Cat Got Your Tongue?

The last few days with Tom and Oli had been fun. Yesterday we went to the park, and spent most of our day there. Then, before we went home, Oli surprised us by stopping by a local ice cream parlor.

Oli was the one the did most of the talking, while I just nodded at the appropriate times. Tom seemed to be getting a little shyer as the days went by. I hoped that he’d only be like this for a while.

This leads me to today, Monday. Oli and Tom’s first day of school here. Tom was going into the same year as I was in and Oli was in the grade ahead of us.

I ran to check and make sure I locked the back door before I left to go to school. Tom and Oli were walking up my driveway when I opened the door and turned around to lock it.

Are you ready? I signed, grateful that my aunt had taught them something.

“As ready as we can be. Do yeh mind showin’ Tom to the classes yeh ‘ave with him? ‘e’s to shy to stop an’ ask someone to,” Oli asked as he climbed into the front seat.

I nodded as I myself got into the car.

The whole five minute drive to school Oli was babbling about random things. I’m sure Tom and I were both trying to tune him out. When we finally got there I let out a sigh of relief, that was one of the longest drives to school ever.

Tom handed me his schedule as we entered the school. This was where Oli went his separate way, probably off to go annoy some other poor innocent person with his talking. I opened my bag and pulled out a notebook and pen to give Tom directions to the four classes he didn’t have with me.

I put a star next to his math and English class, then jotted down that we had those classes together. Now was the time it was going to get confusing for him. I quickly wrote down all the turns he’d need to get to all his classes from one another. Then added, good?, at the bottom to make sure he understood them.

“Yea, this is perfect. Sorreh, ‘bout Ollieh. Sometimes e’s to outspoken for his own good. I could ‘ave asked for ‘elp,” he apologized folding up the directions and sticking them in his pocket.

Quickly writing down that it was no problem and that we should probably get to class if we didn’t want to be late, we went in opposite directions.

For some reason, I couldn’t wait to meet up with them for lunch.

-_-_-_-_-_-

“Oi, Tori, mind if we sit ‘ere?” Oli inquired not even waiting for my answer, he dropped his lunch tray on the table across from me and took the seat.

After shoving a bite of his food into his mouth he pointed at my bag and raised his eyebrows while mumbling something about Tom. I assumed that he wanted it to save Tom a seat so I just nodded and went back to the lunch that my aunt had packed for me this morning before she left for work.

I finished the bag of chips then got a pad of paper and a pen out from my bag that was still saving Tom’s seat. I wonder what was taking him so long?

How’s your first day been so far? I scribbled onto the top line of the paper, hoping that he could read it. My handwriting got pretty messy when I was trying to write fast.

“’S been good, considering that it’s school we’re talking ‘bout. What do yeh suppose is keepin’ Tom? He should ‘ave been ‘ere a while ago, he was only a couple places back in line from meh,” he asked looking around, searching the lunch room for Tom.

That’s when I spotted him. He wasn’t still in line getting his food, he was standing over by the vending machines, getting talked up by one of the prettiest and dumbest girls in school, Melissa Carlson.

I tapped Oli’s shoulder to gain his attention then pointed to where they were. A look of disappointment fell across his face as turned back around in his seat to face me.

“’e doesn’t like her. She ‘ave a rep for sleepin’ with guys?” he questioned. I nodded. “She’s just flirting with ‘im. Yeh can tell by the look on ‘is face that ‘e doesn’t like her.”

How can you tell? I wrote on the next line and pushing the notepad across the table to Oli.

“Yeh got a thing for Tom?,” he laughed then looked over his shoulder at the two again.

Yes, I did have a thing for Tom. A very small thing that would probably not get any bigger. I didn’t want it to get any bigger, I didn’t want to get close to anyone again. I’m afraid that they’d just get torn away from me just like my parents had.

I shook my head vigorously, I don’t think Oli believed it though. “So yeh do. Don’t worreh, I won’t tell ‘im. I think ‘e has a thing for you too.” I didn’t know if I should believe him. He, out of everyone, probably knew Tom the best. And he was pretty confident when he said that Tom didn’t like Melissa. Maybe Tom did like me.

“Hey, guys. Sorreh ‘bout that. She just started talkin’ to me an’ I didn’t want to be rude,” he apologized, putting his tray down more gracefully than Oli did and passing my bag back over the table to me. “’ow much time do we ‘ave left of lunch?”

There was a clock about the doors that led outside, and it said that it was 11:23. I pulled the notepad back from Oli and wrote his answer.

About thirteen minutes.

“Ugh, did she really keep meh over there for that long?” he groaned and starting eating his lunch just as fast as Oli did. Just as messily as Oli did too. I guess they really did have something in common. It was really the only thing though.

I was very pleased when Oli didn’t bring up the conversation we’d had to Tom. Our next two classes were with each other, so that would have made things very awkward between us. We didn’t need that. Tom was already shy enough.

Leave it up to Oli to ruin the relaxing silence we had going on. “So, I was thinkin’ that maybeh we could so somethin’ after school got out. Know where any good tattoo and piercing places are, Tori?”

There were exactly three tattoo and piercing places in the town of Sheffield. That is if you didn’t want to count the ones that people had set up in their basements or were doing illegally. I nodded and he continued on.

“Tom knows that back ‘ome I wanted to get my lip pierced. Mum and dad never agreed to it though. So, I was thinkin’ that since I’m old enough now to not ‘ave to get permission, we could go,” he finished explaining.

For some reason the idea of watching someone get a needle stuck through their lip wasn’t very appealing to me.