Forget Me Never

wanted him to leave so I could have some space. It wasn’t that he was unattractive. He really wasn’t. And I did like him a lot, but . . . I wasn’t capable of being someone’s girlfriend! I had too much baggage. Letting someone get that close, touch me . . . it wouldn’t work.
    Without meaning to I squirmed. ‘I’m flattered, but I, um, just don’t see it happening.’ Crap, that wasn’t how I’d meant to put it. ‘I just can’t—’
    ‘There’s so much you “just can’t” do, isn’t there?’ Reece sounded bitter. ‘You need to get over yourself cos unless one day you take a risk, you’re never going to get past everything that’s happened to you. I’m going. I’m fed up with all this and I’m fed up with you. Least now I know how you feel.’
    I looked away and heard him leave, closing the door behind him. It felt like something inside me was snapping.

REECE
    Convinced something bad would happen, I spent the next day glued to Mum and Neve. Mum was still being frosty about Brent Cross and didn’t even thank me when I said I’d help with the shopping.
    ‘If you think I’m going to say everything’s OK because you’ve decided to be nice today, I’m not,’ she said. We were in an aisle that seemed to contain nothing but chutney; how Waitrose found so many different types to stock was a mystery to me. ‘You may well think me getting tough on Sophie was unfair, but I’m not changing my mind.’
    ‘It’s not that. I just wanted to make sure you were OK.’
    Mum snorted, but when I didn’t react she frowned. ‘Reece? What’s wrong?’
    Everything, I thought. I couldn’t tell her about Cherie taking Neve, so I mumbled something about being freaked out about the burglary. None of the items nicked from our house had turned up. I wondered what Aiden had done with them – probably binned everything. Dad’s annuals couldn’t be repaired either. There was a company online who specialized in rebinding old books but I didn’t have that kind of money. In a fair world Aiden would get serious payback.
    Mum sighed melodramatically and inspected a jar of quince jelly. ‘I’m just waiting for the next horror to assail us. Bad things always come in threes, you know.’
    ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I wonder.’
    For all I knew, Sophie might be continuing to poke around, putting us all in danger. I was so angry with her. I got her point about truth. And despite not admitting it, I got that what happened at Brent Cross had really been my fault, and I’d antagonized them with the whole work-experience stunt. But surely now we had to get real. I hated quitting, but protecting my family was more important than finding out what had happened to Danielle. They were alive. She wasn’t.
    But I didn’t want to think about Sophie, not after she’d rejected me. It really hurt. For God’s sake , it wasn’t as though I was asking her to marry me – all I’d meant was that we could try giving it a go. After all I’d done for her too!
    Well, I wasn’t going to ask again. I felt humiliated enough already. All I could do was try to get over her. It was totally sad, but I was almost looking forward to this rubbish summer break being over.
    ‘Hey! Reece!’
    I gave a start. A girl was waving at me from further down the aisle. After a moment I recognized her.
    ‘Hey, Paloma,’ I said. It wasn’t often that I bumped into anyone from Broom Hill. ‘What’re you doing here?’
    ‘Picking up stuff for a picnic.’ Paloma nodded to a group of people queuing at the till. ‘My cousins live around here. Omigosh, is that your little sister? She’s so cute!’
    Paloma beamed at Neve. Neve looked a bit worried and hurried back down the aisle after Mum.
    ‘Hey, I heard what happened at Brent Cross,’ Paloma went on. ‘Totally twisted! You must have freaked.’
    I was beginning to remember why I’d found Paloma irritating. She was the only one of my ex-classmates who had a gob as big as mine. Sophie had always liked her for some reason – which reminded me . . .
    ‘Hey, I’m glad I met you,’ I said. ‘There’s something I want to know. You know that party you had? What happened to Sophie that night?’
    ‘Omigod! Didn’t you see the videos on YouTube? I thought everyone had. OK, let me tell you . . .’

SOPHIE
    I’d thought I’d find Waterloo station fairly empty at ten on a Monday morning, but it was quite the opposite. I stood in front of the departure board, scanning the electronic display for