7

A Chapter by Amber

“Really? Well that’s just great!” I snickered still looking at the back of Jack’s head. Apparently I had picked up a new habit that morning of just speaking whatever was on my mind; I was probably still reeling from Katy’s comments and hadn’t quite calmed down fully. Plus he had taken my seat which was why we had to be sat behind her in the first place.

“What’s up with you?” Jess asked, confusion laced in her voice. I can only imagine her brow was furrowed as she tried to piece together what had just happened in front of her. However I can’t tell you for sure because I kept staring at him, I was just thinking about whether I should say something to him when…

“Is that why you were nice to me this morning Jackson? So you could steal my seat!” I put extra emphasis on his full name, and his head shot round making eye contact with me.

“Oh are these seats yours? Call it payment for helping you out, Gnomie” he smirked at me while I raised an eyebrow, in a sort of sassy way as if to say oh really.

“Fine, fine you win Jack. I’ll stop calling you that. Now please you have got to be nice again and let us sit back there tomorrow.” I pleaded.

“Why? What’s the big deal they’re only seats, what does it matter if you sit on this row or that one?” He asked.

Just then, as if to prove my point, Katy’s shrill laughter pierced my ears.

“Would you look at that eck is trying to flirt!” She screeched to her mates.

“What’s wrong ick cat got your tongue?” She spat at Jessica. “Awww look at her, I think she might cry! Haha”

I turned around to see if Jessica was okay, as usual she was in shock not quite knowing how she should respond. I can only assume she had tried to stick up for me but not been able to get her words out, for someone who loved gossiping she sure as hell didn’t like confrontation.

“Oh shut it Katy” I snarled. “What? Did you watch mean girls before you moved to high school and think some unrealistic American movie is exactly what school is going to be like? Oh, I know I’ll get myself some naïve, gullible friends who like the colour pink and we’ll b***h and gossip about people, but everyone will love us because we are so pretty because we basically rub our faces in glitter every morning before school in some vain attempt to make the boys notice us. Despite the fact we are still only kids we are desperately trying to act like some kind of adult in an attempt to look cool in front of everyone. Just so you know, it looks weird and desperate. Oh and making stupid comments about people all the time isn’t exactly going to make you popular is it?”

I think four months of pent up frustration just got released all at once. I mean say what you want about me, it doesn’t bother me really it just sort goes over my head like water off a duck’s back, but start bullying my friends? Jessica had never done anything to Katy, the only thing she was guilty of was hanging around with me, so I guess I sort of owed it to her to stand up for her.

My rant must have been louder than I had anticipated because when I looked away from Katy’s reddening face most of the class was staring at me. Luckily my oddball of a teacher Mrs. Williams didn’t seem overly phased, that or she just hadn’t even noticed.

I stared down at my desk hoping that everyone would stop looking at me, I didn’t necessarily like attention I preferred to just fade away into the background usually. So I don’t understand why I’ve suddenly decided to take to yelling at someone in the middle of registration. I blame Jack; his cheekiness has already rubbed off on me and I’ve only known him all of five minutes.

Mrs Williams settles the class down and starts calling out names on the register, I keep my gaze to the table and I can sense that Jessica is probably doing the same.

I look up to answer to my name, and catch a glimpse of a giggling Jack out of the corner of my eye. I shoot him a look, well more like a glare, and he throws his hands up in a mock ‘wasn’t me’ kind of way. He leans over to me and whispers.

“Should I be scared? I mean that was pretty psycho”

I don’t dignify him with a response, but merely shoot him another fierce look.

“Relax” He mutters to me “everyone knows she’s a b***h.”

I give him a quick smirk before the trill of the bell breaks the tension in the classroom. I pick up my bag and grab Jessica before bolting out of the door towards our first lesson of the day.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful I guess, except well. You know when there is a completely white wall that you see every day, and it’s totally clean not a mark on it. Then one day you notice a small smudge, the smudge is tiny and not worth repainting the whole wall because of, but now that you’ve seen it once every time you look at that wall your eyes are taken straight to the imperfection, you are drawn to the blemish. Or how you’ve never heard of a word in your life, and the moment you read it or someone uses it just once it’s everywhere, like literally everywhere. You’ve never noticed it before you’d gone your whole life up to that point in blissful ignorance and now you can’t stop noticing it.

Well Jack was that blemish, that complicated word. This morning he was a total stranger to me and now I was seeing him everywhere like I was being drawn to him. He was in three out of my five classes, and when I didn’t see him in class I bumped into him in the corridor or at lunch.

He called me a nerd because I got a question right in maths, and he pulled faces at me from across the room when our art teacher wouldn’t shut up about the importance of shading.

By the end of the day I realised he wasn’t going to be easily ignored, but I don’t think I want to ignore him anyway.

Heading towards the school gates I felt a hand hit me gently on my back trying to get my attention, I looked around to see Jack smiling at me but his face seemed a little distorted, faded almost.

Just then I felt a much harder thud on my back and I was jolted from my thoughts.

*Present Day*

The cab driver had slammed the breaks on; we had hit some pretty dead traffic.

“Sorry ma’am” the driver glanced round at me.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it” I responded politely, trying my best not to show him how angry I was that he had disturbed me from reliving my memories even if it was just in my head.

The driver looked back towards the road, and I sunk down into my seat.

I couldn’t help but smile at remembering how JJ and I had first met, he was always so lovely and kind yet full of laughter.

This memory seems to soften me, especially since I remember going into school the next day and finding that he had given me and Jessica our seats back.

A single tear cascades down my cheek as my features seem to soften. Even when he isn’t here, staring me down with those chocolate puppy dog eyes, he can make me want to forgive him.

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