Unlikely friends

Chapter 2

13:15 pm, and lunch was over. Patiently, I sat behind my desk waiting for Mr Hutchinson to turn up - obviously late for his History class. He should have been here fifteen minutes ago. I stared down at my hands, my eyes setting on my engagement ring, and I found myself lost in my usual pattern of thought. My family, and Matty. My heart ached for my family and I wished more than anything that I could knock on their door and show them how much I had changed. Only I know they would only slam the door in my face, because I had told them that so many times. They didn't even know I was with Matty and we'd been together almost three years now.
The classroom door swung open but I didn't bother looking up. It usually took exactly seven minutes from entering, for Mr Hutchinson to get his shit together. I set the timer on my watch, I had nothing better to do.

"Okay Class, settle down and take your seats please. I have an announcement to make and it needs to be done in three minutes, tops." Right on cue, my watched bleeped. Seven minutes exactly.
"So some of you may have seen a new girl floating around the college today, or maybe you've already had a class with her-"
"Yeah, she's fit as fuck!" Yelled some asshole called Drake at the front of the class. Drake was the history class clown, every class has one. I hated him, everything about his little mousy face got on my tits. He's one of those guys that thinks they're the 'dogs bollocks', so to say, but he's really not. I mean come on, who still wears crocs?
"Mr Dawson, if you'd be so kind as to keep your profanity out of college hours." Mr Hutchinson gave Drake a disapproving glare from over the top of his glasses.
"As I was saying, there is a new girl in college today and in the next few minutes she will joining us in this class. Her name is Tori Whitmore and she's just moved here from London. If you could all make a special effort to try and be nice, that would be swell." Mr Hutchinson nodded and sat behind his desk where he proceeded to take the class register. Philippines my ass, even if she was right about her name.
Some few minutes later, the door swung open again and Mrs Gonzalez, the head mistress, swanned in with Tori not too far behind. Tori glanced around the room, stopping when she noticed me. The corner of her mouth tilted up and she winked just like earlier. What did that even mean? I looked away and frowned down at the table, pretending I was greatly interested in the scrawls engraved in my desk. Danny 4 Lauren. Jake sucks dick. Mr Hutchinson loves a big fat –
"So Tori, if you could just take a seat next to Ola at the back there. She's the one with – never mind, she's the only one with a spare seat next to her, I'm sure you'll find it." I froze as the seat beside me was pulled backwards and two Doc Martens appeared under the table.
I forced myself to look up at her and smile. She wore that same boyish half-smile that was strangely attractive, as well as seductive – considering I was straight. She plonked herself down next to me and I sat feeling tense for the whole lesson. I don't know why, we didn't even speak, she just sat in her chair, slumped back – one leg bent and one leg kicked out straight.
I'd never been so relieved to have the bell ring signifying the end of class – and I had no idea why. I had free period now so I made my way to the library, it's where I always went. It's not like I had anybody to hang out with, Matty was in class and I'd never made friends when I started this college because I had him, and I was in a tough place so I didn't really want to make any friends.

I paced up and down the bookshelves, looking for something that looked readable, but not so readable that I wouldn't want to put it back. I never take books out because quite frankly, I don't return them. I'm not a thief, just very forgetful.
"If you're looking for a good classic, I'd recommend Of Mice and Men." I jumped at the sound of a low husky voice coming over my left shoulder. I turned to see Tori, she was stood next to me running her finger across the book titles before stopping and tapping her finger on the novel.
"Um, thanks, but I'm really only looking for something short to pass the time, I don't really want anything I'm going to want to read the end of." I forced a smile and pretended to resume my search.
"George kills Lennie. There you go, you don't even have to read the end now, plus it's not all that long neither." Tori winked at me and slid the book from the shelf, holding it out in front of me. I took it from her and muttered my thanks before walking over to a free table.
As I started to sit down she was pulling a chair out opposite me.
"Mind if I sit with you? I'm on free period too and I don't know any other faces." I nodded and opened the book to the first page quickly. Tori didn't say anything for a while and I began to think that she had left. I glanced up slightly, seeing that she was still there by her tattooed hands that rested on the table. I could see that on the tops of her hands were two portraits, one male and one female, definitely older than she was. Maybe in their forties. On the side of her left hand I could see 'mum' was written and I figured the portraits must be of her parents. My heart panged with sadness and I looked away.
"You're broken, aren't you?" I looked up at Tori's big, brown sympathetic eyes that were so warm and caring that I had to blink back the tears that threatened to spill from my own eyes.
"What do you mean?" I rasped.
"Your whole presence screams that you feel lost and isolated, and your eyes are so sad." Her hand reached out to try and touch mine but I automatically flinched backwards. I didn't mean to, but I was so used to avoiding contact with others because of Matty, that I didn't even think about it. She looked down and nodded, tapping her hands against the table before moving them back again.
"Can I ask you something?" I didn't say anything, so she went ahead anyway.
"Your boyfriend." It wasn't a question, she glanced down at my ring.
"Your fiancée. You're scared of him aren't you?" Tori searched my eyes, I could tell she was genuinely concerned about me, not just prying for gossip. I freaked. This was the most social contact I'd had in the three years I had attended BCC.
"You don't know me! And I sure as hell don't know you, so why don't you just back the hell off and mind your own fucking business!" Tori lost her concerned expression and replaced it with her boyish half-smile, shrugging, completely un-phased by my outburst as I pushed back from the table. I turned on my heel, the librarian shushing me as I waltzed passed her. Just as I was walking out, the library security buzzed, reminding me that I was still holding the damn book she handed me. Not cool, so not cool. I turned around, avoiding eye-contact and knowing full well that my face was burning ferociously as I slammed the book on the librarian's desk, trying for the second time to storm out dramatically.

