Obsession.

This was it. After three whole weeks, it ended here.

I couldn’t say I was surprised, but it still hurts when you realise that it’s over, and you don’t get a say in it. I locked down as soon as I heard that word. The word only had two syllables, but it meant a whole lot to hear it in this situation. It told a story of its own really. He could stop talking now and walk away, and I’d still know what he meant. The one word made up for an entire conversation.

My shortest relationship had been two hours in playschool with a kid whose name I’ve forgotten. It was really quite sweet. My dress had this giant and hideous pink and yellow flower attached to it, and it had fallen off into the sand and gotten all gross. I’d cried for ages about it and put it in the bin in a strop. Then later, during story time, my boyfriend to be came out of the toilets with my flower, all washed and clean from rinsing it under the sinks for ages. I nearly cried all over again when I realised that he’d taken it into the boys’ toilets, but when he asked me to be his ‘girlfend’, I cheered up immensely. It was a glorious two hours, but had ended with the same word. The kid had turned to me and explained that I’d stolen his Play-Doh, so we couldn’t be boyfriend and girlfriend anymore. It later turned out that that fat kid (you’ve always got that one morbidly obese child in your class) had eaten it, but, tragically, we never got back together.

Though I suppose that since I was five at the time, it doesn’t really count. My shortest relationship since puberty was in year nine – two days with some guy that Steph HADN’T gotten me with. She hadn’t even needed to break us up, he did that pretty quickly when he realised she’d sleep with anyone. Bless him, he’d gone through all the trouble of going out with her best friend to find out if she liked him, to make me like him, to make her jealous... all those reasons really. Then Amber had mentioned her... whore-ish-ness, and he’d broken up with me instantly. It hadn’t bothered me too much; I didn’t really like him, I was just flattered to be asked out by such a good looking guy.

Longest relationship? Seven months and eight days with Amber’s cousin; Tyler. I might have loved him, but I don’t know what love feels like so I’m not sure. He was definitely one for the diary. He was really cute, in that sort of dorky, shy, sweet way. You could see him from miles away too – his favourite colour had been this vivid fluorescent blue, and he had so many clothes that colour, it was unreal. It was really sad when we broke up, because neither of us had wanted to; it had been because he was moving really far away and we didn’t want to have a long distance relationship ‘cause we were afraid it wouldn’t work out and we’d have to break up virtually.

Tyler said that word too. It’s like it’s boy code – the opening line to a break up.

“Listen...” Matt had sighed, He rocked awkwardly back and forth on his heels and looked at the ground, and then at the sky. Everywhere but at me. I watched him, half amused and half annoyed – since I already knew what was coming.

Behind him, the buzzer went to signal the end of fifth period and the end of school. He’d texted me in the middle of it and we both got out early one way or another. My preferred method was lying about my time of the month. It worked especially well on male teachers. They usually went bright and stuttered their way through a sentence that usually meant ‘get out of here immediately and don’t talk to me about it anymore’. I didn’t do it too much though, so they had no reason to doubt the sincerity.

I watched as students filed out of school and slowly caught sight of us. As I was best friends with Steph, I was pretty high up on the social chain. Most people knew my business – my business currently being going out with the new kid – and most students knew the look of the break up face.

Certainly, some of them saw mine and quickly spread the word among other passer-bys. Soon, we had a distant audience waiting for the split. They were like vultures, waiting for us to separate so they could get the gossip. I was – to continue the analogy – easy prey, since I wasn’t very good at standing up for myself. That was Steph and Amber’s forte.

I pulled my gaze away from everyone else as Matt made another sound. I watched him curiously. What would he say? Would he be honest or spin me a lie? Either way I’d know the truth; if he didn’t tell me, Steph would. She wasn’t shy about letting me know when she’d succeeded in making my boyfriends leave me for her.

“I’m really sorry, Connor, but I think we should split.”

Split? Nice. Reminds me of ice cream. I could really go for ice cream...

I quickly turned my thoughts to replying before I started to drool over the thought of banana flavoured ice cream with a chocolate flake and maybe even sprinkles...

“Er,” I stammered anxiously, wiping away imaginary dribble. “Okay then. Why?”

He had been frowning at me for a second – the look of dazed stupidity with a little smile must have been awkwardly placed in the middle of a break up – but then returned to his expression of remorse. “Well, you and I didn’t know eachother very well before we started going out. In fact, I didn’t know anyone really. But if I’m gonna continue hanging out with you guys – and I really would like to – then I wanna get to know you all as friends before I risk a relationship,” he explained slowly.

I wondered if he had rehearsed it beforehand. Either way, I shrugged and smiled a little. “Yeah, okay. That sounds great. I think that’s really smart actually. No hard feelings, Matt.” I held out my hand, and he shook it gratefully. “If you don’t mind, I’ve gotta go find Jamie...”

