Preloved Read Online Free Page B

contest is about to start.”
    “What? I didn’t think that was your thing. When has that been your thing?”
    “It’s totally not my thing,” replied Rebecca. “That’s exactly why we should go.” She took me by the arm and hurried me along.
    The ghetto-blaster was doing its job of blasting out some Eighties hip-hop. The same-ghetto blaster belonging to Michael Limawan that I had kicked over.
    At least it proved Mum’s point that things made in the past were more durable.
    Past . The word brushed against me briefly and disappeared, leaving me with a sense of nostalgia and longing for something that never belonged to me.
    I covered my ears and followed Rebecca as she nudged past the crowd that appeared to be made up of off-the-shoulder sweatshirts, headbands and crimped hair.
    “Rebecca! I need to talk to you about the locket,” I shouted over the noise of the music and the sound of everyone clapping in time.
    “What locket? Can we talk about it later? We’re supposed to be watching this.”
    I could see Michael standing by the ghetto-blaster with his arms crossed and Peter Cooper trying – and I should stress, trying – to pull some moves on the ground. Michael saw me and nodded in recognition. Ugh. He probably thought I’d come to return his “favour”.
    When I turned back, Rebecca had gone.
    I realised she had just moved away from the crowd and was standing off to the side by herself. And she had that look on her face. That classic Rebecca face.
    The one that said, “I don’t fit in with the popular kids. I’m on the outside looking in because I’m a loner that no one gets, but if only you knew how I feel on the inside, and the heart of gold I possess, you would know I’m just misunderstood.”
    I could see a group of boys, dressed in matching red retro Adidas tracksuits staring at Rebecca as they waited for their turn. She averted her large eyes away from them shyly and looked at the ground. I wondered if Michael was right and in their heads, they were seeing her through a fuzzy camera lens, while a gentle wind machine played with her purple curls.
    “Rebecca, I want to give you back your locket!”
    Rebecca turned to me with an annoyed look on her face. She cupped her hand over her ear to indicate she couldn’t hear me.
    “Your locket!” I held it up so she could see and I pointed at it. I guess I could have gone over to where she was standing, but I didn’t want to invade her space, now that I realised how calculated her unintended indie-cool was.
    I looked back over to Michael. He grinned back at me with a knowing smile. My hand closed tightly over the locket. I thought about what he had told me about vampires. It was time for me to take a chance on something for the first time in my life. Live large. Improvise.
    “Rebecca, I need your permission to open your locket!”
    “My what ?”
    “Just say yes!”
    “Yes? Amy, what do you want?”
    “That will do,” I said, as Rebecca came marching back to me. “Thanks.”
    As the crowd suddenly put their arms in the air and cheered, I was the only one looking down. With fingers that trembled more than I expected them to, I tried the catch.
    It opened.
    “Yes!” I screamed. I put my arm up and punched the air.
    Everyone turned to look at my mistimed cheer. The music had stopped and the next dancer was waiting to come on. Rebecca stared at me with displeasure.
    Maybe it had nothing to do with superstitions. Maybe all the locket needed was just that final push and it was going to open anyway. I was sure it was all to do with addition, subtraction and the Pythagoras theorem or whatever I learned in Maths that day.
    I brought the two open halves closer to my face.
    There was a picture inside. Of a teenage boy.
    Are you satisfied now? I asked myself. I closed the locket and let it drop back down on its chain. There’s probably a middle-aged woman out there who would laugh if she knew you were wearing her old locket with a photo of her high school