Reprise

Chapter 24

 Chapter Twenty-Four

'Play the video,' I say. Blazon has just come back from the bathroom, where she has just potentially filmed proof that Taylor is cheating on Watson.

She flips open the screen on the camera and rewinds to the point. All I can see is a green wall, and she explains, 'I was in the cubicle. Taylor and her friend were at the sinks, powdering their noses or whatever. There was a beep when I hit record but I think I covered it well enough with a cough. Now listen.'

The sound quality is not perfect, but it's easy enough to hear Taylor's friend say, 'So what's going on with you and Nelson? Are you guys back together?'

'I don't know,' Taylor says. 'He's so confusing. One minute he likes me, the next minute he hates my guts. And I'm exactly the same. I just don't know what to think about him. I mean it's Nelson, and it's always been Nelson, but he's been such a dickhead to me before and I'm worried he'll do it again.'

'Aw, babe, you've just got to do what makes you happiest and I can see that Nelson makes you happy,' the other girl says.

Taylor sighs. 'I just feel so bad about Watson. I wish Nelson would just let me finish with this whole thing. Urgh, I don't want to talk about it. Come on, let's see if we can get a cocktail. I'm sick of being sober.'

I hear the bathroom door open and close, and then the video turns to Blazon's face. Video Blazon smiles, and the footage finishes. I look up at real life Blazon.

'That's proof,' I say. 'And fuck her for feeling bad about Watson. She doesn't get to feel bad about Watson. She's a bitch.'

'My poor brother,' Blazon says.

'We have to tell Watson,' Ainsley says.

'We have to sit through this dinner first,' Blazon says. 'But you guys can come over to my house afterwards. We'll tell Watson together, and we'll all be there for him.'

The call for donations closes and the leader of the P&F group gets up on stage and asks everyone to take their seats.  The president of the P&F makes a speech thanking everyone for their generous donations towards Hilverton. My mother and her friends clap eagerly, but Blazon, Ainsley and I are unimpressed.

The catering staff serves alternating chicken and beef to our table, and because Ainsley is beside me I ask her whether she'd prefer chicken or beef.

'Chicken,' she says quickly, so I swap my plate with hers. My meal is a large piece of steak sitting on a bed of vegetables, with mashed potato soaked in a red wine sauce. It looks delicious and I start to eat quickly, before noticing that Ainsley hasn't picked up her knife and fork beside me.

'What's up, Ains?' I ask through a mouthful of meat.

'It's just... it's just the chicken,' she says.

'Eat the vegetables then,' I say. Her veggies are covered in a creamy looking sauce, and she looks at them distastefully.

Feeling sorry for her, I pick up the beans on my plate with a fork and put them on her plate. 'Look,' I say. 'There's no sauce and no chicken. Eat that.'

'Thanks,' she says quickly, and she eats one bean. 'I know it's stupid. I just don't know whether I want to eat meat anymore. I mean I've been thinking about it for a while, and I've been researching it and stuff.'

'Well that's good,' I say. 'Keep researching it and get all the facts and then you can make a choice about becoming vegetarian.'

'Yeah, I will.'

I finish my meal and I help Ainsley eat some of her food so it looks like she's at least attempted the meal. She's grateful, and her mum doesn't notice.