Cruel Summer (8 page)

‘I think you mean party-crasher,’ Ryan muttered under his breath, ‘but, yes, that too.’

‘No.’ Katie snapped out of it, remembering her manners. ‘No, it’s fine.’

Ryan followed suit. More than wanting to reassure Roxanne, he felt bad for Katie. ‘It’s great to see you, Rox.’ He gave her air kisses. ‘You look fierce as
ever.’

‘You too, babe. Have you been working out?’

‘Do you know, I have. Thank you for noticing.’ Ryan grinned back, although he wasn’t fooled by the compliments. Gay, straight, young, old – Roxanne thought she could wind
any man around her finger, and he wasn’t falling for it for a second.

‘I’m really, sorry, Rox. It was my bad. I totally forgot about the Facebook chat. I only woke up ten minutes ago. You came as something of a shock! But, of course, you’re more
than welcome.’ Katie gave her old friend a hug.

‘Hmm, I dunno about that, hon. I don’t want Alisha to have a fit,’ Roxanne replied.

‘She’ll calm down,’ Katie promised. ‘I’ll talk to her.’

Roxanne looked out to the terrace, where Alisha was angrily gesticulating at her brother. ‘This is really awkward. Maybe I should just go.’

‘No,’ Ryan said. ‘Don’t be silly. You’ve come all the way from Morocco or wherever. You can’t just leave straight away.’ If nothing else, he thought,
life was certainly more
colourful
with Rox around. Also, having a common enemy might help to glue the rest of them back together.

‘Absolutely. We’re just having breakfast. Come join us.’ As Katie said it, Ryan observed Ben. Thinking no one was looking, he scowled into the shadows in the corner.
Ben’s face looked all wrong without a smile. It was unnerving. Ben said nothing, but prowled out of the lounge to join Greg and Alisha on the terrace.

‘That’d be awesome,’ Roxanne smiled. ‘I could murder a coffee.’

Katie and Erin sprang into action, both falling over themselves to accommodate the newcomer.

Ryan brought Rox up to speed. ‘Oh, Roxanne, this is Erin, Greg’s girlfriend.’ Erin stepped forward to greet her properly.

A flicker of amusement flashed across Roxanne’s face. Just for the briefest of moments, but long enough for Ryan to register it. ‘Oh, hi. How are you?’ Roxanne gave her a
lavish kiss. It was almost too lavish, like it was designed to make the smaller girl uncomfortable.

‘I’m good, thanks. Nice to meet you.’ Erin remained as sweet as ever. ‘Did you say you’d been travelling?’

‘I did. I started out in Bangkok, then went on to Goa, then flew up to Scandinavia to stay with my aunt. Since then I’ve been InterRailing around Europe, and been to Egypt and
Morocco. It’s been a pretty sweet year.’

Ryan knew Roxanne’s enthusiasm was at least partly staged. Her year out was being funded by her father’s life insurance. Both her parents had died before her eighteenth birthday
– that was how Rox had ended up in Telscombe Cliffs in the first place. She’d had to live with her uncle and aunt because she hadn’t yet turned eighteen when she was orphaned.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan opened the door to the terrace.

Alisha looked right at Roxanne, the fire in her eyes not fully extinguished. She sprung off the low wall she’d been perching on. ‘Don’t worry, Roxanne, I’m not gonna do
anything. Enjoy your breakfast.’ Alisha turned to Katie. ‘I’m not staying here with
that
.’ Alisha stomped past Roxanne, creating a wind as she went, and marched
right for the bedrooms.

‘OK. Well, this is going well.’ Roxanne sucked air through her teeth and sat down at the head of the breakfast table, bold and steady. The others all now stood around the table like
they’d been stupefied, watching her tuck into a pain au chocolat.

‘What did you expect, Rox?’ Greg looked angry. Reclaiming control of the situation, he sat down opposite Roxanne. If this was a game of chess, here were the king and queen.

‘She can’t still be mad about Callum,’ Roxanne said through a mouthful of pastry. ‘That was
years
ago.’

Ryan joined them.
I’m probably a knight
, he decided. ‘Oh, come on, Rox, it was only last May.’

‘And I feel really bad about it, I do,’ Rox said, ‘but it’s all just high-school stuff. It was nothing then. It’s even less now.’

The muscles in Greg’s jaw tightened. They fought like cat and dog, but Ryan knew that under all the bravado and teasing he truly loved his sister. ‘Alisha was heartbroken.’

‘I’ve said I’m sorry about sixteen million times, Greg. P.S. you are looking hot.’

