‘Sounds like home,’ Andrew said.
‘Did you grow up in a matriarchy?’
‘You better believe I did. I still feel sorry for those birds, though,’ he said as he moved towards the entrance. I didn’t follow him. He stopped and turned. ‘You coming?’
‘I kind of wish I wasn’t, to be honest.’
‘I think it’s a little too late to change your mind.’
‘Is it?’ I heard the desperation in my voice. It was not something I was proud of.
‘Come on, you can do this. We flew all this way.’
‘We did.’
‘And if it’s awful after thirty minutes, we’ll leave.’
‘True. No one will notice me anyway,’ I said, pulling at my hem again. ‘It’s not like they noticed me in school.’
‘Mmm, I’m not so sure about that. Not in that dress, anyway.’
‘Is it completely inappropriate? Should I go back to the hotel and change?’
‘Not inappropriate, but it is noticeable. You’ll definitely turn some heads.’
‘I don’t think I want to turn heads,’ I said.
Andrew walked back towards me. ‘You know the best way to get over a terrible high-school experience?’
‘No?’
‘Make them all jealous as hell. Well, that’s probably what one of my sisters would recommend anyway.’ He swooped his arm in front of me, like a maître d’ might when ushering you towards your table. He started walking again and, this time, I followed.
‘That makes no sense. Why would making them jealous make up for what happened ten years ago?’
‘Just trust me on this.’
‘Trust you? I hardly know you.’
‘And yet here we are. Ascending a staircase together to your school reunion.’
CHAPTER8
Only they did notice me. I don’t think I’d ever been noticed with such intensity before, and it was truly unsettling. Their eyes moved up and down my body as they scanned me like someone running groceries through a barcode scanner might. And then, once I’d been sufficiently scanned, they turned their laser-like eyes on Andrew. Many of them spent a lot of time looking at him. Inspecting his packing, checking his price tag, expiration date, et cetera. Some also looked at him as if they were so starving they couldn’t wait to leave the grocery store, tear the wrapper off and sink their teeth into him as soon as possible. I noted that their husbands looked at Andrew in a very different way. In fact, every time he came near a fiancé or husband, said fiancé or husband suddenly grew a few inches taller. Their shoulders and chests seem to broaden too.
‘You just look stunning. I mean,stunning,’ Hannah gushed. Hannah had been our all-round over-achieving head girl, general teacher’s pet and hander-out of detentions and enforcer of rules. This was about the tenth time one of them had used the word ‘stunning’, and I was tempted to jump in and offer up some alternatives.
Brilliant.
Dazzling.
Gorgeous.
And my personal favorite: beauteous.I liked how many vowels it had. I liked the way it sounded too, in fact . . .
‘Thank you, Hannah, you look rather beauteous yourself this evening.’
Silence.
