So Close

Chapter 22

This chapter is dedicated to Moment5In5Time for being lovely.

Losing Harry had a bigger blow on me than I thought it would. He was always around, cracking jokes and making me feel better, yet, now, when I was at my worst he wasn’t able to see me.

Despite this, I was somewhat relived that he and Sky had made up, despite the obvious impact on myself. You could tell from his eyes that it had really been eating at him and despite the constant fighting from before the incident involving my lips, they really were happiest together.

School had transformed from one of the most social time of my week to the least. I had spoken briefly to Louis on one occasion but apart from that, everyone had been avoiding me like the plague. Niall was now sitting elsewhere in Spanish and English with Ella and Lucy had become English with me.

My father had been taking over the reins within the house, cooking dinner, cleaning and organising Nell. Our relationship had grown since he began treating me like a daughter again.

He and my mother had moved in together when he was twenty one and she was twenty. So my father went from living with one woman who catered to his every need to another. He hadn’t known how to wash clothes or cook or clean until after my mother passed away and we were left to figure out those things on our own.

When I woke up this morning, he had made me a cup of tea and a piece of toast. Nell was dressed and colouring in, ready for school and he had packed a lunch. When I praised him, his smirk had made me giggle and hit his arm.

“I’m sorry Alice. I hadn’t caught on that you felt obligated to step into your mothers shoes. I shouldn’t have let you take on a parenting role when I was supposed to be the one looking after you.” My father had told me. I shook my head as if to tell him it was okay before he pulled me into a hug.

I continued to walk down the corridor and to my locker, my black converse padding down the hall softly. I kept my head down, avoiding eye contact with the people who walked along within their friendship groups. When I got to my locker and opened it, I found a folded note. It had obviously been slipped through the grate at the top.

The page had been torn out of what looked to be a notebook, the ink leaving indentations on the underside of it.

Alice,

Im a shitty friend.

Sorry.

I had an early English extension class so I wasn’t able to see you before school. Anyway, maybe we could chill at recess? I’ll meet you by the library.

Zaynie

Xx

The comfort of knowing I had at least one friend stuck with me.

Spanish was barely tolerable. Niall was sitting with a couple of lads from the football team and I had to put up with the constant whispering and snickers coming from their corner. I could only pick up on a few words; “Kymberleigh…. Lucky bastard… fit…nice one.”

It didn’t take a genius to guess the topic at hand.

I continued to guess the verbs we had to decipher on my worksheet and pick at my nails.

“Alice, por favor, preste atención” (Alice, please pay attention) Ms Maestro reprimanded and I sat up straighter in my seat. This didn’t last long and I proceeded to doodle on a page in my book for the next half an hour of the lesson. When there was ten minutes until the bell, the girl sitting opposite me on the square tables leant forward and waved at me, ripping me out of my trance.