Dark Secrets (12 page)

“
Homework. Now.” I
heard Vicki say.

“
But, Mom,” Sam
whined.

“
Now.”

I smiled to myself and
shut my door, kicking my shoes off as I flopped backward on my bed;
one hit my dressing table and the other landed by my door, then, I
dug my toes into the squishy carpet and let out a long
sigh.

It was over. The
torturous first day was over.

“
See?” I called
across to the girl in the mirror. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“
Mo-om!” Sam yelled
from the hallway. “Ara-Rose is talking to herself
again.”

“
Shut up, Sam!” I sat
up and ditched a pillow at the back of my door.

“
Time to call the men
in white coats,” he yelled.

“
That’s enough,
Samuel,” Vicki said, loud enough that I heard her voice from the
kitchen.

Sam’s boisterous
cackle faded down the hall, but he’d left a great cloud of
infuriation behind. I huffed out loud. Talking to myself did not
make me crazy. Waiting for myself to talk back did, but…let’s not
go there.

I looked down at my
bag, then over at my dresser, sitting against the angled wall of my
wardrobe. The girl in the yellow dress wasn’t there anymore; the
only thing looking back was the oak tree outside. I smiled then,
thinking about my day; thinking about how David said he liked me,
and I read into so wrong I couldn’t even speak after. I think he
took it pretty well, though. He didn’t make me feel like a total
loser. Well, until Society and Environment class, when he corrected
the teacher on the Emancipation Proclamation. It wasn’t even on
topic, but it took one simple comment from a kid up the back, and
our discussion on North America turned into a full-blown slavery
debate. David, rather heatedly, put everyone in their place. I
stayed quiet through the whole thing, but his mere presence made me
want to pick up a book and read it. I think he had that effect on
everyone—even the teacher.

“
Ara?” Vicki knocked
on my door.

“
Yeah?” I jumped up
and sat at my desk, quickly grabbing my books from my
bag.

“
Dad called—asked if
you need some help with homework.”

“
Um. No, thanks,” I
called.

“
Okay. Well, just
give him a call if you do,” she said through the door. “He’s
supervising detention today.”

“
Got it,” I said,
kind of just wanting her to go away. I waited another few seconds,
and when she added nothing else, spun around to face the window.
The day outside was so bright and the afternoon breeze had settled
among the leaves of my oak tree, rocking the rope swing in a
soothing wave, as if to say, “Come to us, Ara-Rose.” And I wanted
to. I really did, which made homework feel like a rock of pressure
on my neck. I looked at the pink phone on my desk and slowly pulled
my nail from between my teeth, grabbing it quickly to dial Dad’s
mobile.

“
Ara?”

“
Hi, Dad.”

“
Hey, how was school
today, honey?”

“
Um, great. So, I was
just…I'm a bit stressed, Dad—with homework. Can I…”

“
Why don't you leave
it for today?” he said, and I grinned. “Maybe just do a bit of
reading, and I’ll talk to your teachers for you. Sound
good?”

I breathed a sigh of
relief, maybe a little forced. “Thanks, Dad. That’d really
help.”

“
Okay. That’s good
then. Hey, since you’re finally using that phone I got you, why
don't you call your pal in Australia? I know he’s—“

“
Dad. No.”

“
Ara, he’s been
calling every day.”

“
Yeah, but he stopped
now, right? You said he hadn't called for a week.”

He went quiet. “That’s
not necessarily a good thing, honey.”

I sighed heavily,
resting my head on my hand. It wouldn’t be easy to talk to my best
friend again. I wasn't even sure I had the right to after evading
his calls so often.

“
Ara-Rose, he cares
about you. He’s just worried—just wanted to make sure you’re doing
okay.”

“
I know,
Dad.”

“
Why not give him a
call then? Maybe after, you can sit back and read a book for a
while?”

“
I just…what if he
doesn’t want to speak to me?”

Dad laughed. “Just
call him.”

I jammed my fingers
between my teeth again. “Okay. Maybe I’ll think about
it.”

“
That’s great. Now,
go rest up and don't stress over homework, okay? I promised you
we’d ease you back into this slowly, so that’s what we’ll
do.”

“
Thank you,
Dad.”

“
Anytime, honey.
Bye.”

“
Bye.” I hung up and,
before placing the handset down again, flipped it over and stared
at the numbers. I’d dialled Mike’s number so many times I could do
it with my toes if I wanted, but it took me a minute, as I stared
at the phone, to remember the first digit. And in that moment, a
pocket of fear crept in, asking me what I was going to talk to him
about. I mean, what did I say? “Hi, Mike. I haven’t called to see
if you’re coping in the last two months, but I just wanted to let
you know that I'm not. That I feel tired and sad all the time. That
I went to school today and fell in love with a boy at first sight,
and I'm pretty sure I might be going insane, because that’s just
not normal, but I thought I’d just tell you that because you have
no reason to care how I feel anymore after I’ve ignored you the way
I have.”

With a sigh, I looked
at the phone again.

“
Go on,” it
teased.

I pinned the number
in, my hand shaking, and it only rang twice before the husky voice
on the other end made my heart jump. “Hello?”

“
Hey,
Mike.”

“
Ara?”

“
Yeah. It’s
me.”

“
Hey, kid. How you
doin’?” His voice pitched high on the end.

“
Um—” I scratched the
wood grain on my desk. “I’m good.”

“
How’d your first day
go?”

“
How did you know I
was starting school today?”

“
I spoke to your dad
on Saturday.”

“
Oh.”

“
So…?” he said
leadingly. “How was it?”

“
Um, well, it was
good, actually.”

