NINETEEN
AMELIE
The rest of the morning was horrific; girls shoulder checked me as I walked down the corridor, and people spoke behind their hands.
I was like a social outcast again. I knew I needed to be strong and that they were overreacting.
The news was still so raw. I prayed I didn’t run into Aaron, not before I had prepared what to say.
I hadn’t known who he was until Kieran told me Saturday night, and so why was I a ‘lying bitch?’
Just before the lunch bell, I walked back to my locker. I had a pack of wet wipes shoved in my pocket, ready to scrub away the graffiti. But when I reached it, the metal door was already hanging open, the latch bent.
A heavy, sickening stench hit me first. Inside the locker was a crumpled plastic Tesco carrier bag with a dark brown substance in it. I didn’t open it. I didn't need to. Had someone really put faeces in my locker?
Across the hallway, a pack of Y11 girls burst into cruel, high-pitched laughter and hurried away.
My chest heaved. I slammed the locker door shut, the metal clanging loud enough to echo down the corridor.
Turning around, I slid down against the cold surface and fumbled frantically in my pocket. I needed to call Kieran.
And then all hell broke loose. The noise of a siren pierced the air, causing my heart to thump through my chest. My entire body went into panic mode as students burst out from classrooms, all making their way towards the exits.
A group of boys were standing on one side of me, and appeared to be laughing as I lost it.
I didn’t understand what had triggered me.
Most likely, it was several things. The fact that my identity as the daughter of the hit-and-run man was now common knowledge was probably the defining factor, but the volume of that sudden ringing sound pushed me over the edge.
Adrenaline scorched my veins, and my knees buckled.
I hit the floor hard, jamming the heels of my hands against my ears, but the vibration pulsed through my skull; it was ear-splitting.
“Stop, stop, stop,” I chanted to myself as everything around me went blurry.
I was aware of several other students, crowding me, staring at me, judging me.
What were they saying? Their jeering faces swam before me.
I felt hot and cold at the same time and closed my eyes to block them out.
I could feel people walking past me, evacuating the building, the waft of air they disturbed as they moved.
The fact that I should have been doing the same was in the back of my mind, but my limbs wouldn’t move.
If there were a fire, no doubt I would die there, as no one was going to save the daughter of a would-be killer.
The world dissolved into a smear of grey from the lockers surrounding me and hostile eyes. Shadows loomed over students, crowding closer, their faces twisting into swimming masks. Were they whispering? Were they laughing? Hot sweat slicked my neck, but a violent, freezing shiver shook my spine.
I dropped my hands from my ears, the muffled sound clearing as the alarm stopped.
Around my collapsing world, the school continued to evacuate, nonetheless.
Boots stamped past my puddled body, and I drew my knees to my chest. The building was clearing out, the fire threat looming, but my limbs were like lead.
I was pinned to the floor by the weight judgment, theirs or mine, I couldn’t be sure.
A voice called my name, faint and thin, drowned by the noise caused by those leaving. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but my lungs collapsed into empty pockets. No air. No breath.
Breathe, Amelie. Just breathe.
As the corridor cleared, the silence was a physical blow, and all that remained were the handful of boys who had made a semi-circle around me.
The fog cleared, violently dragging reality back into focus.
My spine was jammed hard against the cold metal of the lockers.
I glanced up from the trainers and jeans in front of me.
Several sets of eyes stared back down, heavy with pity, annoyance, and a sickening curiosity.
With shaky hands, I snatched my bag from the floor and shoved myself upright.
The corridor was still a blur of staring faces, but then the crowd parted.
Kieran.
When I saw him, my feet moved, and I lunged toward him, my shoulders slamming into other students as I forced a path through.
His expression was dark, totally unreadable, but I didn't care.
I launched myself into his arms, burying my face against his chest and locking my fingers behind his neck. His entire frame went rigid as stone.
His chest vibrated against my cheek—he was speaking, shouting maybe—but my ears were still clogged with the ringing from the alarm.
Around us, the whispering grew louder. The crowd was frozen in place, turning to watch the daughter of a possible killer clinging to their King for dear life.
