Page 52 of Star Struck

‘But that was after the quiz!’

‘So you don’t deny that. What about an unauthorised attempt to access Fallen Skies material from Jay’s laptop? You know anything about that?’

I opened my mouth and closed it again. Bloody Felix and his trying to look for information! There was a sick feeling starting at the base of my throat.

‘All right. Do you deny that you went to Mr Tudor-Morgan’s accommodation yesterday, that you let yourself in, and that some minutes later you were alone with him in the bathroom?’

‘He was in the shower. I wasn’t.’ I sounded sulky but really it was just me trying to avoid hyperventilating. This was a set up.

‘Have you, or have you not, ever been — now how shall I put this so as not to cause offence? — naked, or partly naked with Mr Tudor-Morgan or Mr Whitaker and have you ever kissed, touched intimately or had sexual congress with Mr Tudor-Morgan or Mr Whitaker, delete where applicable.’

I frowned. ‘No! Delete where applicable?’

‘Sorry. It’s a standard lawyers’ form.’ Gary rubbed his eyes and the man leaning on the wall with his arms folded, shifted position, as though both of them were embarrassed by this. ‘Y’see Skye,’ he leaned forward and the table rocked, ‘it’s not about what you’ve done, or haven’t done. It’s the fact that you could have. There’s a lot of young people out there who wanted that part in the series. And, if I might say it, you do look awful close with Jay.’

‘Gethryn kissed me. That’s all that happened,’ I muttered. Behind me, Jack swore.

Gary moved his eyes slowly over my face. They lingered on the scar, moved off and came back to it. Twice. ‘Yeah. But d’you see it from the organisers’ point of view? There’s an element of doubt in your winning. I’m real sorry, Skye, but that’s how it is.’

‘Fuck it.’ Jack moved forward to lean on the table. ‘She won fair and square, Gary, and you know it. Even if we had been sleeping together, you know me well enough to say that I’d never give information out like that.’

‘For the record, I don’t think you cheated. But it isn’t what I think that matters here.’ Gary lowered his voice. ‘And while you would never give anything away, there’s Geth in this equation, and can you truly say that he’d never fix the quiz?’ The two men stared at one another for a few seconds.

‘He never had access to the answers,’ Jack almost breathed. ‘I made sure.’

‘It’s not about what happened, Jay. It’s about what could have happened. We have to be seen to be doing it right, or next year our viewing figures get blown outta the water by some Stargate shit.’

Jack straightened up and replaced his glasses. ‘Okay,’ he said tiredly. ‘Okay. Yes, you’re right. We have to be seen to be doing it right. Course.’ He ran both hands through his hair, raking them down to his shoulders, which he raised in a quick shrug. ‘Sorry, Skye.’

‘You’re taking the prize away from me?’ Oh my God, Felix! He was already planning his future LA career; knowing him he’d already picked out his Oscars’ outfit. And written the acceptance speech.

Gary shrugged. ‘We’ll move every winner up a prize category. And don’t worry, Jay, we’ll say that there was a mistake with the marking system, you won’t be implicated.’

Jack gave him a dark look. ‘That,’ he said tightly, ‘is very kind of you, but the least of my worries.’

I thought of Jennifer, second-prize winner, and her face when she learned she’d won the date with Gethryn. I didn’t think she would regard being bumped up to being an extra as an improvement, particularly when Gethryn wasn’t even going to be in the series any more. And third-prize winner, now Gethryn’s date, was a bloke. Probably safer.

I only realised that I was crying when Jack held out a handkerchief. ‘Go on. It’s clean.’

I blubbed into it for a second, then looked at him. ‘Where did you have it? There’s no pockets in that.’

‘Trouser leg.’

‘Oh. Ewwww.’

‘Go back to the ball. We won’t announce this until tomorrow, give you a chance to get clear, okay?’ Gary looked at Jack. ‘Best I can do.’ Then his eyes rested on me, almost kindly. ‘I’m real sorry, Skye. But, you gotta see it from our point of view, and you and him seem real tight, y’know?’

‘Yes,’ I sniffed. ‘But I didn’t even know who Jack was when I first met him.’

Gary grinned. ‘How’s your ego, Iceman?’

‘It’s good, thanks. Come on, Skye, let’s go back. We can try and enjoy ourselves.’

I just shook my head and let Jack lead the way back, squeezing past an eyebrow-raising Antonio on the reception desk to the entry to the diner. Through the doors I could see that some of the Thulos had cast off their restrictive all-enveloping muslin wraps to dance to the band, a Klingon was smoking outside, smoke straining through his pasty forehead looking very peculiar, and the inflatable Dalek was attempting to snog a pilot. I had to find Felix and tell him what had happened, before one of the organisers did.

‘Skye.’ Jack steered me into a dark corner near the stairs in the reception area. ‘I am truly sorry about this.’

‘Not your fault.’ I blew my nose again.

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