After Eden

Chapter 5

The bus for the Eden Project was already waiting by the time I got to the school gate. A group of shivering students was milling around and Mrs Link was ticking names on a register. I couldn’t help noticing Chloe Mason was, despite the rain and cold, dressed in very short shorts and a flesh-baring crop top. Her navel was pierced with a fake diamond on a long silver pin.

‘Here he comes,’ I heard Chloe say to her friend.

Ryan was strolling down through the yard towards us. He seemed utterly unselfconscious in a way that I knew I would never be.

‘Wait up, Picasso!’ Ryan called.

He walked straight past Chloe and her entourage and up to me, a huge smile spread across his face.

‘Picasso?’ I said. ‘Didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s unkind to poke fun at people’s weaknesses?’

‘Picasso drew strange-looking people,’ he said, shrugging.

‘Picasso meant them to look strange.’

He put his arm around my shoulder, sending tingles down my spine. ‘I can’t wait to see how you draw plants,’ he whispered in my ear.

We took a seat towards the back of the bus. As the rest of the art students ambled on the bus and found their seats, several clocked Ryan and me sitting together and I picked up snippets of gossip about the two of us arriving and leaving Amy’s party together.

‘So what weaknesses do you have?’ I asked. ‘You know mine.’

‘None,’ he said, grinning.

‘Everyone has weaknesses.’

He sighed dramatically. ‘Beautiful girls. That’s my weakness.’

‘Well, you seem to be resisting, from what I’ve heard.’

‘Have you been talking about me?’ He smiled at me in a way that made my heart jump.

Predictably, Chloe Mason and her friend Melissa took the seat in front of us. As the bus pulled away, Chloe turned around and stuck her face between the two seat backs.

‘Hey, Ryan,’ she purred. ‘How was your first week at Perran?’

‘Educational,’ he said with a smile.

Chloe frowned, clearly unsure whether he was being sarcastic. ‘I know the Eden Project really well,’ she said. ‘Melissa and I go ice-skating there in the winter and there’s live music in the summer. I could show you around.’

‘That’s nice of you, Chloe,’ Ryan said, ‘but I already have a tour guide.’

Chloe gave me a quick look. ‘Eden won’t mind if you come with us, will you, Eden?’ She didn’t wait for me to respond. ‘You can spend the day with anyone you want; you don’t have to stick to your art partner.’

‘But I want to spend the day with Eden.’

Her smile dropped and she flicked her eyes from Ryan to me and back again. ‘Are you two going out?’

‘No,’ I said quickly.

She pouted at Ryan. ‘If you change your mind, come and find me.’

She turned back to Melissa, leaving Ryan and me alone again.

‘She’s scary,’ Ryan whispered in my ear, close enough that I could smell his warm skin and the odd combination of lemons and metal. ‘Why is her skin so orange? Does she have jaundice?’

‘That’s her make-up,’ I whispered back. ‘And fake tan.’

‘She made it look like that deliberately?’

I nodded.

The bus reached the A30 and picked up speed. Through the windows, green fields and thick grey drizzle sped by in a blur.

‘How was your study session with Connor?’ Ryan asked.

‘It would have been much better if you hadn’t said all those things about Connor liking me. Every time he said something I kept wondering if there was some double meaning.’

Ryan laughed softly. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.’

‘No, you shouldn’t.’

‘But he does like you and he will ask you out.’

I let it go.

We arrived at the Eden Project just after ten. Mrs Link gave us our pads and assignments for the day and told us to be back at the bus for two o’clock.

‘Do you want to eat or drink or go straight to the biomes?’ I asked.

‘The biomes,’ he replied immediately.

‘Which one do you want to visit? We have a choice of the Mediterranean or the tropical. I like the tropical dome because it’s exotic and warm.’

‘Show me the way.’

We strolled through the café to the tropical biome. Immediately we were hit with the thick humidity and the rich smell of damp soil.

Ryan shut his eyes and breathed in deeply. ‘Whoa! This place smells amazing!’

I laughed.

He walked ahead of me, up the path, through the lush green foliage and sultry air.

‘Look at that.’ He’d stopped in front of a large plant with thick shiny leaves. He rubbed one of the leaves between his fingers. ‘It’s so glossy.’

‘You’re really into plants, aren’t you?’

He tilted his head towards the roof of the biome. ‘Is that a waterfall up there?’

Without waiting, he strode ahead, along the path that twisted through the steamy jungle up to the canopy-level at the top. I caught up with him by the waterfall which crashed down from the summit of the biome.

‘Let’s start here.’ He pointed to a large-leafed plant. ‘We can sketch this and let the waterfall cool us off.’

Ryan sat cross-legged on the ground, flipped open his sketch pad and began to move his pencil across the paper.

‘The green is so vibrant,’ he said. ‘This is such a healthy plant.’

I laughed at his enthusiasm. ‘What is the vegetation like where you come from?’

