Unlikely friends

Chapter 1

There's nothing worse than the sound of an alarm clock in the morning when you're having a really good dream. Heck, there's nothing worse than the sound of an alarm clock full stop. It's not every night a girl gets the golden ticket into Willy Wonker's Chocolate Factory. I groaned and pulled the duvet over my face, I so was not ready to get up.
"Are you gunna turn that fucking thing off or what, Ola?" Shit. I forgot I was sleeping next to Matty. It's hard sometimes. It's hard not having your parents to fall back on when times get tough; remembering that you're not in your own bed, that mum's not over the stove making porridge, dad's not reading the morning paper and Bentley (our dog) is not sitting by mums side, giving those puppy dog eyes I could never resit, in hopes of getting some leftovers. I loved Matty, don't get me wrong. He did so much for me and took me in when I had nothing. I mean I still love him, only I don't. It's like –
"Ola, for fuck sake!" Matty snarled as he jerked his elbow into my ribs. I grunted, quickly rolling over and slamming my hand down on the off button. Matty rolled over and pulled the covers over our heads, his hand wrapping around my waist and pulling me closer. He didn't say anything but slid his hands down, tugging at my bottoms.
"Matty, no. We need to get up." He ignored me and jerked my bottoms down aggressively, muttering something that sounded like his usual response of 'shut the fuck up.' I winced as he grabbed my thighs and pulled them apart, putting pressure on old bruises. He didn't even bother with foreplay and he always woke up hard anyway. I tried to tell him no again but he grabbed my hands and held them above my head. I closed my eyes and waited for him to stop. Hot tears escaping slowly down my cheeks.
"Have I told you recently how much I love you, baby? He bit my shoulder playfully and then kissed me hard before rolling back over and clambering out of bed. I lay there for a minute, staring at the ceiling, wondering if I'd ever see the Matty I fell in love with again. He used to be different. So sweet and caring, but since we moved into this shitty flat together, nothing's been the same.

I stood under the hot water and I cried. Like I did every morning. I stood there and thought about home. I wondered what they were doing right now. Did they miss me? Matty's fists pounded against the door, interrupting my thoughts and making me jump.
"Ola, what the hell are you doing in there? I know you're not Jilling off because I just saw to you, your hair takes forever to dry, hurry the fuck up!" Jilling off. That used to be our private joke. You know, a guy will 'Jack off' but we didn't know the appropriate term for the female equivalent so we called it 'Jilling off.'
"Okay, sorry I'm finished now." I muttered as I heard him stomp away. I wrapped my hair in a towel and swiped my hand across the mirror. I looked drained, like seriously exhausted. The circles under my eyes were kind of ironic, like a permanent dark cloud in my life that I try to cover-up from everyone else. My neck was covered in love-bites too. I'd told Matty before that I think they're trashy but he likes them, he says it's a territorial thing to keep other guys away. Some dumb shit that is.

As we pulled up in the college car park, Matty looked at me, his dark green eyes glittering with excitement. He placed his hand on my thigh and squeezed tenderly, but I grimaced as he pressed against the bruises again. He winced and looked at me apologetically and slid his hand further down.
"I have a surprise for you." He grinned. I loved it when he smiled, he looked all cute and boyish.
"You do? What is it?" I watched intently as he undid his seatbelt and opened the door. I frowned in confusion as he shut it behind him. My door suddenly opened and I had to grasp the dash to stop myself from falling as I had been leaning against the door for support.
"Steady." He chuckled as he held me still. I turned around and he leant over to undo my seatbelt before taking my hand and helping me out of the car. Out the corner of my eye I could see his football friends hollering from the other side of the car park but he kept his eyes on me.
"Don't freak out." He gave me a worried look as he rustled in his pocket.
"Matty, how am I supposed to do that when you say –" I stopped mid-sentence as he got down on one knee. Holy shit. Matty held a box open infront of me with the most beautiful ring I had ever seen in my life, nestled inside the plush, blue cushion. The silver band was dainty and thin, but in the middle was the most gorgeous, diamond incrusted, delicate rose.
"Matty!" It came out as barely a whisper.
"Ola Marie Swann, will you –"
"Yes! Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! Of course I will!" He pushed the ring on my finger and I pulled him up, hugging him as tight as I could. He smelt so good as I breathed him in. In that moment, I'd never been so happy.
"I love you, Ola."
"I love you too." And I did.
"Holy shit man! High five! Wait, she said yeah, right?" Jarrod, Matty's best friend hung his hand mid-air, looking suddenly very awkward.
"Yeah, she said yeah." Matty grasped my hand and held it up to show the increasing number of people that surrounded us. I heard a couple of girls gasp as they placed their hands over their hearts, whilst other girls muttered 'bitch' under their breath. Matty suddenly realised he'd left Jarrod hanging and quickly fist bumped his shoulder and winked. I glanced down at my hand in awe of my own ring. I don't know how he managed to afford such a beautiful ring, but I wasn't about to ask.

