The Chain (A Catherine Diary) - Stamfield. Complete

Chapter 58

58

My face lit up as I approached her. I dropped my bag and jacket, which I was carrying, on the chair next to hers and leant over to hug her. She reciprocated.

'Where are the others?', I asked, taking a seat in the chair opposite her.

'They're....er.....outside....I think', I looked at her, wondering why she was unable to look me in the eye and seemed to be so vague.

'Okay, hold that thought. Let me get myself a coffee', I stated, getting to my feet. I was thinking that maybe I needed a little time to work out how to prize the information out of her, or maybe give her time to organize her words.

She nodded happily. Only I could see the happiness was strained.

I turned away and as I did so, I scanned the room looking to our usual spot, which was empty, but I couldn't see any of our friends, or in-fact anyone I knew, to chat to.

For some reason I felt the need to make a second scan of the room, which I did. I had to wonder whether I was just being paranoid or were there one or two people looking in my direction. I ignored them.

I approached the coffee machine, waiting for a boy in front of me who was waiting for the machine to finish making him his hot chocolate. He held the cup steady as he extracted the cup from the machine.

As he turned, I took a step to the side, allowing him to pass.

'You're Catherine', he said, a face of recognition. I looked at him trying to determine where I had met him, hoping I could remember his name, before it became plainly obvious I had no idea who he was. I nodded, waiting for him to remind me of where we met. 'You're that streaker, you got a lovely pair of jugs', he said with a cheeky smile and walked off.

I was stunned, frozen on the spot. It took a couple of long seconds before I came out of it. Throughout those seconds, I had some understanding as to why I felt I was being watched, but there were so many question running through my head. I no longer wanted the coffee and headed back towards Gemma, this time the walk seemed to go on forever, I was overly conscious of students eyes focused on me and I'm not sure if it was my imagination but I felt as though they were all whispering about me.

'What the hell is going on', I could feel fury rising in me and made a concerted effort to steer away from any profanity, which I had kept suppressed for so long.