Page 7 of The Secret Of Us

One of them replies, but it’s hard to hear over the running water and the pounding in my ears as I try to catch my breath. I finish up, regretting that I didn’t leave myself enough time to wash and dry my hair. I wrap a towel around myself and spray some dry shampoo on my hair to make it look less like a bird’s nest before I leave the bathroom.

“One minute,” Chloe singsongs, checking an imaginary watch on her wrist.

I grab my uniform from where it’s laid out on my bed, tugging at my skirt that Amelia is half sitting on. She stands up and passes it to me, and I go back into the bathroom to get changed. But of course, because I am the luckiest girl in the world, I end up ripping a hole in my tights in my fight to get them on. I take them off with a groan of frustration, throwing them on the floor as a problem for future me.

I glance at myself in the mirror, adjusting the collar of my white shirt so it’s sitting properly above my navy jumper. I run a comb through my hair, doing my best to tackle it into a ponytail as I hear the girls moving around in my room. I will not let them choose pancakes over me. I pull a few blonde strands out to frame my face like Violet taught me to.

I’m still getting used to this new hair colour. When Isaac and Violet got back from their date night a few weeks ago and saw what I had done, all Isaac did was sigh, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses. Meanwhile, Violet stepped in to save me. I didn’t exactly do a great job bleaching it, but she helped me to fix it, turning it into a more natural blonde than the bright yellow I’d ended up with.

I open the bathroom door, and they’re both standing there, arms folded across their chests and no expression on their faces.

“Let’s go!” I smile at them sheepishly.

They stare back at me, completely straight-faced, until Amelia sputters out a laugh. It has a domino effect, and then we’re all giggling.

“I could not keep that up any longer,” Amelia says as I grab my bag and we leave my room.

The three of us make our way to breakfast, arms linked as we manifest pancakes and our usual table still being available. I silently hope that Ryan won’t be there, too. I don’t have the energy to deal with him on an empty stomach. I’ve managed to avoid seeing him so far, but it’s only a matter of time, considering we’re in the same homeroom.

We were only together for a few months, but for the entire time, it felt like he cared more about what our relationship looked like to others than about me. After spending so much time with Isaac and Violet, I realised how wrong our relationship was.

Luckily, our table is empty when we enter the dining hall, and the buttery smell of pancakes hits my nose. We all lean our heads back at the same time, silently thanking whatever higher power graced us with our favourite breakfast food.

“I’ll grab the table,” Chloe says.

“Pancakes and berries with apple juice?” I ask, confirming her usual order. She nods, and Amelia and I set off to join the queue as Chloe goes to our table. We load our trays up with stacks of berry-topped pancakes, a few slices of toast, and scrambled eggs before making our way over.

We’re quiet as we eat, and I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until all the food was in front of me. Once our plates are emptied and our stomachs stuffed, we lean back in our chairs. We’re cutting it close to being late, but we'll be fine as long as we leave here before the warning bell rings in a couple of minutes.

“Are we doing anything after school today? Chloe asks after taking a sip of juice.

“Movie?” I suggest, patting my stomach and wishing I’d worn a skirt that’s a little looser.

“Can we watch something other thanScream?” Amelia says, lolling her head in my direction.

“It’s a classic!” I nudge her side with my elbow and she shakes her head, trying to hide her smile.

I don’t know where my love for horror movies came from, but they’ve been my favourite for a while now. I love the formula of them, trying to figure out who the bad guy is and who the final girl will be. It’s fun to see how the story will play out. However, I know if I were ever in a horror movie, I’d be the person who dies by falling over a tree stump when the killer is nowhere near.

“Okay, but can we watch something else after? The mask still freaks me out,” Chloe shudders.

“Don’t worry, my angel, I’ll protect you.”

I pretend to gag as Chloe’s boyfriend, Josh, drops himself into the empty seat next to her, slinging his arm around her shoulder.

“Bub, I told you I’d see you in homeroom.” I don’t think she realises that her voice gets higher when she speaks to him.

“I know, but I couldn’t help myself.” He kisses her on the cheek and she grabs his face to turn it. Amelia and I take that as our cue to exit, leaving our trays on the table to clear once they’ve finished acting like they haven’t seen each other in ten years.

“Something is wrong with them,” I say as we start walking toward the main building.

“It’s kind of sweet,” Amelia says quietly. “I wish I had someone like that.”

She keeps talking, but I struggle to hear her over the voice in my head that wishes I had that, too.

For a second, I thought I had it with Ryan. On paper, we should have worked. We’re both decently attractive. He’s captain of the football team, I’m on the field hockey team, and we’ve been in the same class since Year Seven. All those points made me think we were meant to be, so I think we forced it to happen.

But over time, I realised he was putting on an act, pretending to be the person he thought I wanted him to be. Everything was for show so he could look cool in front of his friends and whoever else was around us. I would say I started losing feelings for him, but I don’t know if I ever had any.

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