Page 77 of The Reunion

Boy, am I about to make it their problem.

‘This isn’t funny,’ I snap at them, and a little spit flies from my mouth. I decide I don’t care. ‘This isn’t a joke, so you can stop laughing right now. You have no idea what I went through trying to pull this party together tonight, and all you lot have done is try to flout the rules I set and take advantage. It’s like none of you have grown up in the last ten years! None of you!’ I add, turning to the wider crowd, and they’re a captive audience, and it makes my adrenaline spike just like if they were seated and I were on stage, and that makes me feel – for once – sick to my stomach.

I think I finally understand stage fright, because I’m about this close to vomiting.

But the show must go on, and my voice is still spilling out of my open mouth and I can’t seem to stop it.

‘None of you have any idea what it took to make tonight happen. Like it was just an email, maybe a phone call, ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, but it’s not. If things go tits-up tonight – which, let’s face it, they kind of already have – this isn’t just an invoice I’ll send to someone for busting a lock on a classroom door or a complaint over some scribbling on whiteboards, this is my job on the line!’

‘Your job?’ Steph asks, and she’s not the only one.

And I’m crying, which is the icing on the cake. It’s going to ruin my eyeliner. I sniffle and throw my head back, dabbing my fingertips at the corners of my eyes and trying to will the tears away. It doesn’t work as well as I hoped it would.

‘What do you mean, your job is on the line?’ Roisin asks me.

‘Do you, like …’ Hiro laughs, and it’s a bit nervous. ‘D’you work here, or something?’

‘Bryony,’ says Trendy Elise, mouth agape. ‘Are you a teacher here?’

One night.

That’s all I wanted, just one night, living the lie I’ve crafted oh so carefully in an effort to keep my dreams alive.

For ten years, they’ve believed I was genuinely, truly making it as an actress. Living my best life. Being the main character – sort of. For ten whole years, they’ve liked my Insta posts and occasional Facebook updates and have all lived in awe, on tenterhooks to one day see me pop up as the leading lady in a trailer for a new movie as they’re scrolling TikTok or whatever, stunned by the glitzy life they all knew I was destined to lead.

And all it’s taken is one night to undo it all.

Time moves slowly in the next couple of seconds. I watch eyes bugging wide and jaws dropping, practically hear the cogs whirring as my old friends all turn to each other to whisper about how I pulled the wool over their eyes, everybody so confused and exhilarated by this plot twist like the reveal about the killer in a Knives Out movie.

It’s my final flourish. The curtain descends. Hold the applause. Exit stage left, hand off your wig and props as you go. House lights come back on; reality resumes.

I blink, feeling cold all over, the sequins on my jumpsuit chafing nastily against my arms, threatening to leave my skin all raw and scratched-up tomorrow, and the sound of muttering and whispers hits me like a brick wall.

I can feel Hayden looking at me, but I don’t want to see what the expression on his face is. If I were him, I’d be feeling pretty smug right now; I deserve this exposure, after I kept cutting people down to size all night. I’m no better than any of them. But Hayden’s a good guy, and that’s worse because I think he might be looking at me like he feels sorry for me, and I don’t think I can handle that right now.

In fact, I don’t want to handle any of this right now. The fallout belongs to Famous Bryony, and Famous Bryony can’t come to the phone right now. She is …

She’s not dead, because she never existed.

I let habit take over as I turn to Steph, and I raise my voice. Projecting, not like I would for a performance, but to be heard across the playground when I’m on duty.

‘I need some people to help track down Ashleigh and Ryan. Trustworthy people – ones who know the school. Morgan, Hassan, Josh, you take the top floor; Priya, Thea and Hiro, you take the second … Roisin, Elise, I need you to check around the maths department. Steph and Shaun, you take the music and drama rooms. Hayden – you can come with me. Everybody else – back to the school hall. The music’s still going, so enjoy the party.’

It sounds more like a threat than anything else, but they’re all smart enough not to argue with me, shuffling en masse back indoors.

I trudge back to Hayden, snatching the elbow of his shirt and yanking him inside with me. We’ll check some of the common areas and the gym, and I guess we’d better swing by the science department in case that’s not locked up properly.

God, what a mess.

Hayden wriggles his arm and I think he’s trying to shake me off, but when I do let go, he does it again and bumps me to get my attention. I can’t look at him, but he says quietly, ‘I’m sorry it all came out like that, B, but …’

‘If you tell me it’s “for the best”, I might have to lock you in that cupboard by the English rooms.’

He gives a breath of laughter, and something in me relaxes a little. ‘I was going to say, that was pretty badass.’

I snort. Yeah, not fucking likely. It was pathetic, and I tell Hayden, ‘That’s a pathetic attempt at cheering me up. But … thanks.’

‘Sure. What’re friends for?’

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