Free Blood Entwines by Caroline Healy

took a great deal of self-control for Kara not to cringe away from the crowd massing in front of the school. She managed to concentrate on the faces of the people she passed, keeping her head held high. Some of them stared, like she’d known they would. Whispers had already gone around of the events of yesterday, like she’d known they would.
    â€˜. . . Kara Bailey turning goth . . . sweet . . .’
    â€˜. . . Oh my God, have you seen Kara? Her hair . . .’
    â€˜. . . I heard she had a fit yesterday on the way home from school . . .’
    Kara winced at the cascade of conversations from groups of students. She began to count the number of footsteps it was taking her to get to her locker in a bid to get rid of the whispers.
    Fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three.
    â€˜Hi.’ Ben was beside her, his smiling face inches from her own.
    She swallowed loudly and spluttered out a shaky, ‘Hi.’ She cursed her bad luck. Not only was everyone already staring at her on the back of yesterday’s humiliation in the canteen, the rumours of her fit last night and her new look this morning – now Ben was actively seeking her out.
    The old Kara would have been delighted at the attention, but the old Kara was long gone. She blushed at Ben’s proximity as he looked, unabashed, right into her eyes.
    â€˜How you feeling? Any more fainting on your way to school this morning?’ A cheeky grin plucked at the corner of his mouth.
    Kara’s heart skipped a beat. ‘No,’ she replied.
    â€˜I like your hair.’ He reached out and tweaked a stray strand back into place
.
    Now I actually do feel faint
, she thought.
    She could hear a group of GCSE girls at a locker a few paces away: ‘Ashleigh Jameson is going to spew when she hears about this.’
    Kara frowned. She had enough to worry about without the wrath of Ashleigh. She turned her head and glared at the group across the corridor. They immediately stopped gossiping and began to gather their books.
    â€˜How did she know we were talking about her,’ hissed one of them as they hurried down the corridor away from Kara’s stark gaze.
    She turned back to Ben who was looking at her curiously, a question brewing. She shrugged her shoulders and moved to her locker, conscious of his proximity.
    â€˜Are you coming to class?’ He inclined his head in the direction of her next class and she noticed the corridor was thinning of students. ‘It’s biology.’
    Oh crap. She wondered if Ashleigh would be there.
    She yanked open her locker door in frustration. It came undone at the top hinge, drooping at an awkward angle. She stared at the metal door swinging precariously. Her hands began to shake.
    Ben whistled quietly under his breath. ‘Geez, there’s no need to be like that – it’s only biology class.’ He took the door in a firm grip and wrestled it back into place, pushing the twisted hinges together. ‘I’ll get the janitor to fix it.’ He looked at her for a moment, assessing her shocked expression. ‘Don’t worry, the guys on the weights team are always doing things like that.’
    Kara stared at the grey metal, her brain frozen, all thoughts at a standstill.
    â€˜You’re going to be late for class!’ called Ben as he walked in the opposite direction, pushing up his shirtsleeves to just above his elbows.
    â€˜Crap.’
    Kara picked up her bag and hurried down the hall. The locker door had just come undone. She slipped into the classroom just as the teacher was placing her books on the table. The nearest seat free and far away from Ashleigh, was in the front row. Kara sat down.
    She stared down at her hands in her lap; she flexed her knuckles and examined her palms. She was lulled out of her contemplation by the sound of incredulous whispers behind her. Ashleigh and Jenny, well more so Jenny, yammering on about Kara’s new ‘look’, wondering aloud