Leaving London

Chapter Twenty Nine

"What the hell were you two thinking?" Jake glowers. I've just arrived home and he's already followed me to the garage (where I deposited my surf board) and trailed after me to my room, anger brewing on his face.
"It's not what you think-"
"-It's exactly what I think. Disgusting."
"But you don't even know what happened." I scowl.
"I don't need to." He seethes in reply.
"Well, you should hear my version first."
"I don't need to hear anymore. Jeez, I could kill him."
"He's your friend though-"
"-Exactly! One who had a girlfriend only a few weeks ago!"
"You're impossible."
"You're the one who's impossible to understand. I don't get it!" He's raised his voice now, the words spilling in an angry manner. The space between us feels like shattered glass; fragile yet dangerous. I want to tell him that what happened was an advance on Olli's behalf, that I was just as shocked as he is now, but I don't want to make him even more annoyed at Olli. Then again, maybe it's for the best that I tell him the truth.
"He advanced, not me. I'd shown several times I wasn't interested."
"So he's the one who's done this?" Jake demands, eyes narrowing.
"Yeah...I didn't feel well at the party and he came to find me upstairs." I admit, chewing on the inside of my lip.
"Right." Jake's eyes furrow even further, deep in thought.
"Is this interrogation over?" I sigh, raking a hand through my salt-stained hair. What I need right now is a bubbly, hot bath and sleep. But I've still got homework and dinner to get through yet.

Tea mainly consists of me pushing broccoli and fish around my plate before finally giving up after consuming only a few mouthfuls. My homework doesn't go much better. I scrawl my way through chemical formulas and experiment analysis' until my hand goes numb. I can guarantee I'll just get a hazy red line through half of my answers when I turn the pages in, but it's the effort that counts, right?

I climb into bed that night with a heavy heart. My lungs wheeze out air in a compressed sigh as I roll over onto my front. I toss and turn and attempt to rest until a small nimbus appears around my curtains and daylight has announced itself. I finally fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion, and three hours later I awake, grouchy and completely not ready for school.

∞

School passes in a blur. My eyes ache and I arrive to every lesson like a flesh-eating zombie - I'm so tired I barely even feel human. The taunting still hasn't ended, and the numerous filthy stares I get keep me awake, alright. The bruising down my body where Mia thrashed me with her lacrosse stick has turned a vibrant shade of green-blue, and for once I'm actually glad I have to wear a thick uniform to conceal it.
Lunchtime arrives in a blink, and fifteen minutes towards the end I leave Lara chatting with Eva and Lillie to quickly go to sort out my locker - I have a ton of folders to deposit, and I haven't yet had a chance to get into my new locker. The corridors are streaked with younger kids snaffling chocolate or kicking footballs towards outside. I'm just ramming my purple biology binder next to my history books when a pattering of footsteps stops right behind me. I roll my eyes, preparing to turn around. It's probably Lara coming to ask me if I've got any spare money so she can go back to the canteen and purchase an ice lolly - the sun is still beating down at this time of the year and earlier she'd been complaining how hot she was.

