Influence by Stuart Johnstone Read Free Book Online Page A

failed to block out
external noise and worst of all they didn’t carry that - piss off and leave me
alone - message her own conspicuous choice provided.
    A group of Asian
girls, perhaps Japanese, huddled together examining either a timetable or a
map, Lizzie couldn’t quite see, and therefore she couldn’t tell if they were
students or tourists. On the grass near to them a boy sat with his back against
the trunk of a tree reading a book. On his lap lay his jacket and on top of
that the head of a girl, his girlfriend she assumed, who was also reading a
book. Lizzie was beginning to drift into thoughts of how difficult it must be
to maintain a relationship while studying here, particularly if you were also
holding down a job to pay for tuition and everything else that went with living
somewhere other than at home when another group of students wandered into her
eye line and stopped on the grass blocking her view of the reading couple. This
group caught Lizzie’s eye straight away, they demanded your attention. Lizzie
pulled back on her headphones but pressed stop on the CD to allow her to
concentrate whilst still maintaining the illusion of being deaf within her
bubble. There were six of them, Lizzie counted, each a little weirder than the
next. Two of them, boys, were impossibly tall which would have made them conspicuous
enough without the trench coats and eye makeup. There were three girls with
very white faces and very black eyes, one of them had harshly applied blusher
on her cheeks in a triangular shape and reminded Lizzie of Elvira from that
awful movie she loved. The remaining boy wore a black leather jacket and his
look was a toned down version of the others. His dark curls were piled on top
of his head with the sides shaved in making him seem taller than he was but as
he stepped next to the two giant ghouls it became apparent just how short he
was, probably no more than an inch taller than her. Lizzie all but rubbed her
hands, her favourite hobby of people watching had just flicked on to an
unexpectedly interesting channel, she just wished she could turn the volume up
and listen in. She inspected the group with Attenborough intrigue. She tried to
work out who the alpha Goth was and who was coupled with whom among the group.
She also wondered what the collective noun was for a group of Goths. A misery
maybe, or perhaps a glum? A glum of Goths had a nice ring to it, but who knew?
Lizzie watched for a while and found herself a little disappointed, as despite
all the promise of their appearance they actually seemed pretty normal. They
chatted, they smoked and, much to Lizzie’s surprise, they laughed.
    One of the girls left
and the others seemed ready to break apart when the small guy with the curly
hair caught her eye, He was staring right at her.
    The hair on the back
of Lizzie’s neck suddenly stood up, she felt like an undercover cop suddenly
rumbled during a stake out. She looked away acting as nonchalant as possible.
She bobbed her head in time to non-existent music and scanned every angle of
the landscape other than at the Goths. After thirty seconds or so had passed
she thought it safe to venture a look. She turned to see the boy still looking
at her; he was smiling and held a hand out giving a small wave. Lizzie’s first
instinct was to turn away but she caught herself as this would surely have been
proof of her guilt. Instead she gave a smile and bounced her head away slowly
to the silent song. Another thirty seconds passed and Lizzie allowed her head
to gradually turn back to the boy who was, shit! Walking right towards her.
    Lizzie’s pulse
quickened. She pulled her bag in close to her thigh on the seat of the chair
making it impossible for anyone to sit right next to her. She folded her arms,
turned her head to the side once again and waited.
    ‘Hi,’ he said though
Lizzie pretended not to hear. She continued the head bobbing charade hoping one
failed attempt might put him off. He stood in front of