Chapter 2 - Cigarettes in the TheatreA Chapter by Viccy RogersThroughout April's childhood, she'd always had to follow three rules. She'd always been told by her parents that these rules would protect her from danger. They told her she was special, and that when she turned 16 things would be different. She was 15 at present, yet her 16th birthday leered closer and closer every day. She didn't dare ask any more. She was sure they were important, which was why she obeyed them. She was sure there was something about her, something about the way she felt. But, she wasn't supposed to think things like that. It was the weekend. Well �" a Friday night. But that counted. She'd survived yet another hopeless week of school. Suffered in silence as she'd hid away each break time, avoiding Jake. She knew he'd been looking for her. She couldn't think about why without breaking the rules. She'd hid from him all week, and it had been so tiring. Breaking the rules was so easy around him. She couldn't be around people that let her break the rules. Somehow, her parents would find out. It had been a long week, though. It was so much effort to follow him and make sure she went the other way. Her heart skipped every time she saw a guy with brown hair wearing a leather jacket in the street when she walked home from school. Though it hadn't been him either time, she'd panicked and hid from both. Don't worry �" she was used to receiving odd looks from people. Anyway, she was glad it was the weekend. She could be alone, how she liked it. The more people she trusted, the more likely one of them would let her down and hurt her. She had learnt that trust isn't something you can pass around like a parcel; it takes a lifetime to build. And April didn't have time for silly things like that. At the present, she was sat with her chin to her knees in the corner of her bedroom. She had her eyes closed and was imagining she was somewhere else. Anywhere else. She called it her bedroom, but was it really? It could be anyone's. It wasn't colourful, interesting or personalised. Just standard. Basic. Factory setting. Plain. At last, she opened her eyes and stared at her room, willing it to transform into something better. On the far side sat her wooden door, which her parents locked every night before she fell asleep. There was her box-window with her special view on the next wall, above her bed. It was too small to ever climb out of in the event of an emergency. If her room were to catch on fire during the night, all she would be able to do would be to bleat pathetically for help whilst pounding on her wooden door with her curled fists, and wail weakly until found. She wasn't afraid of this happening though, as her room wasn't interesting enough to contain anything that could possible catch fire. Maybe having something hazardous would be exciting. It was be dangerous, and risky. April had nothing dangerous and risky in her life. As well as various storage units including a chest of drawers and a wardrobe, April also had a desk. Her small room was tight for space with all her furniture, but she loved her desk. It was the type that looks like real wood but isn't. The type that lies about who it is. She felt like somehow, she could relate to that. She always felt like it was actually her room when she was sat by her desk, drawing with the good half of her HB pencil. The walls were an odd colour. Not quite yellow, cream, brown or white, but something in between. As if they had started off as cream, but over time had given up trying and had decided to smudge into a meek, stained, light brown colour. The carpet was faded brown and itchy to stand on. There wasn't a mirror anywhere. Besides the small one in the bathroom April used to apply ferocious amounts of eye-liner in the morning, there were no mirrors in the house. April despised mirrors. Why would she want to be reminded of what she looks like all the time? She had once read a theory about love. It was that love is like an elastic band: you keep pulling until one of you lets go, but it hurts for the one who held on. April had created her own theory from this: if you never hold on to the band in the first place, there is no way it can hurt you by snapping back in your face. Not that she knew anything at all about relationships, having never been in one herself. Not that anyone would want to share an elastic band with her. Not that she wished anyone would. No, she thought to herself. No, no, no. I mustn't let my mind wander. Especially about Jake. Oh look, she thought with a smile on her face, there you go again. Jake, Jake, Jake.
