Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield Page B

turned serious. ‘You don’t fit in, really. You don’t seem…damaged enough.’
    I slid out from under the blankets and pushed the newspaper pages away from the mattress. I pulled my backpack close and looked inside for some clean clothes.
    Arden stood over me, frowning. ‘There is another way, I suppose.’
    My stuff seemed loose, like there were things missing, or out of place. ‘What do you mean?’ I pushed the clothes aside and felt for my purse. It wasn’t there. ‘My purse is gone,’ I mumbled.
    ‘It must be there somewhere,’ Arden said, irritated. ‘We could cut your hair.’
    ‘Why? What for?’ I sounded breathless. ‘It’s gone.’ My money was gone.
    ‘So nobody will recognise you. Then you could stay.’
    ‘It was here last night.’ Darcy , I thought.
    ‘Did you hear me? You could stay. Let me cut your hair. You’ll be unrecognisable.’ Her eyes were shattered glass.
    ‘It’s okay. I’m leaving.’
    ‘Where are you going?’
    ‘I thought you wanted me to go?’
    ‘I do, but Silence won’t be happy.’
    ‘He doesn’t even know me.’
    ‘I think you remind him of his sister. She looked a bit like you.’ She bent down, grabbed a hank of my hair andinspected the ends. ‘When was the last time you cut this?’
    ‘Not since I was about ten.’ When was the last time you cut yours? I thought, looking at her snarled dreadlocks. I backed away from her and she held on a moment too long until the roots pulled. ‘What happened to her? Silence’s sister?’
    ‘Who said anything happened to her?’
    ‘You used the past tense.’
    ‘I didn’t. Oh, come on. Let me cut it.’ Arden cut the air with two fingers, snip snip. She knelt behind me and ran her fingers through my hair, combing the tangles. ‘Stop covering up that pretty face.’
    After a minute, I relaxed against her. It felt good, like I was five years old again. I closed my eyes and she could have been Vivienne, winding sections into a fishtail braid. I sank deep into the pleasure and pain of pull and release.
    Arden’s fingers moved to my scalp and started to massage hard, hypnotic circles.
    ‘Do you like that?’
    I nodded. ‘I need to get dressed,’ I said but didn’t move. I couldn’t.
    Her hands moved to my shoulders and she dug her thumbs into the tight muscles.
    I groaned.
    Arden caught and held her breath. She worked one cool hand from my shoulder, down, between the fabric and skin, until she scooped and cradled one of my breasts.
    I froze.
    She held me there until her hand grew warm.
    And I let her.
    I’m not sure who moved first.
    She let me go, stood up, looked down at her near-nakedness and shrugged. ‘See you downstairs.’
    I was shaking. I took my time and turfed all of my stuff out onto the mattress—two pairs of jeans, a few T-shirts, thongs, underwear, my jacket and a thin jumper. I wanted to put them all on.
    My purse was definitely gone. The thought made me feel sick. Finally, I got dressed and went downstairs.
    Only Carrie, Darcy, Arden and AiAi were there. AiAi was wolfing bread, his hand dipping into a brown paper bag to break chunks from a crusty loaf. Darcy was quiet and shifty, sitting on a crate, nursing a mug.
    I gave her my best accusing stare but she wouldn’t look at me.
    Carrie was stirring crazy circles in her mug with a teaspoon.
    ‘Where’s Silence?’ I asked.
    Carrie looked up. ‘Gone out,’ she said.
    Arden slurped the last of her drink and handed her mug to Carrie. She hadn’t bothered to put on more clothes, despite the chill of the house. Snip, snip, went her fingers. She behaved as if nothing had happened and I was relieved.
    I looked at Carrie’s and Darcy’s short hair.
    Bree wandered in, yawning.
    I checked out her cropped curls and wondered. It crossed my mind that I’d been manipulated in some way, but I was embarrassed and confused.
    ‘What’s going on?’ Bree said.
    Arden hauled a crate into the middle of the room and slapped it.
    I thought it was a test. A