Stupid First Impressions

Stupid First Impressions - Part 18

Chapter 18

I called Louise. I mean, it’s not like I had a huge circle of friends and she was definitely my closest and I just had to tell someone! It was ridiculous that someone (Gemma, I was sure) could be bothered to make up rumours about me when I wasn’t doing anything. We’d kind of relaxed into an uneasy truce – although I guess this meant that the claws were back out.

Louise was suitably outraged and sympathetic, raging about how much of a little witch (my words, not hers) Gemma was. “I mean,” she said, “who does she think she is? Ooh, if she comes anywhere near me…” and so on. We picked the rumour apart, and I relaxed even more. Louise was on my side. And I could be myself with her, more than with Gemma or Luke. Speaking of…

“Can you believe Luke just…believed that? I mean, I know I haven’t exactly talked to him lately but, come on! At least I set him straight.”

Louise agreed and then said something about the time – it was late – and we hung up. I stretched and uncurled myself from the comfortable little ball I was in, setting the phone aside. My mum knocked on my door, pushing it open and smiling.

“Was that Gemma sweetie?” she asked, coming to sit on my bed with me. I shook my head, letting a short bark of laughter escape. “Oh. Is…everything ok between you two? You used to be so…close. And I haven’t seen Luke around lately either, is everything…ok?”

“Where do I start?” I joked, trying – and failing I imagine – not to let on how uncomfortable this was. “I don’t really hang out with them anymore,” I shrugged after an awkward pause, looking away. “It’s not a huge deal, we kind of had a fight at the beginning of the year.”

“Oh, but you were so close,” Mum insisted, looking forlorn. “Is there anything I can do sweetheart? I thought you’d been down lately…”

“Oh, no, that’s one of my other friends I fell out with. He’s…complicated I guess. But anyway, Louise has been really cool and she helps me with my schoolwork.”

“I noticed you’ve been doing a lot of homework lately. I’m really proud of you sweetheart, you’re getting so grown up! You’re going to be such a good big sister.”

I smiled and then made a big show of yawning and looking sleepy. Mum took the hint and left me alone, thinking about everything she didn’t know about my life anymore. Which was totally my fault – we weren’t super close before but I had kind of cut them out of my life when all this with Gemma and Luke went down.

I gave a mental shrug and put it out of my mind, plugging my headphones in and pulling some more homework out.

*           *           *

Monday appeared, cold and raining. I pulled on my warmest clothes – a thick tee and jeans without any holes in them – and jerked on my raincoat too. I left the house feeling downtrodden and gloomy, finally worrying about what everyone at school would be saying. I was so caught up in thinking how unfair it was that I didn’t notice that Geoffrey was waiting for me at the bottom of the drive. I pulled up short, squinting suspiciously at him. He had an umbrella up, looking tentative.

“Hey,” he said, smiling. “I, uh, thought you’d like some company. And an umbrella,” he added hastily when I raised my eyebrows. “And I kind of wanted to talk to you.”

“Well, there are worse ways to start a conversation,” I admitted stepping underneath the umbrella with him. It was cosy, our faces inches apart, which made me blush. “We should probably get going though; I really don’t want to be late.”

We started walking, our shoulders bumping every other step. Despite his apparent desire to talk to me, we barely said a word to each other, the rain making heavy sounds on the umbrella. Every now and again, Geoffrey would make a sound like he was going to say something but then he stopped himself and the silence lengthened. As the school loomed in front of us, I slowed down, wondering if he was actually going to tell me whatever was bugging him.