Burning Bright (11 page)

I got home just before midday. After the police had seen me at James’s house, they’d taken my name and phone number and warned me that I’d be needed later to
make a statement. Then they’d marched Flynn off to the police station. They were very polite but they were still acting like he was a criminal.

My head spun with the implications of this.

All I wanted to do was get up to my bedroom and lie on my bed for a bit. With any luck my younger brother Stone wouldn’t be home for hours. And Mum shouldn’t be back from work until
at least six. It was too much to hope that she wouldn’t give me a grilling over where I’d been last night and today, but at least I’d have a few hours to try and wind down.

No such luck. As I crept in through the front door, Mum, Dad and Dad’s girlfriend Gemma all emerged from the kitchen. They stared at me in silence. Mum cleared her throat. I braced myself,
waiting for her to explode, but she didn’t say anything, just looked at me, her expression a weird mix of relief, frustration and misery. With a twinge of guilt I realised there were dark
shadows under her eyes and her face looked unnaturally pale.

Dad strode across the hall and pulled me into an enormous hug. ‘Oh, River,’ he said. ‘Thank goodness you’re safe.’

‘Of course I’m safe.’ I hugged him back, breathing in his smell of incense and musty clothes. ‘I texted Mum last night. What are you doing here?’

Dad drew back. Above his beard his skin looked even more weatherbeaten than usual. His expression was as miserable as Mum’s. Gemma appeared at his shoulder. Her long black hair was tied
back in a ponytail and she was wearing a blue top that brought out the colour of her eyes. She smiled at me then touched Dad lightly on the arm. ‘I’ll wait in the living
room.’

She disappeared through the door, shutting it behind her.

Dad led me into the kitchen. Mum followed. She still hadn’t said anything.

‘Sit down, River,’ Dad said.

I sat opposite him and Mum at the table. ‘What’s going on?’ I asked.

‘What’s going on?’ Mum hissed, breaking her silence at last. ‘You run away with your criminally violent boyfriend, stay out all night and don’t bother to show up at
school, and you’re asking what’s going on?’

‘We were worried,’ Dad said. ‘
Really
worried. The police came round earlier looking for Flynn. They thought he might be with you. Can you imagine how terrified we felt
not knowing where you were?’

My mouth fell open. In as far as I’d thought about it at all, I hadn’t imagined for a moment that my parents would get this anxious about me.

‘But I sent a text, Mum,’ I said. ‘I’m really sorry I didn’t go to school today. I won’t do it ever again. It was just all a bit heavy for Flynn yesterday
and—’

‘Heavy for
Flynn
?’ Mum jumped up from the table. She turned to Dad, gesticulating wildly. ‘D’you see what I mean? He’s totally brainwashed her.’ She
turned back to me. ‘Your precious Flynn nearly killed his own father yesterday, River. He beat his face to a pulp. He broke his nose.’

I stared at her. Flynn’s da’s face covered in blood flashed back into my mind. I felt sick.

‘You don’t know what Flynn’s dad did to him.’ I gripped the table between us. ‘What he did to their whole family.’

Dad put his hand on mine. ‘We do know, River. We spoke to Flynn’s mum yesterday. She told us something of what happened in the past . . .’

‘If I’d known, I would
never
have let you get mixed up with him . . .’ Mum shouted.

Dad held up his hand to stop her. ‘The point is that even his own mother admits he’s out of control,’ he said. ‘That there was no—’

‘His dad was frightening Caitlin,’ I said, my heart in my throat. I couldn’t believe Dad was backing Mum against me.

‘For God’s sake, River!’ Mum yelled, red-faced.

‘Listen.’ Dad’s voice was low and serious. ‘The police have a church full of witnesses who all say that what Flynn did was unprovoked. That
he
was the aggressive
one.’

My hands shook as I thought about the serious-faced young officer who’d arrested Flynn earlier.

‘As far as we could work out from what the police said, there are no plans to charge him yet and the lawyer at Gemma’s therapy centre thinks there’s a good chance that
won’t happen, but it’s still very serious.’

‘You mean prison?’ I gasped.

‘No, that’s not what I’m saying. The background with his dad, the grades he’s getting at school and his potential are all in his favour. But the police will want to make
him realise there are consequences.’

‘He
should
be sent to prison,’ Mum snapped. ‘He’s totally out of control.’

