Shared Skies (13 page)

Gaiah leapt to defend Graeme. “Maybe it's
because he’s just nice and knows how to stay friends with people?
He seemed very easygoing when I met him.” She remembered Graeme’s
complete unconcern at Neal’s bullying. She wished she could have
been like that for the last few years.

Maybe I have something to
learn from Graeme?
The thought made her
smile as they headed for the canteen.

Chapter Ten

Gaiah knew her own corn-coloured, waist
length hair and Renny's over the top biker look weren't exactly
ordinary. So she wasn't surprised by the amount of attention they
got as they headed down the corridor. Donald appeared to be
enjoying this. He smiled broadly, his voice louder than necessary.
Gaiah smiled at him.

Her new situation had given her a different
perspective on things. Making her look outside herself and her own
problems. She was happy to stroll, chatting and laughing down the
corridor. Donald stopped at large, plain, wooden doors, which he
opened with a flourish. “And this is our canteen! Well, really it’s
a place to eat our own food or buy their processed crap.”

It was a long, low-ceilinged room, with a
side wall of glass looking out over a swooping green field. A
self-service counter ran down most of the opposite side. At the
moment, it was a slightly overwhelming, multi-coloured
cacophony.

Donald led the way through the canteen, a
noisy sea of students and clashing crockery. The greasy smell of
fried food mixed with sweat and perfume was offset by a fresh,
herby smell of cut grass carried through the open windows. Renny
seemed oblivious to the scrutiny they got from all sides. Gaiah
noticed but didn't care. They sat together at the far end of the
room by the poster-covered wall. The scarred table told Gaiah that
Joe had been there in May 1998 and that Helen loved Peter 4ever and
that physics sucks.

They dumped their bags on the table and
opened their lunches. Donald eyed the girls’ homemade pate and
chutney rolls and the stack of oat cookies. Laughing, he showed
them the two pieces of bread and some cheese that he'd thrown into
a bag that morning. “I kinda hoped they’d look more appetizing by
now!”

Gaiah grinned and pushed their food into the
middle of the table. ”Here, help yourself, we’ve loads.”

He was giving them all the info and gossip
about their teachers when the girl from the open day came over.
Today, she wore a long, navy cardigan open over a tiny, blue skirt
and t-shirt. She sat down next to Donald and smiled. ”Hi, we didn't
actually get introduced. I’m Cassie Stuart.” If she noticed Gaiah
was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, she very kindly didn't
mention it. “I’m Donald’s neighbour. We come to school together
every day. Where are you two from?”

Before Gaiah could answer, Renny was
gushing. ”We’re from London and we've been friends all our lives.
Gaiah is living with her grandparents and I’m staying with them
while my parents are in America.”

Gaiah interrupted. “Renny has no filter
program, please don’t ask her how she is or she’ll tell you about
every cold she’s had since she was seven.”

Donald guffawed. “Great, a kindred spirit,
I’m always being told I don’t know when to shut up.”

“
You mean, you’re always
being told
to
shut up.”

“
Oh, now I’m
hurt.”

Cassie grinned, and offered him a biscuit
from her lunch pack.

Renny leaned forward, chin on hands. “Now,
tell us all about everyone here, especially those two.” And she
nodded her head at Graeme, who was waylaid at the entrance by three
girls and Neal who was leaning against a wall by himself, eating a
sandwich and watching everyone.

Gaiah was still feeling uneasy about Neal’s
earlier remark; it seemed too pointed to be casual, but now, she
wasn't even sure what he actually had said. Cassie needed no more
prompting. “Oh, where to start…Well, Donald and I have been here
all our lives as have most of the pupils including Mr. Sunshine
there.” She looked at Neal. “But Graeme is a newcomer like
yourselves.”

“
Yes, we heard about his
successes with all the ladies.” Renny giggled.

Donald blushed and Cassie didn't look too
pleased.

“
Not quite
all
,” she muttered.
“Well anyway, I have to say generally, everyone is pretty okay
here. We don’t have the cliques and gangs you seem to get in huge
city schools, people might have one or two best
friends…”

Renny interrupted again to say, “Just like
us, Gaiah!”

