At the End of the Garden

Chapter Seven

I text Angie the next morning to let her know that I wouldn't be meeting her at the bus stop like I usually would. When she asked why, I couldn't think of any excuse that she would believe. So, I said I would tell her later. I probably should have lied on the spot, now she must have thought there was an important reason I couldn't meet her, something that couldn't be said over text. I asked my dad to drop me to school to avoid accidentally bumping into her on the bus and arrived at the gates at exactly three past eight.
To my surprise, I caught Sidney trudging towards me at six minutes past, only one minute late.
"I'm impressed." I took the opportunity to tease him for a change.
"I had to get up like, five minutes earlier for this." He complained, half-heartedly. "It's so weird seeing so many people here... like entering the building not leaving it."
"Welcome to normal student life."
"We better hope that Ren and Michael have normal student lives." Sidney added.
He was right. What if they were late today? Or what if they were the type of people who arrived at school just in time for the first bell? We'd have no time to talk to them then. I began to worry, before I remembered I didn't care that much. In fact, if they weren't there, it would just give me an excuse to meet Sidney again later.
"Let's find out." I said, "Do you know where their form room is?"
"It's one of two, one's upstairs, one's down."
"Let's go to the downstairs one first."
"Duh." Sidney responded and began to lead the way.
They weren't downstairs. We checked upstairs, and they weren't there either. Sidney optimistically lead me downstairs again. We didn't find them. Sidney thought they could be at the lunch hall. They weren't. He must have had endless energy because he suggested we go upstairs again. I wondered how many people saw us together as we lapped around the building. We finally found the pair, upstairs, five minutes before the bell indicating the start of Form would ring.
"There's the people we wanted to see." Sidney, who apparently had barely spoken to them before, approached the two like friends. It was lucky he had the charisma for it.
It took a few moments for the pair to realise he was talking to them.
"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" Renée asked to Sidney before she noticed me. "You're the girl who asked about the rumour the other day."
"Yes." I said. "Err, my names Marie."
"And you're Angela's friend?" She continued with her interrogation.
I nodded nervously.
"We actually wanna know more about that rumour that went around." Sidney began.
"What would we know?"
"Actually, it's more about Angie. She's been acting really weird about it. Right, Marie? She's your mate."
I nodded. I didn't get what Sidney was achieving by being so dishonest.
"I wouldn't be worried about her, she probably doesn't care." Renée said.
"It seemed like she did..." I mumbled. "She was really determined to find out who started it."
"She's such a rat. It's probably an act." Renée said with no hesitation.
"Why?" Sidney said.
"Why do you care all of a sudden?" Renée didn't ask but rather than snap at him. "Bet it was you who started it, wasn't it Sidney."
"Come on, I wouldn't." Sidney raised his hands defensively. "I ain't that insensitive."
Renée didn't seem to buy it, but rather than interrogate him too, she just stared at him while squinting her eyes and frowning. Renée must of known Sidney to some extent, or she wouldn't of accused him.
"I just wanna know why it came back up again, it kinda disturbs me." Sidney continued. "So, what's up with Angie?"
Renée sighed. I guess the reason she wasn't telling us anything was because she was suspicious of us, not because it was a big secret. "She's been weird since Luka went missing." She began. "She refused to talk about it, then started ignoring us."
"You think she knows something?" Sidney asked.
"She seemed pretty adamant that Luna ran away." I added.
"She knows something alright." Renée scoffed.
"You think Luka might have spoken to her before she left?" Sidney asked.
It felt weird to hear him say that, because he'd made it pretty clear he thought Luka was dead. What was worse was a smirk flashed up onto his face just for a millisecond before he went back to his act. The expression screamed 'I knew it.' Then he continued to act like he had no clue. He must have thought he was really clever.
"Maybe, but..." Renée said.
"The coat." Michael spoke for the first time. He had just been observing the whole conversation until now. I'd forgotten he was even there.
"A coat?" I asked.
"Yeah, basically, the night Luka vanished the four of us were on our way home from school after a club, and we were all on the same bus." Renée began. "Halfway home though, Angela remembered she'd left her coat at school and was being really stroppy 'bout it, but didn't want to go back and get it 'cause it would be proper dark by the time she got there. So, Luka went back with her and that was the last we saw of Luka."
The bell rung but neither Renée, Michael or Sidney reacted to it. Other's started to file into their form rooms already. When I looked up at Sidney, he looked like a cat who had just caught a mouse, and he wasn't moving anywhere.
"All the news reports say she was last seen with you guys, on the bus." He said.
"Yeah, we know. Angie told us it didn't matter 'cause she just got her coat and they went home, but."
"You don't believe her?" I asked.
"We told the police and nothing changed. I don't think she even told the police that part." Renée's voice was quick to get aggressive. "Oh - and that's not it - that stupid coat - "
A teacher poked their head out of door and called for Renée and Michael to come inside. Without answering, the two slowly began to edge closer towards the door so they could pretend they were doing as they were told.
"Never saw that coat again." Renée continued. "Even went to her house to look for it."
By now, Michael was hanging onto the door frame, only half in the room he was supposed to be in. The teacher called them again.
Renée spoke to me. "If I were you, I wouldn't trust a word she says." Her eyes sharply met mine, only for her to disappear into the room without saying goodbye.
This left me and Sidney standing alone in the now quiet corridor. We were both late.
"That was interesting." Sidney commented.
"We should get going." I told him.
"Yeah, yeah." He followed me as I started walked. "It was lucky we didn't talk to Angie, cos she wouldn't have told us any of that."
"Probably not." I agreed. Every time I'd asked about the rumour I'd only got short and blunt answers. "What do you think she's hiding?" I asked.
"Hopefully not that she murdered the girl." Sidney said playfully. This time I couldn't laugh at him.
"Don't say that." I said. "She's still my friend."
But I was starting to become nervous that Angie was hiding a dangerous secret.
"I was kidding." Sidney said. He leaned forward to check my face so he could see if I was still offended.
"If Luka really did run away, then she might have just told Angie where she was going and then made her swear to secrecy, right?" I said.
"Sure, she could have." Sidney said, but he obviously didn't agree.
I convinced myself that this theory made the most sense and went back to worrying about my punctuality record. I started walking faster.
"You won't get in trouble for being, like, a few minutes late." Sidney didn't walk faster to catch up with me, just laughed.
"Yes, but, but, I don't like how everyone just stares when you walk in late."
"It's not that bad."
"I'm sure you don't mind it."
"Wow." Sidney pretended to be offended by dramatically placing a hand on his heart as if it hurt.
By the time we got to my form , Sidney had managed to cheer me up a bit. I didn't think he was supposed to go past my room to get to his own but I appreciated it. We parted there and as I scurried into the room with my head down, I hoped Eden would turn his head and notice Sidney standing in the the doorway.

