Three

Chapter three

‘So it’s coming up to the Freedom ceremony’

I raise my eyebrows as I pull out my books. ‘So?’

He smiles slightly. 

‘Do you know what you’re going to choose?’ he asks. 

‘We really shouldn’t be discussing this. It is policy to keep our choice private’

I shut my locker as he sighs and stares at me like a hawk and I flutter; this stare sends goose-bumps through my body.

‘And when have you ever obeyed by the rules? Yesterday you ran out of the school without permission’

I glare at him. 

‘This is different’

‘How?’ he leans against the unused lockers. 

‘This changes our future.’

The corners of his mouth twitch up.
Normally, I can read him like an open book; why has he now turned over the cover?

‘It’s better to tell someone you’ve known for a while then a stranger. You know if you can trust them, if they have your faith.’ I look to floor. 

‘So what are you going to choose?’ Tom steps closer and I look up. 

‘That’s for me to know’ I grin and turn way, strolling toward the exit. 

‘Do you know what you’re going to choose? You don’t have to tell me, but do you have an answer? Do you know where you’re going to be’ he says.

I walk back to him and place my mouth near his ear- we’re not touching but every bone in my body is screaming at me to pull away- I don’t obey.

‘Yes’ I whisper, I turn back round and leave.

I walk the long way home; maybe my father will be too exhausted to show he doesn’t love me. It’s only a few minutes extra, but if I keep stopping for a bit, it might be late when I reach home.
Tom catches up with me. 

‘You seem different, Ruth’ he says. 

‘So do you’ I’m not lying, it is true. He seems like a different person- yet he looks the same. 

‘Do I? In what way?’ he asks.

I stare at him. 

‘You’re taller’ I smile and he grins too. 

‘You have a beautiful smile’ he mutters randomly; for a second I felt my heart skip a beat.

He then walks off into a different direction.
I watch him go for a bit, before carrying on going toward a house that I dread to call home. I take small, shallow steps to there, I know the longer I take the more abuse I’ll have to endure, maybe not today. But I will.
But what If I never go home? Live like the homeless until the Freedom Ceremony.
I shake my head, they’ll come after me.
I am like a punching bag; every boxer needs one.