Say It One More Time

That night I laid in bed, overwhelmed by the sudden urge to cry. Realisation had hit me earlier on that I would never really be free of Cayne, I hadn’t been myself today at school… I never shout at anyone, and I feel so bad…

What makes me feel even worse though, is knowing that I’m going to be exactly the same tomorrow, I can’t just pull my walls down because I might feel a bit bad about shouting at someone…

Thankfully, Ally hadn’t pushed me into talking on the way home, or told Laura and James how reclusive I’d been… They’d only have worried about me, and told mum and dad… That’s something that I could really do without…

-~-

I woke the next morning with sore eyes from crying… Stupid bloody boys… The world would be so much better without them…

I decided to have a quick shower before getting dressed once again into my new uniform. I did my hair and makeup the same as yesterday, only with red eye shadow instead of silver.

We got to school early, and Ally insisted that we went to meet her friends before going in.
She soon found all of the people she introduced me to yesterday and started chatting.
“Where’s my lover boy?!” I heard Gerard shout, noticing the absence of Frank, this was the first time I’d heard him talk… Definitely an interesting first impression, considering that I’d seen him kiss Iris yesterday…
“Seriously bro… I don’t think that’s legal… You’re nearly three years older than him…” Mikey piped up, smacking Gerard around the back of his head.
“That hurt Mikey… Physically and emotionally…”
“Ignore those two, they get so over dramatic at times…” Iris whispered to me
“Hey! No we don’t!” they both shouted in unison, obviously hearing Iris’s statement, causing her to laugh.

“Well, we better get inside now, you can worry about your ‘lover boy’ later Gee” Ally announced, grabbing my arm and directing me to my first class, seeing as Frank wasn’t there to do it.

Once in the room, I took the first empty seat I saw, set my bag down, and pulled out a piece of paper to doodle on.
About half an hour into the extremely boring lesson, I sensed someone sit beside me. I glanced up noting that it was Frank, and looked straight back down again.
He said nothing to me, just took out his book, and started writing.

As soon as the lesson ended, he jumped up to leave the class. As I was getting up, I saw that he dropped a folded piece of paper on the desk. I picked it up to give back to him, but saw that it had my name on it.

Slowly I opened it, to see one word scrawled across it: Sorry. No more, no less. Just sorry.

I folded up the piece of paper and slid it into my pocket alongside my phone, and left the room.

Unfortunately, I had no idea where I was going, and when I eventually reached the room, I was 10 minutes late…
I was let off for being new, and took the only available seat left, next to who I could only guess was one of the ‘popular’ guys. He was tall and muscular, and immediately eyed me up and down.
“Jace… What’s your name?” he smirked, making it way too obvious that he was chewing gum…
“What’s it to you?” I replied coldly.
“Well, such a beautiful girl must have a beautiful name to match…”
“Well if you insist, my name is FUCK YOU, CREEP.” I sneered before turning away to get on with my work.
“ You better watch yourself, bitch”
“Oh really… You’d hit a girl?” I laughed “Pathetic…”
“I’m just saying… One more wrong move…” he hissed, not liking that I was confronting him.
“Fuck. You.” I smiled.
I could hear his breathing getting heavier as I made him even angrier, this was actually quite fun.
Throughout the entire lesson, I could this ‘Jace’ guy clenching and unclenching his fists, it just made me laugh.

The bell rang for lunch, so I picked up my stuff and left the room. I was barely in the corridor when I heard my name being called. I turned to see Jace walking towards me.
“I told you to watch yourself, but did you listen? No?” he scoffed. I saw him pull his fist back, ready to hit me, but little did he know that I had prepared myself for this as soon as his attitude turned in class.
I blocked everything he tried, laughing.
“You have no idea why I had to move school. If I was you, I’d keep it that way” I glared at him, as he stared at me looking stunned.
I turned around made my way to the canteen, smiling.
I soon felt that someone was walking at my side and looked up to Frank, looking very nervous.
“Hey… Urmm… I know you don’t want me to talk to you, but, that was seriously amazing… No one’s ever done that to Jace before… I wish I had the nerves to do it myself…” he sighed “Anyway… I’ll leave you alone now… I guess I’ll see you at the table…” he quickly sped off in the direction of the canteen before I could even try and stop him.

I found Ally waiting for me again, and we quickly joined the queue.
“Is it true?” she asked
“Is what true?” I was seriously confused.
“That you held off Jace McIntosh?” she sounded stunned, but so happy at the same time
“I really don’t see what’s so good about it”
“Maybe cos he’s the school bully? He’s been giving us lot grief for the last four years!”
As we reached the table, I saw that Frank was animatedly recreating what had happened with a huge grin on his face, everyone else just sat there looking on in disbelief.
“You have no idea why I had to move school. If I was you, I’d keep it that way! And then she just turned and walked away! It was awesome!”
As soon as he saw me though, he shut up and sat down.
“Did that actually happen Lorena?” Gerard asked me dubiously.
“Yeah” was all I replied with
“Seriously?!” he gasped
“Yes”
“Oh my god! I think I actually love you!” he squealed, jigging around in his seat.
“It really wasn’t that big of a deal…” I muttered slowly picking at my food “Ally… I think I’m gonna just go to the library for a bit” I excused myself and made my way to the library, I couldn’t be doing with all the attention. Everyone in the school stopped what they were doing as I walked past and started whispering about me.

-~-

I decided to head back to my next class early, to allow me time to get lost.
As I turned one of the corners, I noticed that Jace kid. He had someone else pinned up against the lockers, slamming them into them with a lot of force.
I moved closer and managed to see that it was Frank. I moved as quietly as I could to find out what was going on when I heard my name being mentioned.
“Huh?! I said, did you get that skanky bitch Lorena to do what she did this morning?! I’ve seen you with her! Who else would it’ve been?!” I was shocked. He was blaming Frank for what I had done, and now this was happening… I swear I’m just bad luck waiting to happen.
What surprised me the most was that Frank wasn’t even trying to defend himself.

Silently, I crept up behind Jace, signalling to Frank to be quiet. Once I was behind him, I swiftly ‘chopped’ my hand into his shoulder, causing him to drop Frank to the floor, being as short as he is, he fell a long way, with a loud thud. It sounded painful.

“What the fuck?! Haven’t you had enough?!” Jace snarled at me
“Honestly? Yes I have, but clearly you haven’t learnt anything” Once again he took a swing at me that I blocked. “Really, this is just boring me, Jace.” I sighed as I twisted his arm around, making it impossible for him to try and hit me again.
“Now, seriously, I’d give up, before you get even more humiliated. This morning is already the talk of the school.”
“Fuck you” was all he could think of to retaliate with before he stormed off, so I took it as a victory.
“Come on” I said, holding my hand out to help Frank up off the floor.
He looked up at me bewildered “Thanks” he smiled, taking my hand and almost pulling me over with him.
“Why were you down here anyway?” I asked him, in an attempt to make conversation.
“Well… You’re probably gonna hate me even more… But I was coming to find you, I know you said you wanted me to stay away, but after you turned up late earlier, I thought that I should at least help you get to your lessons on time… I am your ‘buddy’ after all…” he looked down at his shoes, as we walked, he also had his hands stuffed in his trouser pockets.

I sighed feeling really bad now… He actually thought I hated him…
“You know… I never hated you…” he head shot up when I spoke.
“Really?”
“Yeah… I know I shouted at you… And I’m sorry… It’s just hard… I can’t even begin to tell you why… But thank you… For listening to me… Even if it was crap advice,” he laughed at the last bit, smiling as he did.