My happiness wore off by lunch time. The thing with Matty is that ninety percent of the time, he's this aggressive, narcissistic prick that I hate so much and then every time I start to gather my courage to leave him, (although I don't know where I'd go, it's not like I have any friends), he changes. It's like he can sense it and he changes right back into the adorable, caring, sweet boy that I love so much and then it makes me doubt why I ever even thought about leaving in the first place. The one person that saved me from the darkest part of my life.

I sat at the lunch table and watched the people that I sat with. I watched Matty. He was so charismatic, everybody loved him. Nobody ever noticed me and I think that was the point. Whenever I spoke up, or if I laughed – especially if it was in response to a guy, Matty would twist his heel against the top of my foot. I learnt pretty quickly that it was best to drown everybody out.
As I sat there in the cafeteria, observing everybody around me, I noticed a girl enter the room holding her lunch tray. I noticed her, because she was new. Definitely new, I would have remembered somebody as distinct as she was. Her dark hair was cut short and boyish, longer on the top and styled in a way that was messy, but like, a deliberate messy that looked good. Her jawline was strong and she had a perfectly straight nose, big round chocolate eyes and plump lips, with the smoothest, vanilla latte complexion. She was beautiful, that's for sure. She walked with confidence, dressed in a grey ACDC vest, black leggings and black Doc Martens with a red tartan shirt wrapped around her small waist. I couldn't make out distinctly what her tattoos were, but her arms were covered in them. I noticed that the majority of the room had come to focus on her, watching her in awe. I'd never seen someone so beautiful. She met my eyes almost immediately and I suddenly felt very awkward. I quickly looked down and felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. I risked another glance to see if I'd gotten away with staring at her, only to see her smirk in amusement as she walked over to an empty table next to my group and pull a chair out to sit on. Fantastic.

"Yo, who's the new chick?" Hollered Jason, who sat opposite me, his eyeballs practically bulging out his sockets. I stifled a laugh.
"I heard her name's Tori. Apparently, she's just moved to England from the Philippines of some shit like that." Chimed Gabby, Jason's girlfriend.
"The Philippines? She is definitely not Filipino, no offence or anything, Gab." Matty snorted, Gabby just shrugged.
"Pick a country, it don't matter does it? She still moved to England, who cares where from? It's all the same." I rolled my eyes. God, she could be so dense.
I glanced over at the new girl, Tori – if that even was her name. Knowing Gabby, it probably wasn't. Tori had somehow managed to finish her lunch in between the group discussion and was now sat texting on her phone. I admired her already, she had a presence, and it was confident, yet not the arrogant kind of confident. I don't think I've' ever carried myself like that. She glanced up at me, as if she could sense my eyes on her and she winked. I looked away.
"Who did she just wink at? Was that to you, Ola?" I looked up at Matty and shrugged.
"Fucking dyke. Well that ruins that fantasy." Groaned Jarrod.
"Hey, she's probably just being friendly, man. You could still have a chance." Jason winked and elbowed Jarrod in his side to which Jarrod just grunted and glared back to where Tori was sitting. Jason's elbow to Jarrod's ribs made me remember that Matty had done the same to me this morning. I placed my hand on my side, it had definitely bruised.
"You okay?" Matty whispered, nuzzling into my hair. I don't know why, but as he did, I found myself looking over to Tori. She slumped back in her chair, her smirk was gone but she watched us intently, almost as if she was analysing us.
"Babe?" I snapped out of my thoughts and nodded quickly, brushing him off.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired that's all. You know, with the alarm clock waking me up mid-dream and all." I smiled up at him reassuringly but he seemed unsure. He didn't push further though, and I was grateful.