You Are So Not a Fallen Angel

Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

“What the hell, Lorris?” I yelled as Cole rolled about on the ground, clutching his eye.

“He was threatening you!” Lorris yelled back.

“No, he was not!” I shrieked.

“I think he broke my bloody nose!” Cole’s voice joined the fray.

“Don’t be a baby,” I snapped, before rounding on Lorris again. “What exactly did you think you were doing?”

“Protecting you!” He said, as if this obvious.

“From what?” I demanded. “Cole? He barely touched me!”

“He grabbed you! What was I supposed to think?”

“He did not grab me! And why are you even here, anyway?”

“What?”

“I think I was clear enough in my intentions to talk to Cole alone,” I said slowly. “Why were you hanging about waiting to punch him?”

“I wasn’t –“ he broke off. “I wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to hurt you again.”

“He just wanted to talk!”

“And last night, I suppose he just wanted to talk, did he?” Lorris sneered.

“Hey, are you talking about me?” Cole piped up again.

“Mind your own business,” I hissed, unsure whether I was talking to him or to Lorris. I grabbed Cole by the arm and hauled him to his feet.

I pulled him through the gap in the hedge and came face to face with my mother, with a face like thunder, flanked by my aunt, my uncle and Flora.

“What have you been doing in here?” Mum hissed.

“Just talking with some friends,” I said.

“Do you realise everyone could hear you shrieking like a fishwife? And what happened to him?” her eyes fell on Cole, still clutching his eye.

“He ran into a branch,” I said, glad for the distraction. “I was taking him to get some ice.”

“He did what?” she exclaimed.

“Mum, he’s bleeding. Can we talk about this later?” I pulled Cole past her before she had had time to reply and lead him into the house. Once in the kitchen, I busied myself with filling a bag with ice and searching the utilities room for cotton wool and disinfectant.

“Your friend is a maniac,” Cole spat as he pressed the bag to his eye.

“Shut it, Cole,” I snapped, filling a glass with water and downing it in one go, wishing it was something stronger.

“What’s his problem, anyway? I barely touched you.”

“Maybe it looked like something else,” I suggested. “Or maybe he’s just as much an ass as you are. I don’t know.” I peered out of the kitchen window. The party seemed to be back to normal, the crowd milling about on the lawn as if nothing had happened. My mother was standing by the pool, chatting with one of the guests.

I dumped the bottle of iodine on the table and told Cole to mop himself up, and hurried out of the kitchen. The excuse of plying Cole with first aid would only buy me so much time. My mother never let anything slide. She would be back, looking for answers soon. She was a lawyer, after all.

I slipped out of the back door and stole through the back garden and around the corner of the house. I slipped through the hole in hedge surrounding the gas tank.