Guns and Roses

Thirty One ~ Quinn

Woodwork drags on and I watch as Reggie carves something into the table instead of listening to the teacher. My phone buzzes in my pocket and I check it quickly, hoping its Ellie replying to my dozens of apologies about last night.

It's not. Its Kira complaining about Art and how she can't get the shadows to look right. It's probably because she's on her phone instead of painting.

The door swings open "Shit" Someone hisses "I didn't mean to hit it that hard"

I look up and see Rya adjusting her bag on her back as she carefully closes the door behind her. She's not even tried to cover the bruises on her face.

"Sorry, sir. I slept in" She says and then rushes over to our table and sits herself down. Reggie stares at her in disbelief having not seen her injuries yet. She shakes her head and starts to pull out her jotters "I had to get out of the house. I was going insane"

She can't be here. She hasn't recovered yet. "Your ribs" I say to her quietly.

She rolls her eyes at me "If one more person starts about my ribs, I'm going to throw a fit"

Reggie finally closes his mouth and stops gaping like a fish. "Your neck" he says a little bit too loud. I follow his gaze to the thin purple line around her throat that was obviously not an attempt on her life. It's pretty clear it was torture.

She pulls up her shirt collar and then starts scribbling down the notes from the board. "If you think that's bad you should have seen it last week"

The rest of the class goes by pretty quietly. I only hear two not-quite whispers from our neighbouring table about Rya's appearance. Let's just hope Rya didn't hear them.

As the bell rings, Rya takes off her blazer and stuffs it into her bag. She's taken the bandage off of her arm now so now the healing wound is on show for everyone to see. Black thread still holds the skin shut but the bruising has started to go down, leaving just the long, jagged cut.

The three of us head out to meet Kira in the canteen for break without a word. Reggie sends me a concerned look and points at Rya. I shrug and we keep walking.

Mika is standing with Kira when we get there. This isn't exactly unusual considering they're in the same art class but usually Mika doesn't stick around.

Her eyes widen as she spots Rya and so do Kira's. "Oh my God!" Kira squeals and runs towards Rya. "I heard you'd been attacked but I didn't think you'd been mauled" she tenderly strokes the side of Rya's face that got to know the brass knuckles.

Rya laughs and pulls away from her "I'm all good. I'm on heavy painkillers and am well on the road to recovery"

Mika gulps as we all huddle together the way we usually do to avoid being trampled. "You're back" she says quietly. Rya nods "Do your uncles know?"

Rya smirks "They'll work it out soon enough"

I roll my eyes at her. Her uncles were only keeping her in the house so that she could heal but she acts like they had her trapped there.

I haven't spoken to her since before I left yesterday. Even though she doesn't have a clue, I now feel horribly awkward around her. Why the hell did I say her name?

She catches me watching her and I feel my face burn. "You okay Quinn?" She asks me and then moves so that we're standing beside each other. The other three start having their own conversation, leaving Rya and I.

I nod "Yeah. I'm just worried that you shouldn't be back so soon"

She sighs and then looks at the floor. "I couldn't stay there Quinn. Artie and Switch are always busy trying to work out what's going on with my father and Alexander is looking for answers on the Italians. Lisa is trying to keep the Petrovs entertained all of the time and I'm just left to sit in my room"

"What about Matthew?" I ask her.

She laughs "Yeah. That's not a thing anymore" She doesn't explain further so I don't push it. "What about you? How's Ellie doing?"

Of course she was going to ask. I thought I could at least delay this for another day or two. "She's not very happy with me at the moment. I sort of said someone else's name..." I trail off finding myself growing embarrassed.

Her eyes widen and a small smile plays on her lips "When you were.. you know" she makes a gesture with her hands that makes me smack her hands down. She only laughs.

"No!" I say exasperated. My face is burning and I'm completely mortified.

She starts to laugh and I feel my heart squeeze in a way that worries me. "Who's name?" She asks "Go on. Who am I going to tell? Was it Kira? Was it Reggie?"

I turn away from her and try to get into the others conversation even though I don't know what they're talking about. This only makes Rya laugh harder as I fumble with my words and do anything to avoid the question she just asked.

My phone buzzes and I pull my phone out. Its finally her.

I'm sorry. I overreacted last night. It was clearly just a mistake and now that I've thought it through, I'm not angry anymore. I'm honestly mortified at my behaviour towards you. Phone me when you can? Ellie xx

I sigh in relief and put my phone away. I can phone her at lunch and forget any of this ever happened. "Was that her?" Rya asks.

I nod "She seems to have forgiven me"

Her face falls as the joke ends. "That's good isn't it?" She says cheerily.

I nod "I think so, yeah"