Good Riddance

I was currently standing in Billie’s arms at the door to his basement. This was an extremely nice place to be and I knew it was going to take rather a lot of self preservation – I say preservation in the light of what would happen to me if my mother got to Zach’s before me – to extract myself from his arms.

“I got to go” I said but made no attempt to move. Billie just smiled down at me as I looked up at him. I was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, a green singlet and a black hoodie. I had a pack of instant photographs, taken last night, tied with an elastic band in my bag. I was all the more reluctant to remove myself from his arms and his room because I had no idea when I would be able to see him again. This week? Next week? Next Month? – I shuddered at the prospect of the last one.

There came a gentle knocking on the door and Billie was obliged to remove his arms from around to answer it. It was Ollie.

“Are you going soon honey?” she asked, “It’s just if you’ve got to be back at Zach’s then...”

“Yeah I am” I said a little sadly as I turned around to face her.

“You’ll be back soon though, won’t you love?” she said.

“Yeah” I said with a half hearted attempt at a smile, “I’ll try”

“Come on,” said Billie, “I’ll walk you up?”

“Yeah” I said and he put his arm around my waist as we walked up the stairs his mom had just gone up. We stopped in the hallway for a moment by the front door while I put my shoes on; why I had chosen to wear black ankle boots with a three inch heel, I’ll never know. Although it did have some advantage; I could almost look Billie in the eye.

“I’ll write to you every day” he said.

“Promise?” I asked.

“Promise” he said.

“What are you doing this week?” I asked him.

“I’m going down to a musical festival in San Francisco on Monday but I’ll back that night” he said, “I’m also going to get myself a job; a proper one”

“A proper job, you?” I smiled.

“Oi Cheeky” Billie said. I glanced at my watch and saw it now said twenty to eleven; if I was going to be at Zach’s for eleven I was going to have to get a wriggle on.

“I’ve got to go” I said and kissed him. It wasn’t just a kiss, it was very passion filled one, knowing I might not feel his lips on mine for a while. He tangled his hands in my long hair and his tongue boldly sought mine as we kissed goodbye. I broke away a moment later with a slow smile and then I really did go to the front door and step outside.

“Bye Billie” I said and pecked him once more before turning down the path. I stopped the end and looked back to wave, Billie waved but Daniel came into view and hissed something at him before slamming the door shut. Bastard.

I turned back away and walked down the road a little way until I saw a familiar car at the end of the road. I approached it hesitantly but what I saw there was nothing threatening; more worrying. It was Jess’ car and as I peered in the window I saw she was asleep over the steering wheel. I opened the door and saw she was still strapped in by her seatbelt.

“Jess?” I asked her. She didn’t reply and I gently pushed her backwards so she was leaning against the seat. I looked at the car; she didn’t look as if she’d crashed and she didn’t have any injuries I could see except the nice forming of a black eye just beginning, she was breathing quite steadily and evenly.

“Jess?” I said again and shook her, she whimpered a little but didn’t open her eyes. I glanced at my watch; quarter to eleven. I had to get back to Zach’s but then again my mother wasn’t coming to twelve. I couldn’t just leave Jess here. I unclipped her seatbelt and half lifted, half pushed her over into the passenger seat and did her belt up again, I then got into the car and looked for the keys. They weren’t in the ignition so I bent down to see if she’d dropped them, they were under the foot mat and I shoved them in the ignition. Her car was a stick shift and my mini was an automatic; this could be interesting.

I wondered where I was going to take her. My initial thought was to take her home but I could imagine the looks on her parents faces if I dropped her off looking like this, so instead I opted for Tre’s house. It took my about ten minutes to drive there and when I got there I leapt out of the car and knocked on the door; I knew his dad wouldn’t be in and a very bleary eyed Tre opened the door.

“Wake up!” I said sharply to him. He grinned sleepily.

“Wassup Scar?” he asked. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Jess is the car, passed out and she won’t wake up” I said bluntly before turning away back to the car. Tre hurried after me, probably running his hands through his hair, the way he did when he was stressed. He strode around to the passenger seat as I turned the ignition off and he got her out and carried her back up to the house while I locked the car. He took her into his room; this was the first time I had been in Tre’s room. It was plastered with posters of various bands, some of which – even after the extensive education I had had over the past few months – I wouldn’t be able to name. Tre put Jess on the bed and immediately searched through her pockets.