‘But—’

‘No, River.’ Mum folded her arms. ‘This is the last straw. Since you met him everything’s gone wrong. You’re not working properly at school. Bunking off today
proves it.’

‘But I
am
working,’ I protested. ‘Today was . . . different.’

‘It’s not just that,’ Mum went on. ‘You hardly spend any time with your other friends. You’ve lied to me. Stayed out all night. More than once. It has to
stop.’

I stared at Dad. ‘You can’t . . .’

A pained expression came into Dad’s eyes. ‘The last thing I want to do is forbid you to do something. I feel guilty that I haven’t been more involved up till now. That things
have got this far.’

Mum snorted.

‘But Flynn’s good for me,’ I protested. ‘Okay so he’s got a temper, but he’s sweet and kind when he’s on his own and—’

‘You can’t be sure he won’t hurt you,’ Dad said.

‘He’d
never
hurt me.’ Tears welled up in my eyes. ‘He hasn’t hurt anyone else. Don’t you understand? Flynn hates what his dad did. He only ever gets
angry with
him
. About
him
.’

‘What about the fights he’s been getting into at school?’ Dad said gently. ‘His mum admitted he’s always being disciplined for rudeness. Always pushing things. I
mean, he was even suspended from school the other day.’

‘I know, and he knows that he overreacts to things . . .’

‘He needs therapy,’ Dad said. ‘A proper, intensive course of anger management. The kind of thing they do at Gemma’s centre. There are places all over London, some of them
actually specialise in adolescent aggression.’

‘But Flynn’s not really aggressive,’ I insisted. ‘Not deep down. He’s just scared of being hurt. Of people he loves being hurt. That’s why he loses his temper
sometimes but he can stop himself, at—’

Dad took my hand across the table. ‘You’re not listening, River. You
know
. In your heart you
know
I’m right. Whatever Flynn says, it’s not that easy to just
“stop”. And violence is
never
the answer to an argument. Maybe sometimes in self-defence you have to take a stand, but Flynn goes way too far, way too often.’

I pulled my hand away from his and stood up. The tiny silver heart on my bracelet dangled against my wrist, a reminder of Flynn and what we shared together. My parents just didn’t
understand.

‘You were happy enough that he hit those guys who were all over me and Emmi last term,’ I said, remembering how Flynn had fended off two guys hassling us last December.

‘I wonder if we got the full story about that,’ Mum said drily.

‘So now I’m a liar?’

‘No, River,’ Dad said. ‘That’s not what we’re saying.’

Mum crossed her arms. ‘It’s not just the violence. Flynn’s been accused of stealing things. Emmi’s mother told us all about Alex’s iPad going missing at school. It
sounds like all the evidence points to Flynn and—’

‘He didn’t do anything. They’re just blaming him because they don’t like him.’ Tears leaked out of my eyes. I didn’t even bother to brush them away. Mum
and
Dad were both against me. Against Flynn. ‘You can’t stop me seeing him,’ I sobbed.

‘Then you have to move out,’ Mum said, simply. ‘Because I can’t live like this anymore.’

‘Move out?’ I whispered. It felt like the floor was falling away from underneath me.

Dad took my hand. ‘You can come and live with me and Gemma on the commune.’

‘But . . . but . . . ?’ My mind whirled with the ramifications of this. Dad’s commune was a ninety-minute drive from here – way more in rush hour. ‘What about
school? What about my GSCEs?’

Dad swallowed. ‘I realise it’s not an ideal time for you to move schools with your exams coming up but there are other schools near the commune where—’

‘What about my friends?’ I stared at both of them. I couldn’t believe they were seriously suggesting I should leave my whole life behind, just to get me away from Flynn.

‘Oh,’ Mum said sarcastically. ‘So
now
you care about your friends?’

‘Look, River,’ Dad said. ‘We both know you coming to live with me at this point isn’t the best thing for you. We’re only suggesting it if you refuse to stop seeing
Flynn of your own accord. Neither of us can be here twenty-four hours a day to watch over you so we need you to promise you’ll end things with him.’

‘No.’ The word blurted out of me. Not seeing Flynn was unthinkable. Impossible.

‘Then you have to go where you
can’t
see him,’ Mum said.

‘It’s your choice, River,’ Dad said. ‘But you do have to choose. We both care too much about you to let things carry on as they are.’

