Girl Online: On Tour (9 page)

“Larry’s really nice,” I say.

“And you see this?” He grabs my hand, holding it tightly in his. “I’m not going to let go of this hand.”

“Well, you can let go when you go to the bathroom,” I say, a small smile playing on my lips.

Noah roars with laughter. “Yeah, except for that! You know what I mean. I’m going to be there for Penny,” he says, returning to his serious expression. “She’s my girl, and I will look after her.”

“I still don’t know if this is a good idea,” says Mum, biting her lip. “This is just the beginning, honey. Are you sure you still want to do this?”

“I’m sure,” I say. “I still want to go. Tonight was scary, but I made a mistake. It won’t happen again.”

“It can’t be as bad as that school trip to Amsterdam when your class thought the air-raid warnings were going off and all ran screaming through Vondelpark,” says Elliot. He’s right—Mr. Beaconsfield had told us all to hide under park benches, which we did until a nice Dutch couple came past and explained that the siren was a normal thing that happened on the first Monday of every month at exactly noon. On Noah’s tour, there will be far more people looking after me. And I have to conquer my fears at some point.

“Mum, Dad, please. I’ll be fine.” I give them a reassuring smile, but I’m not sure how convincing it is with my still-puffy eyes. “Hopefully I can have Tom’s old phone and get a new SIM card before we go to the airport. That way I can still call you whenever I need to.”

There’s a tense moment of silence. Mum and Dad look at each other.

“OK. You can still go,” says Mum.

I jump up and hug my parents. “I won’t let you down,” I say.

“You never have, Penny. We just worry about you,” explains Dad.

“And now I’m worried that you’re not going to be packed on time!” adds Mum. “Don’t think I haven’t seen the state of your room.”

“I’ll manage it!” I say.

Elliot smiles. “Good. Now that’s sorted, I’m heading home—I need to get my beauty sleep. Alex is forcing me to use the season ticket my dad gave me to watch
rugby
tomorrow. Can you imagine? The things you do for love. At least the rugby men are
fit
. If only Alex would meet my dad, they’d probably get along—” Elliot snaps his mouth shut, as if he’s not sure what he’s just said. I raise an eyebrow but Elliot gives me a
Don’t ask me
gaze. He turns to Noah. “The concert was awesome,” he says. “You stole the show. The Sketch had nothing on you!”

Noah pulls him into a bear hug, squishing Elliot so tight his trilby almost comes off. “I wish you could come with us too, Elliot!”

“And cramp Princess Penny’s style? No way.”

“Another time then.”

“For sure.” Elliot turns to me. “I can’t believe you leave so early tomorrow! I’m not going to get to see you for ages! I’m going to miss you so much.” Now it’s time for him to give
me
a huge hug.

“I’m going to miss you too!”

“You have to promise to write to me every day.”

“And text!”

“And call!”

“Come on, you two, it’s not like Penny’s off on a mission to Mars. She
will
be back in a couple of weeks,” says Mum.

“A
lot
can happen in a couple of weeks,” says Elliot. “You’re going to have to tell me everything.
Every
thing. Especially about Paris. I want to know all about Paris.”

“Of course! And you have to keep me updated on every minute of your internship!” We finally release each other and I walk Elliot into the hallway. He skips out of our house and round to his house next door. He blows me a kiss before I shut the door.

“I’d better go too, Penny,” says Noah from behind me. They’re words I don’t want to hear.

“But you just got here,” I say, squeezing Noah tight.

“I know, but soon we’ll have two weeks together. I have to head back to the hotel to get everything ready for Berlin tomorrow. I’m so psyched. I’ll be back before you know it—five a.m. Bright and early.” He reaches up and pushes a stray strand of hair off my face, tucking it behind my ear. “Are you sure you’re OK? I promise you nothing like that will ever happen again.”

“I know.” I stand up on my tiptoes and kiss him gently on the lips. “I can’t wait. It’s going to be perfect.”

“It really will be. We can have a Magical Mystery Day in every stop! Except it’ll be a mission to find the best baked goods in whichever country we’re in. Germany! Italy!”

“France! I want to eat all the macarons in the world. They’re my favourite. Is that a promise?”

“It’s a deal.”

His warm, dark eyes are staring straight into mine. “I love you, Penny. Just never scare me like that again.”

“I won’t,” I say, and I mean it. Tomorrow we’re going to Europe and I’m not going to let
anything
ruin our big trip.

Chapter Eleven

Back in my room, I finish throwing as many clothes as will fit into my suitcase and zip it up tight. As long as I have my camera, laptop, Mum’s cardigan, and a change of underwear, everything else is just extra.

