Page 29 of On the Edge

‘Good.’She didn’t look up from the drawing.

‘Who are you hanging out with these days?’

Jaz shrugged and sat back to study the drawing.She clicked her tongue, then turned the page ninety degrees and started touching up the tail.

‘Jaz?’

She didn’t answer.She was leaning forward, close to the page, biting her top lip as she drew.Was she avoiding the question?Or was she so absorbed in her drawing that she didn’t hear it?

‘Come on!Come on!’Ryan shouted.

‘Yessss!’exclaimed Charlie.

Harvey hooted.

Sophie craned her neck to see them through the doorway.They were all up on their feet.The Raiders must have scored a try.Hopefully they would win.Things were better when they won.

‘You bloody legend!’Ryan said, high-fiving his sons who beamed back at him.

Sophie smiled to herself as she reached for the kettle.She loved nights like this when everything was exactly as she’d imagined it would be.

Ryan’s good mood tonight was a welcome surprise.He’d been on edge ever since their encounter with Nel at the wake the day before.He’d interrogated Sophie the whole way home.Why was Nel at the library?Why did they talk to each other?How did she know Harvey was sick?Sophie had done her best to supply satisfactory answers while Ryan glared out the windscreen, clenching his jaw.

The kettle clicked off.Sophie poured water into the mugs, then glanced at the calendar to check what was on this weekend.What was the date?The seventh?She looked at the square for Saturday, noting the littlePshe put in the corner to keep track of her period.It also said,Charlie soccer semi-final.

She frowned.That was last week.Charlie, the goalie, had dived to stop the opposition from equalising in the final moments to secure the win.Today must be the fifteenth.How did a whole week pass in the blink of an eye?

Looking at the right Saturday now, she saw that she’d writtenCharlie—Leo’s party 3 pm.Damn.She’d forgotten about that.He would need to take a present, but her allowance was gone.

She looked back at the littlePwritten in blue biro on last Saturday.Was her period due a week ago?That couldn’t be right.She must have the date wrong.She flipped back to July and located the previousP, then counted four weeks forward.No, she hadn’t made a mistake.

Her period was late.

Chapter 19

Nel walked briskly through the desolate streets, pulling her leather jacket across her body against the icy wind, mind reeling as she tried to make sense of her discovery.Was this Ryan’s child?It had to be, didn’t it?There was no one else.

She cast her mind back, trying to remember the timing of things.Conception would have been sometime in late July or early August, but Ryan had called the relationship off by then, hadn’t he?

*

Nel stood behind Faye in the hall as she knocked gently on Maddie’s closed door.

‘Maddie?’A pause.‘Nel’s here.’

There was no reply.Maddie hadn’t been at school all week but the news had travelled quickly.Ryan Warner had dumped Maddie Marshall on Sunday night.Nel’s calls and messages had gone unanswered.When Faye rang that afternoon and asked her to try to talk to Maddie, Nel wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but she went anyway.She’d stopped at the mini-mart on the way to pick up a Sara Lee frozen cheesecake.Maddie’s favourite.

Faye knocked again.‘Maddie?’

Still nothing.

Nel bit her nail as Faye pushed open the door and gestured for her to enter.

‘Maddie?’Nel whispered.

The room was dark.Her eyes took a moment to adjust.There was a sigh and movement as Maddie rolled over to face the wall.Nel sat on the side of the bed.

‘Are you okay?’