Page 94 of Two Hit Wonder

Mo dug the phone out of her pocket and handed it over with the reluctance of someone surrendering a vital organ. Maeve plugged it into the charger by the kettle and pulled out her own phone.

Iona's number. She knew it by heart now, which was either romantic or pathetic, depending on how you looked at it. The phone rang twice, then clicked to voicemail. "Iona, it's me. Mo's here. She's safe. She's fine. Call me back."

She hung up and looked at Mo. "It was busy. She's probably calling everyone she knows trying to find you," Maeve said. "The school, the police, possibly Interpol."

"She worries too much."

"You took a train to Scotland without telling anyone. I think some worry is justified."

Mo hunched her shoulders and said nothing.

The kettle clicked off and Maeve made tea, grateful for something to do, grateful for actually knowing what to do. This was all far out of her comfort zone. So far out that she was probably in outer space somewhere by now. Just what in the hell was she supposed to do with all this. She thought about the time she’d almost accidentally kidnapped Hamish on the London train and shivered. Glinna had been frantic in just those few seconds, God knew what Iona would be feeling right now.

She took the tea and sat down across from Mo. "So," she said. "Want to tell me why you're here?" That seemed as good a place to start as any.

"Not really."

"Tough. Tell me anyway." Echoes of her own mother’s voice caught Maeve by surprise and she almost laughed.

Mo took a sip of her tea. Set it down. Traced a pattern on the table with her finger. "I found your address on mum's phone. Last night. I was going to text you, but then I thought, what's the point? Texting never fixes anything. So I just… came."

"You came to Scotland."

"Yes."

"Without telling anyone."

"Yes."

"Because texting never fixes anything."

Mo's jaw tightened. "You ran away. When everything went wrong with the band, you came here. You hid. I thought maybe you'd understand."

Maeve frowned at this. She couldn’t exactly fault the logic, she supposed. But still… She looked at this girl, this ridiculous, stubborn, clearly terrified girl, and saw something uncomfortably familiar. "I did run away," she said. "But I was an adult. And I was running from myself, mostly. What are you running from?"

Mo was quiet for a long moment. Maeve wondered if there was something wrong with her. Maybe she was sick, like Ellie. Maybe she was on the drugs, or, Lord help her, maybe it was alcohol. Maeve’s mouth went dry.

"There's this boy," Mo said finally.

Jesus. Was that all? Maeve bit her tongue and waited.

"At school. His name's Beau. He's in the year above me, and he plays guitar, and he's got this stupid floppy hair that he keeps pushing out of his eyes and I can't stop thinking about him." The words came out in a rush, tumbling over each other. "And he doesn't know I exist. I mean, he literally doesn't know my name. I checked. I got my friend to ask him if he knew who Mo Faith-Nixon was and he said 'who?' and that was it. That was the whole conversation."

"Ah," Maeve said.

"And I don't know what to do about it. I don't know how to make him notice me. I tried being loud and funny and that didn't work. I tried being mysterious and that definitely didn't work because apparently mysterious just looks like 'weird girl who keeps staring at you in the canteen.' And now I've got detention basically every week because I keep doing stupid things to get attention and it's not even working, he still doesn't know who I am, and mum keeps looking at me like I'm broken and I can't tell her why because it's embarrassing. Because she wouldn’t even understand. Because… because I know she’s disappointed in me that I’m not behaving." She stopped, breathing hard, and stared at the table.

Maeve let the silence sit for a moment. "So you've been acting out because you're in love with a boy who doesn't know you exist, and you don't know how to handle wanting something you might not get."

"When you say it like that, it sounds stupid."

"Well, it is a bit stupid. It's also human." Maeve picked up her own tea. "Wanting something is terrifying. Especially when you're not sure you'll get it. The easiest thing in the world is to hide from it. Make yourself a problem instead of making yourself vulnerable."

Mo looked up. "Is that what you did?"

"For fifteen years." Maeve snorted.

"Did it work?"