Killing Rachel by Anne Cassidy Page B

pictures of bands or movie stars that she liked. Somewhere to put notes and flyers, articles cut out of magazines. Other girls had photographs of their family there, pinned haphazardly, one image overlapping another, some photos literally covering others, a kind of pictorial palimpsest. Rose had had no photos. The pictures she had of her mother she had kept in a drawer.
    Now the cork board was blank save for a rash of pin-holes.
    She put her rucksack on the bed and sat down beside it.
    Everything was the same.
    It was as if she had gone back in time.

ELEVEN
    After handing Rachel’s letters to Mrs Abbott, the head teacher, Rose went outside for a walk in the school grounds. She chose a path that was out of view of the main building. She headed away from the lake towards Ravenswood. The small wood was on the periphery of the Mary Linton grounds. She quickened her step. Five minutes later she was surrounded by trees and bushes.
    It was a place much used by girls in their free time. There were signs of them everywhere. Names and initials had been carved into trees even though it was frowned upon. There were rope swings and dens that had been made and discarded. There were clearings where the ground was trodden down and logs had been dragged together for makeshift seats. The wood was big enough to have quiet shaded places where it was possible to find some privacy.
    Rose walked for a few minutes and headed for the north end of the wood where there was a clump of birch trees and a giant oak. Beyond this were hedges and fields. On the ground was the husk of an old tree trunk. The first summer she and Rachel became friends they went there. They would sit on the trunk and talk quietly, their voices soft, church-like. They no longer read the vampire books but the wood, even in the daytime, seemed an eerie place. Sometimes the quiet would explode into sound as black crows cawed and croaked. Startled, they’d burst into frightened giggles. Mostly, though, the quiet was disturbed by younger students playing loud games and they’d shoo them off back to their own part of the wood until they were alone again.
    During these times they talked. Rachel told Rose about her life.
    ‘Mum and Dad split up a couple of years ago. Dad’s got a new wife, Melanie, who’s, like, only a few years older than me! She’s always giving me stuff and then I have to lie about it. Dad’s got this new flat by the Thames. Him and Melanie are always having dinner parties. I help Melanie with the food and she gives me a fifty-pound note. No kidding. A fifty-pound note. When I get home I have to pretend I’ve had a horrible time and the worse thing is – and this is really bad – my mum’s started seeing this guy, Robert? And he’s always around and he’s got this way of looking at me, as if he’s, like, more interested in me than my mum.’
    ‘You should tell her!’
    ‘Trouble is she’s so pleased with herself. You don’t how much she cried when my dad left. Like, I’d ring up every night and she couldn’t speak because she was crying so much. Week after week. I gave up phoning her in the end. I’m glad she’s got Robert. And it’s not like I’m there a lot. In the holidays I just make sure my door’s locked at night and the bathroom.’
    ‘Poor Rachel,’ Rose said.
    Another day Rachel told her about Juliet Baker.
    ‘We were friends. Me and Juliet and Tania. We hung around together. It was really great having her as a friend. She didn’t board so, me and Tania, we used to go to her house at weekends. Her mum would make us tea and we’d hang out in her room. She made these cupcakes. They were awesome, with silver balls and decorations on them. And Juliet had a brother. And Tania totally fell for him. She was just in love and every time he came into the room she went scarlet. It was really funny.’
    Rose didn’t smile because Rachel’s voice was cracking.
    ‘I’m really sorry for you. Losing your friend like that.’
    ‘Tania just