The Suicide Club Read Online Free

go out every night. r u lot out tonight?!?
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    I was already replying to Clare’s text:
Wot time?
I don’t actually like abbreviating messages because it’s not good grammar but sometimes there’s just no time. We first started using text speak to mock people who used it non-ironically, but we used it so much that in the end it just became normal, which is quite depressing really. The minute I sentthe text, another one came through:
Soon . . .
Then I was back at my keyboard because I don’t like predictive texts as much as typing.
Smackdown Kid says:
Why r u doing this Clare?
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    Matthew, as usual, spent ages writing his reply. Just as the message flashed up my phone bleeped again.
Matt says:
What r u 2 on about?!?!?!?
Smackdown Kid says:
Meet at the war memorial at 7.30?
Matt says:
I’m there.
    Â 
    I looked at my phone.
I just want it to be me and you. No Matt.
    My heart started thumping. All of a sudden I didn’t know what to do. I felt bad for Matthew being left out of all this, and because I was about to fob him off for a girl. Nowadays boys hang around with girls all the time – it’s not like it used to be – but it’s still bad to sly on a friend. Clare always came over to my house and I always went over to hers, but something was different this time. I texted her back:
I’ll call you in a minute.
    I logged off without even saying goodbye, which made me feel guilty. I might have texted him later, but I didn’t. Then, seconds later, Little SubPop went offline as well, which must have looked incredibly suspicious because we had both come off at the same time. Matthew must have been sat in his room feeling ostracized to hell because he knew what was going on – he was just as clever as everyone else in our group.
    I turned my computer off, picked up the house phone, and called Clare.
    â€˜Hi, it’s me,’ she said. She sounded out of breath.
    â€˜Hi. So what’s going on?’
    â€˜I’ll tell you later.’
    â€˜Why can’t you tell me now?’
    She got annoyed at this, in that way that girls do.
    â€˜God, I said I’d tell you later.’
    There was a pause. I could hear ‘Planet Telex’, an old Radiohead song, playing in the background. Clare had excellent music taste because she had an older brother who taught her everything.
    â€˜You’re a really good friend,’ she said at last. You know that feeling when at the other end of the line the voice sounds tinny and resounds with silence and drama? Her voice was like that.
    I knew what was happening. It was Craig. Back in the yard when I had my arm around her had meant as much to her as it had to me.
    I could feel a bond of friendship burning gloriously out of the ether and into life; a shared experience and feeling that connected us. Whenever I make a bond with somebody I imagine a golden rope running out of my chest and into theirs, connecting the two souls. It burns up out of nothing and is just there, linking you to that person, your two souls glowing white-blue in bright orbs. The rope thrums with energy and makes your whole body tingle. It’s amazing how people can react to one another, you know, the feelings that come from it.
    â€˜You can come over whenever you want,’ I said quietly. It was one of those times when you know the other person is feeling the exact same thing as you. It’s the best thing in the world when bonds are forged, don’t you think? It lasts for ever if you do it right.
    The end strains of ‘Planet Telex’ were washing into the line, that bit which sounds like an alien message, or radio static. It was really bizarre.
    â€˜I’ll be there soon.’ And she hung up.
    I got changed into my jeans and pulled on my white Lost Prophets T-shirt. This was a band who all the Californian Girls loved because they were really big in LA at the time. I looked OK in my T-shirt.
    I’m quite lucky because I have