Hunt and Power. Stephen Hayes

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      “Why aren’t you there?” I asked suspiciously.

      “’Cause I wasn’t quick enough to leave,” she said irritably. “Mum caught me on my way out and reminded me that I’m grounded. Those Thomases are gonna cop it when they get home, although Felicity and Jessica will get the better end since it’s for school.”

      “How long did they say we’re grounded for, anyway?” asked Peter.

      “I don’t think they did,” I said, thinking back to that night when our mums had gone crazy with rage. “They’d lost their minds when they were punishing us; probably weren’t thinking about what they were saying.”

      “Perhaps we should ask them,” said Nicole nervously.

      “You can,” I said, grinning slightly. “I’m not going to.”

      Nicole grinned back at me. “Gutless?”

      “No, just—”

      “I’ll ask Dad,” she said, getting to her feet. “He’ll be a little more reasonable. At least he can appreciate our position, since he was involved in the last war.”

      “Good idea,” said Peter, getting up and heading for the computer.

      Nicole left us at that point, probably to return to her homework.

      “So, whataya reckon,” he said, and I didn’t need to ask what he meant.

      “Dodgy,” I said. “I think I’ll take whatever Lucien’s advice is. Mind you, I can understand why Stella would want us around her.”

      “Me too,” said Peter. “But if that’s the case, why don’t we just do something for her ourselves? We can have our own little party for her.”

      “Do you think the others would go to that much trouble for Stella?” I asked.

      “Nah, probably not,” he said, shaking his head. “Blimey, this is complicated. I don’t even want to talk to James about this.”

      “What do you think the odds are of James turning up to Stella’s party at all?” I asked, amused to think about it.

      “Not as low as you’d expect,” said Peter, surprising me. “I reckon if the rest of us have the nerve to go, he will too, just to fit in. And possibly for support.”

      That was true. Whatever James’s faults, I was sure he would do whatever he could to back us up if there was any real danger.

      A silence followed. We seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement that continuing to discuss the business of Stella and her birthday party wasn’t going to get us anywhere. After all, we didn’t have control over what was going to happen. Grudgingly, we opened our schoolbags and pulled out some homework.

      “Let’s just do a journal entry,” suggested Peter. “James can catch us up with that in his own time.”

      The objective of our journal entries was to give Hall stuff that was completely pointless to read, as payback for everything he put us through. Today I wrote three pages about the life and adventures of a fly. It was rather creative, but I wasn’t entirely sure it was the sort of writing style Hall was after, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if he made me do it again. But given that he wasn’t asking for the journals for another three-and-a-half months, I pushed that to the back of my mind.

      James turned up just after 5 o’clock, managing to slip past the parents and grandparents without being questioned.

      “Where the hell have you been?” asked Peter, looking around at him.

      “Blimey, what’s got you so good?” I asked, noticing that his face was full of pride and triumph.

      “Well,” he said, crossing to Peter’s bed and plonking himself down, “I suppose I’ve gone and done it now.”

      “Done what now?” asked Peter suspiciously.

      James shrugged, and I could tell he was trying to decide how best to tell us. Eventually he said, “Took me long enough to accept it, but I’m starting to see it’s the right thing to do.”

      “What’s that?” asked Peter irritably.

      But I thought I knew what was going on. “You’ve been with Erica?” I asked, watching with amusement as Peter’s mouth fell open.

      “You didn’t,” he said disbelievingly. “What about Kylie?”

      The whole reason that James had pushed Erica away before was because he had his heart set on Kylie, much the same as I had mine set on Natalie. Well, that mightn’t have been the whole reason; quite likely he’d been put off by Erica’s scary persistence. Until now, it seemed.

      “Blimey,” said James, looking me over. “You read me like a book. Shame you don’t read real books as effectively.”

      “So are you on with her?” I asked, grinning in spite of myself.

      “Well, sort-of,” he said shiftily.

      “But what about Kylie?” asked Peter again.

      “Well you know that’s why I was so unsure about it,” he said. “But the more time I’ve spent in the company of the two girls, the more I can see how much better I’ll be with Erica.”

      “Why’s that?” asked Peter incredulously.

      “Because at least Erica likes me for who I am,” James answered. “She did before she really knew me. I’m still not sure what attracted her, but now it doesn’t seem to matter too much. Besides, I like that I was able to make this decision myself, rather than having to be shot down. Kylie knows me well enough now and she’s never shown any interest. Not even a covert look. What are the chances that’ll change?”

      “Did she tell you that?” I asked.

      “She didn’t have to; I wasn’t born yesterday. One thing Erica told me, though, was that when she first got to Chopville, Kylie and Serena were the two first friends she made, and since Serena was pretty much in the same boat, the three of them bonded by sharing the secret of who each of them had her eye on. So if Kylie’s obviously not into me, it must be someone else. I can’t say I’m surprised,” he added lightly.

      I was surprised, though; not that Kylie was into someone else, but that James truly didn’t seem to mind. There was no hint of concealed emotion in his face at all. Perhaps he hadn’t been full of wind about this situation being on his terms after all. I had to smile; this, it seemed, was proof that sometimes things really could work out without people getting hurt. It meant that perhaps, possibly, I could make my own decision between Natalie and Lena with the same all-around positive result.

      Peter, on the other hand, looked rather unhappy by this. Taking a deep breath, he said, “So Serena likes someone else too?”

      James considered the question before saying, “Yes, but she didn’t say who, so I suppose it could be you, Pete. Even if it’s not, it probably wouldn’t be impossible СКАЧАТЬ