Unexpected Rendezvous

Chapter 4

Perrie's POV

It takes less than fifteen minutes for me to realise this was a huge mistake.

At first, all I feel is relief as Leigh pulls out of the Charlton High car park. My thoughts are as bright and sunny as the crisp September weather: I'm free! I don't have to listen to Nelson's acceptance speech! I don't have to endure sympathetic looks from my friends and teachers! Nobody is going to remind me that, even though I'm no longer class president, I can engorge their manhood anytime! Leigh fires up a playlist filled with the kind of R&B Pop we both love, and we chat about music and movies and where we should go first. 

Then we run out of low hanging conversational fruit, and when I glance in the rearview mirror to see if Jade might have something to contribute, she looks sound asleep in the back seat. Or maybe she's just pretending; she used to say that sleeping in cars made her feel sick. Oh God. Is she regretting this already?

Doubts start seeping in: What if the school calls my parents to check on my absence? I can't remember what phone number we have on file. My parents still have a landline, even though we never use it, because it's bundled with cable. If the school calls that I'm fine, Dad unplugged it years ago to avoid scam and sales callers. But if they call one of my parents' phones, I'm screwed. Their flight doesn't board until around 11 our time, so there's still plenty of opportunity to catch them, and they'd be beyond disappointed in me.

Even if the school doesn't call, a teacher might say something to Jonnie about me being sick. He won't know to play along, and even if he did, let's face it: he wouldn't. He loves watching me squirm. Should I text him anyway and bribe him into silence somehow? What can I offer? Trainers? Right, like I have hundreds of pounds lying around for whatever limited edition pair of Nikes he's currently wearing.

Should I text my friends? I pull out my phone, and I already have a message from my best friend, Ellie. Where are you? Are you sick? Neither of us have missed school since we started hanging out four years ago, so there's no precedent for this, but it's definitely the thing we'd let one another know. 

My pulse starts to accelerate uncomfortably. What did Dad say this morning? All you can do is hold your head high. This is the opposite of that. This is me slinking away, hiding, letting everyone at school know that Nelson beat me in all possible ways. 

It's so hot in here. There's no air. Is the AC even on? I stare at the car's dashboard, at my phone, at Leigh, out the window, and then twist in my seat to look at Jade. Her eyes are still closed, but she murmurs, "Three...two...one..."

That halts my panicked inner monologue. "Huh?" I ask. "I thought you were asleep."

She opens her eyes and meets mine. "Freak-out."

"Excuse me?" I ask, startled.

"You. Freaking out about skipping school. Right on schedule."

"I'm not freaking out!" I snap. I don't know if I'm annoyed because she was faking sleep the whole time Leigh and I were talking, or because she nailed my mental state with her eyes closed. "I didn't say a word."

"You didn't have to." Jade yawns and rubs a hand across her head, ruffling her dark hair. "I could hear you bouncing around in your seat."

"I was not bouncing-"

"Guys, come on!" Leigh's voice holds a note of desperate cheer as she exits the motorway. "This is gonna be fun, seriously. And we won't get in trouble. Someone would've called by now if there was a problem."

I don't think that's necessarily true. But I don't want to get accused of "freaking out" again, so all I say is, "Where are we going?"

"I was thinking we could start at Camden Market? Lots of parking there, and places to get food and stuff. And the aquarium isn't too far on the tube if we want to head over there at some point. Check out the penguins, maybe."