Origins

The bell rings and we walk to roll call, I have no idea where I’m meant to be going so I check her timetable. Room 14, ok so where the fuck is Room 14?

“Franny are you coming?” Ereka asks.

“Yeah I am,” I walk with her to our roll call rooms. Thank God that hers is near Room 14. I sit in the seat Frances always describes to me. In between Ashlee, the tall nice quiet one, and her slut nemesis Janice. I sit and pull a book from Frances’s bag. It’s called Skin Hunger so it sounds cool and I read the first chapter of the book. The bell goes and I get up to leave, Janice pushes me as she gets out of her chair.

“Have you got a problem keeping your legs to yourself?” I ask. The entire room looks stops and Janice looks extremely pissed off. I don’t care, so I leave the room and head for Frances’s maths class in D5? I look for the room and a girl asks what room we’re meant to be in. I tell her then follow her to D5. I sit next to Alysha and all goes well until Miss O’Conor starts picking on us. So I spend the rest of the period pissing her off. Miss O’Conor with her stupid accent lectures me and sends me outside, so to piss her off more I make paper aeroplanes and throw them at Alysha through the open window.

*

When the bell goes I grab my things and head to Frances’s IST class in T1, near her maths room. I wait for Dylan to turn up and then follow her to where she and Frances usually sit. She signs into Frances’s account and I go through the files as Dylan texts her boyfriend. I find a file called Dougie and Fred’s IST convo’s, Dylan being Dougie and Frances being Fred. I open it and begin reading from the earliest one dated September last year. Basically it was Dylan asking Frances for advice and Frances giving it to her. Then it got to July this year when Dylan decided it was time Frances asked the questions. From July on all Frances and Dylan talked about was me, about how much Frances likes me and has since we wet in year 3 nearly 6 years ago. My or should I say Frances’s jaw drops. I don’t believe it. The girl of my dreams likes me, I’m so happy I could explode. Dylan looks up at me weirdly.

*

”Frankee are you ok?” She asks.

“Yeah I umm… Izack told me that he likes me too,” I tell her smiling brightly. Then Dylan does something I don’t expet. She hits me, a good hard slap across the face.

“Francesca Natalee McAllister, I keep telling you he’ll just hurt you like he always has.” She pulls me out of the room and the teacher doesn’t object.

“But…” I start.

“No, Frankee don’t do it, Izack might be a nice guy but how do you know he won’t get drunk and fuck some other girl?” She asks.

“Easy I…’ll get him to stop drinking,” I almost tell her that I will stop drinking.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” She walks back into the room. We sit side by side in silence until the bell goes for recess.

*

I follow Dylan to where Frances’s group sits and I sit down next to Alysha. I put my head into my hands suddenly feeling like all this weight and darkness is tightening around my heart. The girls don’t speak for a while then Alysha hugs me and for some reason I feel a little better, that Frances has such good friends.

“What’s the matter bub?” She asks.

“Just tired and sad I guess, I’m ok though,” I tell her after she lets go.

“Well did you take your coffee and tablets this morning?” She asks.

“No, I forgot,” I tell her. Now I remember Frances telling me her doctor told her she had to do that every morning.

“Well let’s go get you some,” Alysha pulls me up and takes me to the counsellor’s office. “Mr Angelo, Frank forgot her meds and coffee this morning.”

“Oh ok come here Frances,” Mr Angelo Frances’s favourite person in the whole office tells me. He takes me into his office and gets out two of Frances’s meds from the bottle they have to keep in case of emergencies, he takes us to get coffee in the lunch room. He hands the meds to me with a glass of water and I swallow them, he takes the glass and hands me the coffee, which I guzzle down greedily. “There you go, better?”

“I’m much better, thank-you Sir,” I perk up and then leave the office with Alysha. The bell goes so we pick up our bags and Alysha and I head to English.

*

On the way I think about what had happened the period before and accidentally walk smack bang into a pole. Janice who was waddling past laughs, I stop rubbing my head and give her a look.

