Between The Lines

Chapter 5

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He wasn’t at the bike sheds.  That’s all I could think of as I waited in the queue for the canteen, half-listening to Kaitlin telling me the story of how she tripped over in Chemistry.  He wasn’t at the bike sheds.  There was no sign that he’d been there at all today.  I knew he was in school.  After all, it wasn’t particularly hard to spot him in the hallways; he towered over everyone.

“It was so embarrassing, you wouldn’t even believe it,” Kaitlin emphasised, smacking a hand to her forehead dramatically.

I laughed, hoping I didn’t seem too distracted.  “Sounds it,” I commented, quickly scouring my brain to find a new topic to talk about that I’d be able to concentrate on.

Fortunately, Kaitlin beat me to it.  “Oh!  Oh my God!” she squealed as though she’d found a twenty pound note on the floor.

I waited for her to continue, widening my eyes to show I was listening, but she had to pause – much to her disdain, I presumed by her irritated expression – to place her order, a pasta pot and orange juice.  I quickly asked for the same.

She grinned at me evilly.  “Have you heard about the new horror film in the cinema?  Pre… par…-”

“Pastimes?” I suggested, recalling hearing a few kids in my biology class talking about it.

“Yeah, that’s the one, Pastimes, starring Johnny Depp!  I’ve heard it’s meant to be really good.  Olivia told me about it in English.  She saw it with her boyfriend and apparently she spilled her popcorn all over him she was so scared.”  She grinned excitedly and there was a glint in the corner of her eye I recognised all too well.  “I was thinking of seeing it on Saturday night, if you want to come?”

I couldn’t help but return her grin, marvelling at the way her whole face lit up as she talked.  “Sure,” I answered quickly.  “I’m sure my dad won’t mind.”

An inhumane squeal pierced the air and I barely had time to cringe as she threw two skinny arms around my neck.  “Thank you!”  I noticed the dinner lady looking on impatiently as Kaitlin pulled back, still smiling widely.  “I’ll book it for six o’clock, the usual place, okay?”

“’Kay.  Sounds great-”

“That’ll be one pound fifty, please,” the dinner lady interrupted rather sharply.

Kaitlin’s nose wrinkled imperceptibly as she noticed the wrinkled hand the lady had shoved in front of her face.  She took ten seconds to fish three round coins out of her pocket and dropped them neatly into the woman’s palm.  “I’ll pay for both of us.”

I walked to English alone and arrived when the class was almost full.  I kept my head down as I walked past the teacher’s desk, quietly apologising for my late arrival, and taking the last seat in one of the centre rows.

“It’s not good to be late to lessons, you know,” a nasally voice greeted me snidely.

I gritted my teeth together, breathing in deeply before I thought I was controlled enough to look Walter Johnson in the eye without wanting to rip out his spiky ginger hair- or staple his large ears- or smash in his upturned nose.  I regretted looking.  As usual, he was wearing that I-know-better-than-you half smirk that I’ve been dying to scrape from his plump lips for the past three years.