“Hey, make sure you’ll tidy your room up once you have the time.”
“I won’t waste a moment,” I said bitterly, chewing the mouthful of cereal in my mouth.
It had been another uneventful morning. After a now well practised session of mum questioning me about Juliet she finally gave me some rest so I could eat peacefully. Kind of.
“Also, don’t forget to take your books back to the library in time, I don’t fancy paying the overtime fee again”
“Yes, mother.” I said, not looking up, afraid that if I did there was a good chance that I’d start strangling her. I didn’t feel like telling her that if she’d just buy me the books I wouldn’t have to always be on time to return them to the library. Of course, if I did tell her, it would most probably result in another row. And none of us needed it.
“I’m going to work.” she said, and gave me a short kiss on the forehead, automatically proceeding to the front door and leaving without a second glance.
I got back to eating my cereal, carefully chewing up every crunchy bit and putting it to the side once it became soggy.
Once I was done I sank onto the hard leather sofa and closed my eyes. She was pathetic. Giving me a kiss before going to work, offering to make scrambled eggs in the morning. Like either of us really wanted to be there.
I sat there for however long, trying not to think but still managing to. It was after I had overgone how weirdly Juliet had acted on that day in school that I remembered where I was supposed to be.
“Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” I said, jumping up the stairs and bursting into my room.
I pulled my shirt on and struggled into the ivory tights, zipping up my skirt immediately after. I yanked my hairbrush through my hair a few times and applied some mascara, grabbing my school jumper and bag and sprinting downstairs.
I was already half way through the front door when I had remembered that I’d forgotten to brush my teeth.
Three short minutes later I grabbed my keys and was out the door in no time.
I paced myself after sprinting for a whole minute, allowing air to rush to my lungs, slowing to a walk and finally bending down to put my hands against my knees. This wasn’t good. I was already ten minutes late from school. It wouldn’t had been a problem except from the fact that there was a big assembly for the whole school that morning. I was so screwed.
I rushed into school ten minutes later, attempting to sneak into the main hall as quietly and unnoticeably as possible.
My heart skipped a beat as the principal stopped his speech, but a second later he cleared his throat and continued speaking, his eyes burning into my head.
I settled down into an empty seat at the back and looked ahead, listening as Mr Riles went on about a charity dance the school was holding in the next month.
Having had listened for the next hour to an aging man bragging on about his school, it was understandable in every way that every student – including me – was glad to get out of the boiling hall. It was the third week of September, yet it seemed that the summer atmosphere had not yet left England.
I walked outside into the backyard, trying to get some fresh air. I was in the middle of enjoying the sunrays hitting my face when I got interrupted by what sounded like a couple of people walking past. I shifted my head to the side and wished I hadn’t.
Claire McDonald was making her way over to the wall which I had my back rested on, closely followed by her crew of desperate wannabes with no personality whatsoever.
“Hello, Violet,” she said in her fake nice voice, I was interested in what crap she would come up with today.
“Hi Claire. What do you want?”
“Oh just came to say hi.”
Liar, I said in my head.
“I heard the police was ‘round your house again.” I knew it. “No news then I expect?”
“Nope. Nothing new I can tell you.” I said shortly, putting meanance behind my words and hoping that she got the unfriendly vibe from me. She did this routine daily. Coming up to me, asking about Julie, trying to get as much banter as she can, and then –
“Oh. Fine.” she said, and her voice got ugly in the blink of an eye. “By the way, if I were you, I really wouldn’t wear my hair like that. It makes you look… unpleasant.” she finished, having had a hard time not saying something rude like ‘fugly’ or ‘gross’ or – and I’d be surprised if her vocabulary contained such a complicated word – ‘repulsive’.
“That’s great. Thanks for the advice.” I said coldly, wishing she’d get lost already.
“Oh, and next time wear some foundation you –“
“Shut your mouth, Mandy.” I warned threateningly the brunette girl who stood behind Claire. “Don’t come over here tomorrow. It’s my place.” I added to Claire.
“Whatever.” she said, and left with her ‘buddies’.
I breathed out.
“That wasn’t really nice of those girls.” said an unfamiliar voice from next to me, and I jumped in shock.
Once I had calmed down I looked up at the boy who had interrupted me.
“Um…” I said, struggling to take in his complexion. “Yeah. It wasn’t nice. Sure.”
“Why do you let them treat you like that?” he asked, and I had finally managed to collect myself.
“There’s nothing I can do. And hitting them would just raise unwanted questions.” I said, finally settling back against the wall.
“You don’t like questions?” he asked, his brown slightly furrowing. He seemed to be oblivious to the fact that I did not know him.
“It’s the pointless and accusing ones I don’t like.” I smiled, realising that he thought he was being rude. “Anyway, what’s your name?” I asked after a moment of silence, the situation was getting awkward.