The rain has started again, battering the windows. I grab my laptop and settle down on my window seat. I imagine every raindrop is a piece of my anxiety running down the glass, onto the street, and eventually out into the sea. I don’t need to hold on to any of it.

I see an unread comment from Pegasus Girl on my latest blog post. I rush to open it.

Hey, GO!

So nice to hear from you! How did the concert go?

I know EXACTLY how you feel about your friend. I’m going through kind of the same thing over here. A friend really wronged me, and I just don’t know if I can ever forgive her. But I think you have to offer people second chances. Even if you
never become the best friends you once were, because now you’re older, wiser, and won’t make the same mistake twice, it’s better to have a friend than an enemy. Plus, you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life! Accept the apology, but also accept that you won’t be the friends you once were.

PG xx

I quickly type a reply.

Thanks for your advice. How can I describe the concert? It was kind of a disaster. I had a panic attack in the audience and had to leave before BB had even finished his set.

But the one good thing that came out of it was that it gave my friend the chance to apologize. I’m not sure that I can ever trust her again, but it feels like a weight has lifted now that I don’t have to look over my shoulder at every turn, wondering what she’s going to do next.

I’m about to go to sleep, because tomorrow . . . I’m getting on a plane to Berlin! I’m nervous and excited all at once. I’m still using Wiki’s tips on how to combat anxiety. Ocean Strong is going to be on board! I’m also taking my mum’s favourite cardie with me to wrap up in.

I’ll keep you up to date on everything that happens!

GO xx

I’m just about to log off when an email pops up on my screen. I wonder if it’s a notification saying Pegasus Girl has replied super quickly. I hate leaving an email unanswered, so I open it . . . but the email address isn’t one that I recognize.

From: TheRealTruth

To: Penny Porter

Subject: Enjoy it while it lasts . . .

ATTACHMENT: image_1051.jpg

The email itself is blank, but I can see a small thumbnail of the image and immediately my stomach turns in on itself. I feel like I’m going to be sick. I double-click on the attachment and up pops a photograph of Noah and me.

My mind begins to race. Is this a paparazzi shot? Or one of Noah’s crazy fans?

But then I realize it’s the selfie that I took earlier in the car.

The one on my phone.

Chapter Twelve

My heart beats faster inside my chest and my pulse quickens, but I take a big, deep breath. I am not going to let some phone thief bully me into panicking about this. I know exactly who I can turn to in this situation. I gather my laptop in my arms and run down the flight of stairs that lead from my cosy attic room and knock frantically on Tom’s door.

“Yeah?” I’m surprised he can hear me knock over the thrumming bass of his favourite dubstep music, but he’s very attuned to any disturbance of his privacy.

“It’s me.” I push open the door and see my brother at his computer. He spends so much of his time there that I’m surprised there isn’t a permanent indent in his desk chair.

“Everything OK, Pen-pen?” He takes off his head-phones.

I bring my laptop over to him and show him the picture. “This was taken from my phone—the one that was stolen at the concert. Look at the subject line. I think someone wants to use it against me?”

Tom’s body language shifts from relaxed to tense, like he’s gearing up for a fight. “OK, first of all, have you called your provider? They can shut down the phone remotely.”

I nod. “Yeah, I did that about ten minutes after I lost it. But I haven’t done anything else . . . I guess I was still holding out hope that someone would find it and hand it in.”

He grabs his phone and starts dialling a number. “Right, well, at least that’s something. Is there anything that’s really compromising on your phone? If they’ve got this photograph, they might have downloaded others from your phone already, or got your contacts list. Didn’t you have a password?”

“I had a password but . . . it was Noah’s birthday.” I cringe at how obvious that sounds, now that I say it out loud. “If someone had recognized it was my phone, that wouldn’t be too hard to guess. There are a few texts, and most of my conversations with Noah are on WhatsApp.”

“Let’s go through and change all your passwords—we can do that remotely, and set it so that your phone wipes if it’s connected to the Internet. Then you’d better let Noah know that someone might have got hold of his number.”

The thought of that makes me feel anxious all over again, but Tom reminds me that it’s just a phone number, and not passport details or a full-blown medical history. “Pen-pen, it was an accident. Noah will understand. He cares more about you than a stupid mobile number.”

After an hour sitting on the edge of Tom’s bed, I’ve managed to shut down the phone, wipe it clean, and change all my passwords. I feel so much better knowing that I’ve done as much as possible, and that there’s nothing more TheRealTruth—whoever they are—can do to hurt me. I
don’t want to be a victim anymore to people who think they can abuse my privacy and my emotions. I remind myself that they don’t know anything about me and Noah, and how solid our relationship is after everything we’ve been through. I’m stronger than I was last year, and I want to remain that way.