Trust

III

When I walk home, I always see loads of other people from different schools. There's the Wretchley students, who have a school even more downmarket than us, and the people there represent that. Like, I'm not being funny, but the day that somebody at Wretchley doesn't smoke, or drink, or take/deal drugs is the day that we all see the Queen in McDonalds. Yeah.

I also see the snobs from Hayridge Academy, which is a private school, with their pristine uniform and classes of about three pupils. They think they're so much better than everyone else, just because their parents have a huge salary.

They have their designer bags, perfect hair, posh cars and make-up. The girls stare at us in disgust, whispering and giggling about us behind manicured hands. The boys are less discreet about it, and shout things to us, laughing at the way we talk. The teachers never say it, but they hate the Hayridges more than the Wretchleys.

I normally walk with Kieran and Josh but today it's just Josh; Kieran's at hockey or something. Josh's cool, and kinda cute. I quite like him.

"How was your day?" He asks.

"Oh, it was...y'know...school." I say, and he laughs. "You?"

"In assembly we had the head teacher of Hayri-"

"What the hell was HE doing here? He hates us as much as his students do!" I say, outraged.

"He brought in a couple of his pupils to see us, and there was a couple of girls and a boy. I think the girls were called...uh...Bridget and Anne, or something." We turn the corner and a few of the Wretchley students are there, with a bottle or a packet of cigarettes. They scatter as soon as we approach them, as though they're scared we'll snitch or something. I couldn't care less about them if I'm honest.

"The boy?"

"Luke or something, I think." He runs a hand through his hair. I nod vaguely.

"Was he hot?" I say, partly joking, partly curious. Josh laughs and I smile.

"If you like blonde hair and lip rings, yeah."

"He had a lip ring?" I ask, surprised. Hayridge always seem to have such a strict uniform policy.

"Yeah, I think so. I guess as long as you have enough money they aren't gonna turn you down." Josh shrugs. "Oh, look, he's there." He points at a tall guy across the street, with a quiff and, like Josh thought, a lip ring.

"Frick frack Josh, whatever the hell you're into he's hot, like, smoking." I said, practically melting at the sight of this tall, skinny, blonde guy, whether I hated his school or not.

"Ok, I'll take your word for it." He nudges me and I start to walk again, from where I was frozen to the spot.

"Oi, you! Hayridge! Are you Luke?" I shout across the street at the guy. He stutters, and I'm surprised because Hayridges are normally confident, overly so.

"Er, yeah." He says shyly. He is walking with two other guys, one with curly hair and another one with-

"You have purple hair?!" I say to the other guy walking with him. He stares at me defensively.

"Yeah, why? You got a problem?" He says.

"No need to say it like that, I think it's hot." I reply matter-of-factly, turning away and shrugging my shoulders.

"Hey!" He says, and I turn back around. "Uh, thanks, I guess." He brushes his fringe over his eyes and looks at the floor.

"You're welcome. Hey, Curly, you need a haircut," I joke, smirking,"but don't get one, because you look great with your hair just like that." His face changes from angry to pleased just like that, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.