Out of Your League

Chapter 22

The dismal twenty minutes that was chapel the next morning, we had another boring guest speaker and a bad hymn, did nothing to diminish the feeling of comfort and peace that last night had left with me. Once chapel was over, Belle barged her way out, taking advantage of the ranks of girls parting for her leaving me to struggle my way through. Then we had to escape the throng of students heading for lessons – honestly leaving chapel could be compared to an adventure course. And finally, finally once we'd squeezed through to an area of less students, I matched Belle's brisk pace with a skip escaping out of me from my feeling of happiness.

Unfortunately the lesson I was heading to was Spanish. And it was no secret that I hated Spanish and that Miss Borquez hated me. So it was no surprise that as I drifted into a daydream, reliving the captivation of the previous night, she immediately spotted me and picked on me to answer the question. At least some things never change, no matter the school there's always a teacher you hate. Of course, I couldn't answer it and so I bluffed my way through it but she noticed. And her wrath was enough to diminish my mood slightly which only made me hate her, and Spanish, more. The worst thing was that she was one of the few people who didn't just fall at my feet – I may be the subject of many rumours, the fascination of many pupils and teachers and the embarrassment of my parents but despite all this, everyone just tended to do what I asked, or what I wanted without question. Maybe it was through admiration, kindness or maybe they were scared of me but it just happened, unlike Belle who was constantly having to work for respect and even when I suggest living like I did, she flat out refused. She would rather work than be pictured half naked on a magazine cover – most people would I suppose.

I slumped out of Spanish, rather disheartened. My pace was slow at best so Will with his irritatingly long legs had no problem catching up with me and even the brightness and cheerfulness that illuminated his figure was enough to slightly raise my mood.

'What d'you wish for last night?' I asked him, in an attempt to keep thinking about the evening that left me in the best mood I'd been in for a while. He grinned and tapped the side of his nose,

'Now that would be telling and it wouldn't come true then, would it?' I tilted my head in an acknowledge of the truth in his words,

'But why didn't you come and stand with me after we'd got out the car?' His expression flickered and for a moment I could see unexplainable sadness before he managed to paste a genuine smile over it and he nudged me,

'You and Ed looked like you were having a great time and I didn't want to... interrupt,' I frowned, this was a side to him that I hardly ever saw, the only other time was when he was constantly surprised we'd bought him Christmas presents. Did he really feel he wasn't welcome? The thought made me more uncomfortable that it should, of course we wanted him around.

The warmth of the summer evening cloaked me like a blanket as I walked towards the golf course where I was meeting Ed. Ever since the evening we'd got together, we'd always sat on the same bench – it had become a sort of tradition and it was helpful to me because it meant I didn't have to walk around the whole course finding him. He was always there, always in the same place. He was, as usual, already there and as he heard my feet scuffing against the long grass he glanced up at me. But he didn't meet my eyes, and as he quickly looked away, he shook his head very slightly. It was weird to say the least, he wasn't awkward so why was he acting like this? Sliding onto the bench, I leaned in for a quick kiss, determined that at least I would try and make up for his strange behaviour but he backed away.

'Ed? What's wrong?' I asked, and I was embarrassed to hear that my voice wobbled as I said it. His eyes remained firmly fixed on the floor as though something fascinating was taking place there – my worry built and was very nearly about to suffocate me when he finally opened his mouth, his eyes firmly fixed on a tall piece of grass swaying gently in the mild breeze.