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“In Bella Faith? Eves, those submissions are anonymous for a reason. It’s people talking shit. The beach is the last place you wanna fuck.” She leaned into Evie’s right shoulder. “Seriously, all that sand shoved up your vag—”
“Sunita!” Seated on Evie’s left, Fiona burped as she lowered her cherry cola. “We’re eating!”
“Or trying to!” added Evie, plunging her plastic knife and fork into a pattie, the ultimate in Orcadian comfort foods. As she cut away the golden, deep-fried batter, the aromatic sweetness of onions mixed with potato and mincemeat made her mouth water—despite the questionable path their conversation was veering.
“All I’m saying is, it’s a one-way ticket to UTI town,” said Sunita. “Case in point, remember wassername? The fifteen-year-old who had the affair with our old PE teacher?” Evie and Fiona nodded. “She came in the pharmacy sobbing. Couldn’t pee for an entire day!”
Fiona munched through a crispy onion ring. “God, how’s that even possible?”
Sunita shrugged. “Why are you spending so much time at the beach anyway?”
“We’re running out of places to snog.” Evie yawned. “We got caught behind The Odin Hotel in Mum’s car—”
“You didn’t tell us that!” Fiona laughed.
“’Cause it was embarrassing! Gemma found us.”
“The cook?” asked Sunita.
“Yeah, who used to babysit me and Sam. She said she wouldn’t tell Mum if we promised never to come back. And now that school’s in, we can’t come here anymore. It’s too busy.” Evie glanced over her shoulder at the beloved fish and chip shop across the street, a lunch- and dinner-time staple for ravenous students.
“There’s always Tankerness House gardens,” said Fiona.
“No, go to Stromness.” Sunita lowered her voice as a group of girls in the year below crossed the nearby footbridge. “It’s super private.”
Fiona leaned forward. “And a twenty-minute drive!”
“But worth every second,” said Sunita. “All the tight alleys and closes? Puggie and I used to go there—well, until he hooked up with Rebecca.”
Evie reached over and patted her forearm.
Sunita waved her off. “I’m over it. I’m all about blonds now.”
“Why doesn’t Nick come to yours?” asked Fiona, dunking the edge of her burger in a small pot of curry sauce. “Aren’t your parents out at choir practice twice a week?”
“Bedroom it is, then!” Sunita chomped her mozzarella stick.
“Mum likes Nick. She’s fine with him coming over. We just can’t go to my room,” said Evie.
“That’s ridiculous.” Fiona scoffed. “Like you can’t get pregnant on your sofa!”
“Screw it, go up anyway!” Sunita mumbled through a mouthful of gooey cheese. “How would she know?”
“Sam for starters. He’s been so weird about me dating Nick.” Evie stabbed a chip. “I can’t risk it. Mum said she’ll take away my car privileges if we get ‘carried away’!”
“His gran’s then,” said Sunita, her suggestion backed up by Fiona’s exuberant nodding. “That house is HUGE.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Evie murmured. “He hasn’t asked me in.”
Fiona’s eyes bulged. “Still?! But you pick him up there.”
Evie frowned. Rupert had been taking Fiona to his gran’s since they started dating two summers ago.
“I thought you were having tea with his gran last night? Rupert said—”
“Last-minute change of plans. Nick’s audition got moved up and he flew out yesterday. I was sitting my mock history exam and couldn’t say goodbye.” She blinked woefully, remembering their trips to the cinema and the exuberant singalongs to the Jesus Christ Superstar cast recording in the car afterward. “I miss summer.”
“You worried about him going back to uni?” asked Sunita.