Greg was caught completely off guard and blushed rose pink. Ryan hid a smile at Roxanne’s audacity. He snuck a glance at Erin and saw the first hint of negativity on her face. Her right
eyebrow twitched.

‘Well, thanks, but that’s not the point, Rox,’ Greg muttered.

Roxanne sighed, throwing her head back. ‘Can we not do the big post-mortem? I’m here now. I left my hostel at, like, six. I thought you all knew I was coming or I would have never
ever, ever come!’

Greg threw Katie a deathly look.

‘I totally forgot. It’s my fault,’ she said, still looking flustered.

‘Brilliant.’ He shoved an entire croissant into his mouth.

‘Oh, Greg,’ Roxanne giggled. ‘I’m meant to be meeting a friend in Paris in a couple of days – I’ll be out of your hair before you know it. Am I OK to crash
for a night or two?’

‘Of course,’ said Katie, who seemed to be grovelling.

‘I’ll go in with Ryan,’ Ben said quietly. ‘Rox can take the sofa-bed.’

‘I, for one, am fine with those sleeping arrangements.’ Ryan gave a cheeky wink, knowing Ben would get the joke. He and Ben had gone top-and-tail since first school. Ben took up a
lot of room, but at least he didn’t snore. Ryan’s joke went some way to lighten the mood.

Roxanne smiled. ‘Do you think I should go talk to Alisha?’

‘No!’ Ryan, Katie and Greg all exclaimed, Greg almost choking on his breakfast.

‘I’ll go.’ Katie held up her hand to stop Roxanne from leaving the table. ‘You know Alisha – she needs to let off steam. It’ll be fine.’ Katie headed
for the bedrooms and Erin followed.

Ryan stayed where he was, eager to hear about Roxanne’s World Exploits Tour, but secretly wishing he could be a fly on that bedroom wall. Alisha had never claimed her revenge over Callum.
Ryan suspected she was far from finished.

SCENE 11 – ALISHA

A
lisha pulled her suitcase out from under the bed. She flung open the lid and started throwing clothes from the wardrobe into the case. Wire
hangers pinged off the rail and clattered to the tiles.

And then she stopped.

This was insane. She was acting like a crazy soap-opera person.

She plonked onto the bed with a thud, bouncing up and down a couple of times. Her rage-filled mood swings were getting fewer and further between, but when they hit it was like a hurricane in her
head. On the news you saw those swirling, vivid weather fronts sweep over an island. It felt like that but, as with any tropical storm, they always blew over eventually.

Roxanne, though. She was
such
a bitch. Normally that would be a terrible thing to say but, in this case, Alisha felt, it was merely stating legitimate fact.

There was a timid tap on the bedroom door.

‘Who is it?’

‘It’s Katie and Erin,’ Katie called.

Alisha paused. She didn’t want them to see her looking demented, but a quick self-scan indicated the storm had passed. ‘OK, come in.’

Katie entered the room looking a lot like a lion tamer entering a circus ring. ‘Are you OK?’

‘No.’ Alisha flopped back on the bed.

‘Alisha, I’m so sorry. When I spoke to Rox on Facebook I never thought for a second she’d actually turn up.’

‘You invited her?’ Ooh, the cyclone was circling again.

‘She was in Morocco. I thought we were safe. I guess I felt guilty because I knew she’d find out about the trip somehow and feel left out.’

‘Oh, my God, is that bitch for real?’ Erin asked, checking they were out of earshot. Alisha couldn’t stifle a laugh – she hadn’t expected that from Erin at all.

Katie sighed. ‘I understand this is a bit of a reach but, once you get to know her, she’s really lovely.’

Alisha bit her tongue long enough to consider the fact that for a long time she and Roxanne had been as thick as thieves. Roxanne had this thing, this
spotlight
, and when she turned it
on you, you felt like a star – invincible and special. But then Rox had worked her magic on Callum . . . God, when would she stop being angry about that?

Erin didn’t seem convinced. ‘I don’t know, Katie. I mean, that was all a bit dramatic, wasn’t it? The big entrance and all that.’

‘That’s pretty much her style. I guess she’s a little . . . high maintenance.’

‘You can say that again.’ Alisha grimaced.

Katie sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing Alisha’s calf in a comforting way. Erin perched on the chair, saying nothing more, but lending moral support.

‘You really need to have a word with your guilt complex, Grant.’ Alisha sat up, rubbing her eyes.

‘I know, I’m an idiot!’ Katie laughed. ‘Do you really think I would have deliberately put you two in the same room?’

