Your Inaccessible Light

On Monday, I sit in the cafeteria with Amber, Harlee, Tristan and Keegan. Harlee spends most of lunchtime talking about how amazing Saturday night was and Keegan spends most of lunchtime shaking his head and rolling his eyes. I am somewhat relieved when we are interrupted by a pretty petite girl with choppy brown hair.

“Hi Maggie,” Amber grins.

“Hey chick,” the brown haired girl greets.

“What’s up?”

“We’ve got gaps left for sports day. Any takers?” she asks, holding up her clipboard.

“Well I’m already doing long jump and triple jump,” Amber explains, “And the boys are booked up too.”

“Looks like it’s up to you two,” Maggie observes, turning her attention to Harlee and I.

“Fuck no, I don’t do sports,” Harlee frowns.

“Ehh…it was worth a try,” Maggie shrugs, “What about you newbie?”

“What’s left?” I ask, glancing at her clipboard, “I’m a runner, if that’s what you need.”

“Only the 1500m I’m afraid.”

“I wouldn’t mind doing that.”

“Look at you, we’ve got ourselves a long distance runner,” Maggie grins, “I like you.”

“What’s sports day like here?” I ask absent-mindedly.

“Absolutely mental,” Keegan mutters.

“You love it Keegan,” Harlee smirks, “You practically count down the days every year. You live for sports day.”

“I think it’s fun,” he cries defensively.

“It is pretty fun,” Amber admits, “I think it’s the only school activity that people actually enjoy. The whole school gets into it. You’ll see.”

As promised, the atmosphere around school is eccentric when sports day arrives. I walk through the doors with Ronnie and Max, stunned by the amount of colour. The walls are plastered with banners and signs supporting the different houses. People are sporting t-shirts with the name and colour of their house on, and dotted along the corridors are tables littered with pots of face paint, t-shirts, banners and other propaganda. To say our school goes all out on sports day is an understatement.

“This is so gay,” Ronnie mutters, shaking his head.

“You’re no fun,” I frown, elbowing him in the ribs.

“I think you’ll find my definition of fun is just a bit different to yours sweetie,” he smirks. I roll my eyes as we continue to walk through the corridors, the crowds all parting to allow Ronnie and Max to pass; no one dares to get in their way.

“Noelle!” I hear someone yell and I look around to see who it is. Over by the face paint table for our house I see Keegan. I should have known that goofball would be at the centre of the festivities.

“Come on guys,” I plead, tugging Ronnie and Max over to the table.

“Noelle, you must be fucking joking,” Ronnie sneers.

“Please guys,” I beg.

“Sorry Noelle, I’m out,” decides Max.

“Fine, I’ll meet you guys later. You’re coming to watch, right?”

“Only cos you’ll kill me if I don’t,” Ronnie smirks, planting a kiss on my cheek before him and Max disappear into the crowd.

“Hey Keegan,” I smile as I reach the table. He has a purple tie around his head and purple paint splodged across his face.

“You want some?” he asks, holding up the tub of face paint.

“Sure,” I agree, dabbing a splodge on each cheek.

“Looking good,” Maggie giggles, appearing behind the table. I have learned that Maggie is our student head of house. She picks up another purple tie and ties it round my head.

“You look like a hippie,” she remarks.

“Smile!” a voice calls. Keegan, Maggie and I turn to see a boy dressed head to toe in purple, his entire face painted and his hair dyed. We all laugh as he snaps a photo.

“What do you look like?!” I gasp.

“Gotta get in the spirit, you know. Purple pride,” he chuckles, flicking his purple hair out of his face.

“Noelle, where’s your boyfriend?” Tristan asks as he and Amber arrive at the table.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Okay, well whatever you want to call him.”

“He doesn’t really like this kind of thing. He thinks it’s stupid,” I shout, raising my voice so that I can be heard over the noise of people chanting through megaphones.

“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s coming to watch you run though, right?”

“He better,” I smirk. My parents wouldn’t let me take P.E.; they said I am better than that, but it doesn’t stop me from running on sports day. I’m good at running, particularly long distance, hence why I’m running the girls 1500m.

“Why’s he always so grumpy though? Does he never have any fun?” Tristan persists and I laugh.

“He isn’t as bad as he makes himself out to be,” I admit, “He just likes to keep up that rebel without a cause, too cool for school thing.”

“Personally, I think he’s attractive,” Maggie declares, wrapping her arm supportively round my shoulder.

“Really Mags?” the boy with purple hair whose name is David sighs.

“Yes! He’s all dark and brooding and intimidating. That’s so hot.”

“What’s attractive about someone who does drugs and gets into fights all the time?” David groans, rolling his eyes.

“Well no one will mess with you. If anyone ever hurts Noelle, can you imagine the shit that would go down?”

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be pretty,” Tristan frowns. My mind flashes back to the other night when Ronnie and I encountered that group of guys on the way home. I recall the way he gripped tightly to my hand, the way he kept me close to him, the way he pushed me behind him the second they brought me into it. I feel myself blushing.

Once all the events are over, the scores are added up and the winners are announced. I came first in the 1500m and our house came second out of six overall. As promised, Ronnie and Max came to watch, although they didn’t exactly look thrilled to be there. That doesn’t bother me though; the fact that they showed up is enough to make me happy. Amber, Harlee, Tristan, Keegan and I decide to go out for dinner that evening to celebrate. We go to the burger restaurant downtown that they apparently always hang out at. As expected, Ronnie and his friends decline to join us.