“What are you doing?” I asked but my question answered itself as he looked in her inside jacket pocket and found a two little clear sealable packets and inside one was a small amount of white powder and in the other two little white pills. I could hazard a guess at what the white powder was but I didn’t know the pills.

“Cocaine?” I whispered. Tre didn’t say anything but his face had hardened.

“Thanks for bringing her here Scar” he said a moment later, “She’s in a right state, I’ll sort her out”

“She needs help Tre” I said, “If she’s in this mess – I mean when it was just weed it was fine but cocaine, that’s serious”

“I know” he said and then after a moment, “Don’t you have an irate parent after you?”

“Oh shit yeah!” I said glancing at my watch, it was ten past eleven, “Tre, I’ve got go but please tell me what’s going on yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said, “I’ll get her sorted”

“See you later” I said hugging him and heading back outside.

My duffel bag was in Jess’ car and I got it out and slung it over my shoulder before leaving the key under the wheel cap. I would have to run to Zach’s now because Tre’s house was in totally the opposite direction. I set off in a run, it was times like this that I was glad about having a hell of a lot of stamina from dancing and it took me little over twenty minutes to get to Zach’s. I headed up the front path and the door was opened by Zach before I even got there. He looked thoroughly pissed off.

“What the hell Scar?” he asked, “I said eleven”

“I’m sorry” I said, “I can explain”

I told him the story about Jess while I got my breath back and by the time I’d finished he understood.

“So what did we get up to last night then?” he asked, “Just so we both tell the same story”

“Erm we watched Nightmare on Elm Street, practiced our routine – my mum’ll like that – and then went to bed after talking for a long time at about one in the morning” I said quickly making in up.

“Sounds good to me” Zach said with a grin. Just then the doorbell rang.

“She’s early” I said, “Bitch”

Zach just rolled his eyes as he answered the door and approximately one minute later I found myself in the car with my mother. She obviously wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries this morning. The ride home was silent as she asked me questions that I didn’t answer; just because she had let me go out once didn’t mean I had forgiven her. Not that she knew what I had been doing last night.

“Get out Scarlett” she said as we reached home. I opened my door and went inside, walking up the stairs without even saying hello to my dad. Not that he didn’t follow me up to my room.

“You will stay in here doing your school work for the rest of the afternoon”

“Fuck you” I said to him. He didn’t act like he’d heard – he merely stepped out of my room and shut the door. I heard the lock click.

I was a prisoner once again.

***

Schools are a jungle. I had thought I knew this when I went to school back in England, everybody had their own cliques and friendship groups but it was nothing like this school. With three thousand pupils there were so many different groups that it was difficult to keep track of who you knew and who you didn’t, never mind being on talking terms with everyone.

It was Monday morning and I had been dropped off in the school car park by my mother. I watched dispassionately as she drove off down the drive and disappeared from sight before turning to look at the school buildings. They marched in a straight line away from me until they were almost out of sight and everywhere people were loitering or walking, always with a group or certainly with another person.
I was on my own.

I started to walk towards the performing arts building, this was the building I felt most at home in, it was where I spent the majority of my time while I was at school. I smiled at two girls in my year as they passed, one of them grinned nervously and the other merely looked at the floor. I sighed and walked on. The problem was that I was still Billie’s girlfriend in the eyes of most of the student body, I didn’t mind having this status while Billie was at school because he was there to consume most of my time but now he’d gone, I was alone. I couldn’t even see the guys much anymore because I usually had Mr Carlson on my back, in his usual overzealous way of trying to keep me and my friends apart.

