eyes widen. “You wouldn’t,” she whispers. “You don’t even talk to Kelly.”
“I don’t need to; I already know what she thinks about everyone… including you.” Ooh, good one! Sometimes I surprise myself by coming up with these ingenious tactics. I give my head a haughty toss and pull my book out of my bag. “But since you’re not talking to me…”
She grits her teeth. Poor thing; she’s conflicted, but I can see her will breaking. After all, we’ve been friends forever and I’m more reliable than her horoscope. She lets out an exasperated growl. “Fine! I forgive you. Now, what do you know?”
“Well…”
Students scramble for their seats as the teacher walks in, and I’m saved from answering.
“We’ll talk at break,” I tell Lebz. I’m so thrilled to be talking to her again that I don’t mind sneaking up to Kelly during the day and picking her brain. If I can find it.
My plan to eavesdrop on Kelly’s thoughts is foiled. When I walk past her little gang between classes, all I hear is the mundane babbling of her chums. They’re all extremely concerned with what Kelly thinks. For once we have something in common, but Kelly’s mind appears to be blank. I knew it!
“Well?” Lebz demands, accosting me at break time. “What did you find out?”
“I’m sorry, Lebz, but Kelly doesn’t have a mind for me to read,” I report with glee. “I tried. Nothing. Empty.”
Lebz clicks her tongue and Wiki, who has just appeared, grins and declares, “Peace at last!”
“Come on.” Lebz drags me towards our bench. “I know you know something.”
I should have known she wouldn’t be willing to accept Kelly’s stupidity. I decide to bend the truth. “OK. But you’d better not tell her! You can’t even give her any hint that you know.”
“Of course not!” She’s practically salivating.
“Kelly’s jealous of you,” I announce.
Lebz gasps. “What? Why?”
“Because everyone likes you. She’s popular, but she also has enemies. You’re genuinely loved by pretty much everybody.” Well done, Connie! I’m almost certain it’s true, too.
Lebz smiles shyly. “Wow.” She’s pleased. She’s more than pleased, she’s humbled. Silly girl. I wish I could get her to stop comparing herself to Kelly long enough to notice her own strengths. She beams at us. “Whose turn is it to get the food?”
“Yours,” Wiki and I say in unison.
“You owe me for twenty-four hours of silent treatment,” I add.
“And you owe me for my excellent peacemaking skills,” says Wiki.
Lebz is too happy to argue. She holds out her hand for the money.
Five minutes later, I’m sitting alone; Wiki has gone to… yes, the library. I see a familiar figure entering the school grounds and my heart does a little jump. It’s Thuli, back from buying cigarettes at Mother Hubbard’s, a tuck-shop near the school owned by a woman without scruples.
Thuli. I realise with a pang of guilt that I haven’t thought about him in almost two days! I’ll have to spend a full hour daydreaming about him to make up for my disloyalty. His eyes are already red from whatever he’s been smoking, his shoulders are hunched, and he’s walking with the air of someone too good for the world… which of course he is. He’s a genius, maligned and misunderstood, as Wiki likes to say when he’s mocking him.
I follow him with my eyes until somebody else catches my attention. Black Lizard, leaning against a wall, staring at me. I jump, startled by the intensity of his gaze, and drop the water bottle I’m holding. I bend to pick it up and when I get up again he’s heading for his usual spot behind the lab. Above the faint chatter in my head I hear Ntatemogolo’s warning, but my feet are already moving to follow him.
“Hi.” I walked so quickly that I’m a little breathless by the time I reach him.
Lizard looks at me. “Are you following me, Conyza?”
“Connie. No. I mean… I just…” I take a deep breath and start over. “You didn’t tell me you knew my grandfather.”
He shrugs. “Everyone knows your grandfather. He’s written all those books.”
“That’s not what I mean.” I’m nervous. I think my hands are shaking. But if you were this close to a guy with a lizard tattoo and a freaky scar your hands would be shaking, too. “He says you know stuff. About… Look, he knows you, and he doesn’t pay attention to kids. So you must be… different.”
He doesn’t reply. He just looks at me with those piercing black eyes. “It’s getting easier, isn’t it? I can tell; you seem calmer. You’re getting used to the noise.”
I shrug. “I guess so. My grandfather’s going to teach me how to use it.”
“Your grandfather is very wise. You should listen to him.”
I lean against the wall beside him. “He says I should stay away from you.”
He grins. “Of course he does.”
“Why? Are you… you know… like me? Can you do things?”
His eyes narrow. “Like I said, you should listen to your grandfather.” He begins to walk away, and I feel a strange urge not to let him.
“Please wait…” I almost call him Lizard. “Rakwena.”
He hesitates. “Your friends will wonder where you are.”
“My friends don’t get it.” I love my friends, but like my father they can never really be part of my world. I start babbling, trying to say everything at once, and this time the jumble of thoughts in my head are all my own. “I mean, they’re great. They treat me like a person, not a freak. But they don’t get it. I think maybe you do. And if I’m right, then you’re the only person besides my grandfather who understands what it’s like. Please, just tell me the truth. Are you like me?”
He seems sad, as if he doesn’t want to let me down. “No. I’m not like you at all.”
I watch him walk away with a hole in my stomach. I knew I’d be disappointed if I was wrong about him, but not like this. This feels like someone stuck their hand in my torso and pulled everything out. I guess I never really thought about how much I wanted to find someone like me until now.
I start walking to the bench, where Wiki’s waiting. I have to stop for a second and take a few deep breaths to keep myself from crying. This is stupid! Have I lost my mind? Am I really so crushed that the weird Black Lizard is not the same kind of weird as me? So he’s not a freak – so what? I sniff back tears and put my game face on before sitting beside Wiki.
“Where were you?” he asks.
“Toilet,” I mutter.
And then I remember something that makes me sit up straight. The hole inside me starts to fill up as my disappointment is replaced by hope. I just realised that I have never once heard Black Lizard’s thoughts, and that can only mean one thing. He’s lying about being like me. Sneaky little devil.
Chapter Three
My phone rings while Lebz, Wiki and I are at the mall. I hand my caramel cone to Wiki while I fish the phone out of the pocket of my trousers. “Hi, Dad.”
“Connie, are you home yet?” He sounds frazzled.
“No; I’m at Riverwalk with Wiki and Lebz. I’ll be home before dark, though, don’t worry.”
“Oh, OK. It looks like I’ll be stuck at work until late. Maybe you should pick up something