Ryan paused, his hand hovering over the sketch pad. ‘Where I’m from there’s a lake,’ he said, his eyes far away, as though searching through his memories for a picture. ‘Once it was surrounded by trees. Maple and birch and pine. In the fall the maple trees would turn yellow and gold and red.’

‘I’ve seen photos of New England in the autumn. It looks amazing.’

Ryan nodded. ‘It was. People would come on vacation in the fall to see the colours. And in the winter they would come to ski. And in the summer they would come to fish and swim and boat in the lakes. And everywhere there were trees.’

‘It sounds great,’ I said. ‘What’s it called?’

‘Wolfeboro,’ he said. ‘But it’s not like that any more.’

‘What happened?’

He shut his eyes. ‘I don’t know. Pollution. Some sort of industrial accident, I guess. The trees are all gone. Just the rotting remains of what was once a tremendous forest.’

‘That’s terrible,’ I said. ‘But one day they’ll grow back.’

‘I hope so.’

We continued sketching. From time to time, I glanced at Ryan’s pad. He was outlining the shape of the plant, somehow capturing the glossiness of its leaves and the sun pouring down through the hexagonal panels on the roof of the dome. He flipped the pages of his pad and began another drawing. This time he drew the same plant, but closer. He described the shape of the leaves, the veins in each frond, little details I would never have noticed. I focused on my own sketch. I was attempting the same plant. I had an outline that was roughly the same shape as the plant itself. It was probably the best sketch I had ever produced. The next step involved filling in the details.

Ryan leant over and grinned. ‘Do you want me to do your sketches for you?’

‘It would be pointless. Mrs Link would know it wasn’t my work. I am officially the least talented artist in the history of Perran School.’

‘Did she say that?’

‘Not in those words, but she’s made it plain that she doesn’t believe anyone can really be this talentless without trying hard.’

He looked back at my drawing. ‘She does have a point.’

I smacked him across the head with my sketch pad and stood up. ‘I’m hungry. Shall we go and get some food?’

He snapped his pad shut and we strolled back to the café.

‘I have to warn you, Ryan,’ I said. ‘They will be serving meat here. Cornwall is not as evolved as Wolfeboro.’

‘You must think I’m strange,’ he said, smiling to himself.

‘A little,’ I said as I took a hummus sandwich for myself and one for Ryan. I picked up two bottles of sparkling elderflower and pushed the tray to the checkout. Ryan insisted on paying. I made a mental note to pay next time we went out. Next time? Maybe I was imagining it, but it did feel as though there was something between us.

‘Can I ask you something?’ I asked, as we took a seat by the window. ‘And do you promise not to be offended?’

Ryan smiled. ‘You can ask me anything you like, but I can’t promise not to be offended.’

I decided to take the risk.

‘Are you and your family members of a cult or religious group or something?’

His face paled and he stared down at his sandwich. ‘Sort of,’ he said. ‘My dad is part of an environmental group. It’s committed to protecting indigenous species and vulnerable habitats. So we spend a lot of time campaigning and planting trees, and very little time watching television or eating out at fast food restaurants. Which is why I’m not always au fait when it comes to popular culture.’

When he had finished speaking, he looked up and met my eye. The whole speech had sounded wooden and over-rehearsed, as though he knew I was going to ask him that question.

‘I’m sorry if you think I’m rude,’ I said. ‘I’ve just never met anyone like you before.’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t suppose you have.’

After we had finished our lunch, I made a quick visit to the loo. I was locked in a cubicle, thankfully, when I heard Chloe Mason’s voice.

‘Undeniably gorgeous,’ she was saying. ‘And he looks even hotter in his own clothes.’

‘That T-shirt he’s wearing is really clingy,’ said another voice I recognised as Melissa. ‘You can see his muscles. I bet he has a six-pack.’

‘He could have had any girl in the school,’ said Chloe. ‘Why is he wasting his time with Eden Anfield and her loser friends?’

I stopped breathing when I heard my name. I thought about opening the door and walking out, but quickly changed my mind. It was too late. To walk out now would be awkward for all of us.

‘She’s pretty,’ said Melissa.

‘If you like skinny, flat-chested and ginger!’ said Chloe. ‘I would have thought he would be into something sexier.’

‘Like me,’ said Melissa. She burst into giggles.

‘I thought Eden was with Connor Penrose,’ said Chloe. ‘I guess she must have dumped him.’

‘That would explain his miserable face lately,’ said Melissa. ‘Does my hair look OK from the back?’

‘It looks great. Ready?’

I heard the door open and shut again. I waited another minute before I came out of the cubicle to wash my hands.

‘Your friend Chloe was just admiring your physique,’ I said, back in the café. ‘She thinks you look hot today.’

Ryan raised an eyebrow. ‘And what do you think?’

I felt myself blush. ‘I think you should stop fishing for compliments.’