Free Heartbeat Away by Laura Summers Page A

burn into the back of my head. Leah is the last person on earth I want to see right now.

30
    I walk into my classroom. Twenty-nine pairs of eyes turn to stare at me and the noisy buzz of chatter subsides, leaving nothing but a stony silence. I’m right. Gossip spreads like bushfire at our school and word has already got round. Everyone knows something. The brief Chinese whisper that Leah started has clearly circulated and grown and morphed into goodness knows how many crazy tales.
    The crowd of kids standing in the centre of the room quickly parts to let me through, fearful that if I touch one of them by mistake I may contaminate them in some way.
    Wesley and a whole bunch of other boys snigger as Darren starts softly humming that creepy tune to
The Twilight Zone
. With her eyes fixed on my reddening face, Shannon mutters something under her breath to Masher, who bursts into a sudden guffaw of laughter.
    I want to run straight out of this classroom but I know, if I do, it will immediately confirm all the stupid rumours. With as much courage as I can muster, I finally complete thewalk to my desk and sink thankfully onto my chair. As I pretend to be rummaging in my backpack, Jodie and Alesha come into the classroom, followed by Leah who immediately rushes straight over to me.
    â€˜Becky, I’m so sorry!’ she whispers.
    â€˜Sorry for her being a complete weirdo?’ interrupts Shannon sarcastically. ‘That’s a good one!’
    â€˜Stay right out of this, Shannon,’ Leah snaps. ‘This has got nothing to do with you.’
    Leah turns back to me but Shannon hasn’t finished. She’s barely started. ‘Excuse me, but actually I would say it’s got everything to do with me. And everyone else in this room for that matter.’ Shannon pauses theatrically for a second then asks sweetly, ‘So hands up who’s happy with a complete nutter in our class?’
    Darren and Wesley exchange stupid grins then thrust their hands in the air and wave them about maniacally, lapping up the sniggers and giggles from the rest of the class.
    â€˜Don’t be stupid, Shannon,’ Leah protests. ‘You’re just stirring.’
    â€˜Me? You’re the one who told Jodie that Becky’s gone weird since her transplant. And, if you remember, I said right from the start that I didn’t think it was very nice having a part of someone else’s body sewn up inside you.’
    â€˜Don’t listen to her, Becky. And I didn’t mean everyone to know. Honestly.’ Leah turns to me but I refuse to meet her eyes. This is all her fault, I think angrily. I trusted her and she’s completely betrayed me.
    Shannon turns to the class and asks loudly, ‘So whoseheart have you got, Becky?’
    Everyone’s eyes turn on me expectantly. I’m cornered. ‘I . . . I don’t know,’ I mutter.
    â€˜You don’t know? I don’t believe it! Haven’t you even bothered to ask?’
    I really don’t want to have this conversation right here, right now, but there’s no way out. ‘Course I have!’ I protest. ‘The doctors don’t tell you. You’re not allowed to know. That’s the way it works.’
    â€˜And we all know why, don’t we? They could give you any old heart. And they’re hardly going to go round telling you it happened to belong to someone who was really bad, like a psychopath or murderer or someone. They aren’t going to tell you that, are they?’
    Shannon’s words hit me like a slap around the face. She’s right, I think, horrified. My donor could have been a bad person. How would I know?
    From the smug look on her face, it’s obvious that Shannon’s enjoying every minute of this. There’s nervous laughter from some of the others. The rest just eye me warily but I know exactly what their looks mean. I’m no longer just plain old Becky Simmons to them. I’m that