Gaiah closed her eyes and shook her head
slowly.

Looking a bit perplexed, Cassie continued,
“But generally, everyone is friendly and gets on well.”

“
Even him?” asked Gaiah,
nodding at Neal.

“
Well, he’s a different
case, a real loner. He’s a bit older than the rest of us. I think
he’s nineteen already. He missed a year or two of school over the
years. It’s hard for him here where everyone knows everyone's
business. His mother, Moira, was my mum’s school friend. Moira was
a real tearaway. Always skipping school, she even made a camp and
stayed up in Craigphadraig woods. Anyhow, apparently, no-one was
surprised when she took off as soon as she was eighteen.” Cassie
lowered her voice to a whisper. “No-one was surprised either, when
she returned six years later with a baby. She was a changed person
though, sort of lost. Didn't want to be friends with my mum
anymore, even though they both had babies around the same age. She
lived for her son, but she died when Neal was ten and her parents
had to rear him. As you can imagine, they weren't too delighted.
She never told them who the father was.” Cassie blushed and looked
down. “God! I’m an awful gossip. It’s just, my mum is always
talking about it.”

Gaiah was afraid to look around at Neal in
case it was too obvious they were talking about him. Donald joined
in.

“
We were actually quite
good friends with Neal for a while when we were young, had pretty
good fun too. God– do you remember the time he ran into the pond in
his new shoes to save that kitten? And it turned out to be
someone’s woolly hat? We laughed about that for weeks, teasing him
about his ‘selfless bravery’–rescuing a hat. His granddad hit the
roof that time.”

“
Yes,” chimed in Cassie,
“and he came into school one day with that hat stuffed in the shape
of a cat with eyes painted on and a tail pinned to the back and a
note saying ‘I owe my life to Neal.’”

“
What happened to you all?
How come you’re not friends now?” asked Gaiah,
sympathetically.

“
Maybe it was living with
his grandparents, but he really changed, started to ignore us, went
off on his own. He stopped being fun. It was as if he was somewhere
else in his head and slowly he changed into someone else. The only
things he’s interested in now are his art and these hard core
self-defense classes called Krav Maga. He's been doing these for
ages at a local gym. He practically lives there when he’s not at
school.”

“
He is rather big and
strong all right,” murmured Renny, waving her hand as a fan in
front of her face. Cassie smiled at her and added, “But now he has
no friends, oh! Except for recently, he’s been hanging around with
the new guy Graeme, though I can´t see what they could possibly
have in common.”

Any further revelations were stopped by a
tall, serious looking woman with cropped grey hair striding through
the canteen towards them.

“
Hello, girls.” She smiled
and her narrow lined face became amiable. “I’m Mrs. Patterson, the
principal. I’m sorry I didn't get a chance to welcome you both this
morning. I hope you will be very happy and successful at our
school. And I want you to know my door is always open for any
problems you might have, and now, as break is nearly over, I’ll
show you to your next class.”

Gaiah and Renny followed the principal as
she left the canteen. “See you later,” said Donald. Cassie slowly
waved one open hand in a slight gesture. Mrs. Patterson walked back
down the main hall and paused to give the girls keys to their
lockers, which were next to each other. She marched down to another
annex where she introduced them to Mr. Hill, the economics
teacher.

He was not as inspiring as
Miss Flynn but he tried hard to keep them interested in the ‘income
elasticity of demand’ and the ‘price elasticity of supply’. Gaiah´s
mind wandered.
Was I really sitting in a
conference hall in a different dimension this morning?
Just thinking about it made her head swim, and
Mr. Hill’s droning, quiet voice was a lullaby to her
thoughts.

It was strange to be in school and not feel
a constant knot in her stomach; not to feel unsure and left out.
All that had happened in the last few days had changed her.
However, there was no doubt that having the confident Renny by her
side made a big difference too. When she got her bearings, she
might even enjoy this. For now, all she wanted to do was sleep.
Those two guys were also occupying her thoughts.

