Page 101 of Plot Twist

‘She’s not coming back under “mutual agreement” with the council, apparently. Allegations of bullying from our school and from her previous one. Once the floodgates opened, everyone just started pouring in. Did you submit a complaint?’

‘Nope,’ I replied, stretching my arms above my head, keeping my phone glued to my ear with my shoulder. ‘I didn’t think they’d take it seriously.’

‘You can come back now, Becca! She never put anything through HR when you quit, or she fired you, or whatever. I checked with the office manager. They’re expecting you, as normal.’

‘Susie in the office told you?’ I laughed lightly. ‘Surely that breaches all sorts of GDPR laws.’

‘Oh yeah, maybe,’ she replied. ‘Don’t say anything.’

‘Course I won’t.’

I didn’t care. It meant I had a job to go back to. If I wanted to. Maybe I could go back to teaching with the Demon Headmistress no longer around. I hadn’t even thought it would be a possibility.

We hung up and I stared again at my screen. I’d been hovering around the ‘send’ button for what seemed like hours.

After I’d slept, I’d written. And written. And written some more. The words just kept pouring out and I couldn’t stop. I had time, of course. I had nothing but time.

And nowQueen Beewas finally finished. I pressed ‘send’ and held my breath. Within seconds, my phone buzzed with a call.

‘Argh, you finished it!’ the voice said as soon as I answered.

‘I did.’ I smiled at the excited voice.

I’d thought long and hard about who could provide feedback forQueen Bee, now that my relationship with Riley was up in the air. Or whatever it was. I’d considered Drew, but it wasn’t really his thing. I’d even looked up Zander, thinking he might be able to spare some time, but decided against it. It wasn’t exactly the same genre as he wrote, plus he was probably too busy plotting his own fictional murders to review my work.

That’s when I thought of Eimear. She was like a living, breathing cheerleader for Riley’s career and said she would be happy to critique for him. I wasn’t sure if the offer extended to me, but I’d dropped her a message via her yoga page to ask. She’d called me straight away and said she’d LOVE to read it. When I sent her the first few chapters, she devoured it and said it took her straight back to her own childhood. I danced a little when she said that. She texted me every day, asking how it was going, and even helped me with a couple of plot issues that had cropped up. I’d also offered to help her with her yoga book, if she was still interested in writing one, in return, but she didn’t take me up on the offer.

‘I can’t wait to finish it, Becca. I’ll read it as soon as I get home. This is so exciting!’

You couldn’t fault her enthusiasm. In amongst all our conversations, she mentioned seeing Riley, but I never asked anything or took the bait. It was hard thinking of him getting on with his life, but I had to move on. My heart hurt when I thought of him.

‘Thanks, Eimear. I think your suggestion about the final scene in the show worked out well. I love the fact that Rosie takes over from Anna and then they both say the last line together,’ I said.

‘Eeek, I can’t believe you took one of my ideas on board. OK, I’ll message you later. Well done, Becca, this is going to be amazing. I’m sure it’ll be on the shelves in no time. Byeeee!’

I couldn’t help but smile as I hung up.

A new blossoming friendship was one of the unexpected outcomes of my trip to Rathcliffe, but I was very grateful for it.

48

Adam took a seat on my sofa. I offered him tea, but he shook his head and clasped his hands in front of him in prime prayer position. Linda would be proud.

He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, just as I felt my mobile vibrating in my pocket.

‘One second, sorry, Adam.’ I hit the answer button.

It was an unknown number. My heart started beating faster.

‘Hello, Becca speaking,’ I said, my voice cracking.

‘Becca, it’s Doctor Peters. We met at your colposcopy appointment. How are you doing?’

Christ, I wasn’t ready for this. Not today. It was Rae’s birthday. Her memorial. I couldn’t deal with any more than that. I wasn’t ready. The blood rushed to my head and I looked across at Adam, who was completely oblivious, gazing around my living room. I contemplated yelling down the phone that she had the wrong number, but I’d given it away at the start of the phone call. She’d reached Becca, with the possible abnormal cells. She’d caught me.

‘Hello, Doctor Peters. I’m fine thanks, how are you?’

The pleasantries were completely ridiculous. We had to cut to the chase here, get it over with. Rip it off like a plaster. I closed my eyes. Breathe, Becca. While you still can.