Tamsyn Murray-My So-Called Haunting (8 page)

My mouth fell open. Triple jump? Didn’t you need the speed of a cheetah and the legs of a supermodel to do that properly? She had to be joking.

I looked up at her glowing-with-health face for a twinkly-eyed smile. There wasn’t one.

‘You don’t think I’m a bit, um, short for that, miss?’

‘Nonsense,’ she said, shaking her head. She glanced around as though searching for someone. ‘Ellie, show Skye here the basics of the triple jump.’

I groaned silently. As if the afternoon wasn’t bad enough, I was about to be introduced to the ways of the hop, skip and jump by someone who wouldn’t mind at all if I broke my neck
in the sandpit. Perfect.

Ellie sauntered up and smirked at me. ‘Of course, Mrs Robertson.’

‘Great.’ Mrs Robertson patted her on the shoulder, then turned to Megan. ‘You can come with me. The high jump is over the other side of the field.’

Pulling a sympathetic face, Megan followed her across the field, leaving me with Ellie.

‘Ready?’ she said, wearing what looked like a genuine smile.

I blinked. Had I got the wrong idea about her? Maybe she wasn’t a total cow after all. ‘As ready as I’ll ever be.’

Her smile hardened. ‘Good. Because I’m about to make you wish your little Scottish arse had never been born.’

Crap. Obviously I hadn’t got the wrong idea after all.

If you’ve ever been to Oxford Circus in London, you’ve probably had an earful from the preachers who hang around there. You know the type I mean; all brimstone and
hellfire, warning you to repent your sins or face an eternity of suffering. If they’d told me hell was an endless afternoon of triple-jump failure, with thirty or so other kids as witness to
your utter humiliation, I’d have abandoned my sinful ways immediately. The only blessing was that Nico hadn’t seen. Knowing he was watching me put the ‘trip’ in triple jump
would have just about finished me off.

Ellie didn’t mess about in making me wish I’d never been born. She took malicious delight in every stumble, and on the rare occasion when I didn’t fall over my own feet, she
declared the jump void. It didn’t help that the other triple jumpers had the grace of gazelles and managed very respectable jumps. Needless to say, Ellie was one of them. With her dark hair
streaming out behind her as she soared over the sandpit, she looked like a Greek goddess. Either that or a giant bat, I decided sourly as she scored another four-metre jump. It felt as though the
lesson was never going to end.

‘How’s it going?’ Mrs Robertson’s gaze was bright and expectant as she jogged towards us. ‘Any budding district champions?’

Ellie smiled. ‘A few possibilities, miss.’

Mrs Robertson looked at me. ‘How about you, Skye? Did you manage to find your rhythm?’

Ellie snorted with laughter and quickly turned it into a cough. ‘Not exactly.’

Most of the groups had finished their trials and the other kids were drifting over to where we stood. Ellie raised her voice. ‘I don’t think she’s got what it takes.’

Even Mrs Robertson couldn’t miss her scornful tone. ‘Really, Ellie? I think I’ll be the judge of that.’ She turned to me and smiled. ‘Show us what you’re made
of, Skye.’

I stared at her, doing my best paralysed rabbit impression. So she wanted to know what I was made of, did she? Judging from this afternoon’s evidence, it was mostly left feet. Mrs
Robertson gave me a nod of encouragement and over her shoulder I could see Megan waving crossed fingers at me. With a glum sigh, I dragged myself to the start of the run-up. I could practically
feel Ellie willing me to cock it up.

Then the weirdest thing happened. As I stared along the path to the jump line and the sandpit beyond, all of the frustration of the afternoon suddenly bubbled up inside me. Why was I letting
Ellie make me feel bad about myself? I’d done a couple of reasonable jumps already, hadn’t I? There was no reason why I couldn’t do another one now.

Holding on tight to this unexpected determination, I steamed along the path and concentrated on hitting the board exactly right. With a powerful bound, I hopped with my right foot, skipped with
my left – and then I made a fatal mistake: my eyes strayed sideways into the crowd. Standing beside the sandpit was Nico, watching me intently. Distracted by his dark stare, I forgot to check
the position of my leading foot before launching into my jump. There was a confused jumble of floor and trainers – it felt like I had at least three feet at one point – before I lost my
balance and my ankle twisted underneath me. The next thing I knew, I lurched through the air and crumpled into an undignified heap in the sand.

‘Less than a metre,’ I heard Ellie say in a self-satisfied manner. ‘I did say she wasn’t very good.’

Mrs Robertson’s expression was a mixture of anger and disgust. ‘She’d have been a lot better if you hadn’t stuck your foot out, Ellie McCauley. Don’t think I
didn’t see you.’

Ellie went pale. ‘I don’t know what happened, miss. I think I sort of slipped.’

Lips pursed, Mrs Robertson looked like she didn’t buy a word of it. ‘There’s no room for cheats on my team, Ellie. Go back to the changing room and get dressed. I’ll deal
with you later.’

For a second, I thought Ellie was going to argue, but instead she burst into tears and ran from the field. Fierce whispers broke out around us.

I cleared my throat. ‘Could I get a little help here?’

Megan gave a guilty gasp and pushed forwards to help me up, but she was beaten to it. Nico reached down and offered me his hand. ‘Are you OK?’

I rubbed the sand away from my lips, but left the grains on my cheeks. Maybe they’d help to mask the fierce blush crawling up my face. I always seemed to be going red when he was around.
Was I allergic to him or something?

Mrs Robertson bustled over. ‘Anything broken?’

I shook my head. ‘No, I’m fine.’

