Page 36 of The Reunion

‘You were in a scene with him?’ Mara says, frowning. ‘But you weren’t in the movie.’

‘What?’

‘I watched it. I even rewound the credits to look for your name, I told my girlfriend you were in it and we were looking out for you. I didn’t see you in it?’

Oh, fuck. Fuckity fuck.

‘Well, you know, it was a very small role’ – I was an extra for one scene and my only job was to stand in the background at a party, so even that’s stretching the truth – ‘and a lot of things end up on the cutting-room floor. It’s just Hollywood, you know how it is.’

‘Wait,’ says someone else, and bloody hell, when did Hayden get here? When did he decide to slink into the group all silent and stealthy like that, and butt in? He barely even used to speak up in class, but now – what, now, all of a sudden, he’s Mr Chatterbox? His eyes are glassy, too; trust Hayden to have such an accurate memory even when he’s a little bit drunk. ‘I thought you said earlier you were an extra on that movie? You told Thea and Priya—’

‘I said I might as well have been,’ I snap, and, shit, can they all hear my heart thundering at a hundred miles an hour? I try to compose myself, but not even that don’t be suspicious soundbite from Parks and Rec can save me now. I force my snarl at Hayden into more of a smile, and the laugh I attempt sounds too high-pitched to be passably realistic. I toss my ponytail over my shoulder and jut a hip out to the side, then roll my eyes at Elise. ‘As if this guy here knows anything about cinema, am I right? No, it was totally just one of those things. But it was such a good experience …’

Mara doesn’t look totally convinced, though, and I dare not look at everybody else to see if they’ve got similar responses. I can’t afford to. I have to maintain this façade, I’m in too deep. Thankfully, I’m saved by whatever probing question Mardy Mara has started to ask when I notice Freddie Loughton, Hiro, Tommy, and two or three other people making for the doors, all of them shoving at each other and laughing.

You will not convince me those boys are taking a trip to the toilets together. No chance.

I’m almost tempted to let them go. They’ll just muck around in the hallways a bit, maybe go visit the old common room and see what it looks like now, but … What if they stumble off towards the drama department? What if they see the posters from the last orchestra trip when I was a chaperone, or find my classroom? They’re never going to let that lie, and everyone will know in a few seconds, and – no. I can’t let that happen.

Plus, I don’t think I can afford to stay here acting sus for another second.

I dart away from the group and make a beeline for the boys just as they get through the doors. I pick up the pace and bellow, ‘Freddie Loughton! Hiro Tanaka! You lot get back in here now.’

The boys, to their credit, stop joking around and fall quiet.

Unfortunately for me, so does half of the rest of the hall. I feel eyes on me, see heads swivel in my direction, but stand my ground, arms crossed and one hip out, eyebrows raised. The lads all exchange uncertain looks, but shuffle back into the hall.

‘I said, no gallivanting around the school. Didn’t I say that? Tommy?’

‘Yeah – um, yes, Bryony.’

‘Yeah, I thought I did. So where are you all off to?’

Two of them are smart enough to say ‘bathroom’. Hiro mutters something about a smoke break, which I’m not buying after all the stuff I saw he retweeted about how there should be more regulations around vapes and how bad he thinks they are.

‘Aw, come on, Bryony,’ Freddie says, lurching towards me with a smile. If he’s trying to emulate Ryan, it’s not working – and if Ryan cared to get them out of this, he doesn’t step forward from wherever he is to try. ‘We were just having a laugh. Swear down we won’t mess anything up.’

‘Mm-hmm. Back inside, boys. I said no wandering around, and I meant it. This is my reputation on the line if you lot screw things up, okay?’

The other guys behind Freddie mumble apologies, filtering back into the hall. A few people are laughing and Tommy gives a melodramatic shrug and sheepish roll of his eyes, playing up to the attention. He claps Freddie on the back as he passes, but Freddie only scowls and stays put.

‘So much for the hostess with the mostest,’ he says, none too quietly. ‘That was so anti-dank of you.’

‘What’s anti-dank is you thinking you can pull off saying that.’

‘I thought you were always up for some fun, Bryony. Like at Morgan’s New Year’s party in Year Twelve, remember?’

‘Oh, sweetie.’ Poor kid really hasn’t grown up in the last ten years if he thinks he can slut-shame me. I walk up and pat his shoulder, giving him my best patronising-teacher smile I use when kids act up in my classes and I need them to understand I’m not buying their bullshit. ‘Sadly, all I remember about that is that it lasted about thirty seconds. I’ve had smear tests more intimate.’

Freddie flushes. I give his shoulder another gentle pat before turning around to a sea of grinning, scandalised, delighted faces, relishing the gossip and drama. A couple of girls raise their drinks to me; I notice Morgan almost doubled over laughing, wiping tears from her eyes.

It’s tonight’s equivalent of a standing ovation, and I’ll take it.

Chapter Eighteen

Steph

‘Most Likely to End Up Together’

---