Revenge by Gabrielle Lord Page A

right, playing with the electric recliner button on his chair. He’d stretched it to its limits and was lying flat, at practically one-eighty degrees, facing the ceiling.
    Almost a month had passed since we’d lastattempted our midnight screening in the home theatre. And what a month it had been. But now, here we were, relaxing at last.
    â€˜Finally,’ I said, stretching and nuzzling into my deep, plush chair.
    â€˜Ooh yeah,’ Ryan commented from flat on his back. ‘Hey Boges,’ he said, sitting up a bit, ‘there are more chairs here, you know. Four, in fact. You should have asked Maddy over to join us.’
    â€˜Mmm, yeah, maybe next time,’ I said. But I knew that was unlikely. I doubted Maddy would ever want to speak to me again after the weird way I’d been acting. I’d been too scared to talk to her at school.
    All of a sudden my chair didn’t feel so comfortable.
    â€˜Or maybe I’ll ask four girls to come over,’ I scoffed. ‘Why limit myself to one?’
    Ryan and Cal laughed. I glanced over at Winter, waiting for her to groan or throw something at me. But she was staring coldly ahead at the wide, blank screen, oblivious. Completely in her own world.
    I noticed Cal craning his neck to look at Winter. He waved his hand in her line of sight and she shook her head, turned and smiled at him.
    â€˜You OK?’ he asked her softly.
    â€˜Absolutely,’ she said enthusiastically. ‘As long as you are,’ she added.
    Cal tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then offered her some of his blanket. I recognised it as one that had been around for years. A woollen patchwork blanket in blue and white. I think Mrs Ormond had knitted it.
    I didn’t know whether it was the shock of everything that had gone on in Coffin Bay, or something else, but Winter wasn’t herself. She’d been really quiet, not like the feisty Winter Frey I’d come to love and hate. I’d given her plenty of golden opportunities to pay me out and she hadn’t taken up any of them.
    I knew too well what it felt like to think I’d lost Cal, we’d both had to deal with that fear. And I knew Cal had become her family.
    But it was none of those things. It was something different. Something lingering. Something I’d seen in her all year.
    It was like she still didn’t think it was over. Like she was still watching her back.

DAY 30

    1 day to go …

    â€˜So what are we waiting for?’ I asked, jiggling in my seat and looking at the huge white rectangle of light in front of us. ‘Let’s get this vampire show on the road.’
    â€˜Oh, the Nosferatu DVD. I think I might have taken it upstairs,’ said Cal.
    Ryan jumped up. ‘Stay there, I’ll go get it.’
    â€˜That’s OK. I can walk,’ Cal muttered.
    â€˜Yeah, yeah, I know, but I’m already up. No dramas. Where is it?’
    â€˜Somewhere near my bed, I think. Thanks, man.’
    While we waited for Ryan to come back, Cal held his hands up in the projector light, making claw-like shapes scratch across the screen.
    I propped my hand up in the shape of a rabbit and made it hop about.
    Cal laughed. His shadow claws promptly sliced through my lame rabbit.
    â€˜Arrgghhhh!’ I shrieked, sending my rabbit tumbling off screen in slow motion. ‘Nooooo!’
    â€˜Ha, the show’s already started,’ Ryan joked. He walked back into the room with the DVD and a creamy-coloured envelope in his hand. ‘What’s this?’ he said to Cal, flinging him the envelope like a frisbee. ‘I found it on your pillow.’
    Winter leaned over Cal and snatched the envelope away from him. I hit the button on my chair and zoomed into an upright position.
    Cal sat up. ‘Hey! Winter, what are you doing?’
    Winter stood up and pulled the envelope clear out of Cal’s reach. She stared at the paper intensely, her forehead forcing two perturbed