Page 34 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘Uhhh… J.B. is March second. Miller, April twenty-third. Cal, July nineteenth. Aidan, August third. Ravi, September twenty-eighth.’

I go through them in my head. ‘Right. Don’t tell anyone from Silverpix I’m doing this, alright?’ I say.

‘What do we say to Vaughn if you don’t pass this test?’ Meredith asks, failing to keep the tremor from her voice.

I blow out my cheeks. ‘However much power they think they have to kill this documentary, the likelihood is, they don’t. But it might put to bed the idea that I know nothing about them.’

‘And if you crash and burn?’

‘I’ll think about that if it happens.’

‘Lex, we’re ready for ya!’ Miller calls over.

Duncan squeezes my arm. ‘They’re wee jokers. You can change your mind. This is not how things work, Lex. You can talk to Silverpix about getting their buy in.’

I squeeze his upper arm. ‘When we spoke to those migrants in Calais, what did we say? Do you remember?’

Duncan frowns, and I imagine he’s thinking back to a very wet night at a makeshift camp lined with tents, full of desperate people waiting to make the journey across the English Channel. ‘We said if we want their trust, we have to speak a language they understand.’

I give him a nod. ‘This isnothingin comparison.’

I walk calmly back over to the sofas. J.B. lays me out a chair to sit on, as though I’m about to have a panel interview. Aidan’s sitting to one side, still frowning. Cal grins at me, resting his crossed ankles on the surface of the table.

‘I have one more condition,’ I say, before I take my seat.

‘Oh yeah, what’s that?’ Ravi asks.

I look to Aidan. ‘If I get all these questions right, you have to be nice to me. Or civil, at least.’

The boys all make anooooohsound. Aidan produces a thin-lipped, highly fake smile, specifically designed, I think, to throw me off guard.

I sit down.

‘You ready, Lex?’ Ravi asks.

‘I am.’

‘Can I just ask, Lexi,’ J.B. pipes up. ‘Are you serious about leaving? If you don’t get eight out of ten questions correct?’

‘Of course not,’ I say and I’m panicking underneath, because my mind’s emptied of anything Rebel Heat related. ‘I’m just letting you all think that.’

‘Good thing we’ll be holding you to your promise then,’ Aidan says tersely.

‘Right, Cal, you’re up,’ Ravi says.

A silence descends. ‘Who was Miller’s first kiss?’ Cal asks me.

It’s a good first question, and I relax a little, because I know the answer. ‘Her name was Eden. You kissed her in a treehouse when you were nine.’

‘She’s right,’ Miller says and I think I see Aidan grimace.

‘Question two,’ Ravi announces. ‘Cal was arrested in Sydney aged fifteen. But what was he arrested for?’

I bite my lip. I know this one too. ‘Public indecency. You dropped your trousers in front of a police officer. And you weren’t wearing any underwear.’

‘Two for two,’ Miller hums.

J.B. leans forward. ‘Three. My son Xavi. What is his middle name?’

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