If school was weird, home was positively surreal. Larrie had barely left her room all week except to take her stress out on me, leaving notes on the fridge to remind me I hadn’t sorted the recyclable plastics properly, and banging on her bedroom wall if I made the slightest noise. She may have had Mum and Dad convinced that she was locked away studying all day and night, but if the way her phone was going off at all hours was any indication, there was a lot more going on. By Friday I was a wreck. The thought of seeing Josh at the SkoolDaze rehearsal that night was the only thing that got me through my morning classes.
My nerves were so shaky, I almost ran straight back to the library when Prad sat next to me at lunch. “I’m very, very sorry about yesterday,” he said, glancing warily at Maz.
Apology out of the way, and without waiting for me to accept or reject it, Prad turned to Simon and started raving about a music video that’d gone viral overnight.
“He really does feel bad about what he said, despite appearances to the contrary,” said Maz.
“I’m sure people are saying far worse things. I suppose I’d better get used to it, unless I can prove them wrong.”
“Two weeks to go,” Maz reminded me, “and then it’s bye-bye Larrie and all of her baggage.”
The rarely used school loudspeaker crackled to life before I could inform her that it was exactly one week and six days.
“Allison Miller report to Ms Brand’s office immediately. Allison Miller to the deputy principal.”
“What have you done now?”
I searched my mind for any misdemeanours Brandy might have witnessed lately, but came up blank. “I honestly don’t know.”
Brandy was waiting for me in her interrogation room office. She was obviously not doing anything other than waiting for me, but she still made me hover outside her door for five minutes while she shuffled the papers on her desk from one pile to another.
Finally, both piles sufficiently in order, she gave an annoyed tsk and said, “Come in, Allison,” as if I’d kept her waiting. I sat on the rickety chair on the other side of her desk. We were barely a metre apart.
“I think you know why you’re here,” she said, showering me with stale-ashtray-and-instant-coffee breath.
I blocked my nostrils, wondering whether it was my imagination or if the walls really were closing in on us. “No, Miss, I really don’t.”
“There’s been a lot of … talk these past few days. Malicious, scandal-mongering talk, no doubt fuelled by jealousy and petty vindictiveness.”
Did she know about Larrie and Beth? It certainly seemed to be the main topic of conversation among Whitlam’s students, but I didn’t think it’d reached the staffroom yet.
“I’m sure you are aware that Whitlam takes a dim view of such things. If I was to find out that someone was spreading rumours about another student, I would be forced to take very swift, very stern action.”
I was lost. Was Brandy trying to let me know that if she heard anyone gossiping about me she’d punish them? Or was she accusing me of spreading the rumours about Larrie?
“Your sister is nothing but a credit to this school and I won’t have her years of hard work undone. Do I make myself clear?”
Okay, she was accusing me. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Brandy was back to her paper shuffling. “Close the door on your way out.”
I shut the door as hard as I could get away with without being told off. I was fuming. Leaving Whitlam for another school by choice was one thing, but being forced into it was out of the question. The only way to fix things was for Larrie to tell Brandy I had nothing to do with the rumours.
“What did Brandy want?” said Maz when we caught up again before Science.
“Can you believe she thinks I’m the one behind all this Larrie stuff?”
“Are you?” Nicko sounded only mildly surprised.
“No! Why would I do that?”
Nicko shrugged. “Because you hate her?”
Did Nicko seriously think I’d do something like this? To my own sister? If that’s the kind of person he thought I was, then I really had an image problem to fix. Before I could set him straight Ms Morales arrived and everyone scattered to sit at their benches.
Ending the day with double Science was bad enough, but when Ms Morales announced that the lesson was about sibling inheritance I almost ran out of the lab.
“Hands up if you have brothers or sisters,” she said.
Half the class raised their hands.
“And who thinks they’re a lot like their siblings?”
About ten people kept their hands up. I lowered mine.
“Allison, you don’t think you and Larissa are alike?”
“No, Miss,” I said, silently cursing her for singling me out. “Aside from a few physical similarities.”
“Really? I’ll be interested to see how you demonstrate that in your assignment.”
I nodded with fake confidence. Ms Morales didn’t look like she bought it, but she continued with the lesson. Now all I had to do was prove I was right in my assignment.
After what Brandy had said, my need to know whether the rumours were true outweighed my discomfort about broaching the topic with Larrie. I seized my chance when I heard her go into our bathroom, tiptoeing to the door and opening it without knocking.
Larrie was staring at herself in the mirror, as if she didn’t recognise the face looking back at her. When she saw my reflection behind hers she scowled. “You can’t come into the bathroom while I’m using it.”
Her arm shot out to close the door, but I wedged it open with my foot. “Larrie, I need to talk to you.”
“I don’t have time to talk. I’ve got revision to do.”
“Well, you’re not revising now, are you?”
Larrie picked up a sponge and gave the basin a half-hearted wipe. “That’s because this bathroom’s so filthy I can’t stand it any more. You haven’t scrubbed the shower in over a month.”
“Larrie, this is important. The whole school’s talking about–”
An expression halfway between terror and rage flashed across Larrie’s face. “Mum! Al won’t let me study.”
“Allison Miller, leave your sister alone right now!” shouted Mum. “If I have to come up there …”
When I turned to yell back at Mum that I was only trying to talk to Larrie about something, and that she wasn’t in fact studying, Larrie took the opportunity to kick my foot out of the way and slam the bathroom door behind her. I heard the lock click from the inside.
I checked my watch. I had an hour to change out of my uniform and into something Josh-worthy and get to school for the battle of the bands rehearsal. Larrie would have to wait.
Al Miller is near the end of her rope.