Festival

Part 6

TILLY

The dirt track weaved round corner after corner through gate after gate as me and Olly walked down it.

I was surprised that he was still with me. I'd have expected him to wait at the bar 'Down the rabbit hole'. For a minute I thought he would but when I called him he immediately came.

I didn't want to be alone and to be honest I felt very safe around him. Right now he was walking along next to me hands in his pockets staring down at the road.

I gulped awkwardly and then slowly quietly said "Why did you decide to come with me?"

He didn't answered and at first I thought that he hadn't heard me but then he said "Because I saw that you were as scared as I was sometimes. I saw that maybe, just maybe, you were like me. Unique, different from everyone else. Standing out in a crowd full of people."

I smiled at that and said "I know what it feels like to not belong".

I'd spent a few years in school all alone. Not wanting to talk to anyone else and to be on my own. Wanting to wear long earrings and strange clothes, compromising my uniform. Always being late for literally everything. And I was lucky because no one wanted to talk to me.

Hardly any girls wanted to tell me secrets and invite me to their sleepovers like they all did with each other. They always used to bitch about each other, getting wound up in rubbish.

Until Lizzie. And then it wasn't so bad and not many people disliked me anymore. I'd earned respect because I was hanging out with someone older than me and the best thing was I thought Lizzie was funny, friendly and I love her to the end of the world.

Olly smiled at me as if reading my thoughts, I smiled back.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Olly asked, changing subject.

I nodded my head "I have two older sisters" I stuck my tongue out "I'm the youngest in the family. The only one still living with my parents".

Olly nodded "Older brother. He makes me so pissed sometimes!" he kicked his trainer on the ground so dust flew up around us "I'm the youngest in the family as well".

I didn't say anything because I was thinking.

"How old are you then?" Olly said "I'm guessing 17, same age as me."

I smiled and bit my tongue before sighing "16".

Olly looked surprised "You look a lot older".

"Do I?" I said standing up straighter and pointing my nose in the air before saying "I say Oliver dear that may be true!"

Olly cracked up holding his chest with his hand as if that was all that was keeping him together. I joined in the laughter and looked out across the field filled with lit up stalls or closed stalls.

We reached the yellow field rosy cheeked from the cold and in good spirit from laughing. I looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of my best friend but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"I can't see her" I called to Olly, who was busily looking in the other direction.

"Tell me. What does she look like?" Asked Olly turning around to face me.

I thought for a moment before replying "She has long brown hair which she is wearing in a bun. She's wearing skinny denim jeans and a top with 'BRING IT ON!' In big black letters stuck on it" Olly nodded, taking in all the details.

"Blur haven't started playing yet soooo what do you wanna do?"

I felt tempted to say 'you can leave now if you want' but I couldn't bring myself to say the words. I would be too scared on my own, so I shrugged and said "Maybe go somewhere a lot less crowded?!"

Olly nodded quickly agreeing as a whole bunch of people pushed past us.

We ended up on the other side of the field sitting on a low wall. I could hear the music all the way over here, but it was faded. The sky was pitch black and the air was cool. For once in the whole time of this festival I actually felt relaxed.

Olly stood beside me smoking a cigarette. The way he inhaled and then exhaled made me feel calm. The smoke dancing in the wind. I'd never tried a cigarette before.

Lizzie wasn't one of those peer pressuring mates. She let me do what I wanted and I was glad about that. It was our little deal. You do what you want if I get to do what I want. Of course if one of us was going way too extreme we would say something. We were friends after all.

"So why did you come to this glorious festival?" Olly said suddenly.

"I guess I just wanted to be free" I said quietly. I had felt free, and feeling free was bloody amazing! Olly nodded and looked up into the sky.

"So what about you then.... Why did you come here?" I crossed my legs on the wall and studied Olly. Waiting for an answer. He was probably wondering if he should tell me or not.

"You know when you have those parents that rarely give a shit about you?"

I shook my head "I guess I don't. My parents were always a little over-protective."

Olly sighed but carried on speaking any way "My older brother was definitely their favourite. I was sort of an outsider, or at least that's how I saw my self. So I started acting differently from my brother, who played sports, and always won in whatever sports he played, got good marks in all his tests and everyday was happy and friendly. I started acting differently because I was different. I think I also did it to get attention. Until I realised this is really me" and he gestured to all his body.

I stared. I just stared.