String of Fate

Chapter Eighty Nine

I sat in the middle of my English class and read the book for the GCSE course as I felt a tap on my shoulder. That was a little unexpected as I usually sat alone, and everyone usually left me alone. I looked up from my book to see Ruby sitting down in the chair next to me. I was surprised that she had actually come over to see me. She usually sat with her group of friends. She also didn't say anything. "Uh, can I help you?"

"I need your help." She told me, speaking a little quietly than her usual loud volumes. Then, she sat forward and leaned on the desk, turning to look at me. "Look, you're the only person in the school that I can trust with this. Will you help me study for the Biology lesson that we have coming up at the end of the week?"

I tried not to roll my eyes. I knew why Ruby was asking me – she had a lot of trouble studying – and I was the only one from her friends that knew. She had, somehow, managed to keep it a secret from everyone for as long as I could remember, and I had been her friend since we were four. "Fine, but it's going to be at your place and you better supply some cookies."

"I can do that. Thank you, Jared. I owe you one." She replied, smiling. I glanced sideways at her. She smiled a little bit more. "Fine, I guess I owe you more than that now. So when did you want to come over to study?"

"How about tomorrow and Thursday?" I offered as the bell rang. I slipped my bookmark into the book and slipped it into my backpack. Slinging it onto my shoulder as the two of us stood up to head out of the classroom to head for break. She grabbed her backpack and walked alongside me. "Really get that information to sink in to your little head."

"You're lucky that you're my childhood friend so you can get away with those little jokes you make." Ruby joked, poking me in the arm as we walked down the corridor. We ended up walking slowly and luckily the corridor was wide enough that people could pass us easily. "But, yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I really hate Biology. I don't even know why I picked it."

"Because it's easier than Chemistry and Physics." I pointed out to her as we headed out of the building. We headed towards the Maths building as we had that next, although we were in different Maths classes. "You know all the stuff anyway, so, you have nothing to worry about. However, I'll help you study, though, just to put your mind at rest."

"Thank you, Jared!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around my neck and almost making me fall over as she threw me off balance. I wrapped my arm around her waist and gave her a little squeeze before setting her back on her feet.

"Right, I'm going to head to the library to find a book and I'll see you later." I said to her as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulder. She waved and headed up towards the Maths classrooms, catching up with the two girl friends that she had made since coming to comprehensive school. I headed around to the library.

The next day, which was the middle of the week, seemed to drag. It seemed to be the longest Wednesday that I had ever had the misfortune to put up with. Finally, the school day ended and I started heading to the gate to leave the hell that was school. I almost headed home but then I saw Ruby standing just outside the gate, waiting for me.

"Hey, Jared." Ruby called as she spotted me, waving at me as I started heading over towards her. I was glad that she had waited for me. "I thought that, since we're heading to the same place, we might as well walk together, and you know, you might not know where to go since you haven't been there in so long."

"Wow, I'm hurt. Just because you haven't invited me over in about a year. Don't forget that you haven't come to my house in all that time, either, so this can go both ways." I told her as we started walking in the direction of her place. Luckily, I wasn't too long of a walk and we made some jokes as we walked.