‘You’re grounded for a fortnight either way,’ Mum added.

I looked at them, feeling desperate. ‘What if Flynn apologises? What if we just see each other a couple of times a week? No staying over and—’

‘He’s not good for you,’ Mum said sternly. ‘Look at yesterday. He didn’t even stop to see if his father was all right. He just ran off, dragging you with
him.’

I opened my mouth to explain that wasn’t how it happened. Then I shut it again. I could see on both their faces that I wasn’t going to change their minds. They were as prejudiced
against Flynn as everyone else.

They were going to force me to choose – to stay here without Flynn, or live on the commune with Dad, also without Flynn.

‘You can have tonight to think about it,’ Dad said. ‘Gemma and I are staying with friends nearby. We’ll come back in the morning and you can tell us what you’ve
decided.’

I turned and ran up to my room.

It was no choice. No life.

No life without Flynn.

I tried to speak to Flynn that evening but his phone was switched off, so I called Emmi. She and Grace had both been trying to get hold of me all day. Before I could even
explain the terrible situation my parents had put me in, Emmi jumped in with her own news. She’d heard about Flynn’s arrest through Alex. Apparently the news had already spread right
through the boys’ school.

‘But that’s not all,’ she said. I could hear the horrified excitement in her voice and realised, with a miserable twist in my gut, that she was enjoying the drama.

‘What’s not all?’ I said.

‘One of the guys in their year
saw
Flynn with Alex’s iPad. He posted on Facebook saying so.’

‘Then he’s lying,’ I said. But inside I wasn’t entirely sure. Maybe Flynn
had
taken the iPad. Everyone knew he hated Alex, plus there was that silver bracelet.
Anyway, how could I know what he was capable of? Until yesterday I wouldn’t have thought he could attack his dad like he had.

‘Wake up, River,’ Emmi said. ‘I know how you feel about him. I’m only saying it because I care about you but . . .’ she paused.

‘
But?
’ I said angrily.

‘But Flynn’s totally out of control,’ she went on. ‘Alex reckons they’ll exclude him for good for what happened at the church.’

‘No,’ I gasped. ‘They couldn’t. What about his A levels?’

Emmi sucked in her breath. ‘Guess he should have thought of that before getting into endless fights.’

I sighed. She was never going to understand how complicated Flynn was . . . how difficult his life had been . . . I decided to change the subject. ‘Hey, Em, you’re not going to
believe what my mum and dad want me to do.’

Emmi squealed with horror as I told her they were on the verge of sending me to live on Dad’s commune. ‘I have to say I’ll stop seeing Flynn or Mum will chuck me
out.’

‘Then there’s no contest.’ For Emmi, the decision was obvious. ‘You have to stay here. I mean there’s no Flynn, either way. And at least if you stay you can keep
coming to our school where all your friends are.’

‘I guess,’ I said.

‘And if you stay here, maybe you can still see Flynn sometimes. You know, when your Mum’s out and stuff.’

Was Emmi encouraging me to keep the relationship going? ‘I thought you’d think it was a good thing if we split up,’ I said, feeling confused.

There was a short silence on the other end of the phone.

‘Yeah, well, maybe it would be,’ Emmi said. ‘But I know how you feel about each other.’

‘Really?’

Emmi sighed. ‘River, anyone with half a brain cell can see it. What you two have, it’s rare. Like that time last December, just before those two guys attacked us. I remember looking
at you, the way he pulled you closer and you shivered, you looked . . . I dunno . . . ecstatic. And he was running his hand down your face and looking at you like you were his whole life. Not even
aware of anyone else in the room.’

I remembered that specific moment only vaguely, but I knew what Emmi was describing – those moments where everything else in the world faded away and it was just me and Flynn.

‘So yes, rationally, I think you’d be better off without him,’ Emmi went on, ‘but for all his arrogance and his moods, he adores you and you adore him and right now I
can’t see either of you surviving being apart.’

I couldn’t get hold of Flynn that night. But in the end it didn’t matter. I made the only decision I could. I told Mum I would stay with her, and keep going to
school, and that I wouldn’t see Flynn. I told her I was truly sorry for all the pain I’d caused her. That I accepted I was grounded for two weeks. And that I would work really hard for
my GCSEs over the next few months.

I meant it – every bit of it. Except the part about not seeing Flynn. I knew I would have to be careful, but somehow I was going to see him again.