The Eleventh Ward

Chapter 7

When me and Michael walked into dinner, he put his arm around me. And I honestly didn't know how to feel about it. I mean, I know I'd just told this boy part of my biggest secret, and I did have little tiny butterflies in my stomach from where his fingers were just brushing my upper arm; but I don't think I liked him like that. Besides, a relationship in this place was the last thing I could deal with. When we sat down though, he removed his arm and sat in his normal place on the other side of the table. It was too late though, people were looking at me. I started to feel slutty and self conscious until I realised, they weren't staring because Michael had his arm round me, they were staring because my hair was fucking blue. For once it wasn't because of who I was or what I'd done, it was because I was finally something special to look at. Erin was back from The Sponge, and when she first saw my hair, she smiled. Until she realised it was me, and her smiled fell away and her eyes moved back down to pushing her food round the plate as if copying Lacey.

"Nice hair cocktail." said Calum, taking a bite of his food.

"Better than yours," I joked back and he shot me a smile.

"I can't believe you actually did it" Lacey picked up a strand of hair and studied it for a second before letting it drop back down my shoulder.

"I'm not a pussy"

"Well we know that now" she laughed and the group followed.

"Lea likes it." I froze and heard my fork drop onto the floor. My heart started beating at a hundred times an hour and the blood ran from my face.

"What?" whispered Luke, looking up at Grace. Everyone on the table had turned their attention towards her, who was casually eating her dinner.

"I said: Lea likes it."

"Who the fuck is Lea?" asked Lacey.

"The new girl. She's sitting right there-" Grace stopped. Her finger had risen to point at an empty place beside Erin, but she sat frozen when she realised that no one else could see her. "Fuck fuck fuck" whispered Grace, putting her head in her hands. She began pulling her hair out and the others immediately started trying to calm her down.

"What does she look like?" I said over the hushed voices trying to coax her into calm. I know it was really inconsiderate and I probably sounded like a total bitch, but there was no way Grace could actually see Lea. It was impossible. The others were looking at me, a mix of shock and disgust on their faces, but I really didn't care.

"She's... Um.. she's got sort of red-brown hair. And she's kind of short, and she's got black glasses and she's wearing a white crop top and a black skirt and...and" Grace began to start crying, and the others started trying to quiet her again, but I was already walking out of the cafeteria, leaving my tray abandoned on the table.

Again I couldn't sleep, and when Lacey walked in several minutes after lights out, she sat down on her bed and faced me.

"Who is Lea." She wasn't asking a question, she was demanding to know. But I couldn't tell her, not yet.

"I don't know." I whispered through my pillow.

"Fucking liar" she spat and crawled into bed.

I didn't want to leave my bed the next day, and I nearly didn't. It reached 12:30 when I heard a knock at my door. Lacey had fucked off early to meet everyone before breakfast, so I'd been alone in my room all morning.

"What do you want?" I sighed, turning over in the bed to face the door. It opened, and Ashton walked towards me, shutting the door behind him.

"I want you to come and eat something" I groaned and pulled the cover over my head.