The Darker Half Chapter 12

The Darker Half Chapter 12

By Janet Baldey

Part 2

         Oh for heaven's sake!  Anna groaned and covered her ears. She stared down at her desk but she could still hear the overwhelming County bray filling the room; upper class confidence asserting its right to disrupt.  It didn't matter one jot to Celia Hartop that, maybe, some of her classmates actually wanted to learn Spanish, a language she obviously had zero interest in, along with most of the other subjects in the curriculum. From the very start, Celia had made it no secret that she was interested in just one thing, killing time until she was old enough to train to be a nurse. A nurse!  Anna's eyes had bulged the first time she'd heard this. Weren't nurses supposed to be caring?  She shuddered at the thought of Celia with a syringe. She was the last person that should be allowed anywhere near the sick. Anna wondered where she'd got the idea?  Maybe days out with the local Hunt had taught her that she enjoyed the sight of suffering?  Meanwhile, she was alleviating her boredom by taunting the tutor she'd labelled a Commie, partly because of his views on the Spanish Civil War but also because he wore sandals and a Fair Isle cardigan.  For the life of her, Anna couldn't see the connection, other than Celia and her ilk were so prejudiced that any break with tradition was a personal insult. Surely, that was stereotyping to the nth degree.

      "Okay then, Mr Colledge, what do you think about the Hungarian uprising?  Do you think Khrushchev was right to send in the tanks and kill all those people?"

      Sensing blood, Celia's eyes glittered.

      Anna raised her head and looked at her tutor who brushed his floppy hair away from his eyes as he opened his mouth to reply. To her surprise, he seemed to be enjoying the debate - maybe his boredom matched Celia's. In any event, he was parrying her charges, obviously taking delight in exposing ignorance that would have shamed anyone with a thinner hide. He was wasting his time, Anna thought. Celia's resembled a rhino's.  He'd never puncture her innate conviction that she'd been bred to be right.

         Anna couldn't bear it any longer. She loathed the mouthy Celia and her fawning coterie. Most of all she loathed herself for not having the courage to stand up to her. Her chair screeched as she stood up and began to stuff her books into her bag, making no attempt to hide her exasperation. She glanced around the room but everyone's eyes were fixed on the battle being played out before them. All except one - a girl was looking at her and as their eyes collided, the girl winked and gathered her own books together.

         As they left the room, Celia's voice followed them like a bad smell and the girl grinned.

         "Tally-ho," she said.

         Anna flicked her a glance. She didn't know what to say. She'd never had any communication with the girl before although she had noticed her. It was difficult not to.  Always dressed in black, the girl stood out against the froth of pastels and today her shapeless tent dress didn't succeed in hiding her looks, which were spectacular.  At close range, they were no less so and Anna felt a twinge of envy as she glanced at the girl's perfect profile, trying to find even the slightest flaw. Abruptly, the girl turned to face her, a swirl of auburn hair following the sudden movement.

         "Don't tell me you've only just noticed my second head!"

         To her horror, Anna felt her cheeks burn."Sorry." She muttered, "it's just that I was trying to remember your name. Don't remember names very well." 

         "Neither do I, but I know yours - it's Anna isn't it?"

      "That's right. How did you guess?"

         " I have a system. Anna is "A" for angelic - it's because you're nice," she explained.  "Celia is "C" for codswallop - which is what she talks most of the time. I'm Lucinda, by the way, although I prefer to be called Lucy."

         If that was the case, Anna thought she must be "L" for lovely.  At home, her Mum and Dad sometimes had a glass of sherry on special occasions and every time they did,  Dad would hold up his glass." Just look at that," he'd say, "pure amber!" Anna had the feeling he'd say the same thing about Lucy's hair, although, in her opinion, her most striking assets were her eyes: deep blue, almost purple, the colour of bluebells in the shade.  It seemed grossly unfair that she also had delicate features and perfect skin.

         "Come on." Tucking her arm underneath Anna's, Lucinda hurried her along.

         "Where are we going?"

         "No idea, but we're out of that classroom with time to kill, so let's make the most of it."

         Anna allowed herself to be pulled along but she was puzzled. Up until today, the girl hadn't shown the slightest interest in her and Anna had put her down as being a cold fish but today she seemed completely different. It could be that mutual dislike of Celia had united them but it still seemed slightly odd.

      "I know, what about a coffee?" she said.

      "Never drink the stuff, but yeah that's fine by me."