* * *
Jake had just got home. He'd been out. No where special. Just out. It had long gotten dark. His mum worked an awkward time shift: 4pm to 2am or something crazy like that. So he never saw her, apart from weekends. When he came home from school, she would have just left. In the mornings, she would be home, but fast asleep until noon. After quickly discovering he hated the tormenting silence of coming home to an empty house, he'd taken to hanging around dark corners and alleyways and just generally living on the edge until securely dark. When he came home, he would cook himself a simple microwave meal and eat it caved in front of his laptop screen, which would be decorated with a Twitter tab with which he would sit and update his account with humorous yet meaningless thoughts to his obscurely large number of followers. Certainly not a luxurious way of living, but any way was good enough for him. He sat, furiously typing and clicking �" the sound of his fingertips applying pressure against the boastful keys of his device making tiny ticks like the hand of a pocket watch on fast-forward �" hunched over his computer with his shoulders near his ears. His eyeballs were gradually getting thinner, dryer and more irritated by the harsh white lighting of the screen. His head throbbed and ached so hard he felt as if his brain was being rocked from either side of his skull as if it were on a ferry during a storm, banging against the walls of his head each time. The music didn't help. Being a devoted disciple to indie-rock, it was the norm for him to have Oasis or Kings of Leon blasting from his earphones at max volume. He had a few band posters and T-shirts he wore at home to mark his undeniable dedication to these bands. He liked how the higher amplitude of the deep bass caused his ribcage to be jolted at an off-beat twang. But he was kind of an off-beat guy. That was how he liked it, as he couldn't concentrate. Even the persisting thought of April couldn't get a word in against the deep sound waves sent through his spine as Jake was informed his sex was on fire. 'You have one new message'. Curiously, Jake clicked on the intriguing notification. It wasn't that getting messages was an unusual occurrence for him, but he'd already spoken to all the usual people today, so he wondered who this one could be from. It was from Mia Day. For a moment, his mind went blank. Mia Day? Then he remembered: the girl from the corridor. He'd sat with her at the beginning of the week. Or, more she'd sat with him. He replied a casual 'hey' in response to her 'hiiii x'. He didn't feel right putting a kiss. Not being a particularly affectionate person himself, he preferred to have distant conversations that were to-the-point and didn't waste time exchanging pleasantries such as 'how are you?' and 'what are you up to?’ 'How are you?x' read the next message he received from Mia. Oh. Sighing, he typed back what seemed to be the expected reply. 'Fine thanks, you?' he'd typed, and then regretfully hit send. Because, in all honestly, he'd only asked to be polite. He didn't really care about how she was. But, having no friends at the moment, he wasn't really in a position to pick-and-choose. In addition, he didn't actually mind Mia. I mean, she'd been nice to him and all. 'I'm great. Apart from the fact that me and Franki were going to go to the cinema tonight, but she cancelled last minute:( now I have a spare ticket with no one to go with! Reckon you can help me out?;)x' He smiled to himself, and could feel her batting her eyelashes scarily at him from behind her computer screen. Maybe a date with Mia wouldn't be so bad? He did think that she was good-looking, so maybe he would start to fancy her if they spent more time together. Plus, hanging around with her at school would rank him as popular. 'Yeah I reckon I could take one off your hands;)' he replied, already feeling as though he was cheating his emotions. Cheating on April even though he had only ever seen her once, and was starting to doubt whether she'd even really existed. 'Great! The film starts at quarter to eleven, meet me in the foyer? I'll be the brunette in the black dress;)x'. Jake mused at her words which were as subtle as a gun. He logged out and continued to listen to old songs by The Killers on shuffle for longer than planned. Finally, he peered at the time on his alarm clock, cursed loudly, grabbed his leather jacket, lit a cigarette, and promptly put it out after hopping on a bus. Tonight should be eventful, he laughed to himself.
Jake arrived at the cinema fashionably late. But he didn't mind. He liked making girls wait for him. Not in a jerky way. Just because he liked to see whether they cared enough to stay. And this one did. He spotted her straight away. She was wearing a tight black dress with a square neck and T-shirt sleeves, which hugged her petite figure like a smooth roll of cling-film. Her hair had, for once, not been straightened, and instead flowed around her in sensuous ripples. Her lips lacked their usual outfit of the ostentatious Shade 51 in Rose Blush, and were instead natural, which appealed to Jake all the more. Her feet wore classic Chelsea boots, and continuing up her newly waxed legs, a pair of lacy patterned tights coated her skin, threatening to tear at any sudden movement. She wore a cropped, long sleeved (which she rolled up to three quarter length) jacket made of blazer material but cut to a flattering style to compliment the rest of her outfit. Of course, in the eyes of Jake, she was wearing a dress, jacket and shoes. He'd never been one for detail. But, he noticed she looked nice, which was the main thing. He greeted her with a smooth-guy kiss on the cheek whilst fitting a cheeky arm around her thin waist in a well practised glide. She blushed, which surprised him as he'd assumed she'd been with plenty of guys before. As he guided her up the escalator, he held out a tenner to offer her. “I should really be paying for your ticket too, if you hadn't already bought it,” he said whilst half smiling. She refused it, being brought up well and being slightly aware he wouldn't have money to waste. “Are you not even going to let me try to be a gentleman?” he joked, to lighten the mood. “I don't like you for your manners,” she teased, looking him right in the eye. Right in the deep brown eye. Despite this, when she wasn't looking, Jake slipped the tenner into the far pocket of her jacket without her noticing. He didn't like feeling as if he owed anyone anything. They rolled into the intended screening like the film in a camera. He turned his mobile phone off without thinking twice after being warned numerous times by the Cineworld ads, and placed it into his one jacket pocket with a zip. Try to disturb me now, he sneered, as the lights dimmed and the crowd silenced, signifying the start of the film. By this time, Jake had completely forgotten about April. © 2013 Viccy Rogers
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