Chapters (93)

She hates the school anyway. Hates her home too. Her body, her face.

‘Katherine, please hold up!’

It’s definitely Becca, but she’s not stopping for her. Fuck her. And her girlfriend. Katherine picks up her pace.

‘Where are you going? It’s chucking it down!’

Katherine runs. Sprints. Her lungs are screaming but there’s something glorious about running without a destination. Pain jolts in her ankle as she stumbles off the pavement, but then it’s gone and her legs are still lifting and pushing.

‘Come back, Katherine! Where are you going?’

Becca’s voice is loud, so she must be close. Katherine hates to admit it, but she likes being chased. In the rain. It feels more special somehow.

The noise is like nothing she’s ever heard before. A screech. A thump. A car alarm going off. And still the pulse of rain falling. Not five minutes after all.

Katherine stops. She looks at the tarmac. Then she dares to shift her gaze, just slightly, until Becca’s body comes into view. She’s lying on her back, rain and blood submerging her beauty. There’s a woman too now, wailing and shaking, her head in her hands, standing next to a car in the middle of the road.

There are teachers running over, Mr Cannock with his first-aid bag. Students crawling out of holes. And there’s Clara. Collapsing beside Becca, curling her arms around her lifeless friend.

December 2021

Chapter 52

Kat

Kat stares at Beth’s front door and wills it to open. For Saskia to leave and Kat to take her place. Because she’s ready now. Ready to open up, tell Beth who she is, roll the dice and hope that this time it works. She can’t let the memory of Becca’s accident hold her back forever. Yes, it was her fault – the police might have concluded differently, but she knows the truth – yet that doesn’t mean risks are never worth taking. And after revealing too much to Saskia in the street, and losing her phone, all those incriminating photos, and with Mark in hospital, time is running out.

But she needs Saskia gone. Like she wishes Clara wasn’t there all those years ago. Accidental villains, blindly making things worse. Should she just knock? Barge in? Pull Saskia out of the house by her stupid blonde hair? She wishes she knew what Beth was thinking. Saskia will no doubt have relayed every word of their conversation, so of course Beth will be suspicious of Kat now. Would she be grateful to have Saskia out of the way so that she could grill Kat for an explanation, or is her focus elsewhere? Is it with Mark, worrying about him lying in a hospital bed? She remembers the hug Beth and Saskia shared on the doorstep, how Beth crumpled into the stupid blonde’s arms. Or is her focus with Saskia now?