      It was too early for lunch but the cafeteria was open so Anna bought herself a frothy coffee while Lucy fluttered her eyelashes at the youth behind the counter and asked for tap water.  Anna couldn't help noticing that, as the boy looked into Lucy's black-lashed eyes, he turned a muddy beetroot colour. As they turned away, she glanced back and sure enough, he was standing staring as if mesmerised, a goofy look on his face.

      She nudged Lucy's arm.

      "He's going to dream of you tonight," she said.

      Lucinda uttered a shrill yelp of laughter and slightly startled, Anna swivelled her head and saw that the boy's flush had deepened.

      "Ssssh," she said. "I think he heard you."

      Lucy giggled.  "Sorry.  He's sweet but not my type.  I prefer my men more dangerous."

      Anna grinned but later when she recalled their conversation, she'd shuddered. Lucy hadn't known then what really dangerous men could do.

      "Shame we can't get an early lunch," Anna said as they seated themselves at an empty booth.  

      "That's OK by me. I never eat it anyway."

      "Never?  What, not even soup and a sweet?"

      "Nothing.  The food here is rubbish."

      "But what do you do with your lunch tickets?"

      Each student was allowed one free lunch ticket daily which covered the cost of soup and a sweet. It could also be put towards the cost of the main meal but few bothered to pay the extra, preferring to spend their money on something other than food.

      "Sell them. Our beloved Celia is a good customer. She's got to be good for something and she does love her stomach."

      For the first time, Anna noticed how thin the girl was.  If she'd wanted, she could have easily circled her wrists between her thumb and middle fingers and her jutting collarbones were clearly visible beneath the flimsy material of her dress.   

      "But, don't you get hungry?  Even if I have breakfast, I'm starving by lunchtime."

      "Breakfast - what's that?  Couldn't possibly eat that early."

      "So, no breakfast, no lunch - how do you last until supper?  Please tell me you have supper."

      "Sure.  I really pig out."

      "Somehow, I doubt that.  Come on, what do you have?"

      Lucy slumped in her seat while her fingers played with her water glass.  "What's it to you what I eat. I exist, don't I?  But if you must know, sometimes I have soup, sometimes a jam sandwich.  I love jam, especially strawberry."

      "Hardly a balanced diet, is it?"

      "Who are you, my mother?"

      "Now you mention it - doesn't your mum worry about you?"

      Lucy's eyelids closed and when she opened them, her eyes had a queer, metallic glitter.

      "She might, I suppose if she gave a hoot. But as she doesn't and as I can't remember when I last saw her, she doesn't figure in the equation."

      "So, you don't live with her?"

      "Nope.  The YWCA is the place I call home."

      Anna stared, not knowing what to say. Her own relationship with her mother wasn't easy but even so, she couldn't imagine not living with her; although the idea flashed into her mind that it would be good to get away from Alec.  She opened her mouth to probe further but then closed it. Lucy was right. It really was none of her business and obviously, Lucy was resenting what she saw as "nosiness."  All the same, she felt worried about her, although she didn't quite know why, after all, they'd only just met.  Anna wondered if it was possible that they might become friends.  Now that was a novel idea; she found having and keeping friends difficult.  Alec's behaviour always scared them off, although there had been Greta. But then, Greta was different. She had brothers of her own and was perfectly capable of dealing with Alec although he had won in the end.  Her thoughts wandered, it had been a long time ago but she still felt a hot flush of shame whenever she thought about what had happened and even now her nights were sometimes disturbed by small slips of folded over paper fluttering around like a cloud of cabbage white butterflies.  Not as innocent as butterflies though.  She felt sick as she remembered the words -  nasty words, venomous words.  Not hers, although everybody had thought they were.   She came to and looked up as Lucy's chair creaked.

      "Right, I'm off.   Things to do, people to see and all that jazz.  Are you coming?"

      "Yeah, sure.  Hang on a minute."

      Hastily, Anna swallowed the dregs of her coffee.  She followed Lucy out of the canteen hardly noticing where they were going. Without realising it, Lucy had planted a germ of an idea and the more Anna thought about it, the more attractive it seemed.  She was nearing the end of her course now and would soon be looking for a job.  It wasn't one she had mapped out for herself and she knew her father had been disappointed that she'd left school early. She hadn't told him the real reason. The fact that Greta refused to speak to her and the other kids sniggered behind her back - all her brother's fault of course. Alec had scuppered her career before it had even started and her present course was very much a second choice, but at least it led to qualifications which could pave the way to a well paid job. With a bit of luck, she could leave home and be rid of Alex for good.  Suddenly the day was clothed in sunshine as she rushed to catch up with Lucy.

Copyright Janet Baldey