“Is there something funny anorexic whore?” I ask her, murder in my eyes. Janice glares at me and walks off, as soon as she’s out of earshot and sight Alysha bursts into laughter.

“How come you don’t fend for yourself like that all the time?” Alysha asks me as we walk into the classroom and take our seats.

“Because Francesca… I am a quiet, polite moron who doesn’t know when to keep my mouth shit and when to speak my mind,” I tell her. She looks at me weirdly and we do our work. “Umm Aly, what would you think if Izack and I got together?” I ask quietly.

“Well seeing that I’ve met him and he seems like a nice guy I wouldn’t mind. Unless he hurts you then I’ll rip his balls off and kill him,” Alysha smiles her tongue playing with the two lip rings on the left corner of her mouth, “But wouldn’t it be hard seeing he lives in Queensland and you live here in New South Wales?”

“No, we could work around it, besides he’s here for a few weeks for a footy trip,” I tell her placing a hand to my b…well where my balls are meant to be.

*

After lunch we have commerce. Blythe, Dylan, Ereka and I walk into the room to see Janice sitting in my seat, her bag on Blythe’s. Ereka gives us an apologetic look and goes to sit with Dylan in their seats behind ours. I feel my anger bubble when I realise that this is how Janice always treats Frances. My or should I say Frances’s fists ball up and I walk down to where Blythe and Frances usual seats.

“Yes?” Janice asks innocently.

“If you don’t get your disgustingly ugly self out of our seats and leave me alone for the remainder of your worthless petty life I will send you straight to the ICU! Now, get the fuck out of my chair, you fugly try hard!” I command in a deep, growly tone. She stares at me or should I say the seriously scary form of the usually deathly Francesca and the class who were slowly filling into the room stop what they are saying and doing. Everyone looks at the two of us waiting for what might happen next. Janice sits there in my chair with a smug look on her large face, trying my limits. I smirk at the fact that she doesn’t realise that it’s me and not Frances, then I raise an eyebrow right as I pick up her bag off of Bythe’s chair and drop kick it across the room where it lands on an unoccupied desk. “Now do you need anymore help? Or can you manage to get out of my chair on your own?” I ask malice dripping from my words. She goes white in the face and gets meekly out of my chair. I take my seat and put my things on my desk as if nothing had happened. Blythe comes over and take the seat next to me. Then everyone in the class carries on as normal. When the teacher walks into the room Janice tries to tell him what had happened but he honestly doesn’t give a shit.

*

Later during Frances’s religion lesson I get pulled out of class. The kid, who looked like she was in year 8, the year below me, leads me up to Ms Peters office and shuts the door after I walk in. I thank God that it’s Ms Peters and not Miss Channing. Frances tells me all the time that Miss Channing hates her where Ms Peters goes soft on Frances cause she knows what she’s going through.

“Francesca, Janice was up here telling us that you threatened her because she was in your chair, saying things like you were going to beat her up if she didn’t leave you alone. She also told us that when she politely told you to stop yelling you, and I quote ‘kicked her precious new bag across the room’. Now before you say anything I know what you’ve been going through with family and leaving the group, but did you do this?” Ms Peters asks me.

“I didn’t Miss, why would I?” I ask trying to make it look like I haven’t just lied to her.

“Maybe you cracked under all the current stress?” Ms Peters offers.

“To tell you the truth Miss, Janice has been giving me a whole load of shit, pardon my French, since I left that stupid group, calling me things and pushing me around and accusing me of saying things about her to get Bly, Dyl, Ally, Ricky and Flo to come with me. I haven’t said anything about Janice to get them to come with me that was their own choice,” I tell her the truth about what Frances has cried to me about every week for the month since the six of them had chosen to leave the group.

“Oh okay Francesca I wasn’t aware of all this, you pop back to class before the bell goes. I think I may have to have a word with Janice on Monday,” Ms Peters gives me a warm smile and I leave the room. I leg it to the religion classroom and grab my bag as the bell goes and I leave the school. I jump on a bus and head to the hotel I’m staying at for my footy trip in the city this month.