Alisha managed a half-smile. ‘No. God, I could kill you, though. I’ll kill her,
then
you!’

‘What did she do?’ Erin asked the inevitable question.

‘She stole my boyfriend!’ Alisha blurted out, well aware of how ridiculous that sounded.

‘Alisha Cole . . .’ Katie warned.

‘OK, whatever. My boyfriend, Callum, dumped me and then, about twenty minutes later, he was with her.’

Erin nodded sagely. ‘Oh, I see.’

‘Yeah, pretty suspicious, right?’

Katie gave her a surprisingly good shoulder rub, massaging the Roxanne-shaped knot under her collar bone. ‘We don’t know if there was any overlap, Alisha. Rox swears there
wasn’t.’

‘I don’t care,’ Alisha said. ‘It’s like there are rules – you don’t wear red and purple together; eyes or lips; tits out or legs out;
you
don’t sleep with your mates’ exes
!’

‘They
are
very simple rules,’ agreed Erin.

Katie moved on to her neck, massaging the space under her ears. It was bliss. ‘Alisha, I am going to say something, and you have to promise not to punch me, OK?’

Alisha frowned. ‘I’m not promising.’

‘Callum is hardly blameless in all this. He knew you and Rox were friends. Let’s have just a little female solidarity, please.’

Alisha sighed. She had read
How To Be a Woman
twice, but girls like Rox Dent made sisterhood hard. ‘You know what it is? You know why I really wanna rip her eyes out?’

‘I really didn’t need that image, but go on,’ Katie said.

‘We were there for her, man. All that crap she went through and we were there for her.’ Alisha turned to Erin. ‘There was this big sad story – her mum died of cancer and
then her dad died, like, a year later.’

‘In a freak scaffolding collapse,’ Katie added with a grimace. ‘It was awful, like something from
Final Destination
.’

‘So, anyway,’ Alisha went on, ‘Rox came to live with her uncle in Telscombe Cliffs. She was an orphan, and even though she was this massive slut—’

‘Alisha!’

‘Sorry. Even though half the school hated her, we properly looked out for that girl. And this is what you get in return – one thieved boyfriend, no waiting.’

Katie sighed. ‘What do you want me to do? She’s just said she’s only staying for a couple of days. Do you think you can cope? It’s totally your call, my love. One word
from you and I’ll send her packing.’

Alisha thought for a second. ‘You know what? I’m gonna be the bigger person. I mean Callum Granger is such a loser anyway, they actually deserve each other. I’ll be mature and
cool and sophisticated. Three things Roxanne Dent is not.’

‘You show her who’s boss,’ Erin smiled.

‘Thanks, you two, I feel less mental now.’ Alisha rolled off the mattress and brushed herself down. ‘Right. I’m gonna go find out if that shady bitch is still shagging my
ex. Coming?’

SCENE 12 – RYAN

T
he sand was red hot under his feet. It was almost too intense to bear, burning like hot coals. Ryan had two choices – run forward to the
cooler sand near the surf, or go back to the villa and get some flip-flops. As he was carrying one end of a pool lounger, he opted for option A and kept going.

‘Christ, this sand is hot!’ he yelped at Roxanne, who held the other end.

‘Run for it!’ Roxanne squealed with a giggle, and he was reminded that once upon a time it had all been fun and games. In TV terms, Roxanne had been introduced in the third season to
spice up flagging ratings. She was a stunning blonde with a hedonistic streak to rival Alisha’s. That was sort of the problem – perhaps the two girls had been too similar, trying to
occupy the same niche like red and grey squirrels. And look how well that had worked out for the red squirrel.

Unlike Alisha though, Rox was, and always had been, selfish. A ride on the Rox Train was sure to be the night of your life, but it was always rolling in the direction she wanted to head.

Looking at her now, Ryan could only hope her travels abroad had matured her. ‘Is this a good spot, do you reckon?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, it’ll work. Ryan, you should have seen the beaches in Thailand. They are, like, seriously swoon-worthy.’ For a moment her eyes misted over. ‘I missed you this
year.’ She seemed genuine.

‘Yeah. It’s been a funny old year,’ he replied, also honestly.

Just like that, the sentimentality left her, drifting away like the wisps of cotton-wool cloud overhead. Rox smiled. ‘Oh, let’s not get all “Camp Boo-Hoo”!’

There was the Rox Ryan remembered. He looked up to see Alisha marching down the stone steps with purpose, making a beeline for them. He lowered the lounger, wishing he had a dart gun like a
safari ranger – he might need to use it on one or both of his friends. ‘Rox, Alisha’s coming . . .’