‘Laptops out, please,’ Mr Fuller called over their heads as they filed into the science lab, bending to Alex as he passed and murmuring, ‘Alex, stay after class will you?’
‘What’s he want?’ Maddi whispered, pulling a face and leading the way to a workbench.
‘I don’t know, but can you wait with me?’ Alex said, frowning.
For the entire chemistry lesson Maddi gazed at the black top of their workbench, ignoring the theoretical constructs of gas expansion and contraction and pondering why Fullavit wanted to see Alex after class. ‘This is a freaking waste of time,’ she whispered to Alex as they watched their respective balloons inflate over boiling liquid nitrogen. ‘And he’s a weirdo.’
Alex glowered at her. ‘Shh,’ she hissed, her anxious blue eyes darting towards Fullavit.
‘I’m starved. I’ll get my apple and meet you back here,’ Maddi whispered once the lesson had ended. Alex turned to her with pleading eyes.
‘I’ll be right back,’ Maddi said.
Pushing past the other kids, Maddi ran from the building across the lawns to their classroom. Her feet echoing in the empty space she tore along the corridor they were not supposed to run along, grabbed her apple from her locker and tore back to the science lab. Bounding up the steps and along the corridor she was not surprised to find it empty, devoid of kids. But what did surprise her was that Fullavit and Alex were standing together outside the lab door. He was leaning down and listening to something Alex was telling him. Then he straightened and they exchanged smiles in a way that turned Maddi’s spine to ice.
‘What did he want?’ Maddi said as they walked through the double glass doors onto the verandah.
They stood on the verandah and watched the rain, the damp wind whipping at their legs. ‘He just told me I could count on him as a trusted adult if I needed to talk,’ Alex said, staring out, suddenly frowning. ‘We’re going to get wet.’
Maddi blew out the side of her mouth. ‘Seriously? Is he for real? That would be like leaving a mouse with a snake.’
Alex turned on her. ‘What the hell is your problem, Maddi? He’s offering me support. For your information it makes me feel good to know he really cares.’
By the time lessons had finished for the day the rain had passed, leaving grounds sodden, trees dripping and the sun fighting with bruised clouds for space.
‘Don’t you get sick of going home to an empty house?’ Alex said.
‘Not really. I like the freedom,’ Maddi replied.
‘But there must be times when you want to tell them something, or ask them a question.’
‘Yeah, sometimes. But I just ask them when they come home,’ Maddi said blowing her fringe from her forehead. She had walked another step or two before realising Alex had stopped. Turned back to see her frozen to the pavement. Followed her line of vision beyond the traffic to the bus shelter where Roger Grenfell waved at them, wearing a black beanie and a dark lumber jacket.
‘What’s he doing here?’ Maddi whispered.
‘I don’t know. But will you walk with me, please?’ Alex said, her fear echoing in her voice.
They waited and crossed the road, Alex’s face a mask of fear the entire time. ‘We have to pass him to get home. This is grossing me out.’
‘Come on,’ Maddi said, taking her by the arm. ‘He can’t hurt you. There are too many people around.’ She stood to her full height and steered Alex towards the bus shelter.
Roger stepped into their path as they approached, his dark eyes focussed solely on Alex. ‘Hello, Alex,’ he said, his hands deep in the pockets of his jacket, rocking from side to side as though trying to stay warm.
‘What are you doing here, Roger?’ Alex said.
‘I want to walk you home.’
‘Maddi is walking me home, but thanks anyway,’ Alex said, stepping past him.
‘The police told me to stop writing you notes,’ Roger said, taking longer strides to keep up with them. ‘They said you might be scared.’
Maddi and Alex continued walking, their feet echoing on the damp pavement, the buzz of the speeding traffic paling in significance. Maddi’s fingers felt like stalagmites in the cold air but her focus was on Alex as they gathered momentum in the hope Roger would leave them alone.
‘They said you might be scared,’ Roger repeated at Alex’s side. ‘Are you scared, Alex?’ he added, placing a hand on her arm.
Yes, friggin’ terrified, Maddi thought, eyeing his gigantic hand, her fingers feeling as though they were about to drop off, her heart pounding. She could not imagine how Alex must be feeling at this moment.
Alex stopped, pulled her arm away and turned to face Roger. ‘It would be better if you didn’t send me any more notes, Roger. My parents would spew if they found out,’ she said with impressive calm.
‘But are you scared?’ Roger persisted as Alex and Maddi walked on.
‘Yes. A bit,’ Alex said, stopping and turning to face him again. ‘It would be better if you didn’t do it. There’s no point.’
