Wasted Read Online Free PDF Page A

a whole load of scientists who had explanations for this, none of which made sense either (even to Einstein, which is a comfort to Jess). Even Schrödinger sounded confused, though he seemed to like being confused because it seemed to prove something exciting.
    Apparently, the point was that this quantum theory thing was about particles so unimaginably tiny that even by looking at them you could change them.
    To think that people get paid to worry about this stuff. Seriously weird and pointless.
Though kind of mysterious,
she thinks.
    Cool name for a band too.
    Jess looks at her watch, leaps to her feet and checks her face in the mirror. Turns this way and that – darkness of eyes, check; fullness of hair, check; lips need gloss – done. Switches off the computer, grabs her bag. Gives Spike a stroke.
    Ready.

CHAPTER 6
IN JACK’S HOUSE
    JESS is walking to meet Jack. It’s a simple journey and not much can go wrong. Of course, Jess and Jack will never know the things that might have gone wrong if they’d left slightly earlier or slightly later or taken a different route. Supposing, for example, one of them had been delayed by a phone call, or forgotten to close a window and had to rush back, or been asked to do a chore by a parent, or not been able to find a shoe. If they had been a minute later, or earlier, perhaps one of them would have been knocked down by a speeding car, or hit by a slate falling from a roof, or could have tripped on a loose paving stone, been mugged or struck by lightning. They might have breathed in the virus from a passing tuberculosis victim. Then how differently would things have turned out?
    None of those possibilities occurs. They meet safely at the arranged time and place, walking towards each other with faces shy but bright. Jack wants to touch Jess, so he does, because he is not embarrassed about things like that. Jess loves the way he touches her, just on her arm, as he guides her across the road, safely through the traffic and in the direction of his road. It envelopes her softly, this new feeling.
    A salty breeze drifts over them as they walk – Jack’s house is closer to the sea than hers. It is a smell Jess has loved since she and her mum moved here a couple of years before.
    Jack does not stop talking. In the ten minutes it takes them to get to his home, Jess learns that he is about to finish at the sixth-form college, doing music, English and philosophy; has a couple of university offers; is taking a year out first; but doesn’t really care about anything apart from his band. He has one more exam to do but he’s not worried about it. Will walk it, Jess gets the impression. Certainly, if he writes as much as he talks, the examiner will have plenty to mark.
    He asks her questions too. In fact, he is exhausting in his questioning. Every answer she gives seems to fascinate him. He nods and smiles and agrees and uses words like “exactly” and “excellent”. If you wrote his words down, the page would be littered with exclamation marks and capital letters. He does not walk in a straight line but spins round to look at her sometimes, or moves to kick a stone along the road. Energy sparks from him like static. He is mercurial, fluid. Quicksilver. She is aware that she likes him. A lot.
    Although he is dangerous to know, she is right to like him. He is pulled firmly towards the earth’s centre. Though he moves quickly, he has equilibrium. It is not a word Jess herself would use but it fits. There is a point of balance inside him. He could be pushed a long way and he would surely spring back upright. It is as though the double shot of bad luck years ago drew out of him all the loose particles that can float here or there and all that is left is solid and confident and fits together tightly. A magnet has passed over his body and sucked out all the negativity.
    It will not be his fault if bad luck is round the corner again for Jack. Or