Read Crashing Down for Free Online

hospital.
    â€˜Yes, thanks,’ she says.
    Mr Cruz nods. ‘I know exams probably seem trivial right now. And this couldn’t have come at a worse time — although, whenever is there a good time for something like this?’
    â€˜True,’ she says, nodding.
    â€˜I just wanted to reassure you your average will be safe. All assessments, with the exception of the mock, are in, and you are the highest achievingstudent. And even if you bomb in the mock’ — Mr Cruz tries not to laugh — ‘which is unlikely, I’ve spoken to the Deputy and the school will allow special consideration, at the discretion of the Head of English.’
    â€˜Which is you, Mr Cruz,’ Lucy says, smiling at his gesture. This is no great surprise; she has been top in Lit for the last two years, and English the three before that. Still, it’s a relief to know her average is safe. She wishes her Chemistry teacher was telling her this.
    â€˜Correct. And there is no way I’m going to let my top student bomb. If you need to talk, I’m always available.’
    The day drags. The breaks are the worst. She wishes she could make herself invisible. She sees the other 12s are shattered by what’s happened, but she doesn’t want to talk about it. Ignoring things seems to be the best safety mechanism she has; her friends sense this and don’t probe her for information. But at lunchtime she can’t avoid Wayne, who is talking loudly and to anyone who’ll listen.
    â€˜So I’m watching
Masterchef.
Couldn’t believe allyouse guys would go to a lame school dance instead of watching the finale. Anyway, next thing I hear the squealing of tyres and brakes being applied mega hard.’
    â€˜Thought yesterday you said it was pissing down with rain?’ someone says.
    â€˜Yeah, it was, but the noise from the car was so loud I could hear it over the top. Anyway …’ He waves his hand, annoyed by the interruption. ‘There was this awesome crashing. Bang, bang, bang, bang. That car flipped six times, bonnet over boot.’
    â€˜The cops said three.’ It was Al, sounding defensive.
    â€˜I don’t know — it was a lot. So I run out and there it is, this mashed yellow Ford upside down. So I run towards it, with, like, all the neighbours from my street. I’m thinking, man, whoever is in there is bound to be dead after that, right? So I get there and Mr Wright is saying there is someone trapped in the car, calling out his phone number and saying
Ring my dad.
It was only later I found out it was JD.’ Wayne sits back, as if pleased with his part in it.
    â€˜He was saying his number?’ Lucy can’t believe she’s spoken, but is so shocked by Wayne’s words.JD knew to call out his number — as he was hanging upside down with a broken neck?
    â€˜Yeah, pretty cool, hey,’ Wayne says, and he truly does sound admiring.
    The others who’ve gathered nod and murmur in agreement.
    JD had been in Lucy’s classes since Year 8, when he arrived at the school from Sydney (via China, the red-necks always added). He was academic and dedicated, working harder than anyone, and always vying to beat Lucy as top English student. He never did — but he always challenged.
    It was the English teacher who had coined his nickname. Mr Cruz was new that year and on his first day, reading out the roll, he’d called, ‘Douglas’.
    Everyone knew JD hated his name.
    â€˜Just Doug will do,’ he’d said so politely.
    And Mr Cruz had nodded, altered the roll and said, ‘Well, Just Doug, do you mind if I call you JD for short?’
    After that it’d stuck; in fact, no one called him Doug at all anymore, it was as if he’d always been two initials.
    And now JD is a hero — the guy who’d kept hishead, even with a broken neck.
    â€˜I can’t believe it,’ Lucy says, aware everyone is now watching her.