I didn't care. Kieran’s scent wrapped around me, a sudden, familiar blanket of safety in the middle of a nightmare.
After a few agonising beats, his muscles finally yielded, and Kieran’s massive arms came around me, caging me in. For a second, the heavy weight of his torso felt like a shield against the world. I wasn't trapped. I was safe.
Then, his fingers tightened into the fabric of my shirt and a sharp ache flared in my chest.
He told Aaron. Everything he said to you is a lie!
As I peered up, his features twisted into a volatile mix of concern and confusion. “Amelie?” he rasped. I took another step back, shaking my head.
You can’t trust him. Run!
Before his fingers could snare my jacket, I rammed my shoulder past his chest and broke into a dead sprint.
The corridor blurred. Dozens of eyes tracked me like laser beams, but I didn't care. I just ran. Behind me, Kieran’s voice boomed over the chaos, shouting my name again, but I couldn't stop. I had to get out of that toxic air. My father’s actions had now poisoned it, turning every single person I knew into a possible enemy.
I slammed against the heavy fire doors leading outside. A wave of students was already flooding back toward the building. Someone bumped into me hard, sending me spinning against the brick wall, but I didn't even look back. I just needed to escape.
I burst through the school gates; my vision fixated on the open road.
A massive beep tore through the air, and brakes screeched. I threw myself backwards into the dirt just as the roaring red grille of a fire engine lurched past, turning into the school yard. The heat from its wheels blasted my face.
Suddenly, the thought of being locked inside my house—trapped, isolated, hidden away from the world—didn’t feel like a prison anymore. It felt like safety.
I scrambled to my feet, my legs shaking violently. Blinking away tears, I stepped onto the pavement and started walking. I didn't have a plan. I just forced one uncertain foot in front of the other and made my way home.
KIERAN
Rage scorched through my bones, clogging my lungs with trapped, burning air.
I slammed the guy back against the lockers.
The entire row shuddered, the frantic clatter of padlocks exploding like gunfire down the corridor.
I was pure venom. The second I had spotted the bastards crowding around Amelie’s broken, wilted body, the world went red.
A predatory drive to slaughter every last one of them tore through me like a runaway train.
Ignoring the spectators who were ogling what would only be another corridor drama to them, I dragged the one I’d weighed up as their ringleader’s face close again and snarled in his ear. “Put the word out that anyone who goes near Amelie Thorn will answer to me. You get me?”
“Yeah, man, whatever you say, but honestly. She was fine one minute, and then the alarm went off, and she freaked.”
“And you just left her down there, shaking on the floor, clearly terrified?”
“I thought she was having a seizure or something. I panicked, I couldn’t remember what you’re supposed to do.”
“You’re pathetic, all of you are and if I find out that any of you dickwads lied to me, you’re finished at this school.”
Releasing the guy I still had pinned, I twisted away, readjusting my rucksack, which had become dislodged when I’d slammed the student against the lockers.
I upped my pace, wondering where the hell Amelie had gone and recognised immediately that the burning anger in my chest had subsided and was replaced by genuine fear for her safety.
‘You should have found her sooner when you saw the messages!’ the voice of regret chanted in my head.
I slid my phone out of my pocket and held it up to my face to activate the screen.
Students were pouring back into the building, a sure sign that the fire alarm had been false.
The younger kids occasionally set it off by vaping in the toilets.
If I found out that was the case that day, someone’s head would roll.
It had upset Amelie, and that was the main reason I would seek retribution.
After several attempts to call her, I gave up.
As I waited for my sister to answer her fucking phone, I remembered how Amelie had reacted to the thunderstorm.
Loud noises must have been an issue for her, and that part of my brain that still seemed to be working questioned why.
“Sup?” my twin eventually replied.
“Is Amelie with you?” I rasped, shooting an evil glance at a boy who stumbled into me.
“No, why?”
“Shit.”
“She’s meeting Halo and me at lunch. What’s up, Kier?” Jessa's voice became grave. I then heard her shushing someone in the background. Was it in my head, or did that voice belong to Tanner? I batted off the thought. I had bigger fish to fry.