Devlin's Secret

A Meeting

Andrea - The Past

I did go back the next day. Kay had given me a long lecture about being careful who I hang out with and told me that I didn't want people to think I was a creep. She'd actually gotten very worked up about the fact that I hadn't just instantly realised who I was sitting next to and insisted that I should "just know" who the people she didn't like were. Friendship with Kay was by her rules, and woe betide you if you broke them.

I decided I was willing to take that risk.

Devlin wasn't there when I arrived, but I sat down anyway in the hope that she hadn't been joking. But it was a long wait, and I was about to get up and leave when she rounded the corner.

"Oh, you actually came," she said. 

"Yeah," I shrugged. 

"So you don't mind being a creep then?"

"What?"

She laughed. "She texted that to me. You are going to make Andie look like a creep. Stay away from her, bitch."

My eyes widened. "God. Sorry."

"No, it's okay! It's not like you sent the message. I know what she's like."

I pondered the idea that Kay and Devlin had once been friends. I could believe it. It sometimes seemed as though everyone had once been friends with Kay. Perhaps she was making her way through the whole school. 

Devlin offered me an open bag of wine gums and I took three or four. She put some into her mouth, scowling. "God, you can just never get rid of her," she complained through them. 

I frowned. "What happened?"

"She gave me an ultimatum and I chose what she thought was an unappealing option."

I nodded. That made sense. Kay was all about giving people choices. That's what all her friendships were based on: a person having been forced to verbally acknowledge the friendship. She had done it to me just before secondary school. A childish habit that she hadn't yet grown out of. Obviously people normally opted to remain part of her little group rather then have to face whatever else she offered them. It wasn't worth the trouble. It was so rare for anyone to reject her, it made me wonder what she'd done to Devlin that was so bad that she'd rather have ridiculous rumours spread about her. 

"I like that haircut," said Devlin after a silence. 

"Thanks. My brother cut a chunk out for a laugh while I was sleeping so I was forced to get layers."

She chuckled. "Is that your natural colour?"

It wasn't. My hair was naturally a musty brown colour, but the stylist I went to had suggested that I go a couple of shades darker to help mask the fact that the layers had only slightly disguised the gap my brother William had created. 

"Is that yours?" I replied with a grin.

She placed a hand on top of her head. "Yea- oh, the blue!" She laughed in realisation. "It was one of those that looked amazing in the salon when I first got it done. Y'know, she put in a root so that it did look like my natural colour and I had a blow dry it was all glamorous. And I said I'd make sure to keep coming back to get it touched up and then I never went back again."

I smiled. That had been what my mum told me would happen when I said I wanted pink hair one time. Luckily, I had taken her advice. 

"I kinda wanna change it," she said. "What do you think? I want another bright colour."

We chatted for ages about what she might look like with different colours framing her face. I wondered if it meant something, this girl coming into my life so easily. This was the first time in a while that I'd spoken to someone outside of Kay's circle.

Devlin and I planned to meet behind Kay's back. Not at the same time again; we were actually skipping our language classes. It was going to be a bit of fun, nothing malicious, and we were fully expecting to get caught. But, for a very long time, we didn't. And it was great.