Read Online Blood Entwines by Caroline Healy - Free Book Online

eardrums mercilessly.
    The little group disbanded as Kara hobbled stiffly down the street. Ben watched her expectantly.
    â€˜What?’ she asked, a little sharper than she intended.
    He shrugged his shoulders. ‘You just look . . .’
    She glared at him.
    â€˜. . . a bit pink.’
    He laughed quietly to himself as she squirmed in irritation.
    â€˜Come on.’ He inclined his head once in the direction of her house. ‘I’ll see you home.’
    How does he know where I live?
This had been one of her fantasies before, being escorted home by Ben Shephard, but now the reality of the situation seemed decidedly inferior. She realised she had a wet patch on the back of her skirt from sitting under the tree.
    Kara wanted to get home as quickly as possible to deter anything else embarrassing happening to her. She was almost certain she had road dirt stuck to her cheek and haphazard leaves from the tree matted into her uneven hair. Ben probably felt sorry for her after the scene in the canteen. Kara folded her arms across her chest, conscious of the proximity of the boy next to her.
    She sniffed the air. A great many smells filled her nostrils, the strongest of which was Ben’s deodorant, strong and spicy, but underneath that was another smell, slightly unpleasant, something sickly sweet. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it irritated her. She wondered what it was.
    He looked down at her, smiled a lopsided grin. She averted her gaze and stared at the cracks in the footpath.
    â€˜Kara, I wanted to . . . Well, I wanted . . .’
    Oh God, he’s going to tell me about him and Ashleigh
.
    Ben stopped walking, turning to look at her. ‘It’s OK, you know.’
    She squinted at him. ‘What’s OK?’ She had no idea what he was talking about.
    â€˜That you didn’t want to see anyone. Your mum . . .’ He ran his fingers through his hair, making it dishevelled. ‘I mean, stepmum, came to see the principal. Said you didn’t want to see anyone. That you were concentrating on getting better.’
    â€˜What?’ Kara’s face scrunched in disbelief.
    â€˜There was a big announcement at assembly. Respecting your wishes and all that.’
    â€˜I don’t . . .’ She was struggling for words, her mind processing the information. All that time in the hospital, alone, no visitors calling to see her, no contact with her friends.
    Ben nodded his head in the direction of her house.
    â€˜Nearly there.’
    The smell of home baking teased Kara’s nostrils as they rounded the corner to her street. It smelt like chocolate orange muffins. Rosemary was baking. She hadn’t baked since the funeral. Kara, in her distracted state, let herself be led right to the front door. Instantly, she knew she’d made a mistake. Ben rang the doorbell.
    Damn
.
    She scowled up at him. She should have rooted out her key from her satchel when they were at the street corner.
    The door opened and Rosemary stood there, her apron flecked with white flour, a string of congealed cake mix stuck to her hair. She took one look at Kara and the blood drained quickly from her face leaving it porcelain pale.
    â€˜What happened? Are you OK? I knew I should have come to collect you . . .’ Rosemary’s voice escalated an octave or two.
    Kara needed to get rid of Ben. She and her stepmum were overdue a conversation. Kara opened her mouth to lie, but before she could get a word out Ben had launched into a rendition of events. She thought of stomping on his foot or barging in the door, closing it firmly on his face, anything to get him to shut up. Rosemary seemed to be getting paler by the minute. When he got to the part about her screaming, she shifted nervously from one foot to the other.
    Why had she been screaming? The question ricocheted through her brain. She searched her memory of the journey home and couldn’t remember. She had been thinking about the accident,