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Come on.
    ‘Er . . . er . . . I can’t talk to Mum about anything to do with my dad.’ Inspiration struck me. ‘She gets . . . er . . . really upset whenever I mention him. She was so in love with him, she can’t say his name without crying. Even now.’
    ‘Oh, that’s awful.’ Rachel pressed her lips together sympathetically. ‘What was his name?’
    ‘James Lawson.’ I’d decided to lie about my school and home address – just to be on the safe side. But, obviously, I had to use Dad’s real name in order to find out what Richard Smith knew about him.
    Rachel nodded. ‘My dad doesn’t get home until late, so you’ll have to stay for a while.’ Her cheeks reddened again. ‘I mean, if Mum says it’s okay.’
    Drops of rain fell on our shoulders.
    ‘Thanks.’ I stood up. ‘I really appreciate this.’
    Rachel shot me this nervous little smile. ‘No problem. I just hope my dad remembers him.’
    We crossed the road away from the roundabout and headed down a long, broad street with big trees lining either side.
    Rachel looked round at me. ‘I can’t wait to hear what my dad says when he realises your dad wrote down all that stuff about him planning my life.’
    I stopped walking. Oh, man . The chances of Rachel’s dad having actually gone on and on about his plans for Rachel’s life seemed so remote as to be totally laughable. Which meant Mr Smith would know there was no way I could have tracked him down through any notebooks recording those plans. Then I’d have to explain about Max hacking into the school records.
    Why hadn’t I thought this through better?
    ‘D’you know what?’ I said, thinking fast. ‘I’m not sure we should say anything about the notebooks. For my mum’s sake. Your dad might want to get in touch with her or something. And then she’ll just get all upset about the past again.’
    Rachel frowned. ‘But what if my dad asks how you got his name?’
    Crap. Crap. Crap.
    I breathed out slowly, trying to push down the panicky feeling rising in my chest. There was only one way out of this. ‘I won’t say James Lawson’s my dad,’ I said. ‘I’ll say I’m doing a science project or something on the . . . on the history of genetic research. Get your dad to talk about the research going on at the clinic they both worked at back when they knew each other. Once he starts talking, I’ll bring my dad into the conversation.’
    Rachel was staring at me as if I was crazy.
    ‘Right.’ She looked away. ‘But that means there’s another problem.’
    ‘What?’ Bloody hell . This whole thing was turning into a gigantic nightmare. Now I wasn’t going to be able to explain to Mr Smith why I wanted to know about James Lawson. And I was already unsure exactly what lies I’d told Rachel.
    ‘Well,’ Rachel stammered. ‘How are we going to say you know me? I mean, it’s okay me taking a friend home, but my parents might think it’s a bit weird you turning up like this. I go to a girls’ school. And you’re a . . . a boy.’
    ‘Oh.’ I attempted a weak smile. ‘Not much I can do about that.’
    Rachel dipped her head. ‘You know they’ll think that we . . .’ She stopped.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Nothing.’ Her face was the colour of a tomato.
    I suddenly saw what she was saying. Her parents were going to assume we liked each other. As in ‘like’.
    ‘Oh,’ I said, thinking how much Jake would have loved being in my place. And how much I wanted to die, right now.
    Rachel was staring down at the pavement again. ‘Why don’t we say we met at last summer’s school disco. At my school. And that we bumped into each other just now. I mean, I’m not actually going out with anyone, so . . .’
    ‘Okay.’ I was staring at the pavement myself now.
    The rain was getting heavier. Rachel sped up. We walked the rest of the way in silence.

 
12
Rachel
    There was only one thought going through my head as I turned my key in the door.
    I’ve got an almost boyfriend.
    Okay. So he was a