Love Triangle

Chapter 2

Jade's POV

Leigh's grip on my neck was so tight that visible bruises remained imprinted on my skin. Jesy had witnessed the whole thing, so when she called to check up on me that night and I tried to tell her I was fine, she knew I wasn't. I told her about the bruises and she wouldn't stop apologising, like it was her fault. She felt guilty because she couldn't stop Leigh from hurting me, but I never blamed her for that. Leigh's 'squad' made sure Jesy couldn't get to me. They held her back.

The next day, I wore a scarf around my neck to hide the bruises. I knew that if anyone were to see them, the school would call my mam and I just didn't want her to know I was being bullied again, although this time it wasn't just name calling, it was physical. She'd get the police involved if she knew I was getting hurt, and god knows what Leigh would do to me if I made the police knock on her door.

"Jess, I'm fine. Honestly," I said, adjusting the scarf again. "She's not worth it, I just ignore her."

"When she's hurting you like this, you can't ignore it Jade! You need to tell someone. You're a fool if you keep quiet about this," Jesy sneered with a grimace, blatantly directed at Leigh-Anne, plastered on her face.

"Involving the school will only make Leigh hate me more. It'll make her worse. All I've got to do is keep the relationship between Perrie and me strictly academic, and she won't have a reason to hurt me again. That'll be easy. Perrie is popular, so I'm 99.99999% sure she isn't going to want to be friends with someone like me."

***

English was my last period of the day, and Mr. Lambert asked us to sit in our project pairs. Perrie approached me and smiled awkwardly before taking a seat.

"Okay class. For this project, you will need to write a three thousand word essay and create an informative slideshow on a famous British celebrity. This person can be a singer, a writer, an actor, whatever you'd like, but they have to be British. You have around 12 weeks to work on this project, and I want you to make it your best piece of work in this class yet," Mr Lambert explained. "I will be marking you on your writing style, grammar, and how you present your final piece to me at the end of this project."

"I think we should do ours on Charles Dickens. He's my favourite author," Perrie spoke up pretty quickly after Mr. Lambert had dismissed us to begin our work.

"You read?" I questioned.

"Of course I do. Why would you think I don't?" Perrie inquired.

"I don't know, aren't popular girls usually too busy out with their friends or getting their hair done?" I shrugged, and Perrie laughed.

"Okay, that was extremely stereotypical, and I'm not Leigh-Anne. If Leigh-Anne got her way all the time, I'd be too busy getting my hair done to read, but no. Reading is one of my favourite things to do." Perrie looked at me and smiled.

"It's mine too. Dickens is also my favourite author" I mumbled, returning a shy smile to the blonde girl.

"Really? What's your favourite book?" Perrie asked, getting a pen out of her bag.

"It's cliché, but I think Great Expectations. It's so beautifully written. I've probably read it 20 times," I said, watching as Perrie's pen moved across the paper so elegantly.

"Mine's cliché too. I love Oliver Twist," Perrie responded. "The book beats the movie."

"Absolutely! The book is always better than the movie though, in any circumstance. The movie never includes the small details like a book does." I smiled again. Perrie wasn't who I thought she was, she wasn't like Leigh-Anne at all. For one, she was friendly, and she wasn't the stereotypical popular girl that I imagined her to be. It was getting close to the end of class, and Perrie and had I spent the most part of it talking about Dickens' books.

"If you're free, maybe at the weekend we could compare books? I have a huge collection at home, and maybe we could trade?" Perrie asked. Instantly, my head flashed back to what Leigh-Anne had said to me yesterday.

"Touch my girl, or even look at my girl the wrong way, I'll end you."

I could not get friendly with Perrie. As badly as I wanted to, I was commanded and forced to keep our relationship strictly academic and nothing more. I was afraid of Leigh-Anne. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I was. She scared me, especially after yesterday.

"I um, I actually have to babysit my nephew this weekend. Possibly some other time?" I lied. My eyes wandered to the other side of the classroom to where Leigh-Anne was sitting with her project partner. Leigh looked up from her paper, and screwed her face up angrily at me. I quickly dropped my head and avoided eye contact with her.

"Okay, here's my number. Text me when you're free and we can maybe meet up to discuss books? I really want to see what other authors you're interested in" Perrie said, handing me a piece of paper with her phone number on it. I smiled awkwardly and put the paper in my bag, just as the bell for the end of school rang. Everyone quickly packed away their things and left the classroom, and I met up with Jesy outside.

"So, how's working with Mr. Loverboy?" I winked as Jake waved to Jesy as he left the classroom" her cheeks blushed as red as a tomato.

"It's okay, nothing special," Jesy lied through her teeth, and I rolled my eyes at her. "How's Perrie?"

"She's actually okay, nothing like I expected. She reads the same authors I do, so we spent most of the class talking about books, and it wasn't bad at all" I explained to my best friend as we walked to the school bus. "She invited me to her house..."

"What? When? Why?" Jesy asked.

"She wanted to do some book trading. I really wasn't expecting her to ask me that. She's popular and I'm well... I'm Jade. I know we connected on the whole book thing but why would she want me in her house?" I shrugged as Jesy and I got on the bus. As I approached a vacant seat, I saw Perrie and Leigh-Anne sitting at the very back, Leigh's face was buried in Perrie's neck and Perrie was giggling loudly. The blonde girl looked up at me and smiled.

"Hey Jade," she said, pushing Leigh-Anne away from her neck. Leigh looked up at me, and back at her girlfriend. I smiled with no emotion back at Perrie before taking my seat.

"Well, that was cold. She said hey to you" Jesy said, taking the seat next to me.

"Strictly academic, Jess. I value my life, and even with a hey, Leigh will think we're becoming too friendly and she'll probably strangle me again, or worse this time. I think living is much more important than becoming friends with Perrie," I whispered before adjusting the scarf around my neck and sinking into the seat of the bus.