Tormented

Chapter 4

'Why are you staring at your phone smiling?' Sarah asks as we walk down the hall side by side.

'It's just Jake.'

'Your mums friend's son, Jake?'

'Yeah...'

'Are you like seeing him or something?'

'I don't think I'm his type.' I chuckle at Sarah.

'You're no one's type Charity case.' Benedict chimes in coming up behind me in the hallway.

'What do you want?' Sarah dead pans to him.

But he ignores her, speaking directly to me.

'You didn't text me back yesterday, CC.'

'I have enough of you at school, I don't need you taking up my time at home. What do you want?' I snap at him.

'Like I said in my text, if you bothered to read it... we have to do the project thing at my house today.' 

'No way.' I almost shout in the hall.

Some people stop to stare, but then carry on moving when I lock eyes with them, mouthing What to them.

'I don't want you in my house either, but I need to watch my brother.' He tells me.

'I don't care. I'm not going to your house.' I put my foot down, not having any of this conversation.

'Fine, fail History. You're the one here on a scholarship.' He tells me as he walks off, disappearing down the hall.

'Oh for fuck sake.' I turn to Sarah.

'Does it matter if you fail?'

'Of course it does. If my grades drop they could revoke my scholarship. I'm already doing piss poor in PE.'

'Shit.' She voices. 'So you're gunna go then?'

'I don't want to, but I guess I don't have much of a choice.'

'Hhmm. That guy is such a dick!'

'Oh are you only just noticing?'

'Ha ha. Very funny. Now let's go back to Jake.' She says, trying to go back to our earlier conversation.

'He's gay Sarah, he's not interested in me.' I break the news, knowing that's what she was fishing for.

'Well that's a shame, you need a guy in your life.'

'Well I'm not going to find one here and I'm not going to find one at home with my mum.'

'All I'm hearing is we need to go to a party...' She twists my words.

'That's not what I'm saying...'

'But it is though...'

'Even if I wanted to go to a party my mum wouldn't let me. Plus in case you haven't noticed we're not exactly on the cool list. Nobody is going to invite us to one.'

'That my dear Charity is where you're wrong.' She beams.

'What?' I ask surprised.

'James is having one this weekend and he invited me and now I'm inviting you.'

'Nope, not happening.'

'Why?' She whines.

'One, I wasn't invited. Two, I'm sure Benedict will be there and I don't need the hassle and three, my mother...'

'Your mum loves me, just tell her I'll be going and we can walk, it's not far from your house and it's not like they'll kick you out if you turn up with me.'

'You want to bet?'

'Just ask your mum, pretty please.' Sarah begs clasping her hands as she pouts at me.

I let out a sigh of defeat as I succumb to her begging.

'Fine... but only for a few hours.'

'Yay.' She jumps on the spot, clapping.

'Don't get excited yet, my mum has to agree to it first.'

She rolls her eyes at me in an over the top way. But at least she dropped it, turning her attention to something else.

'Come on, let's go to class. Before we're late.' Sarah says to me, pulling my arm through hers as she guides me down the hall.

'I don't want to go to History, I don't want to be forced to work with Satan.'

'You can't just skip History forever. Come on, the more time he spends with you the more he'll warm up to you, I promise.' She tells me, patting my hand in reassurance.

'What the hell was last year then? Was he warming up to me then as well when he was bullying me?'

'Stop being a drama queen.'

I let Sarah drag me into the classroom, toward the front of the class and past my tormentor who was already sitting in the chair behind mine.

'Hey babe.' James says to Sarah as he notices her walking past.

'What the fuck?' Benedict mutters under his breath to his friend.

'What?' James replies before turning to smile at Sarah. 'Ready for some more one on one time?'

Gag.

'Yeah.' She smiles. 'Mum even made some more brownies for us.'

'What?' I almost hiss.

She has brownies and she wasn't going to give me any?!

'Good morning class.' Mr Ballard boomed forcing everyone to be quiet. 'Let me mark you all in and then you can go study.'

'Great.' I mumble under my breath.

'What was that Miss Daniel's?'

'Nothing.' I lie, slumping in my chair.

It takes the whole of two minutes for Mr Ballard to mark us all in before he shoos us from the room, leaving me to wonder what he's being paid for.

'Come on CC, if we get enough work done today then I don't have to have you wafting your smell through my house.' He remarks.

'I don't smell.' I bite back.

'Not to you, you're used to it. But the rest of us can smell you a mile off.'

He was really starting to get to me with the comments about me smelling of poor people. I didn't know what I had done to him to deserve this sort of treatment but I was getting bored of it real quick. He annoyed me to the point were I just had to say something. Anything to try and get the point across that he was crossing a line with me. I didn't want to spend the next year like this. I couldn't, so I said the only thing I could think to say to him.

'Oh fuck off.' I mumble, not over impressed with what came out.

'What?' He asks, turning to look at me surprised by my profanity.

At least I got some sort of reaction I suppose.

'Let's just get this over with so I don't have to go home with you.' I tell him as I storm off in front, not looking behind me to see if he was following and trust me when I say I would have been happy if he wasn't.