Read Online The Life and Afterlife of Charlie Brackwood (The Brackwood Series Book 1) by Stacey Field - Free Book Online Page A

passerby said snidely.  I looked up in time to see the cold expression in Amy’s eyes as she grinned at us.  The group she was with laughed robotically as they took in the scene.  I glanced at Russ, puzzlement on my face.
    “Could she…?” I stopped short, because surely Amy couldn’t have done this. 
    My mind drifted back to a few hours before, lunchtime in the school cafeteria.  As expected Amy had sat with us instead of her usual gang of sycophants, and as usual Lucy and Russ had got into a debate over a topic Lucy was particularly passionate about.  At first Amy sat quietly, watching them with her usual venomous expression.  After a while she reached under the table. I’d assumed she was retrieving her backpack, she often doodled on her pencil case when bored.  She spent some time rummaging under the table and I’d thought she was having trouble locating it.  Now I found myself wondering if all was as innocent as I’d first thought. 
    “What?” Russ asked.
    “The pills.” I stared at him, not wanting to believe what I was about to say. “Amy switched them.”
    “Amy?  She wouldn’t…”
    “She switched Lucy’s anti-anxiety pills for sleeping pills,” I said as I desperately searched for the packet of pills in Lucy’s bag.
    “But Amy wouldn’t do that. She would never be capable of something so…”
    I stopped searching and looked up at Russ in exasperation. Surely he wasn’t this delusional?
    “Russ, Amy hates Lucy.  Anyone with half a brain can see that.  Maybe if you’d paid more attention to your girlfriend none of this would have happened,” I said continuing to search.
    “What's that supposed to mean?” Russ had raised his voice to a level that indicated trouble ahead.
    “Don’t you see?  Amy is jealous of Lucy because of all the attention you give her.”
    “So you’re saying this is my fault?” Russ said, straightening up and puffing out his chest in a manly fashion.
    “No… look… we need to concentrate on Lucy. There’s no way she’s going to make that exam now and I don’t think accidental ingestion of sleeping pills is an acceptable excuse for missing it.  Not when your girlfriend’s got all the teaching staff wrapped around her little finger.”
    I was starting to feel angry about the way Lucy must suffer thanks to Amy’s thoughtless game-playing.
    I pulled out the box of pills from Lucy’s bag and examined them.  I could see from the small print on the packet that they were sleeping pills and not Lucy’s usual medication.  In her haste to ease her nerves she must have missed the writing.  The pills themselves looked exactly like her usual ones.
    I looked down at Lucy’s innocent, peaceful face and decided to stay with her until the pills wore off.
    “Right, I’ll see you in a bit. You staying here?” Russ asked, his tone and body language giving away his anger.
    “Yeah... hang on, where are you going?”
    “I need to get the truth from someone,” he said through clenched teeth before walking in the direction of the library, where Amy helped to stack shelves for extra points.
    I sat by Lucy on the freshly cut grass and watched the sun highlight the colours in her hair.  There were various red hues that would glow when the sun came out, as well as deep black and honey-toned browns.  I had never taken much notice of her hair before, always seeing it as a mass of curls on top of her head, but on that day, for the first time, I could see the beauty in it.  Her milky white skin was flawless as she slept, not one wrinkle or crease on her smooth forehead. 
    I stayed by her side for the rest of the afternoon, watching every delicate intake of breath, all the time battling with the thought of telling her she’d missed the exam.  I knew she would have the opportunity to re-sit the following year but I also knew how strict her mother could be about Lucy's education.  If Lucy had to re-sit a subject the drama that would likely ensue would make Lucy