dad about what’s happened, though. You know what they’re like about the Internet. I don’t want them worrying.”
Tom nods. “OK. I’ll put off going back to uni for a couple of days, just in case you need me.”
“Really? But won’t you get into trouble?”
“Nah, I never get into trouble.” Tom grins at me and I feel overwhelmed with gratitude. I might have lost Noah and Elliot but I’ll always have my family. The best family in the world.
Chapter Forty
As soon as Tom’s gone, I put my laptop back in my wardrobe and go to run myself a warm bath, rummaging through my basket of bath bombs until I find one called Chill Out Bliss. As the warmth of the fragrant soapy water soaks into my bones, I feel a weird kind of calm. I’m still hurting and sad but I no longer feel helpless. I dunk my head right under the water and feel my hair floating out around me.
“You remind me of a mermaid.” Noah’s words from the underwater corridor echo around my mind, causing me to sit right up. As I squeeze the water from my hair a chorus of hows fills my mind. How could he seem so nice and so genuine? How could he lie so easily? How could he do that to me? But I force myself to block them out. It doesn’t really matter how. The fact is he did.
I get out of the bath and slather myself with my favorite moisturizer. Then I wrap myself in my coziest dressing gown and go back to my bedroom. I turn on my fairy lights—and immediately I think of the tent Noah made for me on New Year’s Eve. I turn the lights off and put on my bedside lamp. Next door, I hear Elliot’s bedroom door slam.