Non Pratt - Trouble

I hurry past the cemetery and try to forget it’s where I pulled Mark Grey. He trod on my foot so hard as he grappled with my bra that I thought he’d broken it (my foot, not the bra). It kind of brought home to me that maybe he wasn’t my type. Too chunky. And sweaty. You should see him during PE — gross. I wasn’t joking when I said I can’t forgive Katie for her bad taste.

By the time I get to Cedarfields and sign the visitors’ book, water is running off my chin and it blurs my signature. I head to the end of the corridor, where I knock on the door and wait, listening to the shuffling and kerfuffling on the other side. Then the door opens.

“Hannah?”

“Gran.” I step in and give her a hug, resting my nose on her tiny, bony shoulder and smelling her lily-of-the-valley perfume. I close my eyes, trying to remember what it was like when I was smaller than her and she was the one who had to be careful not to squeeze too tight. Tiny, bird-like body or not, she’s the strongest person I know. The steadiest. The least judgmental.

“You’re soaked.” She steps back and eyes me suspiciously. “Don’t sit down until you’ve dried yourself — there’s clean towels in the bathroom. This place ain’t no hotel, but they do have plenty of fresh linen.”

I like the way she says “hotel” — as if there’s no “o” in it. I spend a long time in the bathroom, towelling my hair dry, looking at my reflection, going to the loo just in case…

Gran watches me carefully when I come out and sit in the chair opposite. “What’s up, pet?”

That’s when the tears come and I reach out, knotting her fingers with mine. When my eyes clear I see there’s a tissue on my knee that wasn’t there before. It’s rumpled and very, very soft and I know it’s come from Gran’s sleeve.

I open my mouth, but I can’t form the words. Instead I just shake my head and start crying again, snuffling into the tissue until it’s soggy with snot.

“Come on, now, Hannah, you’re scaring me.” I look through my tears to see her fix me with a stern glare. “What’s the matter?”

“I think I’m pregnant.”

The word seems to hang in the air for an impossibly long moment. Everything has stopped and the room holds its breath, waiting for the meaning to sink in. Pregnant . My insides are hollow and I can hear the word echo through me. Except I’m the opposite of hollow, aren’t I? That’s the problem.

Gran blinks once, then a couple of times, her lids fluttering over her eyes.

“Oh. Really?”

I nod and take a deep breath that wavers in my lungs like it’s not sure it should be there.

“Oh,” she says again, blinking some more. “Are you sure?”

“I looked up the symptoms on the Internet.” She huffs at that. I’m always telling her stuff I’ve read on the Internet and every time she says that if everyone was meant to know everything, then God would have made us all much cleverer. “I’ve not been sick, but I’ve got the other symptoms — my boobs are tender, I’m tired…”

“You’ve not had your monthly visitor?”

I shake my head. “It should’ve been and gone by now.”

I look up to see Gran looking at me with wise eyes, twinkly with the moisture that always seems to be trapped there. I can’t tell what she’s thinking. Is she disappointed in me? She must be. The thought makes me start to cry again, silent, sad tears spilling off my face and onto my school shirt.

“Hey, pet, shh.” She pulls me to her. “You don’t know anything for sure until you take a test. Have you?”

I shake my head into her cardigan. Gran gently pushes me upright and creaks out of her chair and takes a twenty out of her handbag. I get up, intending to wave it away, but she presses it into my hand and gives me a look that means business.

“There’s a chemist round the corner by the parade. Get two tests and come back here.” She strokes the back of my hand with soft, cool fingers. “You don’t need to do this alone.”

Rex is having a house party. Depending on who you ask, he’s either celebrating the end of the half-term, or the end of his relationship with the invisible girlfriend. Either way, he plans to get wasted and get laid — in that order. He’s invited half the school to his house tonight and it’s all the guys have been talking about. Tyrone is grumbling because Marcy’s got some modelling job that means she can’t come. I say, “grumbling”; I mean, boasting.

I cut my visit to the old folks’ home short so I could come early and hang out with Rex. I don’t really know why he asked me over, but it’s nice of him and since there’s a certain weight of expectation from Mum that her son will socialize on Fridays, I accepted.

I’m starting to regret my decision.

“What do you reckon?” This is the fourth shirt he’s tried on and it doesn’t look that different from the last three.

“Fine,” I say, looking at my phone and wondering when the others will get here.

“Come on, man. I need your help.”

“Why?” I know nothing about clothes, nor why Rex cares. It’s just a house party.

“You always dress cool. I want to look good.”

“In that case I should have brought my mum over. She’s the one who buys my clothes,” I say, letting my guard down.

Rex laughs and I do too. It feels like we’re mates.

“Seriously, though. I need to look good.” He crashes back onto his bed and looks at me.

“Why?”

“Have you ever fallen for someone you shouldn’t?”

I shrug, but Rex isn’t really asking me — for which I am grateful.

“That’s totally happening to me.” He sits up and looks at me seriously. “Don’t tell anyone this, but I’m, like, obsessed with Katie Coleman.”

“Really?” I have no idea how he’s found anything in her to obsess over. There’s no depth there that I can see.

“I know, I know…” He doesn’t. He thinks I’m puzzled because of her reputation. Actually that’s the one thing I can understand Rex would find enticing, since he seems unbelievably desperate to get his end off. “But I just think she’s got levels, y’know? She’s such a tease, but half of it’s just front.”

There’s an obvious joke there about the cup size of Katie’s front, but I don’t go for it.

“I thought you pulled her the other week?” The night I left the park with Hannah.

“Nah.” Rex shrugs. “Was in a relationship, wasn’t I?”

I hope that question is rhetorical, because if I had to answer, I’d tell him that it doesn’t count if the person you’re seeing doesn’t exist.

“So… now you’re single, you’ll shag Katie?” I ask, without actually wanting to know.

“Might not be that easy, mate.”

“Yeah, right.” My disbelief is palpable.

“Just because you went there with Hannah doesn’t mean Katie’s the same…” I should remind him that Katie gave one of his friends a hand job behind the toilets in the park, but he’s still talking. “Besides, you’ve seen how Tyrone is about Hannah — can’t stand her.”

There’s no arguing with that. I could count on one hand the words he’s spoken to me since the Hannah incident.

“You can’t let Tyrone tell you who to fancy,” I hear myself saying.

“I know, but he’s my best mate and Hannah’s Katie’s best mate… I don’t want it to be difficult if I start seeing her.”

He wants to go out with her? I thought we were just talking about tonight.

I’d like to say that Tyrone’s big enough to let his friends do whatever — whoever — they want, but that’s a lie. Tyrone is someone who likes to control everyone — especially his friends.