Split Second by Sophie McKenzie Read Free Book Online Page A

one of her friends to tell me how awful it was about Mum dying, an anguished smile of sympathy on her face.
    Jas and I strolled along, chatting about the upcoming Physics session. Jas was just warning me that the teacher was a bit dull when she looked up and waved at someone across the corridor.
    ‘There’s Nat,’ she said.
    I looked up, interested. I couldn’t see who Jas meant at first. There were several boys standing around the Science lab door. Then one of them pushed another, they both stepped back and I
saw him.
    He
was
good-looking, just as Rosa had said. He had the same dark, sleek hair as his sister, though his was cut short and messy. He was tall, like Jas, and slim, though not anywhere near
as skinny as her.
    He turned and I could see that his face was a male version of hers – longer and squarer in the chin – and that his eyes were a bright, intense blue. Wow, he was gorgeous.
    He stared back at me. My stomach gave a little skip.
    Jas took my hand and dragged me over. My heart beat fast.
    Nat didn’t take his eyes off me the whole time I was walking towards him.
    ‘This is Charlie,’ Jas said.
    ‘Hi.’ His voice was cold and hard.
    ‘Hi.’ I tried to smile, but my face didn’t seem to move properly. Why he was being so unfriendly?
    Nat stared at me for a few more seconds. Then, without another word, he turned and strode into the Science lab. Jas looked after him, a frown on her face. I could feel myself flushing. Rosa had
been right about Nat. He was rude, as well as good-looking.
    The Physics lesson was practical and interesting. I worked with Jas and another boy on the experiment we were doing. Every now and then I looked over at Nat. Once I thought I caught him watching
me but the rest of the time his face was turned away.
    Maybe I was being oversensitive, but it felt like he was deliberately ignoring me. At the end of the lesson he stalked out without looking over, even though Jas called out after him.
    That was strange, wasn’t it? I mean, he really seemed to have taken a dislike to me. What on earth could I have done to upset him?

Nat
    I felt sick to my stomach. It wasn’t just the horrible images from the bomb blast that had been flashing through my head ever since that Maths lesson earlier this
morning. It was also the fact that Charlie was so closely connected to something that, so far, I had only thought about in terms of my own family. Suppose she guessed that Lucas had taken the bomb
to the market? No, that was stupid and irrational. There was no way she could know about Lucas’s involvement.
    Even so, my pulse raced whenever I thought about it.
    I tried not to look in Charlie’s direction during the class practical session, but I still made a total mess of my experiment, much to Callum and Rick’s annoyance. They were used to
coasting through all their Science lessons, reliant on the fact that I normally found the work fairly easy. But today I seemed to have forgotten everything I knew.
    What was Jas doing making friends with her? Had either of them talked about the bomb? About Lucas? I shuddered. Man, if I had recognised Charlie, perhaps
she
would remember
me
?
I looked up at the end of the experiment. Charlie was watching me, an expression of curiosity on her face. What was that about?
    I told myself I was overreacting. She was probably just curious because Jas and I were twins. People were often interested in the twin thing. I snuck a final glance at her as she packed her bag
then I grabbed my own and strode out of the room.
    Jas came running up behind me. ‘What’s the matter?’ she said.
    ‘Nothing,’ I said. Then, knowing Jas wouldn’t buy that for a second, I lowered my voice. ‘I recognised that girl . . . from that day in the market, you know . .
.’
    Jas’s gaze softened with sympathy. I looked away, hating myself for not telling her the whole truth. Still, what choice did I have?
    ‘I wondered why you acted like that earlier,’ she said. ‘I get