After the incident in the library, the rest of the day felt as though it seriously dragged, so when the final bell rang, I let out the biggest sigh of relief and headed for Matty's car outside. Rain slammed down outside as the clouds clapped, almost like they were mock celebrating mine and Matty's big news. I whispered a not so friendly 'fuck you' as I glared upwards, making a dash to the car with my bag held on top of my head, looking like an utter moron.

Back home, I headed straight to the food cupboard as I always did, and pulled out the pasta jar. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, I flinched and waited to be yelled at.
"You don't have to cook tonight. We're celebrating, I'll call pizza in." Matty wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled into my neck, kissing my cheek affectionately. I wanted to appreciate this side of him, I really did, but I couldn't focus. I forced a smile.
"Thanks, baby." Matty kissed my cheek once more before disappearing to make a phone call, he didn't bother asking what I wanted, it was always ham and pineapple. I smiled as I remembered the first time we ordered pizza together, he'd given me this big lecture on why it was so wrong to have warm fruit as a topping.
Some moments later, Matty re-entered the room, his arms finding my waist once more.
"How about me and you go upstairs and work up our appetite?" His hands slid down until his fingers tucked beneath my waistband.
"Not tonight, I'm so exhausted." Matty spun me round and lifted me off the ground, he swiped the paperwork off of the dining table and slammed me down.
"How about, you show me a little fucking appreciation for that shit you've got on your finger, Ola?" Aggressively, he yanked my bottoms down, I didn't fight it, it would only make things worse.
"I might even go down on you." I looked down and he smiled at me from between my legs. I did my best to pretend I was into it, I'd had a tonne of practice at faking so it wasn't too difficult, he seemed to buy it. A knock at the front door saved me.
"Fucking good timing man, I haven't even blown yet." He growled as he marched over to the door, hauling it open angrily. He didn't tip the pizza delivery guy.
I started to pull up my pants.
"Where do you think you're going? I haven't finished with you yet." Matty snapped as he stomped back towards me, his hand on my head as he slammed it back down on the table. My legs were forced apart, but I didn't cry. I felt cold inside, I felt empty, I literally didn't have the energy to cry. And so I waited.

We spent the rest of that night watching the first series of The Inbetweeners in bed, I was grateful. I wasn't really feeling small talk and I barely touched my pizza.
As I laid there, I thought about Tori's words. I thought about what it meant to be broken. Nobody except Jake had ever saw through my 'happily quiet' facade before. Jake was another of Matty's football friends, he never turned up on a Monday because he believed he was 'entitled to a three-day-weekend'. I smirked at the memory of him arguing with Mrs Fisher over the fact that Friday was technically not even part of the weekend because we still had college. He had a point, I guess. Jake might have been Matty's friend, but he was probably one of the only ones who actually knew how much of a asshole he could be, especially to me.

One night, Matty had pretty much threw me out because he thought I cheated on him, he punched me in the stomach and then kicked me when I fell to the floor in the middle of our street. Jake saw everything. It was a house party, so naturally after a few drinks I'd gained the confidence to try and make friends. Jake was the first person I'd spoken to. Matty and Jake didn't speak for months after that night, he was the only one I felt I could talk to; he even offered me his couch that night but I thought it would be wisest if I just got a hotel room (which I definitely could not afford). Matty's been edgy around him ever since, if I even so much as look at Jake he blows up, he's so dead set on the idea that there's something going on between us.