The Train To Nowhere

chapter 2 - off to class

I sat in the nurse's office, holding an ice pack to my forehead as Ben sat across from me. Ahmed and Noah had long since left. Ben was holding an ice pack wrapped in tissue to his nose and cocking his head up towards the ceiling to stop the stream of blood exiting his nose, even though it had stopped over five minutes ago. Time seemed to slow down as Mrs Smith tutted and shook her head at us every now and then while she typed away on the computer some boring-looking admin.

"Honestly, boys. You're in sixth form now. This sort of thing should have stopped at least a year ago." That was the kind of thing she kept saying ever so often to break the silence. And Ben kept throwing me dirty looks, which I angrily reciprocated. When what felt like a lifetime but had only been five minutes had passed, and my aching forehead from the cold of the ice pack had started ceasing to throb as badly, Mrs Smith swivelled round in her chair to face us. She watched both of us coldly and deeply, almost like she was examining us, and I pretended to be fascinated at a bit of dust on the floor, feeling awkward enough as it was. As my eyes flicked from the floor to the clock on the wall, I saw it was a minute away from the bell going for first period. As if my eye movement had pushed her on, she finally opened her mouth to speak.

"Abel, Ben - I must say I'm ashamed at you two. Well, I could expect it from you Ben-" Ben rolled his eyes. I knew for a fact he'd got in a number of fights over the course of last year and ended up being sent to the office afterwards. "But Abel, this is unusual for you. Not once have I seen you in my office as a result of a brawl, and I think it's surprising that it's on the first day as well."

"Er- Mrs Smith?" Ben interrupted, "No offence but- we get our lectures from Mr Kennedy, not you. I thought we were just supposed to come here for our injuries." And I hated to admit it, but he did have a point. Mrs Smith simply shook her head disapprovingly and then continued.

"I won't speak anymore about this. You should be fine to go back to class now, since period one is starting in a couple minutes. Abel, your bruise will probably fade away in a few days time. And Ben, your nose isn't broken. Stop acting like you've just had nasal surgery."

"But Miss-"

"That's enough. Off you boys go to class now. This will be logged on your behaviour reports as well as medical."

And then she swivelled back round in her chair to face her computer, actively dismissing us with the back of her head. I turned round and pushed through the door first, with Ben sloping sluggishly behind. We walked back again in shameful, insufferable silence, until the bell finally went and noises could be heard of children leaving their tutors and busily bustling in conversation to their first lesson of the year. And mine was Religious Studies-Philosophy-Ethics, three subjects they'd blended into one for the A-Level course. It wasn't a bad subject to start with, and Rosie was taking it too, which was an upside. Maybe I could dash to the coffee machine before we started for a quick energy boost before we began. But I didn't want to risk being late on the first day of Sixth Form. So I decided against it and headed straight to my classroom which was in the West Wing on the second floor.

When I found Rosie outside she was chatting with Luke Chung, her current boyfriend. He was this super artsy-fartsy guy who liked to collect Foo Fighters vinyls, design mood boards on his Macbook Air over a frappuccino and watch old French movies. I guess it would be stereotypical to say "borderline gay" or "hipster punk" but he was that kind of guy. Super quiet and introverted, I barely saw him around anyone else but Rosie, so I didn't really know much about him. He must be nice if she liked him though. Apparently they'd met during Music GCSE when they were paired up to work together, and since last December they've been an item. I was so dedicated to being a good friend to Rosie I even tried to get to know him better, but every time I did he would just reply coldly and curtly, giving me a simple yes or no answer in his only volume (mutters) before ignoring me completely until I spoke and bothered him again, forcing him to reply.

Maybe he was bitter towards me because he actually believed the rumour from back in Year Ten. If so then I guess I could understand his behaviour, even if it was on false judgement. Or maybe this was just how he ticked with everyone. I guess it didn't matter though. Who was I to judge who Rosie dated? That was her business, not mine.

"Hi, Rosie," I said, going over to them in the line. Luke sighed when he saw me, rolling his eyes and resorting to staring out the window to ignore my presence. Rosie greeted me warmly though, as she usually did, her eyes landing back on my forehead where the angry purple bruise was.

"Are you alright?" Was her first question, either oblivious or just ignoring Luke's reaction to my arrival.

"Yeah, I'm okay. The nurse gave me an ice pack and the throbbing's gone down. It was worth taking the blow for you though. What he said was bang out of order." Rosie smiled a small but grateful smile before nibbling on her lip and flickering her eyes to the floor.

"Thanks, but you don't need to fight my battles for me, Abel. I had it under control."

"Well I didn't. I was so desperate to punch his stupid face through the wall after he said that. If it helps, I really was going to break that little nose of his if I'd got the chance," I said, still feeling a boil of anger recalling it, even now.

"That isn't really helping, actually. Anyway, I thought Ben was your mate?"

"Not anymore. He was hanging by close thread after Year Ten. I was just putting up with him because I had to. After what happened this morning, I'm never even going near to that prat ever again."

"You have basketball together!" she pointed out.

"Okay - then I guess I'll just have to be goalkeeper on the other end of the court."

Rosie laughed a little and I did too, because we both knew I was pathetic in goal. She didn't play but she knew from my practices at my house, when we'd played in little games of four with a couple of the guys, and from when we were younger and played together in Primary School. Sooner or later, our class of about fifteen proceeded into the classroom and took our seats for the lesson. I took my own desk near Rosie who shared one with Luke, and we went through the lesson half-listening to Miss Bell talk while chatting humorously over our notes.