Head of the River Read Online Free PDF Page B

back to how they were.’
    Audrey gave me a hurt look and I realised we were both crying.
    â€˜Too late,’ she said. ‘You have your Prince Charming now. Us trolls will leave you alone.’
    She did leave me alone. For a while.
    I’d look on wistfully as she strode around school on uniform-free day wearing a long flowing green dress with a plaited headband and triangle sleeves. Her medieval look. The rest of the school wore jeans, T-shirts and thongs.
    I’d shift through photos on Facebook of her and Kieren charging the field at role-playing weekends, dressed up with chain mail and swords. I’d linger as I walked by her and the girls at lunch and sneak a look at how far they’d come along with their quilts, beanies and charm bracelets.
    The ice broke one day at the tram stop. Audrey and I arrived at the same time and got on together. Accidentally choosing to sit in the same booth, our knee caps banging. We looked at each other and Audrey laughed.
    â€˜This is silly,’ she said.
    â€˜I know,’ I said, relieved. ‘I miss you.’
    â€˜Me too, Leni.’
    â€˜What are we going to do?’ I asked.
    â€˜What was that thing you suggested about being friends outside school?’ Audrey asked. ‘We could try it?’
    That was how our ‘outside hours’ friendship began. We’d meet up after school and on weekends sometimes. She invited me to a medieval party at her house. Adam was at his family beach house and I felt like myself again. We all drank from silver goblets. Audrey sang an old medieval song in parts with Marion. Yvette played the clarinet. Lucy gave a fencing display. I smiled so much my cheeks hurt.
    Back at school Audrey would wink at me across the common room and sometimes left a pair of earrings or a bracelet in my locker.
    I knew we could make it work, even if I was Adam Langley’s girlfriend.
    Adam is standing in a rowing group, deep in conversation. I can tell they’re talking about Cristian, because they stop when I come near.
    â€˜Where’s Cristian?’ I ask.
    Adam rests his hands on my shoulders. It’s meant to be reassuring, but I find it suffocating and shake him off.
    â€˜Relax, Leni.’
    â€˜Don’t tell me to relax, Adam. Is he in or is he out?’
    â€˜Out. But what did you expect? This morning was a disaster.’
    He’s right. This morning was one of Cris’s worst rowing moments.
    â€˜I’ve got to find him.’
    â€˜He’s gone home,’ Adam says. ‘Sit down. I’ll get you a MILO.’
    â€˜I don’t want one.’
    â€˜Okay, I won’t bother then,’ Adam says, hurt. He’s always trying to do nice things for me and I’m always pushing him away.
    We look at each other intensely for a few seconds. Our relationship is filled with weird, off-key moments like this. In the beginning we papered over the cracks with romance. Flowers, hand holding and lavish dates. After six months it’s getting harder to bridge the gap. The only true thing we have in common is rowing.
    â€˜I’ve got to revise for an English test now,’ I say.
    â€˜See you at the gym at lunch? Weights?’
    â€˜Yeah. After my run.’
    I’m already in clean gym clothes, ready for more training. I have a T-shirt that says: Row, eat, sleep. Repeat. That’s how my life is. I run from morning training at the river to lunchtime land training to after school on the river and weekends are back-to-back regattas until April. At least we get Tuesday afternoons off. It’s heaven.
    On Tuesday I feel like a regular girl.
    Cristian
    I’ve been dropped from the firsts. Westie hung me out of the boatshed balcony and let go. I came screaming to the ground and smashed into a million pieces. That’s what it felt like anyway. I had a meeting with him, our rowing director and the head of PE. They said it’s temporary until I get my fitness and my weight back