Without Looking Back (16 page)

Louis stared down at his plate and felt his cheeks flush.

‘Ooh, Liam is blushing!’ Millie crowed.

‘Katie . . .’ Dad warned.

‘Of course, I’m pretty good too,’ Tess said, and they all laughed.

After dinner, Louis managed to persuade Max to lend them his iPod and he and Tess went into the living room to hook it up to the television speakers.

‘How come you haven’t got a stereo or any CDs?’ Tess asked.

‘Um – well, we’ve only been here a month and we left most of our stuff behind in New Caledonia.’

‘Really? Why?’

‘Because – um – it was too heavy to transport. We figured it would be easier just to replace stuff when we arrived.’

Tess looked unconvinced, but didn’t force the issue. After several minutes of fiddling, Louis finally got the speakers to work.

They trawled through Max’s endless hip-hop collection, interspersed with the odd Ashanti/Robbie Williams/Lemar track. Now and again either Louis or Tess would get up off the floor and perform a few moves to the music to check the beat. But most of the time they
just listened, facing each other on the patterned carpet with pen and paper handy to jot down any ideas. Tess sat with her back against the couch, knees drawn up, wisps of brown hair falling into her face. Louis sat cross-legged, chewing on his thumbnail, trying to picture the dance moves in his head. When they got to Bomfunk MC’s
Freestyler
, Tess suddenly sat up and said, ‘This could work.’

‘Too fast,’ Louis replied.

‘Yes, but all the other dances are going to be medium-beat, Lemar-style,’ Tess countered. ‘This would be the perfect tempo for stuff like spins and tumbling – your speciality.’ She stood up and kicked off her shoes. ‘Come on, let’s try some stuff.’

‘What, now?’ Louis asked, embarrassed.

‘Yes! We don’t have to do any tumbling – we can just mark it.’ She pushed the couch against the wall and started to move the coffee table. Hesitantly, Louis got to his feet and began to help her. Within seconds they had a decent space. Tess went over to the iPod, put the track back to the beginning and turned the speakers up loud.

‘Starting positions,’ she declared, and struck a comical pose, laughing.

Louis began to smile. ‘Something simple,’ he said. ‘Simple starting positions are always the best.’

‘Back to back?’ Tess suggested.

They tried it. ‘We’re almost exactly the same height, so that might work,’ Tess said, turning her head.

‘What are you talking about? I’m definitely taller!’ Louis countered jokingly, rising onto his toes.

Tess laughed and nudged him with her bum, sending him toppling forward. She put the track back to the beginning again. ‘Legs together or apart?’ she asked.

‘Apart,’ Louis said. ‘Else we’ll look like telegraph poles.’

‘Arms only to start?’

Louis tried a few things.

‘You look like a windmill,’ Tess said.

Louis exaggerated the windmill effect and they both laughed.

Tess demo’d some arms. ‘Like this?’ she suggested. ‘Or this, or this?’

‘The first one,’ Louis said. ‘And then we could turn round and do some mirror-image stuff.’

‘Half turn or proper turn or double turn or what?’

‘Half turn just so we’re facing each other,’ Louis said. ‘We’ll save the spins for later. Start off really easy. So we face each other and do the same arms and then add a bit on, like this . . .’

‘Oh, yes, I like that,’ Tess agreed.

‘Hey, hey, no – I know,’ Louis said suddenly. ‘We do
mirror-image when we’re back to back and then non-mirror-image when we’re facing each other—’

‘Brilliant!’

Louis put the track back to the beginning. They took up their starting positions, back to back, then twisted their heads round to look at one another, and laughed.

‘We can’t do that,’ Louis said.

‘No. Just look straight ahead,’ Tess agreed.

The music started. ‘Five, six, seven, eight . . .’

Millie came in and stood in the doorway just as they began. ‘Oh, please let me see the whole thing!’ she said as they broke off.

‘That’s all we’ve got so far,’ Louis told her.

‘Is that the dance you’re going to do in the competition? It’s really good!’ Millie enthused. She scooped up the kitten and sat with him on the relegated couch. ‘Treasure and me will be your audience,’ she said.

‘No, come on, Katie, you’re distracting us,’ Louis said.

‘Oh
please
!’

‘She can stay, can’t she?’ Tess said to Louis. ‘Maybe she can give us some ideas.’

Louis shot Millie a look but said nothing.

‘From the top?’ Tess suggested.

Louis nodded.

