Burning Bright Read Free

stopped.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Well.’ Grace squirmed. ‘James did say something earlier . . . about Flynn getting into a fight at school yesterday afternoon. He pushed some boy into a hedge or
something.’
    I nodded. It wasn’t the first time Flynn had been in a fight. He’d never hurt me – or made me feel scared that he might – but I’d seen him fly off the handle at the
slightest provocation. It was hard to predict when it was going to happen, so many things made him angry.
    ‘What was the fight about?’ I asked, still confused as to why either Flynn or Emmi would want to keep the details from me – and why, in particular, Alex mentioning it just now
had stopped Flynn from hitting him.
    Grace looked across the changing room. I got the strong impression she didn’t want to look me in the eyes, much like Emmi earlier. ‘Grace?’ I said.
    ‘Didn’t Flynn tell you
any
of this?’ Grace bit her lip. ‘God, James is gonna kill me.’
    ‘So what happened?’ I said, not knowing whether to feel more angry or bewildered. ‘Why the big secret?’
    ‘I don’t know the whole story.’ Grace took my hand. Hers felt warm. I realised I was shivering. ‘James just said the fight was over a girl.’
    ‘A
girl
?’ The words came out of me in a tiny voice. After all my suspicions at the end of last term, that Flynn really liked Emmi, I’d convinced myself he was totally
into me. Okay, so we hadn’t gone as far as most of the couples I knew, but Flynn was cool with that. At least I thought he was.
    ‘James didn’t know the details,’ Grace went on. ‘It was . . . Flynn had upset someone’s girlfriend and the guy had a go at him. James didn’t think it was a
big deal . . . Flynn’s
always
upsetting people. You know that.’
    ‘Upset her how?’ I asked.
    ‘I don’t know,’ Grace stammered.
    ‘Right.’ I felt numb. There could be loads of explanations for what Flynn had done. But why didn’t he want me to know about it? Why had Alex’s mention of it in front of
me made him back away?
    Grace turned her attention back to the mirror, applying a little eyeshadow and a dash of pale pink lipgloss. Unlike Emmi, who favoured dark, dramatic make-up, Grace usually went for a completely
natural look.
    ‘That’s pretty,’ I said, indicating the lipgloss.
    Grace glanced sideways and offered me a shy smile. ‘Thanks, Riv. Er, are you okay?’
    ‘Sure.’ I stroked mascara onto my eyelashes, trying to put what I’d just heard out of my head.
    Grace shuffled from foot to foot.
    ‘I’ll see you outside,’ I said.
    ‘Okay.’ She sounded relieved.
    Alone in the changing room, I took my time brushing my hair and putting on the rest of my make-up. Why did everything with Flynn always have to be so complicated?
    I trusted him.
    I loved him.
    He barely had to touch me before I was off my head, totally overwhelmed with how much I wanted him back.
    It was terrifying how much I felt for him.
    Which of course was part of the problem. It all mattered so much – what he did, what he said, how he felt about me.
    Somehow, when I was around Flynn, it was all too easy to lose myself: to feel that all I was, was reflected in his eyes. Like being with him was a brighter, sharper reality than everything else
in my life.
    By the time I got outside the swimming baths, everyone apart from Flynn was already halfway up the road. He smiled when he saw me, his breath misting into the chilly night air. Most of the snow
from yesterday’s storm had melted now, but it was still really cold.
    ‘What were you doing in there?’ he said.
    ‘Thinking.’
    Flynn hesitated. ‘Thinking that maybe we didn’t have to go for this stupid pizza with everyone?’
    I stared at him. ‘It was only
Alex
being a jerk,’ I said.
    Flynn rolled his eyes. ‘It’s Alex’s party.’
    ‘What happened yesterday?’ I said. Images were now flashing through my head: Flynn flirting with someone’s girlfriend . . . Flynn holding
her
by the waist,