The Second Virginity of Suzy Green (8 page)

“I didn’t realize.”
She turns back to face me, a smile of relief on her face. “Trouble is it cost
me George.” The smile disappears.

“Did you explain
to him how you felt?”

“What do you
think?” Yes, well I guess that was rather a dumb thing to ask.

“Sorry. So now
we’ve just got to work out a plan to get George to ask you out again.”
Especially if it stops her crush on Jamie.

“No point. He
doesn’t even speak to me any more.”

“And do you
speak to him?”

“No. In case he
ignores me. And I don’t want him to know I’m bothered.”

“We’ll think of
something. This is my specialty, after all. Just ask Maddie about the time I
got Dean, this guy she had the hots for, to ask her out.”

Lori grins.
“What if he wants me to leave the club?”

“Look, Lori. If
you’re only in it because you’re scared of sex then—”

“No. It’s
different now. That was my initial reason. Now I really see how beneficial it
is. How much it can help people. I don’t want to leave.”

“Oh.” So all I
need to do is convince George to give the club another try. Hmm. Not too much
of a mission.

Lori wanders
over to my dresser and starts to peer at all the photos I have on there.

“Hey, love the frame,” she says picking up
one of the glittery blue and green ones from the back. Who’s this with you?
She’s really pretty.” Oh no. she’s picked up Rosie and me.

“Rosie.” Please
don’t ask.

“Who’s Rosie, a
friend from your last school?”

“Um—no. She’s my
sister.” Lori frowns and turns to face me.

“You didn’t say
you had a sister. You said it was just you and your Mom and Dad when I—.”

“She’s dead.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”
She pauses. “What happened? Sorry I shouldn’t have asked.”

This is exactly
why I decided not to tell anyone, because they’ll want to know what happened.
And the thought of having to live through it every time someone asks is just
unbearable. How do you tell people we couldn’t bury Rosie for ages because it
took so long to find all her pieces? It’s so macabre you can’t even think about
it. I can picture, as clearly as if it was yesterday, when the police came around
during tea to tell us about the accident. And I’ll never forget the look on my
Dad’s face as long as I live.

“An accident,
just over a year ago. You probably read about it. It was in all the papers. The
exploding helicopter.” Lori’s hand shoots up to her mouth.

“Oh no. That was
your sister? I remember. It was awful.”

“Yeah.” I take
the photo from her hand and stare at it before placing it back on my dressing
table. “Please don’t say anything to the others. I hate talking about it.”

“Of course I
won’t. You have my word.”

“Thanks.” We
stand awkwardly for a moment. “Anyway,” I finally say. “What about Guy and
tomorrow? Anything I should know in advance?”

Lori looks
relieved we’ve switched to a different subject. I don’t mind. I’m sure I’d feel
the same if I was in her position.

“Well, you know
Rachel isn’t too happy about it. But she had her chance. Well, not her chance
exactly. Guy knew she liked him but he told her he’d rather stay as friends.”

Great. That’s
all I need. Rachel against me. Why didn’t someone tell me she had a thing for
him? Shit. Shit. And triple shit.

“I didn’t realize.
No-one said.” I shake my head.

“Don’t worry. She’ll
get over it. At the moment she’s more concerned with getting herself elected to
the Student Liaison Committee—you may have noticed her rather blatant
campaigning.”

“Yes.” You’d
have to have been living on another planet not to notice that one.

“Between you and
me it isn’t because Guy wants to stay friends with her that he said no to them
going out. It’s because she tells way too many lies.”

“The first round
nomination results for seventh form representative on the Student Liaison Committee
are: Michael Reardon, William Phillips, Suzy Green—”

My jaw drops and
my heart skips a beat. Principal Roberts just called my name. That must mean
loads of people put my name forward. I don’t believe it. You know, I’ve never
been nominated for anything in my entire life. Non-conformists are always on
the periphery when it comes to roles of responsibility.

Of course,
that’s how I always wanted it. So I’m not complaining. But now it’s actually
happened to me, I have to admit it does feel kind of good. I suppose Rosie must
have felt like this all the time. No wonder she kept her butt firmly on the
pedestal.

“Decide which of
the five candidates you wish to vote for,” the Principal continues, “and place
your voting slip in the box by the stage on your way out.” Did he say five? Who
are the other two? My mind wandered after he announced my name.

“Yay, Suzy,”
says Lori in my ear from where she’s sitting behind me. “Two from the gang
nominated. May the best person win.”

I turn my head to
face her. “What? Are you nominated too?”

“Duh. Not me.
Rachel.” She laughs and shakes her head.

“Sorry. It’s
just after he said my name I sort of tuned out. We’ve both been nominated.
That’ll sure cause a stink.”

“Why?”

“Well, you know.
I’m new and suddenly I’m nominated. I bet Rachel will really hate me now,
especially because of my going out with Guy.” I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I
mention Guy and the movies tomorrow night.

“Don’t worry.”
She grins, looks from side to side conspiratorially and whispers in my ear. “I
nominated you in this first round. But don’t tell Rachel.”

You could knock
me down with a feather. I never in a million years expected her to suggest me
over Rachel.

“Why? It’s not
like I told anyone I wanted to be on the Committee.”

“That’s the
whole point. You haven’t been begging for nominations like certain others. And
that’s why people put your name forward.”

I pull out a pen
from my bag and stare at the blank voting slip. Shall I vote for myself or is
that not the done thing? Mind you, I’m not sure that I actually want to serve
on the Committee. I like that I’m in the final round but if I win that means
lots of extra work. On the other hand, it will look really good on my college
application. And as I don’t have anything to put on it other than stuff from
this year, it might not be such a bad thing.

