Dance of the Angels

Chapter 4

The few days of pure bliss (also called the weekend) didn’t last nearly as long as Naomi had hoped.

She was thankful for them, however, as it meant not returning to school immediately after Gareth’s murder was revealed to the public. Her mind could only wonder how Katie felt. Would she be relieved to be free of her abuser? Or upset her boyfriend (who she must have somewhat loved) was dead and killed by someone?

Then came the dreaded Monday. Almost every student in the school was buzzing and chatting about the murders of Gareth and April. Naomi would frequently be asked questions about both of them and Naomi would frequently be replying with “I didn’t know her,” or “He was okay.”

“Did you hear about Gareth?” asked Ianto. “Do you think whoever killed him was the same person who killed April?”
“Everyone has heard, idiot,” said Jen with a roll of her eyes. Looking up from her food, Naomi could see Katie frantically searching for a tissue as she grieved for her ex-boyfriend. It confused Naomi, why would Katie grieve for someone who hurt her? Yet there had to be some love at first. Sighing, Naomi dropped her fork onto her plate and winced at the scraping noise. She had lost her appetite after listening to Ianto.

Naomi tuned out whatever he was saying and looked around the cafeteria. A few tables away, several homophobic taunts were being thrown at Ryan and Alex. They had moved away from Ianto after the argument between him and Alex. She could see the discomfort on on both of their faces as the endured harsh words.

“You know,” said Naomi, turning back to the friends she was sitting with. “I doubt Katie wants to listen to your conspiracy theories about a serial killer when one of the victims was her boyfriend.” Katie gave her a small smile as a thanks.
“We all know she’s better off now,” he said bluntly. “He abused her, we all knew and was too scared to say anything.” Katie pushed Ianto and he glared at her. Naomi raised her eyebrows.

“Stop being so insensitive and inconsiderate. She obviously loved him if there’s tears,” Naomi snapped. Ianto went to say something but shut himself up. Katie wiped away her tears with a tissue and gave another smile of thanks to Naomi. Finally, Ianto’s incessant rambling had stopped.

After eating the bland mush called school food - according to Ruby, she had chosen the worse option, next time she would get one of the curries - Naomi found herself sitting in front of her mentor. Her feet kicked at the floor as she twirled around on the chair.

“I feel like my education is being wasted,” she complained. “This has no benefit.”
“It does have a benefit,” insisted Mr Jones. “But only if you talk about your feelings.” Naomi stopped spinning on the chair and stared at him.
“One, I already did that with my guardian, Michael. Two, that is probably the most cliche thing I hope to ever hear you say.”

“Talk about your guardian then. Why is he your guardian?” asked the mentor. Her brown eyes flickers to the floor for a brief moment.
“I never met my parents,” she admitted. “Michael is my brother and I love him, I do. He’s a great cook, his stir fry is amazing. He’s great.” Mr Jones could sense the unspoken ‘but’ that hung in the air.

“Don’t you want to know about your parents?”
“Not really. I mean, I know of my father but he’s never reached out to contact me, only Michael,” she admitted quietly. She twirled her thumbs around each other before carrying on. “I’d love to have parents like most people, have a loving mother and a great dad but I know I’m not going to have it. And I’ve accepted that.”
“I never met my mother, I don’t see my dad much either,” said Mr Jones. “My older brothers looked after me before they argued. I don’t see my siblings much anymore.”

“Guess we have something in common,” muttered Naomi.
“At least you get on with… Michael, was it?” Naomi nodded. “Most teens don’t.”
“Why?” she asked curiously. She knew it was probably a strange question to ask but it didn’t bother her too much; there were worse things to worry about.
“They just don’t. It’s because of misunderstanding or different beliefs and opinions,” he replied. If he found it a strange questions, he didn’t show it as he just smiled. “Sometimes it’s just teenage angst.”
“Right…” Looking over to the clock, she noticed one of her favourite lessons has started five minutes ago. “I’m going to go, I like music.”