Mia Evian has to piece together the mystery of Zack Maddox, the bad boy whose life she saved, while simultaneously keeping her own crumbling life together before Zack ends up in trouble again - or worse yet, dead.
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'That's why I didn't go with the pink one. Might as well have grabbed all of the unicorns, sparkle and glitter in the world, shoved them into a blender until they were reduced to liquid form, and then written 'gay' on my forehead with the concoction.'
'Mhmm,' I murmur absently.
I'm trying to listen to Aiden, I really am, but there's only so much Aiden talk I can take, and he's been rambling on about the colour of his school bag for the past twenty minutes. We're waiting in our new sixth form college's reception for the head of the maths department, who was due to meet us ten minutes ago.
I managed to fail maths last year, so have organised free tutoring sessions within the college to resit an exam and boost my grade. College itself has been a lot easier than I expected. It's way more relaxed than school, and thanks to Aiden's awe-inspiring ability to make friends, it's not as lonely as I feared it to be.I should be solely thinking about this stuff at the moment, but I keep getting distracted. The events of Robbie Morrisey's party keep replaying in my head, and the longer I sit in the middle of the college reception, the more the blur of crowds surrounding me remind me of that night.
The whole thing makes my head ache. No one's seen Zack since the party five weeks ago, not even Robbie, and everyone I know has come up with theories. Some people even think he's kicked the bucket. Stone cold dead. People's reactions to the whole thing are amusing really: some who've never met the boy before in their life are acting as if it's the biggest tragedy of the century, while others think he deserves whatever has happened. Some even say they hope he's dead.
That sends a shiver down my spine. Sure, he's a monumental dickhead, but I'd never wish death upon anyone. I'm just relieved no one knows that Aiden and I helped him that night because I don't think I could deal with the attention it would bring.
'...and that's the problem. Dogs could read minds but we'll never find out because dogs can't speak English, and we can't speak do--'
'Sorry,' I finally interrupt Aiden mid-ramble. 'I love you and everything, but I'm really not listening.'
He winks at me. 'You're just jealous because I got a bonerific B in maths, while you couldn't even scrape a D.'
Ugh, the worst part is that I was two marks off that D. I don't want, or expect, an A or anything. I just need a C because that's what most universities ask for. Dad performed his usual routine of telling me it's okay, but then ranting to Mum when he thinks I'm asleep, while Mum reminded me every passing minute that she was proud of me no matter what. I sometimes think I could strangle a cat and leave it on our doorstep, and she'd still tell me how proud of me she is.
'I'm going to fail the resit as well at this rate. The head of maths was meant to be here ten minutes ago,' I mutter.
I search among the cluster of youths as if it will make the person I'm looking for magically appear. Aiden's started a conversation with himself again, but I'm somewhat thankful as it distracts my mind from wandering into places I don't want it to go. He could tone it down a bit, though. It's times like this I wish he wasn't pretty much my only friend. I turn my full concentration back to Aiden in hope of it looking like I'm deeply fascinated with whatever it is he's saying.
