Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter Read Free Book Online Page B

shouts, out of breath.
    ‘Keep your voice down,’ orders Charlotte. ‘Miss Trunks is only behind that wall.’ A loud whistle sounds as the hockey is called to a close.
    ‘Seriously. WHO. ELSE. SAW. THAT?’ Nancy is standing now. White as a sheet. ‘Renée, your mum. She died of cancer, right?’
    ‘YES,’ says Margaret.
    ‘And her ashes are spread on Herm, right?’
    ‘YES,’ repeats Margaret. I would answer the questions myself but she is getting the answers right so I guess I don’t need to bother. Mum died after getting breast cancer for the second time, and Nana and Pop spread her ashes on a small island just off Guernsey called Herm because she loved it there so much. I wasn’t allowed to go.
    ‘Well, I just saw a crab floating over an island,’ Nancy says, panting.
    ‘You saw what?’ I ask, thinking she has finally lost the plot.
    ‘Think about it. Crabs are the symbol for cancer, and your mum is scattered on Herm. Crab over island? She is here, Renée. She is TRYING TO SPEAK TO ME.’
    Nancy is the kind of person who could find something spiritual in a sausage roll. As if Mum would appear to us as a crab flapping its claws over an island. I still find myself unable to ask her to shut up.
    The bell rings.
    The girls get up and leave. There’s a hum of chatter as they walk away.
    ‘No way, did she come? Did we actually make a dead person come?’
    None of them seems to notice that I have stayed where I am. I know I’ll get an order mark for missing French, but this one will be worth it.
Flo
    I thought I was OK after Rebecca Stephens, my new hockey partner, thwacked me around the face with her hockey stick. But halfway through French I thought I was going to pass out from how much my head was spinning. I went to the sick room and when I felt better I told Miss Trunks I’d called my dad from the payphone in the foyer and that he was waiting outside. He wasn’t really.
    It’s all Sally’s fault. Rebecca is rubbish at hockey, she has the coordination of a drunk person. She usually goes with Charlotte Pike but Charlotte wasn’t in hockey training because she has period pains, so when Sally said she didn’t want to go with me any more Miss Trunks put me with Rebecca and used Sally for all the demonstrations. Charlotte is really good at hockey, probably because she’s big boned. I realised pretty quickly that part of her talent is dodging Rebecca’s stick – that’s a skill in itself. When Rebecca hit me I thought my brain had exploded. I don’t remember much about it, but I do remember Sally laughing and saying she could see my regulation green knickers when I was lying on the floor.
    As I leave school, Renée Sargent is coming in.
    ‘What happened to you? Did Sally do that?’ she asks, referring to the big red lump on my forehead.
    Do people think Sally beats me up?
    ‘No, I was partners with Rebecca in hockey. Turns out she isn’t very good at hockey.’
    ‘It looks really sore. Is someone picking you up?’ Renée asks, obviously concerned.
    ‘No,’ I lied. ‘I’m going to walk to my dad’s, he isn’t feeling that great.’ I notice that Renée’s eyes look red. ‘Are you OK?’ I ask.
    ‘Yeah, I’m fine. My eyes just get puffy when it’s cold.’
    We stand awkwardly for a few seconds. Eventually I say, ‘Cool, well, Miss Trunks will tell me off if she sees me. I’d better go.’
    Renée looks weird. Kind of sad.
    ‘Can I walk with you?’ she asks quietly.
    I look up at the French class window. Sally isn’t watching.
    ‘Yeah, I guess so.’
    Renée and I walk separately until we get to the end of the school path and totally out of sight. When she catches up with me I feel so conspicuous. Bunking school and cavorting with the enemy? This is the baddest I have ever been.
    ‘Wanna go get chips?’ she says, her eyes still puffy.
    I am about to say no, but I haven’t had chips in ages. ‘OK,’ I say. ‘Why not.’
    ‘Come on then.’
    We walk to the Cod’s Wallop and