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‘Is this why you’ve been eating so many carrots?’
‘And satsumas. Butthatdidn’t work either. What happens if it getsworse? What happens if I start getting invisible toyou?’ His voice cracks. ‘Or to Mummy and Daddy? What if it ends up justme?’
Lucy puts down her knife. Wednesday afternoon, Fin came home complaining that no one in Magenta Class could see him. A few days later, and it’s swept through the whole school. Worse, Lucy suspects it’s been going on longer than he admits – that Fin, after trying to deal with it alone, only confided in her as a last resort. She’s seeing Marjorie Knox on Tuesday morning, the earliest the head teacher said she was available. That angered Lucy even more.
‘It’s never going to happen,’ Billie says. ‘And I meannever, OK, Fin? I’m serious. I don’t even want you thinking that. Right, so tell me. Which kid started this horseshit?’
‘Billie!’
‘Sorry.’
‘You’ll goblind.’
‘Which kid, Fin?’
‘Nobody started it. It just happened.’
‘OK, let’s backtrack. Who was the first kid who couldn’t see you?’
Fin’s silent a while. ‘Eliot.’
‘Eliot’s in your class?’
‘He sits next to new Jessica.’
‘Is Eliot your friend?’
‘He’s myarch-enemy.’
‘Is he the one who tore a page out of yourHulkcomic?’
No answer to that. Just soft sounds of misery.
‘It’s OK, Scout,’ Billie says. ‘It doesn’t matter if you need to cry. So – we’re talking about the same kid?’ She pauses for his answer. ‘Right. And who was the second person not to see you?’ Another pause. ‘New Jessica, who sits next to Eliot? You know what? I think we’re getting somewhere.’
Beside Lucy, the onions start to sizzle. As Daniel comes in from the garden, she touches a finger to her lips.
‘You think myarch-enemystarted this?’
‘It’s possible. Either way, what’s important is how you deal with it.’
‘You mean how I make themseeme again?’
‘Theycansee you, Fin. This invisibility thing is complete rubbish.’
‘But why would they be mean? Why would awhole schoolbe so mean?’
‘Because sometimes, little guy … sometimes people just don’t think. And when people don’t think hard before they act, they can end up being part of something hurtful without ever really meaning to. Kind of like they’re half asleep.’
Daniel touches Lucy’s shoulder. She leans into him, welcoming his closeness.
‘So what do Ido, Billo?’
‘Shall I tell you a story? Something nobody in this family knows? You remember when I was fifteen, that time I cut off all my hair? You were only four, so you might not. Thing is, Scout, it wasn’t me. Three girls from school grabbed me on the way home and went at me with their scissors.
‘I’d been getting grief for a while – all kinds of nasty stuff. I’d thought, if I kept my head down, they’d eventually leave me alone.’
Lucy remembers the hair-cutting incident. And her sharp words to Billie at the time. Guilt rolls over her like a wave.