Call Me Rumpel

Chapter Thirty

For the second time in the last two weeks, I'm nervously waiting for William, and not because my hair is brown again. People have complimented me, making me wonder why I was so obsessed with changing it in the first place—until I remember the days I spent in year seven thinking it made me boring and mousy.

He's not here yet, so I allow my eyes to roam around the hall. Sean is talking to someone at his locker, but it's only when he shuts the door that I see it's Courtney. Dad's spiel yesterday brings forth fresh guilt at the thought I'd typed her name in. I wait until their conversation wraps up before I walk over.

"Hey, Courtney."

She sighs and starts walking down the hall. "Look, don't worry about the reading program, alright? I'll tell Mrs A we're doing it and all."

"I don't mind."

"Yeah, well, I do. I'm perfectly capable of reading by myself."

She keeps walking, quickening her step, yet she can't hide the way her eyes are tearing up.

"Is—is everything—"

"Everything's fine," she snaps. Sighing, she stops walking. "Sorry. If you must know, Vincent's body has been released to us, but it hasn't exactly brought the closure I thought it would. His funeral's on Friday."

"Oh. Do you mind if I come along? To pay my respects?"

"You want to come to the funeral?"

"Only if you don't mind..."

"Yes! I mean, yes, please. That would be nice," she says, doing a one-eighty and beaming at me. "I'll give you the details of the service later."

"Sure."

She bounces off as Sean walks over. "You want to go to Vinnie's funeral?"

"I'm not a fan of funerals, but I want to support her."

"That's nice of you."

I punch his arm lightly. "Don't act so surprised."

He returns my grin. "So, have you made any progress on the, er, the other Vincent thing?"

"Not exactly. Except I don't think Quinn had anything to do with it. I mean, after everything that happened at Aroha's..."

And that Quinn's name hadn't been a password match, but he doesn't need to know that.

Sean mulls this over. "Yeah, fair enough. I don't think Aroha or Tui did, either. They're not... Well..."

"Murderer material?"

"That's one way to put it."

I spot William coming down the hall, scanning the area. He claps eyes on me and gives a wary smile, but then he spots Sean and his face transforms into a scowl. He turns to leave, my chance to fix things blown before I can even open my mouth.

"Sorry, I've got to catch William up on everything."

"Don't worry, I'll keep at it," Sean says, then rolls his eyes. "Right now, though, Mrs A wants to see me."

"Good luck."

I sprint down the hall and skid around the corner as William ascends the stairs. "Wait!"

He sighs, stopping mid-step. "What do you want, Mishka? Are you going to admit you're with Sean?"

Mishka? What happened to Little Imp?

"No, because it's still not true." I check behind us, making sure the stairwell is empty. "You know exactly why he and I were talking." He crosses his arms, so I add, "You have to believe me."