Paper Cuts (COMPLETED)

Chapter Thirty-Three: Crossroads

"I'm putting you into groups of three," said Mr Sprout. Everyone moaned. I closed my textbook and rested my chin on my hand, waiting for who he would assign me with. He began to read out the groups, and students started to get up and move around, retrieving their apparatus from around the lab.

"Abbey, Eliza and Sarah," he said. Had I heard him right, or was it just the noise distorting my hearing? I looked around, but Eliza and Abbey were the only two people left sitting. I sighed and picked up my exercise book, walking over to where they sat.

"I'll get the equipment," I said, dumping my book on their table. I didn't look at their expressions, instead focusing on finding the right things.

When I came back, they were both writing down notes in their books. I set up the equipment and sat down, picking up my pen.

"What are the variables?" I asked. Abbey didn't look up as she listed them out to me.

"Here's the rearranged equation," Eliza said, passing her book to me. I stared at her momentarily in surprise, and she jerked the book gently to tell me to take it. I took it and copied down the equation. We all stood and began to trial the experiment.

"Is someone taking this down in a table?" I said, and Abbey sat back down, pen in hand.

"Yep."

I was surprised by how civil they were being. They even seemed friendly. I let it slide, not worrying about it. If anything, it made me feel more comfortable.

After we'd done the experiment, we all sat down to graph and calculate the variables together, bouncing off each other like the team we'd once been before everything.

"Hey, Sarah?" said Abbey, and I looked up from where I was drawing up my graph.

"Yeah?"

"Eliza and I are having a joint seventeenth on Saturday night, if you wanted to come."

I stared blankly, and then blinked slowly.

"I know that things have changed," Eliza said, leaning her elbows on the table as she offered an uncertain smile, "And there were a lot of things we did that were horrible, and maybe we don't have to be friends anymore. But I think I'd just like to leave it at mutual forgiveness, if you feel like you can do that."

I cleared my throat, "You mean, you want me to forgive you for what happened?"

"And we will forgive you. We already have," said Abbey. I felt like making a dry remark how what I did hardly compared, but decided to swallow my words. I had to learn how to forgive and forget - they were right.

I smiled at them, "I would love to come."

--

"You're all coming," I said at lunch. Shiloh raised her eyebrows as Matt and Harry stared in disbelief.

"You hate those girls," said Harry, and then shook his head, "Are you really Sarah Townsend? What have you done with the real Sarah, and what planet are you from?"

I scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous. I don't hate them. What happened happened a long time ago," I shrugged, "It's time to move on."

I looked at Shiloh, who grinned and patted my shoulder.

"I'm glad you're letting go, Sarah."

Harry huffed in exasperation. "If you're so sure..." he rolled his eyes sarcastically, "I guess I'll just have to go."

Matt bobbed his head agreeably, and then continued to spoon yoghurt into his mouth, dripping some on his chin. Shiloh screwed up her face and kicked him beneath the table.

"Don't eat like such a child!" She scolded. Matt's eyes widened as he guiltily wiped away the yoghurt on the back of his hand. Shiloh rolled her eyes and gave me a knowing look.

"I don't know why I stay with him."

Harry and I laughed, and Matt stared at her with big eyes as he swallowed his yoghurt with a visible gulp.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Matt said.

"Nothing." Shiloh reached over and kissed the top of his head. "You're perfect babe."

Matt smiled like a happy six-year-old, and we all laughed.

--

The door to my bedroom clicked open, and Mum's face peered in. She gave me a childish smile and pushed the door open further.

"Mum, please leave," I said, putting my ear-phones back in as I stuck my head back into my piles of textbooks.

Mum swung the door wide, making a scowling face in my periphery, as a tall figure walked in. I looked up once more and yanked my ear-phones out.

"Look who I found at the door," Mum said proudly, a hint of mischief behind her words. I swung the headphones gently in my hands as I smirked at Will.

"Alright, Mum," I said, not breaking my gaze with Will, "You can leave now."

Mum muttered something about my manners as she shut the door firmly and stomped down the stairs. I swung my ear-phones onto the desk with a muffled flam as they hit the piles of work before me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, and Will leant his shoulder against my door as a smile tugged softly at the corners of his mouth.

"I came to see you," he said simply. I raised an eyebrow.

"You're not getting anything," I insisted, "I have three tests tomorrow that I have to study for."

Will shrugged. I frowned.

"You really want to just sit and watch me?"

Will nodded slowly. I scoffed and turned around as a smile snuck its way onto my face. I put in only one ear-phone as I continued to do my Physics exercises.

After a while, Will moved in the corner of my periphery as he investigated the corners of my room. He picked up a pile of books sitting on the night stand, shuffling through them absent-mindedly. I ignored him for the most part, until he lingered on one book. Eyes stuck on the cover, he crossed the room to where an unused and, in my opinion, superfluous chair sat. He pulled the chair up beside me, sat down, and began to read.

I looked at him for a moment, and he raised his eyes over the book to look back at me. I reached over and kissed him, quickly and gently, and hung my head once more.

After half an hour, he sighed loudly and shut the book, pulling his chair forward even more. I pretended that I didn't notice, even as he picked up some of my History homework and began to read through it. At one point, as my pen sat idly in my hand as I thought about a question, he pulled the pen from my hand and began to write.

"The purpose of homework is for me to learn," I said, and he shrugged.

"You don't need to do this work with all your tests. You'll catch up later," he reasoned, "You're not going to take it in now anyway."

And we continued like that for a long time, a mutually perfect silence between us as he sat by my side and we worked.