Roger rubbed the back of his head through his beanie. ‘That’s what the police said. They said I should wait until you’re seventeen.’
‘Maddi and Alex exchanged puzzled frowns. Kept walking.
‘Would it be alright then, if I walk you home after school?’ he said.
Alex rolled her eyes. ‘No.’
‘But what if that guy attacks you again? What if I’m not there to protect you?’
‘My friends and family are protecting me, Roger. You don’t need to worry,’ Alex said.
‘I thought I was your friend,’ Roger said, frowning.
‘I like talking to you when you come into the store, but not at other times.’
‘Why?’ Roger said.
‘It’s just how it is,’ Alex said, her eyes filling with tears.
Maddi glared at Roger, but he didn’t seem to notice. Hell, he didn’t seem to have noticed she was even present.
‘I thought you liked me. I don’t know what’s happened,’ Roger said, rubbing the back of his head again and accidentally knocking his beanie to the ground.
‘You need to leave her alone, Roger,’ Maddi said, watching him pull the beanie back onto his head. ‘Can’t you see how upset she is? You can talk to her when she goes back to work at the store. She wants you to stop writing her those notes. And she wants you to stop following her.’
‘Who are you?’
‘I’m Maddi – Alex’s friend.’
‘You were with Alex and the dog the other day.’
Alex turned to Roger. ‘I’m not going home tonight, Roger. So you can leave us now. OK?’
‘But you said a minute ago that Maddi was walking you home. What changed?’
‘Come on,’ Maddi said to a tearful Alex, grabbing her hand, pulling her with increasing speed towards the next intersection, bypassing the turn they would normally have taken.
‘What changed, Alex?’ Roger called after them.
They ran for several metres before slowing and looking back to where a baffled Roger, head down and hands in his pockets, turned into Davis Avenue.
‘We need a frigging sugar hit,’ Maddi said dragging Alex two shops down into their favourite chocolate shop.
‘Roger is really tall. You said the guy who did it was tall. Do you think it was Roger?’ Maddi said, pushing the marshmallow down into her hot chocolate, glancing up at the caramel and chocolate wallpaper, frantic baristas and waitresses wearing the same colours.
Alex turned back from watching the traffic outside the window and shook her head. ‘I don’t know what I think.’ She sipped her chocolate. ‘Don’t tell Mum and Greg about what just happened, OK?’
‘Why not?’
‘Because they’ll go psycho. Greg will kill him. Just promise me.’
‘But they need to know.’
Alex’s eyes widened. She leaned forward. ‘Just promise,’ she said.
‘OK, OK . . . I promise,’ Maddi told her.
‘Thanks for walking me home,’ Alex said as they turned into her street. ‘That thing back there with Roger . . . he was actually waiting for me to come out of school . . . that really weirds me out.’
‘Me too. That’s why you should tell your parents,’ Maddi said.
‘Trust me, Maddi, they do not need to know. Greg would go mental.’
‘You’re late,’ Cynthia called from the kitchen.
Bruno scrambled at their feet for a pat, the house was already warm, dinner smelled delicious, and for the briefest moment Maddi felt a stab of envy over what Alex came home to every night.
‘I’m not that late, Mum,’ Alex called back. ‘We stopped on the way for a hot chocolate.’ She pulled a face at Maddi, Bruno racing along the passage ahead of them.
Cynthia looked up from a steaming pot she was stirring at the stove. ‘Hello, Maddi. It’s nice to see you, love.’ She glanced out through the glass doors at the creeping darkness, her smile disappearing. ‘How are you getting home, Maddi?’
‘Walking,’ she said.
‘Oh no you’re not. It’s getting dark. Just wait a few minutes and I’ll drive you home.’
Maddi sat on the edge of the white doona and watched Alex set her laptop up on her desk, flowering jacarandas visible through the window.
‘There’s Greg,’ Alex said, glancing up at a big maroon car turning into the driveway as Bruno scuttled from the room towards the front door.
Maddi heard the car door thump closed, the key turning in the lock, waited for the shout of ‘I’m home’ that always came when one of her parents arrived. Waited for Alex to shout hello. But instead Greg’s footsteps thumped along the passage toward the kitchen as a now docile Bruno wandered back into Alex’s room. And then came Greg’s chilling tone.
‘Fuck’s sake Cynthia. You’re serving up crap lately. Get your act together or you’ll be out on your ear.’
Alex grimaced and lifted her eyebrows. Tried to shroud her obvious embarrassment with a feeble smile. ‘He’s been really weird since I was attacked,’ she whispered.
Maddi returned Alex’s frail smile. Wondered what her mother would have done if her father had spoken to her that way.