Free Wasted by Nicola Morgan Page B

to you and we thought she was going to cause trouble. Then this other guy was going towards you at the same time. And it just seemed all very kind of set up that the guy knocked into you while Kelly was talking to you. I couldn’t see if she actually did anything because I couldn’t see your drinks, but I wouldn’t put it past her to have it planned.”
    â€œBut that’s… How would she get hold of whatever it was?”
    â€œKelly knows all the right people. You know her older brother did time for supplying? She would know how to get whatever she wanted. Could have been Ecstasy or any number of things. I don’t even know the names of half the stuff people can get.”
    Jess feels cold. Though she finds it hard to believe that Kelly would do this. Chris and Ella
must
have imagined it.
    â€œShe can’t get away with this,” says Jack. “What did the guy look like? Is he still here?” Jack cannot keep still.
    â€œHe’s probably left, if he’s got any sense,” said Ella.
    â€œCome on – we’ve got to find him.” Jack starts pulling Jess towards the exit.
    â€œNo, stop,” says Ella. “I’ve got a better idea.” And she certainly has, a devious and clever idea. Which she tells them. And they agree.
    But she may not need to use her devious and clever idea, because we still don’t know which of the two possibilities comes true. Does Marianne get into the club and distract Chris and Ella so that they don’t see anything, or does Marianne
not
get into the club, leaving Chris and Ella free to keep an unintentional but useful watch over Jack and Jess?
    We have to let the coin decide. It’s time to play Jack’s Game.



CHAPTER 14
HEADS OR TAILS?
    THE coin lands heads up. For Marianne, the night is going swimmingly. Her fake ID has worked, by chance or whatever – she doesn’t care now. Now, someone she likes from school has appeared in her line of vision. She finishes talking to Ella and Chris and moves on.
    Swimmingly, in another sense, could be used to describe how Jess is about to feel. But for now she’s walking onto the dance floor with Jack. It is perhaps not fair to describe in too much detail the sensations in their bodies. They are dancing together – how should we expect them to feel? It absorbs every cell of their bodies. It makes them hot, their blood surging, a melting feeling. Each move of fingers on body catches their breath, takes over their heartbeat, quickening everything except time, as the music pounds through them.
    Jess is dizzy now, her head buzzing. She feels slightly sick. She knows she has drunk too much but it has come on her suddenly. Now, too late, she regrets that last drink. But she knows it’s always too late by the time you regret that last drink.
    And this particular drink – as we know, but Jess does not – is special.
    The music slows and Jack takes Jess. He begins to wrap his arms around her and she vaguely feels his hands on her back. But she is not sure. She is slipping away, though her feet still seem to work. Voices, faces, head and arms swirl around her. The room goes dark and there is a salty taste on her tongue. There are animals in the room, wolves and dragons breathing liquid nitrogen, dancing. A unicorn stands in the corner, smooth and white, motionless, watching. Jess shakes her head but the unicorn is still there. A hunter prowls the room looking for her.
    She is caught in a net. It is around her shoulders, her face. She tries to scream but only silence comes out and there is not enough breath in her lungs. The rope, thick and smelling of the sea, is over her mouth and she struggles, panic rising now. The wolves and dragons are watching her. Some of them are laughing. Freezing air washes her face and she gasps with a headache that grips her from nowhere. Colour has disappeared and everything is grey, darkening, now almost black.
    Something crawls