When they came to the new bit, Louis stopped,
chewing on his thumbnail, thinking hard. Tess tried out some fresh moves. Millie stood up and did a twirl, her pink dress spinning out around her. ‘Why don’t you do this?’ she cried.

Tess laughed. ‘Oh, look at her, Liam, she’s so sweet! She could be our lucky mascot or something!’

Louis looked at his sister. And wondered why he suddenly hated her.

On Saturday morning, Miss Kano was suitably impressed. ‘Wouldn’t have been my first choice of music but I really like what you’ve done with it so far. I think we should keep going with this. You’ve got an excellent introduction – now we need to start building it up a little.’

‘The cool stuff!’ Tess rubbed her hands together with a gleam in her eyes. ‘Spins and tumbling!’

For the next hour and a half they worked on the middle section of the dance, linking step sequences to some of the bigger elements. By the time they got round to having a break, the windows had steamed up and Louis’ hair was plastered to the sides of his burning face. He glugged thirstily from his water bottle while Tess and Miss Kano discussed the subject of shoes – notably how to get around the problem of needing trainers for the tumbling and dance shoes for the step work.

‘We can incorporate it into our dance!’ Tess joked. ‘The changing-shoes scene!’

Louis chuckled at the thought.

‘Seriously,’ Miss Kano said, ‘we need to get it right or one of you could end up with a broken toe. Let’s stay in trainers for the time being and I’ll have a scoot around the net tomorrow and see what I can come up with.’

‘She’s pretty decent, Miss Kano,’ Tess said as they sat on the wall in the heavy midday heat, waiting for Tess’s ride. ‘I’ve known her since I was six. She taught me ballet in the church hall. Then she started a modern-dance class, jazz and tap. She teaches them all herself.’

‘Why isn’t she a professional dancer?’ Louis asked. ‘She could be – she’s that good.’

‘She used to be,’ Tess replied. ‘She was in a couple of West End shows. But then she got married and moved up here. You’ve got to be in London to be a professional dancer.’

‘Oh,’ Louis said.

‘She calls me her borrowed daughter,’ Tess went on. ‘When I was little, she used to take me down to London in the school holidays to see the Royal Ballet— Hey!’ She broke off as Louis downed the remains of the Coke. ‘Have you finished it all, you greedy pig?’

‘It’s so hot,’ Louis said in his defence. ‘I’m dehydrated.’

‘Well, stop sweating all over me then,’ Tess retorted, shaking imaginary droplets off her arm. ‘God, it’s scorching. You know what I’d really love to do right now? Dive into Easedale Tarn, or Rydal Water, or Grasmere—’

‘Why don’t we then?’ Louis looked at her. ‘Me and my brother and sister swim in Easedale Tarn all the time.’

‘Now?’ Tess said.

‘Now,’ Louis replied.

‘But I don’t have my swimsuit.’

Louis chewed his lower lip. ‘Now that could be a problem.’

‘Wait a minute,’ she said. ‘I’m so stupid! I’ve got my leotard on under my tracksuit. That’ll do!’

As soon as Tess’s mum arrived, she was sent off again, muttering about being nothing more than a taxi service. The cycle home with Tess on the back was tougher this time, under the beat of the midday sun. When they reached the farmhouse, Louis felt ready to pass out, red blotches pulsating in front of his eyes. Dad gave them the usual lecture about not going out of their depth as Millie tried to persuade Max to let her bring Treasure along. Louis went to find Tess a towel. Then they set off, Millie riding on Max’s handlebars, Tess on the raised saddle of Millie’s bike.

The water felt wonderful on Louis’ sun-scorched skin. He sank beneath the surface and felt the itchy, salty sweat melt away into the breathtakingly cold, clear water. They had started swimming in another lake now – it was a bit further from the farmhouse but more secluded from the holiday hikers, shut-off by towering mountains on every side. There was even a waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain and into the far end of the lake about half a mile away. Millie was climbing up onto Max’s shoulders and diving off. Tess was swimming a swift, elegant crawl, right out towards the island in the centre of the lake. Louis decided to follow her.

It was a long way out, further than he’d first realized. At one point he thought of heading back, his arms and legs still aching after all the dancing and cycling. But then he forced himself to press on. If Tess could do it, why couldn’t he? About a hundred metres ahead of him, he saw with some relief that Tess was now wading through the water towards the grassy bank of the island. When he reached her, he was spent, his leg muscles trembling with exhaustion as he clambered over the sharp stones onto the muddy bank.

