- Edited again, sorry! -
The next morning, I met up with Tammie at the bus stop. It was another cold day; it had rained throughout the night. Tammie was too hyper for my liking. I was not a morning person at the best of times, but I hadn't had enough sleep the night before between waking up from strange dreams and then tossing and turning because I was worrying about said dreams.
"So how was the odd couple last night?" she asked as she danced on the spot to keep warm.
I mentally prepared myself to hide if anyone saw her.
"Fine, I suppose. Pretending to get along. Long may it last."
"They could be worse," she remarked.
"How?"
"I dunno. Just could be."
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes. I knew for a fact that Tammie would go insane if she had to live by my Dad's rules. "Oh!" I suddenly remembered something I was supposed to tell her. "I invited a new girl to sit with us at lunch today."
Tammie raised her eyebrows suspiciously. I wasn't sure if it was because she knew I couldn't normally string a sentence together in front of someone I didn't know. Or just because she thought all girls were bitchy.
"Come on, Tams, give her a chance. She's younger than us and she got hassled by Dawn and her crowd so I said she could sit with us. She's nice though, I promise. Her name is Amelia."
"Hmm, we'll see," she said before she grinned mischievously. "Speaking of nice, did you see that fine specimen of a teenage boy that joined history yesterday? Yummy. Oh, wait, silly me, of course you saw him, your bloody jaw dropped when he walked in. What was that about?!"
I blushed which just made her even happier. "That's not what happened, don't be ridiculous," I snapped back grumpily.
"Oh, please," she scoffed. "For once I agree with Dawn, it was only obvious you liked him. Bit of a relief that you finally noticed a boy actually. I was starting to think you must fancy me."
"Oh, whatever. JOEY!" I retaliated. It was her turn to blush I noted with some satisfaction.
"Cheap shot, Perdy," she muttered.
The bus rattled up the road before she could think of anything else to embarrass me with. Thankfully. She was much better at humiliating people than me. We sat in our usual seats, ignoring the filthy looks Dawn threw at us pointedly. The windows were so full of condensation that I couldn't see a thing outside. We had been on the bus for a few stops when I was surprised to hear somebody call my name. I was pleased to see Amelia sit in the double seat facing us. I started to introduce her to Tammie but stuttered to a stop when Nathan sat down next to her. I looked at Tammie in confusion but she was too busy giving him an appreciative glance to notice.
I felt like squirming as he smiled at us. He was even better looking this close and now I could smell him too which was better than I could have hoped. His knees tipped off mine and my stomach suddenly turned with nervousness. Oh, crap. Those few seconds felt like eternity as I had a mini panic attack in my head, not knowing what to say. Dawn saved me, sort of, by calling to Nathan very loudly in an incredibly snobby tone of voice - even for her.
"Nathan! We're all sitting back here. There's a space right by me so you don't have to sit next to them." She spat out the word them as if we were rotting with some contagious disease. The implication was clear. We were not worth sitting next to or near and we weren't the type of people he should mix with unless he wanted to catch the weirdo gene.
I was a little annoyed on behalf of Tammie and Amelia and even thought about answering her back but Nathan got in there first.
Even louder than Dawn, he called back," No, thanks. I'd rather sit here next to my sister. You know, one of them. I'd introduce you but I think you already met."