“
Really?” He exhaled.
“That’s great. I’ve been worried ‘bout ya all night. I haven't even
slept.”

“
Oh crud, the time
difference thing.” I slapped my forehead. “I'm sorry, Mike. Should
I go?”

“
No. No, of course
not.” I heard a ruffling sound on his end and imagined him sitting
up in bed, his black cotton sheets looking blue in the moonlight
under him. “So, did you make any friends yet?”

“
I did.” I grinned,
then Mike got the run down on all the happenings of the day; Emily,
Alana, how cool Ryan was—a tiny bit about David—and a massively
overdramatised recap on music class with Mr Grant.

“
No joke? What an
arse.” Mike laughed. “I wish I’d been there. I would’ve played
Chopsticks and deliberately done a bad job of it.”

“
I know you would. I
was thinking about that while I was playing.” I
chuckled.

“
You were thinking
about me?”

I nodded, even though
he couldn’t see it. “I really missed you today.”

Mike went quiet.
“I…I'm actually really glad to hear that.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah,” he said
quietly. “I just. Ara, about that night…”

“
Can we not talk
about the past?” I said quickly. “Can we just talk about…normal
stuff, please?

“
Sure thing,
kid.”

“
Thanks. So, what’ve
you been up to the last few months?”

He sighed heavily,
probably running a hand through his sandy hair. “Well, you know how
I applied to Tactical last year?”

“
Yeah?” I said,
getting excited at the excitement in his voice.

“
I’ve got one more
interview to go, and I’m pretty much in.”

“
You’re kidding me?
Mike, that’s so awesome. I can’t believe you’ve finally done
it.”

“
Well, don’t jinx it.
I haven’t made it yet.”

“
Yeah right. You’re,
like, super fit and super smart. You were in when you were born and
you know it.”

“
Yeah. I know. Hey,
listen, I was thinking…once I make it in, I’ve got a few weeks
before training begins. Can I come see you?”

“
Are you kidding?” I
stood up, practically squealing. “Of course you can. I’d love that.
There’s so much I wanna show you, and I really want to talk to you
about this guy, and—” I paused.

“
What guy?” Mike’s
voice peaked. I pictured his face, the way the corners of his lips
would turn up under his rough, sandy-brown stubble.

“
I really need your
advice, actually.” I slumped back down in my chair.

“
Sure, I’m good for
it. What’s the deal, kid?”

“
Well, his name’s
David.”

“
The one who showed
you around today?”

Does he not miss
anything? I barely even mentioned David. “Yeah, except I left
everything out. He didn’t just show me around, Mike, he, like, I
don’t know, he stayed with me
all
day, and didn’t really make a secret of the fact
that he likes me.” My brows rose. “He’s, um, well. I
really
like
him.”

“
That’s great,
right?”

“
No.”

“
What’s the problem
then?”

“
After one day?” I
looked out at the corner of the school’s front parking lot, just
visible from my window. “Does that make me creepy?”

“
How long did it take
you to fall completely in love with Leopold?” he asked, referring
to my favourite movie.

“
That’s
different.”

“
How?”

“
Because Leopold’s
not real. David is, and I’m not some character in a love
story.”

“
Ara?” Mike groaned.
“You’ve always been like this.”

“
What?” I asked,
defensive.

“
You like a guy, flirt with him, befriend him, but whenever—”
he cleared his throat, “—
whenever
they like you, show the tiniest bit of interest,
you run the other way. I don't know, it’s like you’re afraid
they’re gonna wake up one day and realise you’re not that special
or something.”

I gasped silently,
closing my eyes. “You know me better than I thought.”

“
I know I do, Ara.
I’m your best bud. Now stop worrying and just let this David guy
like you—if that’s what he wants to do. I mean, you like him too,
right?” He sounded so mature, so unlike my Mike—my fun-loving,
carefree Mike.

“
Yeah. I like him,
but—”

“
But what? You’re
afraid that liking someone you just met means you’re
abnormal?”

“
Well, yeah. Kind
of.” I shrugged, scraping at the wood grain again.

“
It’s not creepy or weird if you both feel the same way. And,
do you think
he’s
creepy for liking you?”

I might if he liked me
the way I like him. “No.”

“
So, then, you’re not
creepy—you’re a teenager. You’re supposed to fall head over heels
with every guy who has a cute smile.” He laughed.

“
Mike, you make too
much sense.”

“
I know,” he said,
still laughing lightly. “But you do the same to me when I’m having
a girl crisis—so we’re even.”

“
Yeah, how are things
on that front, anyway?”

He groaned loudly.
“Don’t even ask. I am never dating again, Ara. They’re all the
same.”

“
Hypocrite.”

“
Yeah, I know.” The
smile on his lips came through with his voice.

But the small moment
of happiness fizzled out quickly when I looked at my stack of
homework. I sighed and leaned on my hand. “I should go, Mike. I
asked Dad to get me out of homework and now I feel kinda
bad.”

“
Why?”

“
I told him I was too
stressed, but I actually just couldn't be bothered doing
it.”

Mike laughed. “Oh,
good to see you’re still the same Ara.”

I smiled.

“
Okay, kid. Well,
keep ya chin up. I’ll come see you in a few weeks,
okay?”

“
Yeah, that’ll be
great.”

“
Talk to you
later.”

“
Bye.” I hung up the
phone, and the room felt suddenly empty, like I’d just caught the
first vortex back to reality—one where I was alone. Always
alone.

“
Ara?” Dad sounded
panicked.

I flung my door open
and the concern on his face dropped instantly.

“
What were you doing,
honey? I’ve been calling you for two minutes.”