What You Become by C. J. Flood Page B

sank. They wanted gossip.
    ‘My
friend
.’
    They looked at each other, communicating something important, and I missed that so much, knowing someone well enough you could tell each other things with your eyebrows.
    ‘It’s a long story,’ I said, and it would have been much easier to make an excuse and head home, but I owed it to Ti to at least try to clear up some of the rumours flying around. Besides, Alisha’s black eyes were kind, and still half impressed, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.
    ‘That is the weirdest thing I ever heard!’ Alisha announced when I got to the revenge poo, and I wondered if I had made an error, but then she started laughing, and Kiaru joined in, and so I carried on, growing more enthusiastic. I told her about our purple balaclava, and Ti using a trampoline to get into Chase’s garden, then stepping in the metal dog bowl.
    ‘So
that’s
what you do at the weekends,’ she said, as though it had been bothering her for a while.
    ‘Used to, we’re not allowed to see each other any more.’
    Alisha pulled a sad face for one second, but her smile couldn’t be suppressed for two. ‘So what did you see? Did you discover anything juicy about the secret life of Chase?’ Her eyes glittered in anticipation, and I told her about the shadow Ti had seen, and the romantic music, and how that was what had drawn her too close to the house.
    ‘Chase lied about Ti after. She said she threatened her, when she didn’t, so I don’t know . . . Maybe she did have something to hide . . .’
    ‘How do you know Ti didn’t threaten her?’ Alisha said.
    ‘Because I was just next door. I heard everything, and Ti would never threaten anyone.’ I was lying again – I hadn’t heard what happened at all, but I meant it just the same.
    ‘Didn’t she punch Charlie Fielding a few weeks ago?’ Kiaru said.
    ‘That was Ophelia. And no, she didn’t
punch
her. They were practising a routine, and she fell—’
    Alisha hooted.
    ‘It’s true!’ I said automatically, though I wasn’t certain myself, in spite of Ti’s best efforts to convince me.
    ‘Ti says Chase was stupid, casting like she did,’ I said. ‘Something was bound to happen.’
    ‘She likes to use natural emotion to get the best performance,’ Alisha said. ‘That’s all.’
    ‘Ophelia ended up getting chucked out of school!’
    ‘That’s hardly Ms Chase’s fault though, is it? Ophelia needs to learn to hold onto her temper.’
    ‘Ti says Charlie and Mia wound her up.’
    ‘They probably did, but that just makes what Ophelia did even more daft. You can’t react to girls like that, it’s what they live for . . . Not that Ophelia’s much better. It’s a shame though, ‘cause she’s a good actress. She would have been perfect as Rizzo. Much better than that wet lettuce, Mia.’
    ‘As if she’d ever be the leader of a gang!’
    ‘I know. It worked with
West Side Story
, though, didn’t it? Chase’s approach. Will and Ophelia were dreamy in that.’
    ‘I still don’t think it’s right, using people’s emotions against them, and then throwing them out like pieces of rubbish.’ I sounded exactly like Ti.
    ‘That’s show business,’ Alisha said, and I thought I saw Kiaru rolling his eyes. Was he losing interest in her? Or was it me he found boring?
    ‘She never talks to anyone except for you, you know – Ti,’ Alisha said. ‘I was her partner in PE once, and she never said a word. I think she’s in love with you.’
    ‘She’s shy, that’s all, and she thinks that—’
    ‘Are Titania and Ophelia
really
their names?’ Kiaru interrupted, and something in his voice made me defensive on Ti’s behalf.
    ‘Her dad loves Shakespeare,’ I said. ‘What, d’you think people up the Beacon don’t know about him?’ Another old line of Ti’s.
    Kiaru looked annoyed, but Alisha put her hand on his arm. ‘Finish telling us what happened at Chase’s. You said Ti didn’t threaten her?’
    ‘No, she didn’t, but I