Free Candy by K.M. Liss Page A

messenger bag and
head down the stairs.
    “ Ah Candy love... I've made you your toast,” My mum says
pushing a plate towards me.
    “ Thanks,” I reply, picking it up and taking a tiny nibble to
show willing.
    She does this
every day and I take it out the door with me and throw it in the
waste bin down the road on the way to class.
    It saves
having to think up a good reason why I'm not eating it yet
again.
    Thirst
overwhelms me and I run a long glass of water and drink it down in
a few long gulps.
    I'm
practically living on the stuff. The water diet. For the last two
days I've barely eaten a thing.
    My leather
jacket is on the back of the kitchen chair and I shrug it on, and
sling my bag around me, picking up my unwanted toast.
    “ Bye, see you tonight, Mum,” I say, heading out the
door.
    “ Oh, Candace...I'm on lates. Get the dinner done will you.
There's some beef in the fridge for a chili or spaghetti bolognese,
and if I'm not home when you eat it, save me some,
okay?”
    “ Right.”
    Great...
    My stomach is
rebelling already. Cooking meat and onions and all that stuff makes
me heave.
    I get my bike
out of the woodshed and I'm out of Hollybush Lane and down the
street to the main road in less than a minute. Stopping to deposit
my toast in the garbage, I pick my mints out of my bag and pop one
in my mouth to remove the acrid toast flavour. I'm about to
continue on to my sixth form, and class, when someone calls out to
me.
    “ Candy! Wait up...”
    I look over my
shoulder.
    Oh no... it's
Cody. My stalker. Well, not really my stalker, more like my
shadow.
    “ Hey Cody...” I offer a half wave of greeting and make to go,
but he runs up to me.
    “ Haven't seen you for a while.”
    “ There's a good reason for that.”
    “ What's that?”
    “ I've been avoiding you.”
    “ Oh ha ha, I love your sense of humour.”
    “ I ain't joking, sweetie-pie.”
    He ignores my
blatant brush off. As usual.
    “ Wanna go get a coffee,” he says with a hot grin.
    “ Can't stand the stuff.” Or much else.
    “ Tea, hot chocolate? I'll pay. I'm working weekends now... got
some cash...” he waves his wallet at me.
    “ Oh for crying out loud! Will you please leave me
alone.”
    “ So that's a yes, is it?” he laughs.
    I've gotta
hand it to him, he's persistent.
    I stare at him
for a minute.
    Tall, dark
haired, cute nose, nice brown eyes. Kinda pretty in a boyish
way.
    I suppose I
can hold my breath for ten minutes. It's not that I don't like
being around guys, quite the opposite in fact. It's just that I'm
nervous of what I might do. Real nervous. My craving can be
overwhelmingly strong.
    “ Okay, I suppose I can fit you in my diary.”
    I roll along
beside him and we talk about this and that; the football team; the
hockey team; his IT coursework he's struggling with.
    Cody's sporty.
I'm not. I put all my physical efforts into being angsty and moody.
It completes my persona. I'm a total nut-job.
    After parking
my bike and locking it, we go inside, straight through to the
cafeteria.
    I grab a
bottle of water and hand it to him.
    “ You sure you don't want something hot?” he asks.
    “ No thanks. I'm all tea'ed out this morning,” I
lie.
    I turn and
scan for a spare table, hoping to see an empty corner. Of course
the room's full, with students guzzling coffee, nursing their
Friday morning hangovers and doing their homework in a rush before
class.
    He leads me
across to his friends.
    Oh no... Not
Jack and Haydn.
    I've had words
with Haydn. Nasty ones.
    I touch Cody's
arm
    “ No, not there. Somewhere else?” I suggest.
    But there
isn't anywhere else, I notice.
    He looks
around and shrugs and sits down at the end of their table, pulling
my arm, gesturing to sit.
    They both look
at me.
    “ Yeah, and?” I say bolshily, staring directly at Haydn,
unblinking. Even though I'm holding my breath hard, it's leaking
through, past the layer of menthol from my mint. The warm blood
smell of the three guys surrounding me. And I'm so