Read Online Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne - Free Book Online

sure to thank Dominic for this the next time you see him,’ she’d told me, giving the telescope a playful pat. ‘His family donated it.’
    ‘Wow.’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s quite a donation.’
    ‘Almost every boarding school in England has one. Or a new library. Dominic would never go to school otherwise; in the last year he’s been kicked out of Harrow and Eton. It’s a good thing his family have more money than God.’
    ‘What do they do?’
    ‘I don’t know, but they’re obscenely wealthy. His father invented the Internet, or something,’ she said with a regal shrug. ‘His parents spend most of their time travelling between Seoul, California and here, so Dominic never sees them, which is why he’s so horribly misunderstood.’
    ‘Have you known him long?’ I asked, stepping over a paint tray and roller and walking over to where she was standing.
    ‘As long as I can remember,’ she said, tipping her head back to look up at the domed roof. ‘He’s the boy next door.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Sort of. Technically he lives in Burbage. His house is on the other side of the canal, directly opposite mine. When we were little, we used to meet on the bridge, make paper ships and race them.’ She turned to look at me. ‘I always made mine out of a different coloured paper because he cheated.’
    ‘I didn’t realise you were so close.’
    ‘He was my first –’ she shrugged – ‘ everything .’
    I looked away, suddenly out of breath. ‘I had no idea.’
    I was about to ask her if she loved him, but she’d already moved on, her eyes bright and a brush in her hand as she dared me to paint something rude on the wall.
    I’ve never met anyone like Scarlett. Dominic has flirted relentlessly with her since I started at Crofton, but Scarlett hasn’t said a word. Yet she wants to know everything about me, about every boy I’ve kissed, every girl I’ve thought of kissing, about every crack in my heart. It’s as if my life is a cake she wants to gorge on while she doesn’t tell me a thing. Just the same old stories about her mother and Paris and the second-hand brass bed.
    If I told Jumoke, she’d say that she had something to hide.

THE DAY AFTER
    MAY
    Signing the paperwork to get my car towed took forever, so I was late for my meeting with Madame Girard and had to run back to Burnham. I was in such a rush that I didn’t see Orla waiting for me until she grabbed my sleeve and led me around the side.
    ‘Orla, wait,’ I gasped, almost tripping on a tree root that had punctured through the grass. ‘I can’t. Not now, I’m late.’
    She ignored me, finally stopping outside the door to the laundry room. ‘I saw him,’ she said, eyes wet, her fingers still curled in the sleeve of my cardigan.
    ‘Who?’
    ‘That policeman, DS Bone. The one you wanted me to speak to after –’ she stopped to suck in a sob – ‘after –’ she tried again, but couldn’t say it. ‘You know?’
    I knew.
    ‘Bones was here?’
    ‘I saw him coming out of Headmaster Ballard’s study.’
    ‘Did he see you?’
    She shook her head. ‘I hid behind a tree.’ She laughed and sucked in another breath. ‘How pathetic is that?’
    ‘It’s not pathetic, Orla.’ I frowned. ‘It’s not pathetic at all.’
    ‘Is that why he’s here?’ she asked, her eyelashes sticky with mascara.
    ‘He can’t be. That was months ago.’
    ‘But what if he is? What if he tells everyone?’
    ‘He won’t.’ I reached over and wiped a tear away with the pad of my thumb.
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘Because he can’t tell anyone. He doesn’t even know your name.’
    ‘So why is he here, Adamma? What if everyone knows?’ Her gaze flicked to the path and I turned to see Molly walking out of Burnham, the sun on her hair making it look even blonder. Orla lowered her voice. ‘What if it’s around school already?’
    ‘If it was, one of us would have heard.’
    She nodded, but when I took a step back, she asked me where I was