Luckily, the teacher didn't ask why I was late. He only told me not to let it happen again. When I sat down, Angie glanced at me curiously . I waited until we were on our way to our first lesson to explain.
"I was with Sidney." I said, proudly.
Angie made a disapproving noise. "Don't overdo it, I don't want people to think you're, um, not loyal."
"Don't worry." I reassured her. "I won't."
"I hope it works for you." Angie said, though I'm not sure she meant it. "How are you finding excuses to talk to him."
"Huh? Well... We've got something in common."
"What's that?"
"Huh?"
"The thing you've got in common."
"We're, both interested in something."
"What?"
I wished she'd stop. I could have easily thought of a lie. I could have said we both liked a video game or knew someone outside school. But instead, I stupidly told her:
"We're looking into something together."
Angie looked at me suspiciously, then it clicked for her.
"It's the rumour isn't it?"
I spent too long hesitating. Angie knew me well enough to tell that I was trying to think of a lie.
"Why would Sidney care who started it - " She began muttering
"I don't know. He - "
"He started it didn't he?"
"No!"
That time I answered too quickly.
"He did!"
Angie stopped dead in the middle of the corridor. When she realised this was drawing attention to her, she stormed in front of me and attempted to hide among the crowds of moving people.
"Angie, come on. He didn't want me to tell you - " I rushed to stay beside her.
"Of course he didn't." She scowled to herself. She walked faster to try distance herself from me.
"Why are you so upset all of a sudden?" I whined.
I'd asked in vain. The answer was very obvious.