SHIFTED.✔

61

We had Chemistry first. He held my hand until we got to the door. Once we were settled at our desk I touched his hand so he would look at me. "Thanks," I whispered.

He gave me a puzzled look. "What are you thanking me for?"

"For being patient with me and not getting shitty like Chris and for saying you'd speak to him and for picking me up every morning and for yesterday and..."

Keean touched my lips with his fingers and pinched them closed. He grinned. "You're one strange girl, Charlie Johnson."

Keean walked me down the stairs after Chemistry. I don't know why but I suddenly asked, "Keean why didn't you tell me about Katie and Chris?"

"It slipped my mind." He shrugged. "Besides, it wasn't my business to tell."

My stomach clenched at his casual reply. Keean must have picked up on some invisible vibe I was sending out because his next words were.

"Are you shitty about it?"

I mulled this over for a minute. "Maybe disappointed. Katie is my best friend. I guess I would have liked to know."

Keean put his palm on the top of my head and swept it in a downwards motion. "It was guy talk, Charlie. I thought he was going to sort it that day."

"But she needed a friend, someone to talk to."

"I didn't think about it. She's your friend, if she'd have wanted you to know she would have told you."

For some reason a tense feeling welled in my chest. I couldn't help but stared at him wide eyed. "I'm always with you," I said. "She hasn't had a chance. She said she tried yesterday but you sent her away."

He gave me a confused look. "Charlie you were upset yourself yesterday. I didn't know what she wanted." Keean sighed. "If it was us, I wouldn't want Chris to go back to Katie about it."

"Would you have even told Chris?"

He sighed again and put his hands on his hips. I could tell he was getting annoyed. "What is this?" He said. "An interrogation?"

The tense feeling grew. It moved from my chest to my arms. He was evading my questions. I huffed and folded my arms. I wasn't going to play stupid mind games. "Don't worry, I've got to go," I scoffed and walked away without saying goodbye. I was so shitty because he didn't think something going on with my best friend was important enough to tell me. The more I thought about it the angrier I got. I had put my friendship with Katie on hold for him and he didn't have the decency to consider her feelings. To think she might have needed someone to talk to.

Katie and I didn't go to the usual spot for morning tea. She wanted to sit away from Chris to see if he would come looking for her. I thought yeah, let's see if Keean comes looking for me also.

They didn't.

I had Maths, English and Biology. I wasn't doing so great in Maths lately and decided, stuff Keean. If he couldn't be bothered to look for me in morning tea he wouldn't see me at lunch either. I told Katie I had decided to go to the library to study and asked if she wanted to come. I'd have to ignore Keean in English and Biology. We didn't sit beside each other in English anyway. He kept looking at me with that intense look he'd often had before we'd started to go out. I ignored him and didn't look at him except in my peripheral vision.

We had been sitting together in Biology since we had started to go together. When I got there he was at our usual bench. I sat at the bench in front, next to Gordon Rice. It hurt me to do it because I really wanted to sit with him but he had to understand why I was angry with him. That everything wasn't always going to be about him. We were doing theory so we never moved from our seats. I felt his eyes on my back the whole time. I made sure I had all my books ready to bolt from the class because I didn't want him to try to stop me.

He didn't.

That infuriated me more. I knew I was being really stupid but my pride wasn't going to let me back down.

Katie didn't come to the library with me. Apparently Chris caught up with her between lessons and asked her if they could talk at lunch. I thought great. I've gone on a crusade for my friend and she's oblivious to it. I couldn't concentrate on any Maths and felt really sad. I laid my head on the desk. I'd probably lost my boyfriend over this stupid thing between Katie and Chris. I realised this was the reason Keean had been reluctant to get involved.

Copyright © 2017 by Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.

I think Keean was right. Don't get involved with someone else's fight.  What do you think?

Sometimes it's hard to stay out of it though :(