"I think you should be staying away from Olli." A snide voice sounds from behind. Okay, so it's definitely not Lara. I snap shut my locker to find Paige towering behind me on top of her clompy heeled boots.
"What are you talking about?" I ask, wary that most of the younger kids have filtered out into the sunshine, leaving me and Paige practically alone.
Her blonde curls bob impatiently as she cocks her head to the side, "You know exactly what I mean, Fearne." She spits my name with disgust, as if she's talking about the wilted, green plant, and not the original girls name my parents granted me with.
"I really don't. Care to enlighten me?" I pick carelessly at my nail beds, although my heart is thumping under my shirt. Goosebumps trickle down my arm. For the second time, I find myself appreciating my uniform.
"I saw you last night, whilst I was going for a run. Looked like you'd been together on the beach." She pulls her lips back into an awful grin, her raspberry-tinted lipstick stretching tight across her lips.
"We hadn't. He saw me and came to help me off the rocks, because I got stuck." I blurt out. Even though I'd been trying to stay away from him, it always comes back to this. People making assumptions.
"Whatever. I know what I saw. Doesn't change the fact you fancy him," She curses, and furrows her perfectly shaped eyebrows, "Even though you know Mia was with him, and that he's out of your league. Pfft, he's, like, six leagues above...you." Her eyes rake over me, making me feel like I'm some sort of pond life sample being held under a microscope. Her snorts make me wind my arms self-consciously around myself, but I calm down with deep breaths so that my tears don't bubble over onto my cheeks.
"Why are you even here? Don't you have someplace else to be?" I ask tartly. I'm getting rather fed up with this bombardment of fierce hatred being propelled towards me, especially from Mia and her friends.
"Because it's awful what you've done to Mia, haven't you even heard of the rule that friends' ex boyfriends are completely off limits? And it's obvious she still likes him, but you ruined that." Paige gets a look across her face as if she's just read the blurb of a dramatic romantic novel.
"I'm sorry, Paige, for whatever I've done to offend you, but I just want this whole thing to end." I sigh, changing my tactic. I'm too tired to deal with her badgering me into an argument, I'd prefer to take the easy route out.
"You offend me by being here!" She bursts out suddenly, "Getting all this attention over nothing! If it wasn't for Mia, you'd be nothing! Even now she's handing you attention on a plate." I really don't think Paige understands. Sure, attention is fine in small doses, but all this negative energy being thrown at me? Thanks to Mia exaggerating every single speck of the story, half the school is on my case! If Paige wants her name in the limelight, her reputation plastered all over the corridor gossip, then fine. I've had more whispering in my wake than I can count. I'm about to reply, and tell Paige firmly that if she's so bothered, why she doesn't just use her social status to remind everybody it's nothing to fuss over...when a collection of shouting and yelling from outside draws both of our pairs of eyes to the double doors. The windows in the doors are thick glazed, yellowed, and rimmed with grime, so it's hard to make out who exactly is involved in the commotion. All we can see are two figures having an almost stand-off: flinging their arms about and raising their voices and tempers until the first hit is thrown.
"Who is that?" Paige queries as she squints through her opal orbs, "It almost looks like-"
"-I've heard the rumours about what you did with her!"
"It's all a lie! I swear, all that happened was-"
"-Come back here, we aren't finished!"
"I'm going inside!"
A clutter of yelping and loud, huffy statements bounce into the empty hallway, leaving my eyes to glaze over. Olli tumbles through the doors, followed by Jake, who yanks onto his shoulder and sends Olli crashing into the lockers at the end of the corridor. Paige gasps, and in response I drop my planner, where it lands on my foot, making it throb painfully. But I don't even notice. I can only watch with a growing sickness in my stomach as Olli crumbles to the floor in a muddled heap, before springing back up and landing a feeble, yet conclusive whack to Jake's jaw. My legs feel wobbly and liquified, as if I've just melted them, but Paige finally nudges my ankle with her designer shoe.
"Do you think we should stop them?" This sends the pumping adrenalin through my body, and links up my brain to my legs. Run! Go and stop them!
I leave my planner sprawled over the linoleum floor and sprint off down the corridor, my shoes slapping loudly on the ground.
"JAKE! Stop!" I wheeze, but it looks like most of the damage is already done, because Jake has just landed a square punch right on Olli's chin, and keeps slamming him into the lockers. They both ignore my calls, their attention obviously completely engulfed by furious anger.
"Stop it! Leave him alone!" I scream, not caring anymore that a small crowd has filtered through the doors and is standing agast. I send a shove into Jake's shoulders, attempting to get him to back off, but he doesn't pay attention.
"You lied to me!" Jake is snarling, with a grip on Olli's neck.
"You've got it wrong! Just listen to my side of things-"
"-NO! You've done this, Olli, not my sister!" He spits ferociously. I've never seen Jake this infuriated. He's going to be in so much trouble. I finally reach Jake and throw myself between the two of them, yelling 'Stop!', and pulling Jake off of Olli, and stopping Olli from wrestling Jake into the lockers. The two of them are panting, heaving for breath even, and the sleeve of Olli's shirt is half ripped and dangling by a few threads.
"Just stop, it's over now." I plead, as Jake finally lowers his fist.
"I did this for you." Jake mutters, feeling the side of his swollen jaw. I whip around to Olli, scanning over his wounds, seeing a split lip and...
"Everyone. The bell has just rung, return to your form rooms." A booming voice slices through the tension in the air. A chill runs through my veins as if ice had just been injected into my system. The corridor of students sighs simultaneously, as if their fun was just spoiled. Fights here must be classed as something more entertaining than going to the carnival; that's how disappointed everyone looks.
"Everyone apart from you three. Report to the Head's office, immediately." Mr Thompson must want to see me strung up in a butcher's shop by now. After two days. This is probably the worst situation I could possibly come up with - me stood in the middle of a huge fight, from a distance it must look like I was heavily involved. All three of us scrape our feet in shame towards the Head's office, with Jake and Olli still shooting daggers at each other.