Free Peripheral Vision by Paddy O'Reilly Page A

classroom window staring in at him, trying to attract his attention without showing any of the life or enthusiasm that might ruin their image. The teacher made mock-tragic faces at the class and they giggled while Dan flushed pink. He never acknowledged his old friends in their black clothes and soon there were no more Goths in the school. His group, once they had shed their make-up and costumes, blended back so smoothly into the school population that the whole Goth thing might never have happened.
    After Dan’s friends took off the Goth clothes, the fat girl was the only one Cody kept thinking about. She was not hugely fat, only plump, with big thighs and breasts. She carried her fat in a defiant way. Her favourite clothes were tight short skirts and chunky shoes. When they passed in the corridor she stared at Cody, daring him to acknowledge her. So he did, even though he preferred to avoid Dan’s friends. He gave her the slightest of nods. More an upward tilt of the head than a nod.
    Another day she asked Cody if he knew what they were supposed to be doing for biology homework.
    â€˜Dunno.’
    â€˜My name’s Jenny,’ she said.
    He gave her the head tilt and walked away. He knew her name.
    She still came around to visit Dan for a while after the Goth time. Cody could hear them murmuring through the wall but they had music playing and he couldn’t make out what they were saying. In the long silences when the murmuring stopped, Cody lay on his bed and imagined Dan putting his hand up the girl’s short skirt and tugging down the white undies Cody had seen when she bent over at school. He could picture Dan’s hands on the girl’s breasts, her big round breasts, kneading them and pushing them, his tongue in her mouth.
    Halfway through the year, Jenny stopped visiting Dan. But she’d still stare at Cody at school and he’d still give her the tilt, until one day they ended up sitting together at lunch and they swapped a mandarin and an apple.
    â€˜Hey, Cody, over here,’ Hannah called from the back of the bowling lane. She pressed her finger on the electronic scoring screen.
    â€˜Look. The scores aren’t right. Did, um, did your friend miss a turn?’ She whispered in Cody’s ear, ‘I’m so sorry, I’ve forgotten her name. Say it next time you talk to her.’
    Cody’s friend was from his work. It was only when she arrived at the bowling alley that she realised it was a date.
    â€˜Where is everyone?’ she’d asked as Dan and Hannah went off to hire shoes. When Cody told her she was the only one from work invited, she had sucked her lower lip for a moment, and said, ‘But aren’t you going away for a year?’
    And now, when Cody turned to say her name, he was too late. She was already busy at the counter, changing into her outdoor shoes. She came back to pick up her handbag.
    â€˜Thanks for the game and everything, and good luck on your trip. I don’t … I … Yeah, anyway, have fun.’
    Aware that Dan was watching, Cody leaned down to kiss her goodbye, but she ducked and stepped off. Her dark hair swung like a metronome as she walked away. Her buttocks were two high sexy mounds pushing up and out in turn with each step. At the door she turned and waved once.
    Cody stood watching the automatic door that had closed behind her. ‘She reminds me of that girl from school we were talking about. Dan, doesn’t she remind you of her?’
    â€˜Not the one who died? Was she your girlfriend?’ Hannah touched Dan’s arm.
    â€˜No, she was a friend. It was Cody who went out with her.’
    â€˜Not really,’ Cody said quickly. ‘We just did it a couple of times, you know, like you do in high school.’ He kept staring at the door, wondering if he’d ever see his date again.
    â€˜What was that Goth girl’s name again?’ Dan said. His look at Cody went on and on like a mile-long