“Mason.” he said, and held his hand out, “I’m new.”
“Nice to meet you Mason,” I laughed, and took his hand. You didn’t see gentle people introducing themselves so politely anymore. Especially not ones who looked like Mason.
“Can I know your name?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.
“It’s Violet,” I said, pulling my hand away from his. He had a soft and warm touch, one that was comforting yet strange for some reason.
“Violet,” he said, tasting the name, “I like it. It’s unique.”
“Thank you.” I said, once again looking down.
The rest of the break went by in silence, getting more and more awkward. The sound of the bell made both of us jump.
“Well, it was nice meeting you Mason.” I said, and started walking.
“Wait, what lesson do you have next?” he asked, catching up with me in no time.
“Double art, you?” I asked, hesitating at the turn which I was supposed to take.
“Biology.” he said, frowning.
“Oh… well, if you go down this corridor and turn right at the end you should see the signs pointing to the science block,” I said, glad for some reason that I didn’t have to spend more time in silence with Mason.
“Wait, Violet, one more thing,” he said, just as I had turned around.
“Yes?” I asked, looking back.
“This is really weird for me, so I’m sure it’s weird for you as well but you’re basically the only person who is intelligent enough to talk to.” he said, it seemed like he was struggling for words, “Anyways, what I’m trying to get at is that I really like you. So; friends?” he asked, looking me in the eyes.
“Friends,” I smiled, and turned around, cussing at my cheeks for turning crimson right at the wrong time.
* * *
I spent the rest of the day unusually quiet – even for me. It seemed like I couldn’t get Mason’s mystifying face out of my mind, even in history I couldn’t concentrate, though that was by far my favourite subject.
I kept on replaying the strange encounter… I didn’t see how he didn’t have people following around. Although he did seem to give off a strange – and maybe even bad, I wondered – vibe, his looks completely repelled that.
I seemed to have snapped out of a trance when the final bell rang and everyone hastily got up. I was the last one to leave the classroom and was in no hurry to leave the school grounds, knowing that once I got home I would have to return to that awful atmosphere my mother created. Not that the school was much better, it was just that I didn’t get icy stared accompanied with all the questions.
“Violet, wait up!”
Oh.
“Mason,” I said, not sure how it came out.
“Sorry, I just saw you walking and thought we could walk together,” he said, and showed me a winner smile with perfect white teeth that I was sure not many people got to see.
“Yeah, course,” I smiled, mentally praising myself for being able to calm my heartbeats so fast.
“Where do you live?” he asked as we walked out of the school gate.
“Down Longacre road, what about you?” I asked, wondering how near exactly he lived to me.
“Oh I live down Churchview, I walk past your street on the way to school!” he said, and for a moment I surveyed his face but there was only true surprise.
In lack of an answer I just smiled at him and looked ahead, feeling the atmosphere getting awkward again and thinking harder than ever to ease the situation.
I was saved by Mason.
“How was your day?”
“Fine thanks,” I answered, happy that it wasn’t me who had to carry on the conversation. “What about yours? I mean fist day and everything,” I said tauntingly.
“It was alright… there are some strange people in this school though.” he said, sounding like he was deep in thought.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, this girl came up to me at lunch and asked if I wanted her digits. I mean, what does that even mean?”
He was drowned out mid sentence by my giggling.
“She asked if you wanted her phone number you utter idiot,” I said, managing to breathe and wiping away the tears that came every time I laughed, even a little. I found the fact that he didn’t know what the girl had meant highly amusing.
“Oh,” he said, biting down his bottom lip.
“What?” I asked, turning serious, had I said something to upset him?
“I told her that I was fine with maths and walked away.” he said, furrowing his brows like he had done that morning.
“Oh. My. God.” I said, another row of giggled threatening to break through, “Have you not had any sort of a social life before this school?”
“Sort of… where I come from it’s pretty different.” he said, once again turning back to his mystifying self.
“Anyways, um, this is the way I need to go,” I said as we reached the opening to the Cul De Sac I had lived in all my life.
“Oh. Listen, do you fancy hanging out with me for a bit? I mean, I’ve got nothing to do and it’d be good if I could just walk around the area and get to know the place and everything…”
For a moment I was tempted to say yes. To stay out after school with Mason, show him all the shortening alley ways, the park, the woods.
But then I remembered that I must go home unless I wanted another row, another set of questions, another pair of accusing eyes.
“I’m sorry, I can’t.” I said, looking down. “Maybe another time though? I’ll mail you or something,” I said, looking up apologetically.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he said and turned around, but I was sure his warm grey eyes had turned stone just a second before.
“See you, Mason,” I called after him, but all I got was a small wave of his left hand.
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