Chapter 38
Olive
The scaffolding on the west wing comes down before the Christmas holidays. The first snowflakes are falling as we sixth-form girls pack our things and form little processions carrying them from the east back to the west. You can see our footprints back and forth across the snow-covered courtyard.
The west-wing staircase still smells of paint and fresh starts. I’d be lying if I said there was nothing nightmarish about climbing the stairs I last ran down in a panic, almost not making it out alive. But fortunately, I don’t have to do it on my own.
Colin’s behind me, carrying a huge box full of my school stuff; he says nothing but doesn’t take his eyes off me for a second. He’d notice if this was getting too much for me, I’m sure of that.
I’m waiting for it to happen, but even as we get closer to the lower sixth’s floor, my heart doesn’t start racing wildly.
Not much has changed here, and it looks fundamentally the same as the boys’ corridor in the east wing.
The only difference is that we all have more space now that each year group has a floor of its own.
I got my old room back because I asked if I could have it. It’s a room full of memories, but no more than that. I’m no longer going to let my life be driven by fear.
Colin follows me in silence as I walk in, and I’m sure he knows what I’m thinking just now.
Here we are then, I should say. Welcome! But I can’t speak. I put my bag of clothes on the floor and stop in the middle of the room.
Does it smell of smoke or am I only imagining it?
Is my heart beating faster, or am I just out of breath from having heaved my stuff up three flights of stairs?
I listen to my senses for a while, until I have no choice but to stop.
Colin puts the box on my desk, turns to face me, and takes me in his arms. Just like that.
He says nothing, just holds me tight. And I shut my eyes because I feel safe.
I feel his heart beating against my cheek.
I smell the scent of him. In my mind’s eye, I see Colin Fantino standing in the semidarkness by that trophy cabinet, raising his arm, and saying “You need to break something or the anger’s gonna break you” before he put me back together again, piece by piece. Like I did for him.
“You OK?” he asks quietly, not looking at me.
I nod instinctively, because everything is OK when it’s him asking me. He puts his hand on the back of my head and gently strokes my hair.
“The view from the east wing is way better.”
I laugh. “Nope.”
“Whatever. Not that I care—I’m not usually interested in the view when I’m in a room with you.”
“Are we being naff again, Fantino?”
He nibbles gently on my good shoulder. “No, just honest.”
“Stop it.” I giggle.
Colin raises his eyebrows. “Was that a giggle? Did badass Olive Garden just giggle?”
“No, it was not.”
“Oh, it so was. Can you do it again?”
“No,” I say firmly.
Colin sighs. “Fine, you asked for this.” And then he goes on the attack.
“Stop it,” I cry, gasping for breath as the bastard actually tickles me.
“Not till you giggle again.”
“I’m . . . not . . . gonna . . . giggle.”
“Then I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop.” He throws me onto the bed, and then he’s on top of me. “Just once,” he begs.
“No.”
“You’re so boring, Livy.”
“And you’re so annoying.”
He beams, and then we freeze as the door flies open.
“Oh, no, I think I’ve gone blind!” Tori covers her eyes with her hands and stumbles backward out onto the corridor.
“What’s up?” Sinclair shoves past her. “God, Victoria, you’d better just shut it.”
“Yeah, Victoria,” I repeat her name severely, trying to look unfazed as I sit up. “D’you think it’s fun for me to crash the two of you winching?”
“Yeah, so I get that now.” Tori grins. “But seriously, who even are you?” She turns to Sinclair. “Can you see this too? They’re smiling at each other and look besotted. Where are Olive and Colin, and what have you done with them?”
I roll my eyes at Colin.
“Your friends are seriously weird,” he remarks.
“They’re your friends now too,” I point out.
“I didn’t choose them,” he says.
“Bad luck.” Sinclair strolls into my room. “Emma and Henry were talking about going into Edinburgh to the cinema. Want to join us?”
“Now?”