“I think I’ll
vote for Rach,” I say my pen hovering over the top of the slip.

“You freak,”
Lori says, as she leans over my shoulder and grabs my hand just before pen
hits paper. “Vote for yourself.”

“I can’t do
that, it’s cheating.” Like that’s ever bothered me before. Not that I’ve
cheated a lot in the past, but Maddie and I have been known to write ‘helpful
exam hints’ on the inside of our shirt cuffs—only when things were desperate,
though, like: ‘if you don’t pass this exam you’ll be chucked off the course’.

“It’s not. It’s
called giving yourself the best possible chance.” She pulls the paper from my
hand and writes my name on it. “There. I did it so it’s not like you can accuse
yourself of cheating.”

“Thanks. I
think.” I take the slip from her, fold it in half and slide it in my pocket—in
case someone sees what she’s written.

It takes ages to
get from where we’re sitting to the entrance because everyone keeps stopping to
congratulate me. When we finally make it I give my voting slip a good luck kiss
(under the pretence of coughing) and drop it in the box.

***

“Hey Mom, guess
what,” I say the moment she arrives home. She’s never usually out when I get
home, but isn’t it typical that today just because I had news she wasn’t here?

“What?” she
replies not stopping to hear me out but heading toward the kitchen. I follow
and watch as she reaches for the kettle and fills it with water.

“I’ve been
nominated as seventh form rep on the Student Liaison Committee.”

The look of
disbelief on her face is classic. Good job she wasn’t holding anything or she
would have definitely dropped it. She hasn’t looked like that since the day I
told her I was going to be a nun when I left school—luckily, the nun phase
didn’t last too long. Once I found out you have to take a vow of silence it
became much less appealing.

“That’s marvelous,”
she says after a few seconds. “Well done. Your dad and I are really proud of
the effort you’re making. We know it hasn’t been easy.” She gives me a huge hug
and it brings tears to my eyes.

When I think of
how close I came to destroying everything—as if things weren’t bad enough with
Rosie dying.

“Yeah.” My voice
is a little croaky so I cover it up by coughing. “A bit of a shock though.” She
releases me and I turn slightly so she can’t see my tears—it’s not like me to
get all emotional, but sometimes the enormity of what’s happened hits me
without warning.

“I can’t wait to
tell your Uncle Peter tomorrow. He’ll be very impressed.”

Oh no. Uncle
Peter’s coming tomorrow. That brings me back to earth with a jolt. I don’t
believe it. How could I forget that? What the hell am I going to do? Mom will
never let me go to the movies now. A huge sigh escapes my lips. Nothing ever
goes right for me.

“What’s the
matter, love?” Mom asks.

“I forgot about
Uncle Peter. And I’ve arranged to go out with someone from school.” I bite on
my bottom lip.

“Just explain to
her. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“He won’t,” I
mutter. An urge to stomp up the stairs is coming on big time. But I guess it’s
not acceptable behavior anymore.

“He? Did you say
he? You didn’t tell me you were going out with anyone.” She leans against the
work surface and fixes me with a stare.

“I’m not going
out with him. We’re just going to the movies, that’s all.”

A slow devious
smile stretches across her face. “I’ll tell you what. Invite him around here
for tea, which will give you time with Uncle Peter, and then you can go out
with him.”

Yeah, that’s a
great suggestion. I can just imagine Guy’s face if I ask him. I never bring
boys home. Never. Mom and Dad would’ve freaked—the boys I knew were nothing
like the boys Rosie went out with, who were all rich and heading for high-powered
careers (well, maybe not all of them but definitely her last two).

Although, just
for argument’s sake, say Guy did agree to come. He would definitely be
boyfriend material from a parents’ perspective. It could work. The only thing
is, how to break it to him?

“I’ll ask him
and let you know.” Mom practically chokes on the sip of coffee she’s just
taken. “Is that okay?” I ask, trying to keep a straight face and failing
miserably.

“Sure. I’ll look
forward to it.”

“I’m going to my
room,” I say trying to act all virtuous. “Call me when dinner’s ready.”

I’ve got some
serious planning to do. First thing is to text Lori and elicit her opinion on
my best course of action. I race up the stairs two at a time, retrieve my phone
from the dressing table and send Lori a message. In less than a minute my cell
phone rings. It’s her.

“Hi. Can you believe
Mom wants him to come to tea before the movies?”

“Why don’t you
say no, if you’re not happy about it.”

“I can’t because
my uncle is coming around, and we haven’t seen him for ages because he lives so
far away. And Mom won’t let me go out if I don’t agree to Guy coming.” How sad
does that make me sound? I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation.
Old-Suzy would have just said ‘sorry Mom, I’ve made plans.’

And, more to the
point, old-Suzy would’ve texted Maddie for advice of this nature. What sort of
friend does that make me? In less than a couple of months Maddie’s been
relegated to friend-when-it-suits-me. God, that makes me feel awful.

Thing is, she
doesn’t know Guy like Lori does. Which is why Lori is the best person to ask.
So I’m not really dumping Maddie. And I’ll definitely give her a ring as soon
as Lori and I have sorted this mess out. If only to tell her about the
committee. I just know she’ll barely be able to contain herself when she hears.

“But surely you
can just have tea and then go straight out. Why does Guy have to be there? Or
is she always like this about boyfriends.”

“No, she’s not.
But things are different now. You know, with Rosie and stuff.” Stuff being the
operative word and something not for sharing.

“Yeah. Well,
looks like you have no choice then.”

“I reckon you’re
right. But what shall I say?” I pause for moment. “Hey, maybe you can ask him
for me.” I say it as a joke, but part of me wishes she would agree to do it.

“What,
seriously?” I can’t see her face, but I can imagine the expression of disbelief
on it.