Tess was lying back, breathing hard. Louis threw himself face down a little further away and for a while neither of them said anything, struggling to catch their
breath. Then he raised his head from his arms and looked at her through the tall grass. She was still lying down. He could make out the water droplets glistening on her cheek. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She had her eyes closed. Louis rolled onto his side and propped his head up against his hand.

‘Boo,’ he said.

She didn’t jump. Instead she opened one eye and turned her head, squinting against the glare of the sun. ‘Is that you, Liam?’

‘Yes,’ Louis replied.

There was a silence. Tess closed her eyes again. Louis waited. She didn’t move. Her breathing slowed. A drop of water ran down her cheek, pearling on her earlobe. ‘Your name isn’t really Liam, is it,’ she said.

It wasn’t phrased as a question. A pounding began in his chest. A rushing in his ears. After a very long silence he managed, ‘What do you – what do you mean?’

She opened her eyes. Turned her head to look at him through the grass. ‘Your name’s Louis, isn’t it?’

Breathing hard, Louis sat up cross-legged. ‘I – I already told you. Liam is my name. Louis is my nickname.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ Tess said evenly. ‘No one has a completely separate name for a nickname. Louis is a French name, isn’t it? And you
are
from French-speaking
New Caledonia – or did you lie about that too?’

Silence. Louis felt as if his insides were trembling.

‘And I’ll bet your brother’s name isn’t really Josh. And your sister’s name isn’t really Katie. Neither of those names are French as far as I know. And you
are
French, I know that much, because of your accents.’

‘I’m
not
French – I mean, I
am
French,’ Louis stumbled. ‘I’m French-speaking, but I’m from New Caledonia.’ His head was spinning and he suddenly felt violently sick.
Max, help!

‘Oh, I get it, you’re not even from New Caledonia.’ Tess sat up slowly, folding her long legs and resting her chin on her knees. ‘This is getting more and more interesting. Where are you from then?’

Jesus
, Louis thought desperately,
have I given the whole game away?

Tess narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Why are you looking so scared?’

Louis swallowed, not trusting himself to speak.

‘I’m not trying to be horrid,’ Tess said. ‘I’m just curious. Why are you lying about your names and where you come from? Did your dad rob a bank or something? Are you in hiding?’

More silence.

Tess’s expression sobered even further. ‘Is it serious?’

Louis looked down at the ground. It was an effort to breathe.

‘Louis . . .’ Sitting up, concerned now, she touched his arm.

His head shot up. ‘You mustn’t tell anyone. You’ve got to absolutely promise not to tell anyone! Not Max, nor Dad, nor Millie. They’d go crazy if they thought you knew!’

‘Of course, Louis, I promise,’ Tess said. Her hand was still on his arm.

Louis leaned forward and put his head in his hands. ‘Oh God, I can’t believe it’s coming out already. I can’t believe we only managed to last barely over a month—’

‘Hold on, hold on,’ Tess said reasonably. ‘Nobody else knows, I’m sure. If people thought you were hiding something, it would be all round the village, and nobody’s said a word. It’s only me who’s guessed. And that’s probably only because I’ve been spending so much time with you.’

Louis ran his hands through his wet hair, trying to resist the urge to pull it out. ‘If you tell anyone . . .’ he began. ‘If you tell anyone, I mean
anyone
—’

‘What, you’ll come back and slit my throat?’ She started to laugh, then quickly disguised it with a cough. ‘No, seriously, I won’t tell anyone, Louis.’

He took a deep breath, then exhaled and spoke very fast. ‘You’re right, my name
is
Louis. And Josh and Katie are really Max and Millie. We’re from Paris. And our dad is wanted by the French police for something called non-custodial child abduction.’

Tess’s eyes widened. ‘Whoa. You mean your mum’s
alive
? Your dad kidnapped you from your
mum
?’ Her voice was incredulous.

‘Yeah, exactly.’

‘No way,’ she breathed. ‘How did he abduct you?’

‘He didn’t really. It’s just the term they use. We thought he was taking us on holiday. When we found out what had happened, he gave us the choice of going back. But as it meant choosing between staying here with Dad or going back to Paris and never seeing him again, we chose to stay here.’

‘But what about your mum?’ Tess looked aghast. ‘Don’t you miss her?’

‘Yes, of course, but she was never really around. She’s a broker in a big trading firm – she’s always worked long hours. When we were little, before we went to school, Dad was the one who gave up work and stayed home to look after us. It’s not that we don’t love our mother, we’ve just never been that close to her, that’s all.’