“Aye, there’s a bus in half an hour. Grace and Gideon are coming too.”
I glance at Colin, who just shrugs.
“OK, see you downstairs, then?” I ask.
Tori and Sinclair nod. “I’m never walking in without knocking ever again,” I hear Tori say as she shuts the door.
I have to smile.
Colin
I don’t remember much of the movie because I spent most of the time holding hands with Olive Henderson.
Yeah, it’s every bit as embarrassing as it sounds, but I stand by it.
Besides, it’s better than constantly thinking about whether I’ll ever hear anything back from the police in New York. It bugs me, but all I can do is wait.
After the movie, we go for something to eat.
All the Christmas lights are up as we walk back to the station through the old town of Edinburgh.
I love it here. It feels like a giant version of Disneyworld, but no way can I say that aloud if I don’t want Olive to call me Cowboy or refer to me as “such a Yank” again.
It’s true, though. There are these narrow, cobblestoned streets and tall, thin buildings, which are kind of magical. I wish I could show Cleo around here. She’d love it. I’d take her to London so she could see the phone box on her British boy band’s album cover for real. The thought makes me smile.
I drop back slightly when my cell phone rings. Olive glances at me, but I gesture to her to go on with the others as I take the call. It’s an unknown number.
“Hello?” I dig my free hand into my coat pocket and watch Olive link arms with Grace and Emma.
“Am I speaking with Colin Fantino?”
I stop. “Yes, that’s me,” I say.
“My name is Detective King. We spoke when you came to One Police Plaza in New York.”
“I remember.” It’s amazing how calm I sound, even as my heart is pounding. Are these my last seconds of freedom? I’m suddenly not so sure that I really want to hear what he has to say.
“I’d like to bring you up to date with the investigation as it currently stands. We had another talk to the students you mentioned and confronted them with your statement. Two of them decided to correct their original statements and gave us a sequence of events that fits with your version, Colin.”
“What does that mean?”
“Trent Barlow is our current number-one suspect. The other students’ statements suggest that he started the fire. He is choosing to remain silent.”
Olive has stopped and is walking back toward me. “What’s up?” she asks quietly, but I shake my head.
“OK,” I manage, though it sounds like a question.
“We would like to summon you for the trial so that you can repeat your statement under oath.”
I hesitate. “OK, it’s only . . . I don’t know if you remember, but I go to school in Scotland.”
“It would be important for you to come back to New York for this,” says Detective King.
“When will the trial be?”
“Probably early in the new year. You’ll receive an official summons in the post. I just wanted to let you know personally first. It’s very important that you testify in court, Colin.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged, Detective.”
“Thank you, Colin. The letter will tell you everything else you need to know. Thank you for your help.”
“No problem,” I mumble before I say goodbye. Then I lower my phone.
“Who was that?” Olive looks at me. “Colin?”
“Detective King, from the NYPD.”
“And?” Her eyes scan my face, searching for any sign of what this means for me.
“They think it was Trent.”
Olive hesitates. “The guy with the sister . . . the one your mum . . . ?”
“Yeah.” I force myself to breathe deeply. “Sounds like Isaac and Jeremy testified against him. Maybe they panicked.”
“OK. That’s good. That is good, right?”
“I think so.”
Olive nods encouragingly.
“I have to fly to New York to testify again. In court.”
“Will I come?” she asks, and I’m touched that that’s her first thought. But I shake my head.
“I don’t know when the trial will be yet. Detective King said probably early next year. I’ll have to ask Mrs. Sinclair if I can go, since it’s likely to be during school time.”
“OK. I’ll ask too,” she says right away. I have to smile. She’s as stubborn as ever, which is why I love this woman.
“I can manage without you.”
She looks like she wants to argue, but then she just takes my hands. “I know. But you don’t have to manage on your own anymore.”
It still feels risky to believe that, but I have hope these days. I have genuine hope.
“Are you guys coming or what?” Sinclair calls.