Graeme certainly seemed
interested. God, he was good-looking! And Neal, well, he was really
strange and she hadn't liked what she overheard in the little
shop.
Did he really warn me off Graeme
after that class? How weird, and
Cassie
said he'd been a nice bloke. What could have made him change so
much?

“
Come on Gaiah, Kaley will
be waiting.” Renny’s voice made Gaiah aware the class had actually
finished and the teacher was leaving the room.

“
Right, I’m ready.” She
slowly gathered her books and looked at Renny who was still
buzzing. “Maybe they have study hours or after school clubs or
volunteer activities? Should we find out?” Renny said.

“
Renny, are you mad? I
spent ten endless years going to school and now, although things
are different and I am different, I’m not different enough to want
to look for more school time. Anyway, I’m wrecked.”

“
Maybe later, when you’re
used to the place?” Renny’s voice was hopeful as she followed Gaiah
out the door. They were passing their lockers when a scrap of paper
sticking out of hers caught Gaiah’s attention. She pulled it out,
smoothed it and read,

‘
Work beckons–more
shelf-stacking and abuse taking! Still, have to earn some money
because I’d like to take you out sometime! See you
tomorrow.

G.

What a buzz. She would never have thought
someone like Graeme would look twice at her. Okay, he had a
reputation, but he was so good looking, it was inevitable there
would be stories about him. Renny peered over her shoulder.

“
Powers! He works fast.
You must be so energized. What are you going to do? What are you
going to wear? A date on your first day and with such an electric
looking guy! Wait ‘til Kaley and Alasdair hear.”

Gaiah didn’t want to tell Kaley or Alasdair
about it yet. Everything was catching up with her, she was really
exhausted and her head was spinning. At this moment she longed to
be sitting alone in the kitchen in Linden Gardens, her father
upstairs working away and the sound of rock music travelling down
through the house. To be sitting in the armchair with no
inter-dimensional threat and no one waiting for her to become a
superhero.

“
Oh My God! From the look
on your face that economics class must have been brutal.” Cassie
was strolling towards them.

“
Hey Cassie, guess what?
Graeme has written a note to Gaiah asking her on a
date.”

Renny was still looking at the note and
didn't notice the expression change on Cassie’s face, but Gaiah
did. Cassie blurted, “Don’t go! He has quite a reputation, you
know. You really don’t want to get involved with him.”

Gaiah stared. What was this? A second
warning? Was Cassie jealous? Had she been out with him and joined
the line of his conquests? This was too much. Why were people
telling her what to do? She was too tired to be tactful.

“
Do you know what, Cassie?
I've only just found the note. I haven’t thought about it. And I
have no idea what I even want to do. So you can give me your advice
another time, if I want it. We must go now, my grandmother will be
waiting.”

Ignoring the hurt on Cassie’s face and the
surprise on Renny’s, Gala wheeled around and stalked out of the
building.

Chapter
Eleven

It was a quiet journey home. Gaiah already
regretted her cranky response to Cassie. It had also upset Renny,
who was now uncharacteristically silent in the back seat. Or
perhaps Renny realized she shouldn't have mentioned the note to
Cassie and was trying to make amends by being silent. Either way,
today had been just too much.

“
Is everything okay,
girls? Today wasn't too awful, was it?” Kaley asked.

“
No, it was fine. It’s
just that I’m really tired.” Gaiah’s voice was dull. Gaiah was
close to overload. She caught Kaley giving her an appraising
sidelong glance before making cheerful, innocuous chatter all the
way home.

Alasdair was in the kitchen taking a
steaming shepherd’s pie out of the oven. Renny waved at them all.
“See you in a bit.”

Kaley looked up. “Don’t forget to set your
dual time, dear. You have less than half an hour, Gaianan time.”
Renny nodded and shimmered out of sight. Gaiah went to her room and
closed the door. She curled up on her bed and rang her father.
Sinking back against her pillows she closed her eyes. It was so
nice to hear his voice. It seemed like a long time since they had
breakfast together in Linden Gardens.