That Girl From Nowhere Read Online Free Page A

hypnotise people into staying still, staying silent, while she said something important or cutting. I’m not one hundred per cent convinced she can’t do that now because she is fixing them on me while she opens her mouth to speak. I want to turn away, to leave before I hear something that will be negative and draining; which will nibble away at the positivity I have been building up, but I can’t move.
    ‘Clemency, about what I said earlier,’ Mum starts. She sighs and steps towards me. ‘Don’t take everything to heart so much.’ She presses her hand on to my shoulder, reassures me with that touch that I am being oversensitive and what she said about the end of my relationship was completely justified.
With Dylan, July 1999, Graduation Day
    Dylan stood beside me, our heads close together while someone took a picture of us in our black and purple gowns. I had a mortar board on my head, the tassel constantly hung just low enough to be an irritating distraction at the corner of my eye. The other distraction at the corner of my peripheral vision was Mum, glaring at me because, in her mind, merely standing next to a male was enough to impregnate me. ‘We made it, eh, Smitty?’ Dylan said.
    I took my camera back from the person who’d snapped the shot, thanked them. ‘Yes. Although it looked doubtful at times.’
    ‘Don’t just disappear now it’s over, OK?’ he said.
    ‘If anyone’s going to do a disappearing act it’ll be you, don’t you think?’ I replied. ‘Speaking of disappearing acts, what happened to Seth? I saw him in the ceremony but I haven’t seen him since.’
    ‘Maybe he finally got the message,’ Dylan mumbled.
    ‘What message would that be?’ I asked. ‘And can you clue me in on it?’
    ‘Come on now, Smitty,’ he said.
    ‘No, you come on, Dylan. I’ve finished college, am I allowed to sleep with Seth now? Or is that still against the rules of being your mate?’
    ‘Smitty … me and you …’
    ‘Are mates, that’s abundantly clear.’
    ‘It’s not that simple. Before you, I’ve never been friends with a girl without it being either purely sexual or purely platonic. It’s both with you. And the longer we’re mates, the more I feel for you. It’s more than sex and more than just frienship with you.’
    ‘Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb,’ I said in response.
    Unexpectedly he stepped forward, our bodies now so close they almost touched. My breathing became quick and shallow; the pupils of his eyes dilated as he began to breathe quickly too. ‘I’d love to kiss you,’ he said, his gaze linked to mine, ‘but I think your mum would probably lay me out with one punch. Meet me later? I’ve got a family meal, but come over to my house around ten o’clock?’
    ‘I can’t. Mum and Dad are taking me home after this. We’re all packed up. We’ve got a family thing over in Otley. My cousin’s having problems, too, Mum wants to get back for her.’
    ‘Can’t believe this,’ he said. ‘Are you going to come back any time soon?’
    ‘Do you actually ever listen to a word I say? I told you, I’ve got a summer job, working six days a week so I can save up for my course to train to become a silversmith and jeweller. You can come and see me?’
    ‘Will your mum smack me if I kiss you now?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Your dad won’t stop her?’
    ‘Nope.’
    ‘All right. I’ll come over to see you.’
    I knew he wouldn’t. I desperately wanted him to, but I knew he wouldn’t. It was easier for us both to pretend that he would.
     
    Mum’s stopped hypnotising me with her stare. She’s instead focused on the butterfly pendant I wear around my neck. It is large and fashioned from silver, and one of the first things I made after I qualified as a silversmith. The pendant represents a lot of things to Mum, not only the fact I took no notice when it came to her career advice, but also that I still have an obsession with butterflies. And that obsession, to Mum, is hurtful. ‘
Try not to