Chapter Seven

Two Days Later

Chamber laughed, in his mind, at the scene before him in the kitchen. Susanne, her dyed pink hair scraped back into a messy bun and her jumper sleeve pushed up to the elbow of her unbroken arm, was standing at the sink hand-washing some clothes.

//Susy?//

She started as the word entered her head, and then turned to look at him. She looked exhausted.

"Hi." Her smile was forced.

He leaned against the door frame, and watched her return to her work.

//Wouldn’t you rather sweep out the chimneys?// he said.

"I needed to think," she retorted. "Washing happens to be therapeutic, actually."

He became serious. //What’s wrong?//

She sighed. "Everything and nothing. I’d probably be feeling this crap even if...if..." she paused. {Tell him. Go on. This is the perfect moment. No.} "Even if I hadn’t been so bitchy to Angelo," she finished.

//What was it about?// He hadn’t been able to find out from Ange.

"Just a little thing. I over-reacted to his over-reaction to something I could have handled by myself," she said. "Stupid, isn’t it?"

//I s’pose. An’ you’re still not talking?//

"No."

//Do you want to?//

She didn’t reply, but Jonothon could feel her desperate affirmation. He began to feel intrusive himself, so he just said, //Well, if you ever need to talk...//

Her smile was small, but genuine. "Thanks."

He left her to it, and walked out into the garden, where he spotted Angelo. He was going to be late for his study date with Paige, but right now, this was more important.

"Amigo!" Angelo called him over. "Como estas?"

//Muy bien, gracias, but we’ve got to talk.//

"Yeah? How so?"

//Is it me, or is Susy acting really weird?//

"Other than not talking to me?"

//Have you talked to her?//

"No."

//Well then. What d’you expect? But yes, other than that.//

"I don’t know. What do you mean?"

//I just caught her washing her clothes. She said it was therapeutic. Why would she need therapeutic?//

"Jonothon, chico, you have got to realise, she is not like other girls. What she does is her own business."

//Angelo, mate, she is just like other girls. She is trying to make us notice there’s something wrong by acting different. You obviously haven’t known enough of them.//

"I’ve ‘known’ plenty of girls," he said with a grin. "How about you?"

//That wasn’t what I meant, but if you’re asking, the answer is ‘enough’.//

Angelo laughed. "Ever diplomatic, I see."

//Yeah, well. So, what’s wrong with Susy?//

"How am I supposed to know? You’re the telepath."

//I don’t read minds.// Jono sounded impatient.

"She hasn’t said anything about anything to me, all right?"

//Sure, okay.// He started to walk away. //If Paige asks, I’m just getting my books.//

"Adios."

Angelo sat down on the grass in the shade of a tree, and pulled out his cigarettes. He needed to think. He ran through the basic questions in his head.

{Who? Susy. What? Acting weird. Where? Well, here. When? A couple of days? No, she started being tense and jumpy about a month ago. And she hasn’t danced lately. That could just be because she doesn’t feel like it. I mean, she’s got a broken arm, for God’s sake. But on the other hand, I haven’t even seen her walk on air recently. She used to do that all the time. She doesn't use her powers for anything, not even picking stuff up, which would be useful with her arm like that. Why would she stop using her powers?} He sighed. He wasn’t getting anywhere.

Then something occurred to him.

{Like Nina. Nina stopped wrapping metal bars round people’s heads when she got pregnant. But then, she was getting beaten up herself. Stupid mistake, sleeping with another gang’s homie. But otherwise, she was acting very like Suse. Dios, the silly girl’s gone and got herself pregnant.}

Another thought occurred to him.

{Oh, Dios, she’s been raped! How could I have not seen this? No wonder she’s so fucking jumpy!} He breathed in the curling smoke from his cigarette, trying to calm himself down, to get his mind around it. {What the fuck am I going to do? She’s been carrying this secret with her ever since she got here, her head’s gotta be completely screwed. Ms Frost? I don’t know, she’s not the most understanding of people, but Sean would go ape. Maybe I should make sure, first.}

He was about to get up and find her, when she found him. She balanced the washing basket on her hip with her usable hand as she walked towards him, then put it on the ground below the washing line that stretched between two of the trees near him. He watched her struggling with a t-shirt and some pegs for a moment, before going over to help her.

"Get rid of that," she said, smiling and flicking at the cigarette hanging from his lips. He was standing opposite her, the other side of the line.

He shrugged, dropped it, and ground it out with his heel. Outwardly calm, he was inwardly frantic, trying to come up with a good way of finding out what he wanted to. Finally he decided not to bother with a good way, but just to skirt round it and watch her reaction.

"You’ve been acting like a right li’l madre recently, chica, washing clothes, dusting, tidying, sweeping, vacuuming. What’s up?"

The smile dropped straight off her face. {What the hell? He can’t...? No. Of course he doesn’t. Stop being so BLOODY paranoid.} "N-nothing. I’m fine, really."

{Shit. There it is. I have got to talk to Jonothon.} He nodded at her. "Well, it’s just that it can’t be easy, with your arm how it is."

"Yeah, well, I’m managing."

"So you don’t mind if I let go of this?" he grinned.

"Well, I wouldn’t mind, but it’s your shirt."

"Oh, okay then, I’ll stay."

He helped her until she had finished, then, together, they walked back into the school building. They talked of harmless things, such as the essays neither had finished on ‘Teleportation and Spatial Displacement’, and whether or not the promised ‘Fine Art’ class was actually ever going to happen.

Eventually, Angelo managed to get away and went in search of his friend.

Jonothon was, as he had said he would be, studying with Paige in the library. If studying is staring into each other’s eyes and forgetting to finish sentences, that is.

Paige was the first to notice Angelo’s entrance, and immediately asked him what was up.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well, yeah, when your face ain’t straight an’ y’ain’t doing nothin’ about it, it is."

Angelo went a slightly pinker shade of grey, and pulled himself together.

"If you don’t mind, Paige, I just want to have a word with Jono."

"Go ahead," she said, not moving an inch.

"Alone, gracias?"

She smiled, in a very ‘yeah, right,’ kind of way. "Unless this is about my surprise birthday party, I think I oughta be allowed to know. And, unless you guys have suddenly decided to be really organised and do stuff six months in advance, I guess it ain’t, so spill."

He thought for a moment.

"What if it was about a ‘male’ problem?"

"You’d be talkin’ to Jono about it? You’re not the type. Ah can tell this is important, Ange, but I can keep a secret."

"Okay," he finally conceded, "but I don’t think this can be secret for long."

After a pause he continued. "Susy’s pregnant. She was raped."

Jono’s face blanched. //I should’ve known. Why didn’t I see that?//

Paige held a calm countenance, as she replied, "Because she’s good at hiding her thoughts. Not her emotions, but her reasons."

"What do you mean?"

"I knew," she said quietly.

It was Angelo’s turn to be shocked.

"What? You knew? Why didn’t you tell anyone?"

"Because she asked me not to. She had her reasons, but I guess she’s changed her mind if she told you?"

"She didn’t tell me."

Paige raised an eyebrow.

"So you’re a detective now, as well as an all-around good guy. Well, I guess it’s too late to go back now, so what are you intending to do with this information?"

Jono interrupted. //Tell Ms Frost.// The statement was short and forceful.

"I thought about that," Angelo said. "She’s not exactly a counsellor. She might do more harm than good."

//She knows how to cope with emotional trauma.//

"What do you mean?"

//Just tell her.//

Paige shrugged. "Ah suppose it’s better than just leavin’ it how it is."

"I’m still not sure..."

"If you don’t do it, I will. How’s that for ya?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "Thank you so much for your vote of confidence."

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