Realising Nico was still waiting to help me up, I reached up shyly and took his hand, half expecting a jolt of electricity to hit me as we touched. It didn’t; his fingers were cool on mine
and his grip was strong as he drew me upwards. Our eyes locked and the rest of the kids faded into the background. Maybe Megan was right, I thought dreamily as I drank in his gaze. Maybe we were a
pair of star-crossed —

‘Ow!’ A knife-like pain snaked up my leg and killed the moment stone dead.

‘What’s wrong?’ Mrs Robertson asked, her face concerned.

I grimaced and slid a hand down my calf. ‘My ankle hurts. I think I twisted it.’

‘I can’t really leave the class unattended.’ She glanced around and her eyes settled on Nico. ‘Could you take her to the nurse, please, Nico?’

Megan stepped forward. ‘I’ll go too.’

‘Oh no,’ Mrs Robertson said. ‘You’re staying right here to practise that high jump. A few more attempts and you’ll have smashed your personal best. Nico can take
care of Skye.’

The words sent a delicious shiver along my spine, in spite of what felt like a thousand pointy-toothed goblins chewing on my ankle. I liked the idea of Nico taking care of me. Megan appeared to
be torn between wanting to know whether she was right about Nico and delight at Mrs Robertson’s praise. She made a texting gesture with her thumbs.

‘OK,’ I agreed and, leaning awkwardly on Nico’s arm, I limped off the field towards the office.

Neither of us spoke until we were away from the crowd.

‘Thanks,’ I said, as much to break the silence as anything.

‘No problem.’ He concentrated on supporting me for a few more steps before continuing, ‘We seem to keep bumping into each other. I’m Nico Albescu.’

I threw a sideways glance at him. Up close, he seemed taller, which made me feel even more Tinkerbell-esque than usual. The contrast between his pale skin and black hair was more pronounced too;
I could see long sooty lashes framing his dark eyes. My gaze slid to his hair, lying carelessly against the collar of his PE shirt. Was it too long because he liked it that way or because he
didn’t care about his looks? ‘Skye Thackery.’

We limped along without speaking for several seconds. Even through the burning throb of my ankle I was aware of his body pressed against mine. I couldn’t tell if it was the pain from my
ankle or Nico’s closeness, but my heart was racing so much I felt sure he must be able to hear it thudding. Distractedly, I said, ‘Sorry about this.’

‘Don’t be. To be honest, I wanted an excuse to introduce myself all week. I nearly did it at lunch today, but you were with your friend and I didn’t want to
interrupt.’

The pain was rudely shoved out of the way by the sharp twist of my guts as realisation sank in. I had sat with Megan at lunchtime. So she’d been bang on the money; he had been looking out
for me. Which could only mean —

‘So what have you done to annoy Ellie?’ he asked, oblivious to my stuttering heart rate.

Just how was I supposed to answer that, given that he was the main reason Ellie hated me? ‘Dunno. I think she’s a bit unstable.’

He threw me an odd look. ‘I’d have thought you’d have been a bit more understanding.’

It took me a minute to work out what he meant. I replayed the words inside my head and cringed. For a girl with a supposed mental illness I didn’t sound in the least bit sympathetic.
‘Oh. Erm – well, Ellie’s nothing like me, she’s plain nasty, whereas I’m just —’

‘A bit weird?’ he finished, smiling.

I had no defence. ‘Yeah, I suppose so.’

‘Don’t worry, weird is good. It makes you stand out from the crowd.’

It was easy for him to say; he didn’t know how different I really was. But I preferred to think that he’d noticed me in spite of my off-the-wall behaviour, so I decided to change the
subject. ‘I think my career as a triple jumper may be over.’

He grinned and held open the door to the main reception for me to half hop, half limp through. It was the first time I’d seen him smile and it changed his features from intense and
brooding to gob-stoppingly handsome. I’d never understood what the word ‘swoon’ meant before; I did now.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ he said. ‘You could be the one everyone underestimates.’

I nodded, picturing the scene at the regional competition. ‘Then I start my run-up and it’s hop, skip, jump and finish with a spectacular face plant in the sand.’

We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

‘I was rubbish, wasn’t I?’

Nico’s laughter slowed. ‘Yeah, but I bet you’ve got other talents, right?’

I think that was the exact moment that I gave up fighting the attraction, although to be fair, it hadn’t been much of a fight. He was gorgeous. He was interested. I’d have to be dead
not to want to snog him, and I definitely wasn’t dead. ‘I do, as it happens.’

It was his move. I waited, not daring to breathe. His lips parted. If this was a rom-com, he’d be about to ask me out.

‘Skye!’ a voice bellowed. My head jerked up and I stared wildly around the hallway. Dontay was watching us through heavily lidded eyes. And he did not look happy.

I did what any sensible person would have done. I froze.

Nico stopped. ‘What’s the matter? Are you OK?’

Unsticking my tongue from the roof of my mouth, I forced my lips to work.

‘I’m fine,’ I mumbled. What the hell was Dontay doing here? How did he even know which school I went to?

Frowning, Nico said, ‘You’re shaking.’

I was. In fact, I felt like I was about to have an out-of-body experience at any second. I could hardly back out of seeing the nurse without making Nico suspicious, but I couldn’t talk to
Dontay either. When he came over, I’d be forced to do something I’d never done before. In all my fourteen years, I’d never ignored a ghost. He’d understand, wouldn’t
he?

‘Delayed shock, I suppose,’ I said, dredging up a smile. ‘I’ll be OK in a minute.’

There was nothing for it; I was going to have to face the music. With my eyes fixed straight ahead and my teeth firmly gritted, I leaned on Nico and limped towards the double doors.

Dontay waited until we were through the doors and level with him before he spoke. He eyed my crumpled state impassively and got straight to the point. ‘What’s going on?’

Pressing my lips together, I threw him an imploring look and concentrated on reaching the nurse.