It's all about TRUST

Chapter 7

Alexis, Chapter 7

The time had come. I got up at 7:00 and had my breakfast – Special K. I hadn’t seen my dad for a while – he was always at work – so I gave him a quick hug and he ruffled my hair.

‘We’ll have to go out as a family sometime,’ he said.

‘Yeah, that would be great,’ I replied. I went back upstairs, and changed into my school uniform. It was a maroon and white pin-striped blazer (embroidered with the school emblem of course), teamed with a purple V-necked jumper, a plain white blouse and a black pleated skirt with tights. The school emblem was a horse jumping through a ring of fire to symbolise aiming high and taking risks. I cleaned my teeth, grabbed my bag and put my shoes on. It was eight ‘o’ clock already.

I had to walk to school – we only lived twenty minutes away, walking distance. I said goodbye to my parents, and started walking. School started at eight-thirty, so I wouldn’t be too early – or too late. I stopped at the shops to grab a bottle of Fanta and some crisps for snack on my way. Healthy? I know.

When I got to school, all of my form was there, with the exception of Holly and a couple of boys, who were usually late. Holly arrived exactly one minute late, and the two boys came ten minutes later. Our form teacher, Mr Dawson marked Holly in but the boys had to sign in late. We were given the usual beginning of school year talk, and then it was first lesson. English with Mr Wilkinson.

Mr Wilkinson was the worst teacher ever. He always made us write really long essays and purposely gave us all rubbish marks. He always picked on people and even had favourites! I honestly and absolutely loathed him. Whenever he spoke to me, it was always about “improving this, improving that”. I was absolutely fed up of him. Actually, today I got so p!s*ed off with him that I threw my book at him shouted a lot of rude words at him. He shouted back at me and said something about never answering back a teacher and not swearing in school. He gave me a lunchtime detention. Great. He really hated me now; I bet I was his number one target for picking on. Oh well I guess all that was worth it to see his face when he shouted at me. Haha!

When it was break time, I walked back into the form room. There was a tense atmosphere among my classmates. I looked around. The room was practically empty, Holly wasn’t there either – probably doing homework in the library.

‘What’s up with you all?’ I asked.

‘You were very… um… brave with Mr Wilkinson,’ said Ruby, a pretty popular girl.

‘And, well, we’ve never heard you swear before. You sounded quite… feisty,’ said Jack… did he like me or something?

‘And, getting to the point…’ I replied.

‘We were thinking you could be in our gang – you know, “popular”, like us,’ said a confident girl, Gemma. Were these people playing with my head? Why on earth would they want me in their group? I stood there looking stupid, and speechless.

‘On one condition,’ added a Michael, or Mike for short - a tall, muscly boy who is cocky, and gives off an aura that makes him seem effortlessly powerful.

‘What?’ I asked, mentally kicking myself for not realising there would be a catch.

‘You tell us Holly’s secret,’ replied Mike. Whaat?! How had they heard about this?

‘How do you know?’ I asked. Of course! What a stupid question. Sam had overheard us talking at the bus stop. Cr*p.

‘Sam overheard you and Holly talking,’ replied Mike, ‘So come on, spit it out.’ What was I going to do? I couldn’t throw away this chance to be in the popular group. But I had promised on my life that I wouldn’t tell anyone. Oh well, I didn’t believe in promises on lives. Still, I guess it wasn’t my secret to tell. I guess it wasn’t really Holly’s, either. It was her mum’s. Yes! That’s what I would say.

‘It’s not really Holly’s secret. It’s her mum’s,’ I said quickly. They all stared at me, ‘It’s not that interesting.’ But it was.

‘Oh come on! We know a lie when we hear one. Do you want to be popular or not?’ said Gemma, clearly getting impatient. The problem was, yes, I did want to be popular; I wanted it so much it seemed silly. Anyway, it wasn’t like these people are going to go and tell Dowger where Holly and Lindsey lived or anything. He’d probably given up by now, after fourteen years. I wasn’t going to let Holly’s stupid secret ruin my chance to be popular! She was uncool anyway, if I hadn’t been friends with her, I’d probably already be popular. It’s not like I was actually going to die if I told them the secret.

‘Look, Alexis, we think you are actually kind of cool, and well, I’d like to add, personally I think you’re cute, but –‘ said Jack.

‘But, more to the point, we’re only letting you in the group if you tell us the secret!’ Ruby chipped in, giving Jack the evils.

‘Okay, okay!’ I said, ‘The secret then. Holly’s dad used to be a coach driver, you know, before he died…’ I carried on the story with every detail I could remember, only at the end realising I had everyone’s eyes on me, completely submerged in the story. The room went silent.

‘Wow,’ said Jack, ‘That is some secret.’

‘You guys can’t tell Holly I told you this,’ I said nervously, ‘So am I in?’

‘Definitely,’ said Ruby ,’without a doubt you are in the group.’

‘Thanks,’ I said awkwardly. After about five minutes of awkward silence, the rest of the class started to come into the classroom gradually. There were other small friendship groups, but the main group was the “popular group” that I was now part of. My group resumed their normal positions in the classroom, and started talking about other things, like what they were going to wear to the party this Friday, to cover up the tension. I went to stand by Ruby and started chatting to her about what she was wearing on Friday. I found out that she was wearing a pale pink dress with a short, casual navy blazer. She was staying sensible with matching navy flats, though. I told her that I wasn’t sure what I was wearing, and that she would find out at the party. That was when Holly came in the classroom, soon followed by the last few classmates who had come from the canteen. Holly frowned at the sight of me with Ruby, then she shrugged and went to sit down as far away from us as possible. Soon the bell went and we were off to the next lesson.

The next couple lessons went by quickly. I had a quick sandwich for lunch, and made it through double Maths and double Chemistry in the afternoon. I felt almost numb by the end of the day. What had I done? Holly had been sat on her own in every lesson while I sat with the group. Oh well, it will blow over by tomorrow. I waved goodbye to my new friends and started off on my way home. Holly got the bus as usual. I smiled and waved at her, but she just ignored me. Maybe I didn’t need her anymore. Maybe she didn’t need me. Maybe she would make friends with another group. Whatever happened, I had my new friends now. Lots of friends were better than one, right?