Written In The Sand

The classroom was stiflingly hot, the under-floor heating creating an uncomfortable heat that rose from the carpet and hung in the air. The desks were put together in pairs, all facing towards the Interactive board at the front. Today the board had pre-prepared notes scrawled across it. Mr Ross had a meeting and so a substitute teacher sat at his desk, her droopy eyes and occasional yawns betraying her obvious lack of interest for the Cold War.

Olivia sat in the second last row, next to Poppy, determinedly trying to not take peeps at the back of Jack’s head who sat one row down and a desk along. She could just make out the quiet murmuring of him and Ruaridh talking. She couldn’t be entirely sure but it sounded as if Ruaridh was mainly doing all the talking.

“Gawd, it’s hot in here,” Poppy drawled, putting down her pen and slipping off her cardigan.

“Uhuh,” Olivia mumbled, absent-mindedly. Laura Sinclair, the very Laura who Jack had banished from his sandpit all those years ago, was leaning towards Jack with fluttering eyelashes and asking him something. She laughed, a tinkly, flirtatious laugh as Jack replied and handed her a pen.

“You’re living in the clouds these days, Livi!” Poppy raised her voice just enough for the substitute, whose name had completely bypassed Olivia, to raise a cocked eyebrow in Poppy’s direction. “What are you looking at?” Poppy asked in hushed tones.

“Umm nothing,” Olivia said with a smile and returned to copying down the notes.

However Poppy would not settle for this answer and instead turned to see what Olivia had been looking at. She scoffed when she saw Laura leaning in close to Jack, flicking her hair from her face and smiling up at Jack from big doe eyes. “Pah, like she’s got a chance in hell. Nothing on you, Livia.”

“We’ve broken up,” Olivia whispered the words slowly and carefully, testing them for the first time. The very words chilled the air and Olivia wished she could take them back.

“You’ve what?” Poppy asked incredulously.

“We’ve split up,” Olivia raised her voice a little and dared look at Poppy who couldn’t quite comprehend what was being said.

“You’ve spli-“ she started loudly, causing some heads to turn round before Olivia clamped a hand over Poppy’s mouth.

“Please don’t say it,” Olivia pleaded, slowly releasing her hand. She could barely bear to say it herself, let alone have it repeated back to her.

“I, I don’t get it,” Poppy said, her face crumpled with confusion, “Why? You guys seemed so happy.”

Olivia felt yet another punch to her gut. “I don’t know.”

“He didn’t even tell you!” Poppy’s confusion turned to shock, “That prick! Wait until I see him at break!”

Panic started to rise in Olivia, “No, no, Poppy it was me! I split up with him.”

And again, Poppy’s face transformed into confusion. “But why?” she whispered almost inaudibly.

Olivia shrugged her shoulders, a gesture that usually showed indifference, “I really don’t know.”

Poppy had been baffled by this reply but as she tried to provoke another answer out of Olivia, her attempts were fruitless. Olivia simply didn’t really know why she ended it.

Break was an awkward affair. It became quite apparent that only Poppy knew of them breaking up and she was unusually quiet as she took her place next to Olivia. Olivia simply nibbled on an apple whilst taking sneaky side-ways glances at Jack who was pretending to be enthralled by whatever anecdote Ruaridh was telling him now.

Earlier that morning, once Olivia was sure Jack had left for school, she’d ran down to his garden to check if he’d got the message she’d written for him. The message had remained untouched but Olivia couldn’t be sure whether he’d read it or not. Perhaps he’d take Amelia out after school and then he’d find it.

Apart from Jack, Olivia and Poppy, the rest of the table remained the same. Lottie was scribbling something down in her notebook - perhaps reminding her of the one hundred things she simply must do today. Mae was chattering away to Lewis, who’d crossed the cantine specifically to talk to her. A pink blush had risen around Mae’s ears and cheeks and Olivia noticed how she nervously played with her fingers in her lap. Curiously, she’d also noticed the furious glances that Ruaridh sent in Lewis’ direction and the way the tendons in his neck strained as he furiously tried to keep up a conversation with Jack and Nate, his voice booming louder than needed.

Olivia sighed. Today would be yet another long day.

*

Hours later, back in the solace of her own bedroom, Olivia sat on her bed staring desolately at her laptop screen.