“Don’t you start,” Olive yells back, and he laughs and sticks his middle finger up at her.
“Behave yourself,” Tori tells him. I can’t help smiling.
“So the trial will be after the Christmas holidays,” Olive says as we follow the others.
“Sounds like it.” Christmas holidays. It’s hard to believe, but it won’t be long now before the break, when I’ll fly back to New York again. To my family. I don’t know how to feel about that, but I’m ready to find out. “And I’ll be able to bring Cleo right back with me.”
“So that’s settled?”
“Yeah.” I grin. “She’s starting in the second form in January.”
“Lucky thing. She’s got so many Dunbridge years ahead of her.”
I can’t help noticing Olive’s eyes turn thoughtfully to her friends, who are a few paces ahead of us. Next summer, they’ll do their A levels and leave Dunbridge Academy.
“I wish I did too.” She smiles at me, equal parts sad and serene.
“We still have eighteen months,” I say.
“You’ve changed your tune, Fantino,” she teases.
“Oh, shut it, Ms. I-Belong-in-the-Upper-Sixth-Really.”
“Gutting that my plan failed,” she says, not taking her eyes off me.
“What a nightmare.”
“Well, you can’t always get what you want, but whatever you get instead, you get it by the bucket.”
I laugh quietly. “I’m exactly what you wanted. You were just too proud to admit it.”
“True.” She shrugs. “And you know what you’re talking about there, don’t you?”
“I love your smartass mouth, Livy.”
“Hey, since when has he called her that?” Tori exclaims.
“Since he fell for me,” Olive replies, with an impish grin and a warning note in her voice. “And he’s never going to stop.”
“I obviously never stood a chance against the pair of you Scorpios,” Tori says with a sigh.
“Don’t be sad, Victoria,” I say, which makes Olive giggle. I don’t need to mention how much that pleases me, do I?
“We have to hurry,” Henry says. “If we miss the bus, we won’t be back for wing time.”
“That would be a disaster, Henry,” says Grace. Their eyes meet, then Grace looks at the ground. I’m well aware there’s a complicated history between them.
Olive told me that they were together for ages before Henry fell in love with Emma. That must have been miserable for all three, but Grace seems to have found someone in Gideon who gives her what Henry couldn’t. But Olive is still worried about her friend.
I don’t know exactly where things stand between Grace and Gideon, but I hope the two of them can have a fairy-tale ending too. Not that this is a happy ending for Olive and me. Happy, definitely, but this is not the end. Anything but.
Other things will come to an end, though.
The time we still have with Olive’s friends at Dunbridge.
I’m sure she’s thinking about that as we sprint for the bus, barely catching it, and all pile into seats at the back.
Olive’s gaze wanders from Emma and Henry, to Tori and Sinclair, to Gideon and Grace.
I don’t like how expressionless her face is.
She doesn’t look at me until I put my arm around her and give her a squeeze. “How do you feel about them leaving soon?” I ask quietly. The others are deep in conversation and don’t hear us.
Olive chews gently on her bottom lip before she answers. “I’m trying not to think about it. But it’s not exactly nice when I do.”
“I get that. Then you’ll be stuck here with just me.”
“Shut it, Fantino,” she murmurs affectionately.
I have to grin. “It won’t be just us anyway.
Will and Kit will still be here, Elain, Theresa, the rest of the swimming squad.
And your sister too soon.” She leans her head against the seat, then looks back at me.
“And I’m sick of fighting the whole time. I’m going to take things as they come.”
I merely nod in reply. In the past, I’d have rolled my eyes at pearls of wisdom like that, but I really feel them now.
Because I’m sick of it too. The world has proved that what’s meant to be will be.
Olive and me, for instance. I fought against it but had no chance, and now the thought of everyday life without her is unimaginable.
I never thought I’d find anything like this when I got on that plane to Europe a few months ago.
I thought my life had ended. But it turned out to be just the beginning.