We Were Right From The Start

"Your mum still not home?" he asked as we walked to my locker.
"No," I sighed. "And I don’t know when she will get back. I know she needed to get away from my dad for a while, and I don’t blame her, but I can't look after Sam..."
"What happened with your parents?" he asked, a worry frown on his forehead. I realised I hadn’t told him about my parents. I hadn’t told anyone.
"They fight a lot...he...gets very angry," I said and Liam frowned, knowing I was saying all of it. "But I don’t know when she's getting back."
"Why don’t you phone her and ask?" he suggested and I nodded.
"I could, she said she was staying with one of her friends, and I know her number, so I could phone. It's just...I don’t want to be a pain, she doesn’t need it," I said and Liam frowned.
"Frankie, you aren’t being a pain, you can't look after Sam, that's that," he said and I smiled weakly and he pulled me against his chest. His arms went around my waist and I wrapped my arms around him.
"Liam, do you have a free last period?" I asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, why?" he asked.
"I need to pick Sam up from nursery," I said softly. "I wouldn’t ask, but I don’t know how else to get to him and-" He cut me off with a quick kiss.
"It's fine, I'll take you," he said softly and I smiled.
"Thank you," I said softly. "Maybe then we can work on the presentation some more?" He smiled and nodded.
"Sure," he said and kissed me again. However, the bell rang and we had to pull apart. I had English now, and he had maths. "I'll see you later," he said and I nodded and we walked away from each other.

All through English I had a small smile on my face. He was really...just...amazing. How had I missed it all these years? I knew that the fact I was smiling as I thought about him, and that remembering his smile made my heart race, meant one thing. I loved him. I drew a small heart on my English folder and put a L+F inside it. I smiled at it again.

We had biology next, which was now my favourite subject, not that it hadn't been before. "I forgot to ask on Saturday...something distracted me..." he smirked at me as I sat down beside him. "What do you want to study at uni?" I smiled slightly.
"English," I said and he nodded.
"What do you want to do?" he asked.
"Journalism," I said and turned to him. He was smiling slightly but then he frowned.
"Don't you have to travel a lot for journalism?" he asked and I felt my heart suddenly speed up. Was he sad that I would be travelling a lot, or was that my imagination?
"Not necessarily," I said.
"Do you want to?" he asked and I shrugged and looked forwards as I replied.
"It depends if I have anything worth sticking around for." We both knew what I was talking about and I could feel Liam's eyes burning into the side of my head, but I didn't turn, embarrassed about what I had said. Mr Peatry started the class then, so Liam and I couldn’t continue the conversation. But I'm not sure what we would have said anyway.

When class had finished, we had to go to lunch. I wished that we could leave, but we had to stay for afternoon registration, which was at 2.15. After biology, Liam went off to find his friends and I went to find Dom and Mandy. I felt like I hadn’t spoken to them in forever. I sat down at lunch with them and they smiled at me. "How's things with Liam?" Mandy asked, nodding towards the other end of the room. I turned and saw Liam looking at me. I smiled and he smiled and then turned back to his friends.
"Great," I smiled. I turned back to look at Dom and Mandy who were both smiling softly at me. "I think I love him."
"Frankie, you've been in love with him for as long as I've known you," Dom said and Mandy nodded in agreement. I'd known Dom a year longer than I'd known Mandy, but I've still known Mandy for over 6 years.
"Yeah, well, now I know he feels something back," I smiled and they grinned.
"We're so happy for you," Mandy smiled and I smiled back.
"Just..." Dom said hesitantly and I turned to him, a frown on my face. "Be careful, alright. I don’t want you to get hurt. I mean, I know you love him, but maybe he isn’t...there yet." I frowned and nodded.
"I know," I said softly. It hurt to think Liam didn't love me yet, but I knew he liked me, and that was enough for now.

We went to the common room after eating and sat on the sofas. It was more full than it had been the last time we'd been in here. Mandy sighed and closed her eyes as she leant against Dom's shoulder. Dom smiled tenderly and put his arm around her shoulders. He looked up and met my eyes and smiled at me and I smiled back. Dom and Mandy had been going out of 2 years. I don’t know whether they had officially told each other that they love the other, but it was obvious to anyone that saw them. They were crazy about each other.

We sat in a companionable silence for a short while and then someone sat next to me. I turned and smiled at Liam. "Hey," he smiled and I smiled back. He took my hand tightly in his and pulled me closer to him. He continued to smile down at me and then he turned and smiled a greeting at Dom and Mandy. "When do you want to go?" he asked.
"I just need to register and then I'm done," I said and he nodded.
"Me, too, I'll come with you," he said and I nodded and stood up. He stood as well and took my hand again. I turned to Mandy and Dom and smiled.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, bye," Dom smiled and Mandy smiled and nodded.

Liam and I walked through the corridors and then eventually got to registration room. We went in, told Mrs Gardner that we were here, and then we left. Technically, we were meant to stay for form time, but no one ever did. We then walked to the car park and Liam held the car door open for me when we reached his car. I smiled at him as I got in and pecked him on the lips. He grinned at me through the window and then walked round and got in the driver's seat. "So where is this place?" he asked as he started the car and headed out of the school car park.
"Take a left out of the school, I'll direct you as we go," I said and he nodded.