EIGHTEEN MEET THE PARENTS
EIGHTEEN
MEET THE PARENTS
S urprisingly, I’m among the first to arrive in the history class on this chilly Tuesday morning.
Apart from me, there’s only one other student, a guy near the front who’s already set up his laptop.
I can’t remember his name, but Lily and I always commend his commitment to his bowl-cut hairstyle.
I offer him a subtle nod before taking my seat toward the back.
I flinch as I slump into the chair. I’m still aching after yesterday’s training.
When we got back to the Seven Angels, Nathaniel pushed me well into the evening, leaving my body, and mind, drained.
As he suggested, we steered clear of exploring my enhanced senses any more – just as well, as I was still rattled from what happened at the well at Old Sarum.
We continued to work on my strength, speed, and agility.
Tariq showed up just in time to see me drive Nathaniel into the wall with his staff exercise, to which he gave me a round of applause.
Tariq seemed just as tired as me, having spent the day zipping around town delivering meals on his bike.
He even declined Opel’s invitation to spar.
Opel didn’t extend the same offer to me, but after our last combat session, I’m glad.
It seems she has moved past the incident from the other day in the Fishtank, or at least she hasn’t brought it up.
When we got to mine late last night, I was hoping Tariq and I could talk about our kiss, but every time there was a moment spare, Tariq would somehow fill it.
He held up his end of our deal and surprised me with a book – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe .
I promised to give it a read, despite having watched the movie countless times as a kid.
Tariq assured me that the book was superior.
He said as soon as I’ve finish reading it, he’ll watch Jurassic Park .
Why does he appear to have the better end of this deal?
We had a close call last night, around two in the morning.
Tariq nearly bumped into my mum in the hallway while making a late-night trip to the bathroom.
Thankfully, it was dark, and my mum was too groggy to realise he wasn’t me.
According to Tariq, she even affectionately patted him on the cheek, telling him he needed to start shaving, and then wished him goodnight.
The fact that my mum couldn’t distinguish Tariq from me, even in the dark, is concerning.
‘Liam!’
Lily is bounding toward me across the classroom. She’s on a mission for a hug, and I brace myself for the impending squeeze.
‘How’re you?… How are things?… How is he?’
Naturally, Tariq is at the forefront of Lily’s curiosity.
Our last discussion about him was when our situation was much less complicated.
Back then, pretending to date someone to keep my identity hidden seemed like a straightforward plan.
But since that time, Tariq and I have shared a kiss, and things have become, well, considerably less straightforward.
‘I want to know everything.’ Lily practically beams. ‘Jack mentioned yesterday that Tariq is totally into you!’
Of course Jack couldn’t resist spilling the beans and stoking Lily’s excitement to astronomical levels.
‘Hold on. How was the open day yesterday?’ I say, hoping to divert the conversation.
‘Oh, it went okay. Becky went all “queen bee” on everyone, but we expected nothing less. Jack stuck to the front desk like he was glued there, despite being scheduled for student interviews. Eve was doing tours, but they kept overrunning. Don’t even get me started on the catering fiasco – Jacob decided to make the vegan cupcakes he didn’t order.
Which, okay fine, proactive, but he used eggs.
Eggs . Which he thought were vegan because “they’re not an animal”.
I can’t. But hey, enough about that disaster – spill the tea on your new boy! ’
I sigh. I can’t dodge talking about Tariq forever; after all, Lily is supposed to meet him tomorrow evening. She deserves to know at least a little something about him.
‘Well, he’s nineteen.’
‘Oh, older. I like it. Go on.’
‘He’s quite the bookworm.’
‘Promising.’
‘He’s Egyptian. His parents moved here before he was born.’
‘Love that,’ she says, playfully tapping my arm.
‘He’s got these really captivating green eyes…’
‘Yep, saw them on the call. Call me Dorothy because I’m off to the Emerald City!’
We laugh.
‘Oh, and he’s a Munchrider!’
‘No way! He must have delivered orders to me at the visitor centre before. Can’t resist a cheeky Nando’s wrap for lunch. But honestly, I’d remember that gorgeous face if he had.’
Lily’s expression flickers as she tries to recall any encounter with Tariq, but her efforts seem to come up empty. She eventually gives up.
‘So, spill the juicy bits,’ she says, her grin taking on a mischievous edge.
‘Well… er… we kissed last night,’ I say.
Lily makes a noise like old-fashioned kettles.
‘How was it? Was there a Heartstopper moment?’
I mean, it didn’t exactly stop my heart, more like it sent it into overdrive, along with the rest of my body, and, not to forget, my powers.
