What You Don't See (wlw)

[9] We are Okay

Verity
Okay don't worry I brought these." I said, giving her my jacket. She put it on and I slowly wrapped a scarf around her too.

"Thank you so much." She replied smiling and I returned to my spot on the roof, dangling my legs off the ledge. I don't know how I'd managed to safely get a blind person here on top of the roof in my house given my track record of clumsiness but I somehow had.

"No problem." And then wanting to change the subject "how are you finding school so far?"
It was a lame question I know but I didn't know what else to ask yet. I was just kind of in awe that Amy was here, choosing to spend time with me on a Saturday.

"Oh yeah it's going okay so far I think - my teachers are pretty good now it's just er... dealing with Henrietta now that's annoying." What? Dealing with Henrietta? Does that mean...?

"You find Henrietta annoying?" I was far too scared to start ranting right now just in case her reasons meant she slightly disliked her or you know didn't dislike her at all and I'd just invented all that on the spot.

"Err... yeah." She let out a relieved sigh as she tucked a stand of her hair behind her ear. It was blowing away from her in the gentle breeze, the sun setting behind her. It felt like I was looking at a painting or a famous scene in French cinema. It was beautiful. "She just... treats me like her favourite toy? I don't know how to describe it, I just feel like she doesn't understand me at all." 

"Yeah I understand that." I replied, thinking back to how I'd seen her treat Amy in class - she did seem to just flaunt her about like being Amy's helper was some sort of prize. "That must be really shit to deal with - I know what Henrietta can be like."

"Yeah - about that - what's the deal with you two? I really don't mean to pry and you can just tell me to fuck off and I'll leave it but the way she talks about you makes it seem... I don't know.."

"Like she hates me?" I finished the sentence for her. It was nice she was trying to be polite about it but honestly she really didn't need to; it wasn't exactly something Henrietta kept under wraps and I was sure pretty much the entire student body knew exactly how she felt about me. "Yeah that's been going on for a very long time. Nothing specific really happened between us it's just that our mothers are friends and I'm... very shit at being a person most of the time and she's... well she's kind of perfect at it. At least by my mother's standards." It had pretty much been radio silence with my mother the past few days - it was kind of back to normal; she didn't want to know me or any of my recent failures. Fair enough.

"I mean you say that and I know we haven't known each other for a long time but seriously you really don't seem to be bad at all to me." She said it with such sincerity, nothing in her face or voice contaminating the meaning and my eyes pricked. Like she said, she really didn't know me that well and it wouldn't be long before she realised what I'm actually like but it still meant so much. Nobody had said anything similar to me for... well years actually.

"Yeah I give it till... Wednesday? to prove you wrong." I gave out a short laugh. I should have been depressed about it; knowing that it would definitely end by the end of the week but I think her previous sentence had put me on a high and I didn't want to climb down just yet.

"Why Wednesday?" She asked skeptically

"Because if I don't embarrass myself by Wednesday that'll be a personal record and I don't think it's at all likely I'll break it for another few years or so." I explained humourously. Again I shouldn't be finding this funny - especially considering how Henrietta, my mother and the rest of the school made me feel about it, but with Amy it didn't feel so bad. I suddenly felt in my gut that this was a recipe for disaster. "My last public embarrassment was a day or so before you moved in, when I face-planted walking on stage to perform a flute solo in assembly. It was sensational according to Henrietta."