Just one little click was all it took. Just one…

The whole concept of updating her Facebook relationship status had never seemed so ridiculous to Olivia, but she knew it had to be done. She couldn’t just keep pretending and wait until Jack did it himself. Part of her wished Jack would hurry up and do it just so that she’d have no choice but to follow suit.

Screwing her eyes shut, she clicked the save button. Nothing happened.

Minutes passed and the changed relationship status appeared on her newsfeed.

Still nothing.

And then it happened.

Ping. Sean Roxburgh likes your relationship status.

Olivia groaned. To many of the girls at The Academy, Sean Roxburgh was devilishly attractive, his mop of dark brown hair, eyes of a pool of sea foam and cheeky grin, enough to melt their hearts. But Olivia was among the exemptions.

Sean Roxburgh didn’t do relationships. That wasn’t to say he didn’t do girls. He did a lot of girls. He just didn’t… hang onto them for long. Every Monday first period, Olivia would begrudgingly make her way into Advanced Maths cursing whoever made up the timetable. She’d take her place at her seat and then would have to listen for two solid hours whilst Sean Roxburgh and his friends talked about the weekend. Talked about who spewed. Who couldn’t handle their weed. Who shagged who. What poor girl made a fool out of themselves in front of Sean. It made Olivia sick.

And here he was liking her status.

Ping. Sean Roxburgh has commented on your relationship status.

Olivia read the message, almost able to taste her disgust.

“Hope you’re ok xxxx”

It was a simple message - one that would have been appreciated if it were from a friend. But Sean Roxburgh was definitely not a friend. In fact, Olivia could barely remember a single conversation exchanged between the two of them.

However, she was soon distracted when her phone began to vibrate and ring. She looked at the Caller ID. Lottie. Oh dear…

“WHAT THE!?” Lottie yelled down the phone the very second Olivia picked up. She held it away from her ear, wincing. “What happened?”

Olivia came to realise, she couldn’t be doing with this. She was already tired of being asked what had happened. “I split up with him,” she answered wearily, watching as she received more notifications.

Ping. Mae Morrison has commented on your relationship status.

“Hope you’re both ok <3”

Ping. Ruaridh Lamb has commented on your relationship status.

“Wtf maan!”

She quickly logged out, not wanting to see any more.

“Why?” Lottie demanded.

Olivia pulled at her roots, frustrated. “I don’t know Lottie. I guess I just wasn’t feeling it any more. Look I’m really busy, got maths. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye,” she rattled, ignoring Lottie’s attempts to speak. She ended the call abruptly before turning her phone off. No doubt Lottie would be infuriated at being so rudely hung up on.

The sky outside was darkening to a deep blue, casting dark shadows in Olivia’s room. If Jack had taken Amelia or Lily down to the sandpit, he surely would have gone back in by now. Olivia pulled on her quilted jacket and a scarf, knowing that along with the dark, the cold would have settled down for the night too. Deciding to go to the store and buy some junk food and perhaps a magazine, she grabbed her purse before going to check the sandbox.

Just as she’d suspected, Jack had taken his little sisters out to enjoy the early spring sun. Her message was erased and its place, a slither of Jack’s messy scrawl had been drawn into the sand.

“It’s cool.”

She’d been looking forwards to this moment all day. Just waiting for him to say it was alright, they’d still be friends but this, this was disappointing, completely devoid of any emotion. She stood there at the open sand box for a moment, two hands in her pocket as she looked down at the message.

Slowly, she rubbed the message out before working on her reply. She tried to think of something to say that didn’t sound whiny or desperate. But she was desperate. Her best friend could barely to speak to her.

“Can we be friends? Please? Xo”

Aware that her message oozed desperation, she swiftly put the lid back on before she could change her mind and leave him no message at all. As she leapt over the gate and into the lane, she refused to let any emotion take hold of her. She was just going to go to the store, buy some Cookie Dough ice cream then go straight back home.

Although this was her plan, it did not entirely work out this way. The first reason for this was due to her usual corner store having closed down the day before. The second reason, she could never have foreseen.

It happened once she’d arrived at a Tesco’s store she only knew for her school bus driving past it every day. Whilst searching for the ice-cream she spotted him. And unfortunately he spotted her too.

“Alright,” he said with a nod. Olivia noted the magazine in his hands. Nuts.

“Hey, Sean,” she said cautiously.