‘I guess, yeah. We were just missing the cute floaty graphics around us.’
Lily beams. ‘I can’t wait to meet him in person tomorrow night! Does he eat cake?’
Miss Williams enters the classroom and Lily’s interrogation stops, for now.
After enduring an hour on the Battle of Northampton, the classroom finally empties out. Lily and I gather our belongings, preparing to make a quick exit.
‘Liam, could you spare a moment?’ Miss Williams calls over.
What could she want now? Another lecture on punctuality? I’d actually managed to be on time today; surely that counts for something.
‘See you at lunch,’ I say to Lily.
She offers a curious look toward Miss Williams before nodding and leaving the room.
Miss Williams begins shutting down her laptop and disconnecting it from the power cord.
‘I was on time to class, Miss Williams, early, even,’ I say.
‘Oh, yes, commendable. Actually, I was wondering if you might have some free time this week? I dug a little deeper and I think I have some more information on the Crossing you may be interested in hearing about.’
With everything that’s happened over the past few days, it completely slipped my mind that I actually spoke to Miss Williams about the Crossing.
Was that really the wisest thing to do? Probably not.
It’s hard enough trying to hide this new identity from people; I shouldn’t be toying with information that could point to me, or any of the other Keepers.
Besides, in just the past few days, I’ve learned so much.
Chances are Miss Williams’ insights will just echo what Nathaniel has already told me.
‘Oh, that’s okay. I’m clued up on it all now. I should—’
‘I think you’d want to take up my offer, Liam.’
The way she says ‘offer’ reminds me of Draven. I shudder.
‘You have your local history module coming up; I think this will be a great study for you.’
She makes a good point. I haven’t even thought about what I’ll do for that coursework yet, and this might score me some brownie points after all the late arrivals to class.
‘Sounds good, count me in,’ I say.
‘Excellent. I’m on leave tomorrow. Why don’t you drop by the library a little after five on Thursday? We can delve into it further then.’
‘I’ll see you then, miss.’
I swing my bag over my shoulder and head for the door.
‘Is that a seresberi stone?’ Miss Williams says.
I follow her gaze down to my chest. My pendant is hanging over my dishevelled T-shirt.
‘Oh… I… I don’t know.’ I quickly tuck it away. ‘I just thought it looked… cool.’
Miss Williams narrows her eyes, her lips curling into a thin smile. ‘Oh, yes… cool.’
I return the smile, before exiting.
I slide into a seat at the lunch table, my tray in hand.
Lily’s face is buried in her phone, while Jack’s is buried in a pizza slice.
He has one earphone in, which means he’s probably not got much conversation from Lily since they’ve been sitting here.
He’s probably listening to some 80s playlist – he’s about as obsessed with that era of music as my mum is.
I take it out of his ear and hold it to mine.
‘Hey!’ Jack says, trying to snatch it back.
As I predicted… ‘Oh, “Like a Virgin”, how apt.’
‘Says you.’ Jack glares, taking back the earphone and putting it in his pocket.
I pop my brows, taking a sip from my Coke Zero.
‘New Student Council Leader Shines with Open Day Success!’ Lily’s voice pierces the air. Her gaze still glued to her phone’s screen. Jack, oblivious, takes another bite of his pizza, which looks great. I’m suddenly regretting my choice of the dry-looking spaghetti bolognese on my plate.
‘What the hell, Jack?’ Lily continues.
Jack tries to respond, but his mouth is too full.
I attempt to curl some spaghetti on my spoon but fail. ‘What’s up?’
‘What’s up is SNT’s star blogger over here managed to publish this masterpiece on the college news blog’ – she thrusts her phone in my direction – ‘and Becky’s ego is probably inflating as we speak.’
I slurp up a string of spaghetti and shake my head at Jack in mock disapproval.
Jack shrugs. ‘What? From a statistical standpoint, it was a success.’
I avoid direct eye contact with both of them, opting to take another sip from my Coke instead.
‘Statistical?’ Lily’s voice climbs a few octaves.
‘Attendance figures were impressive. We received positive feedback from both parents and teachers. What else was I supposed to write?’ says Jack.
Maybe I should duck and cover, as Lily looks as though she is about to erupt.
‘If it offers any comfort, I thought your choice of pink and purple bunting in the reception looked banging,’ Jack adds.
‘That was actually my idea.’
Becky appears behind us, accompanied by two other ‘mean girl’ types, lunch trays in tow.
‘Thanks for the cute article, Jack.’
Becky winks at Jack as she continues on to the next table.