You Made Me Fall, But That's Okay

Chapter Twenty-Four - Shopping Requires Escorts

Daniel wouldn’t talk to me all day, although I tried multiple times. It was starting to get really upsetting. Hopefully he’d cop on soon … Even the teachers were noticing our lack of communication. Rebecca seemed to be enjoying all of the extra attention that she was getting. Even if Dan glanced over at me, she’d do her best to distract him. I wasn’t jealous, just majorly pissed off. I had never really gotten jealous of any of Dan’s girlfriends – and, believe me, he had plenty. I didn’t get jealous of them because we were best friends. I thought of him as a brother, and it was a pity he didn’t think of me as a sister. Ryan tried to assure me again and again that everything was going to be okay.

But, although Dan now was using Rebecca to try make me jealous … he didn’t even look happy. I needed to get him to talk to me, and then my conscience would be cleared … He didn’t even seem to smile anymore, which was definitely not like him at all. He sat as far away as possible from me at lunchtime, and even my friends were talking about how different he was being. Gabriella continued again and again that Rebecca wasn’t the right girl for him. In her anger, she even tripped Rebecca up in the corridors – by ‘accident’, of course.

I spent my whole day worrying. I was constantly thinking about Sinead, wondering if she was still alive … I couldn’t even tell Gabby about that problem because it meant telling her all about the gangs. I trusted her a lot, but I wasn’t sure about how she’d take it. The school would probably kick Ryan out if they found out about it … And that meant that James would get into serious trouble with his dad, Mr Pollard, the school principle.

I was so relieved when Ryan drove me home from school. It was a pure waste of time worrying about Sinead while I was in school, because she was actually safe, and Travis wasn’t even there. Sinead was lying on the couch, flicking through the channels on the TV. As soon as we walked in, she gave us a big, broad smile. ‘Last night was absolutely amazing!’ she cried before we could even say hello. ‘Oh, Laura, it’s time for some major girlie talk!’

Ryan waved his hands up in the air, pretending to be excited. ‘Oh my gosh, are you serious? I can’t wait, girls!’ he said in an extremely high-pitched voice, trying to be as girly as possible. ‘Actually, I’m really hungry. I’ll just go and make a sandwich … You two have your girlie talk, and call me in when you’re finished …’ Ryan told us, returning to his normal voice and going into the kitchen.

‘So, how was it?’ I smiled, taking off my jacket and sitting down beside her.

‘One of the best dates I’ve had in a long, long time. We didn’t even do much, but we just get on really well. He’s so sweet … and funny. He was joking about how the colour of my cast matches the colour of my eyes.’ Sinead laughed as though it was one of the funniest jokes in the world. ‘I didn’t even think someone would go on a date with me with this stupid thing on my arm. Anyway, we’re going out tomorrow night again. Oh, and when I told James about Travis he was completely cool about it. How crazy is that? He’s like the best dude in the world … I love him!’

‘Already?’ I said, raising an eyebrow. ‘You don’t really love love him, do you?’

She nodded her head, a big goofy smile on her face. ‘Oh, yeah, I do.’

‘Sinead, are you still drunk?’ I chuckled, raising an eyebrow. Well, I couldn’t say much. I was the one who just fell in love with a gangster in less than a week … It sounded crazy when I thought about it, completely not like me. I didn’t care, though. Ryan was now the reason why life felt so great for me.

She frowned. ‘Nope. Well, I don’t think so … Actually, I didn’t even drink much last night – that’s how entertaining he was. James doesn’t drink alcohol at all … He’s completely different from Trav, anyway. I remember our first dates – I got drunk just so I didn’t have to notice how boring he really was.’