He nodded and hurried off. I watched him go, then snorted and shook my head in disbelief as I walked towards the bus shelters. What a pack of crap I’d just been told.

“Hey, Connor!” I heard someone say. I turned my head in time to see a ginger girl with a really colourful bag slung over her shoulder. She smiled a bit at me.

“Sorry, do I know you?” I asked, embarrassed. I hated it when people were all familiar with me but I didn’t have a clue who they were. Like at family gatherings.

She smiled. “No, but I’ve seen you around. Is it true that you and Matt just broke up?”

I smiled back, but it was tight and annoyed. It had begun.

“Yeah, Connor. Is it true?” Someone said coldly.

I turned around, surprised at the tone of voice, and there was Amber. “Scat,” she told the girl, who obediently walked past her with her head bowed. Amber folded her arms and rocked back onto her hip, staring at me with such intensity that should have made me spontaneously combust.

I noticed that her boots had managed to stay on throughout last period, and that her tights were so ripped they were barely holding together. She looked like such a punk, but it suited her. Amber had mainly chestnut coloured hair about halfway down her chest. I say mainly because her hair is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s multicoloured. All different shades of brown and red and blonde. All natural, too. There are a few bright red bits which she dyed herself, but all the rest of it is... wow. Even Steph is jealous, not that she’s voiced that opinion. We both know she is. Another thing she’s jealous of is Amber’s skin tone. Steph has deathly pale skin, whereas Amber is part Italian and therefore has very tanned skin – not black, but dark for a white girl. Her eyes were the only soft part of her, physically. They were choclatey brown, really rich and deep. They always stayed the same though. I’ve heard some people say that eyes go hard when the person is angry, but Amber’s stay the same. Not flat, just always alive. Like when she spoke about Steph in loving and endearing terms.

“Did that slag do it again?”

She looked really angry, but Amber was surprisingly the nicer of my two best girlfriends. She looked out for what was best for ME, not just herself. She knew I wasn’t the most confident person in conflict, so she tried to lend me some bite once in a while, since she had plenty to spare. She hated Steph because Steph walked all over everyone, leaving stiletto footprints and the smell of Chanel in the air behind her.

I quickly tried to save Matt and Steph from Amber’s wrath. And boots. “Matt said that he wanted to break up with me because he wanted it, and-“

“Don’t.” Amber sighed, holding her hand up in a stop sign. “Don’t defend him. You and I both know he’s lying for her.” She was silent for a moment, and I was about to ask permission to go to my bus when she threw her arms up and shrieked her words for the next few seconds, causing most people to stop and stare. “I AM SO SICK OF THAT BITCH BEING SUCH A BITCH! I am SICK of her doing this to you Connor! She’s gonna keep doing it until you’re old enough to wanna get married, and then what? She’s gonna make you get married and get your husband to divorce you? Can you handle that every six months? ‘Cause I can’t. And I can’t handle it now, where it happens every half freaking term! I just don’t get how you can stand it. Being pushed around like that.” She had raved and ranted for so long, I could see a teacher lingering at the side, unsure of whether she should intervene or not.

I grabbed her flailing arms before Steph herself walked past, and held them at her sides, looking up into her face. I was about a half a foot smaller than her, and this made Amber smile. “Amber, sweetheart. Go to your bus. Go home. Kick the crap out of that kid that lives next door if you want-“

“I hate him so much. I still haven’t forgiven him for getting me involved with that drugs thing with the police. AND the bastard stole my tricycle!”

“-but leave this alone. We’ll sort it out tomorrow. Okay?”

She glared at me for a second, but then sighed and threw her hands up in the air. “FINE.” She stuck her hands in her skirt pockets and stomped away. “See you tomorrow, if I’m not in prison,” she called as she got on her bus.

I smiled and waved, then hurried to my own, remembering that I had a responsibility to check if Jamie had remembered which bus took us home. I wondered if sometimes he did it on purpose – got on a different bus – just so he could have a little adventure. But it was probably just because he didn’t pay much attention to the details, like the piece of paper in the window of the bus that explained where it would be going.

I turned around while looking for him, just in time to see a group of girls staring at me. The eye contact seemed to encourage them, because they hurried over in astonishingly perfect formation.

“Hey, is it true-“ one of them began.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, it’s true.”

They all gasped and then shuffled away, talking all at once in scarily high voices. I shook my head in disbelief that news had actually travelled that quickly, and spun around, trying desperately to find my brother before our bus left and we had to walk home.

“Jamie,” I called, breathing a sigh of relief as I saw him get on a bus. He stepped back off the step so other people could get on while he looked around for who called his name. I waved my hand and pointed to the bus next to me. “This one’s ours.”