I had often wondered why Billie was scary to most of the kids at school and one day he had told it to me. It was because of the bridge, of Shell, of Tre and because of Joey most of all. Everyone down at the group had passed Shell’s inspection to be there, albeit a rather rudimentary one, but still an inspection and she took all the people there under her wing; she took care of them. Billie was a favourite of hers because he had been frequenting the bridge since he was twelve when his elder brother used to go down there. So Billie had Shell on his side and therefore he had Joey on his side and Joey was formidable and didn’t stand for anybody’s crap. Anybody tried to mess with “Billie’s girl” and Joey would have them. This apparently made me frightening to some of the students – the fact I had this boyfriend who if he wanted could make all hell break loose. I had tried to imagine this of Billie and failed. The fact that I was now supposedly Billie-less didn’t seem to make them any more willing to talk to me, most of them knew the circumstances of my home life at the moment and most of them were taking the same attitude on it: “Not our problem”. Thanks.

The arts building was cool inside and I stepped into the building and walked over to the snug. I smiled when I saw Jess and Tre in there and walked in.

“Morning” I said to them as I threw my bag down and sat on the sofa they weren’t occupying.

“Hello” said Tre to me. Jess didn’t speak, she had her head in her hands and was leaning back against the sofa.

“How is she?” I asked.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here” she said grumpily.

“Well answer me then” I said equally as sharp.

“My head hurts and I have an itchy nose” she said. You’re also extremely irritable I thought to myself.

“Itchy nose?” I asked, “That’s a bit random”

Jess didn’t reply but Tre shook his head frantically. I made a questioning face at him and he motioned snorting cocaine and I realised what he was talking about; Jess’ nose was itchy because she hadn’t had any crack to take her mind off it for a while, evidently Tre wasn’t letting her out of his sight. There came a knock at the door and I looked up through the glass to see Zach stood there. I got up and opened the door, waiting for him to speak.

“Mr Carlson’s looking for you because you’re not in your homeroom” he said.

“The bell hasn’t rung yet?” I said.

“It has” he said looking over my shoulder at Jess, “It rang two minutes ago”

“Fuck” I said, “Alright, thanks Zach”

I watched Zach turn to go to his own homeroom and walk away down the corridor.

“Tre,” I said turning back slightly, “Can I just talk to you outside I sec?”

Tre just nodded and accompanied me outside after I had picked up my bag and left the snug.

“How long do you think she’s been this bad?” I asked him softly.

“I don’t know” he said, “It was only nine months ago that she really got into smoking weed. I’m guessing she started on the harder shit about four months ago and I didn’t really notice, I feel so awful because it was me who introduced her to Joey and he’s the one who’s been supplying her I guess”

“Tre,” I said, “It’s not your fault”

He half nodded but I could tell he wasn’t convinced.

“You didn’t know she was going to try harder stuff” I said, “You can’t be there to chaperone her all the time”

“MISS ROBERTSON!”

I closed my eyes for a moment as I heard Mr Carlson’s voice behind me. I turned around slowly to face him.

“Why aren’t you in homeroom?” he asked me as he got closer, “Either of you?”

“I didn’t hear the bell, sorry sir” I said.

“Mr Wright?” he asked.

“I’m just going” said Tre.

“Right get gone then” he said, “And take the young lady in the tech room with you, Miss Robertson will come with me”

He practically marched me away from Tre and out towards the K block where my form room was.

“Why are you with them?” he asked me aggressively.

“Because they’re my friends” I spat at him, “And you can’t stop me seeing them”

“No I can’t, I can just put you in morning detention as well as lunchtimes ones” he said.

“Why are you doing this sir?” I asked him, “What’s it to you?”

“Your mother asked me to” he said shortly.

“But what’s she to you sir?” I asked him, “You’re not doing to any other miscreant in the school.”

“I like to help people out” he said.

“You’re fucking her aren’t you?” I asked him wildly, wrenching my arm away from his hand as I said it.

“I am not” Mr Carlson said while glowering at me, “That’s an after school detention Miss Robertson; one for specious allegations and the other for obscene language”

“Fuck off!” I shouted at him and whirled away down the corridor with silent tears on my face. He yelled at me that he expected to see me in his lunchtime detention at one o clock. I flipped him off and continued to walk away.

I wasn’t going to stay in school now so I walked out of the school gates and down through the town. I had no idea where I was going, Billie was out of town today, my friends were at school and there was no way in hell I was going home.

In the end I turned my feet towards the road that led to the bridge, I knew there wouldn’t be many people there because most of the people who hung out down there were in their school years. It took me a while to actually walk down the side of the bridge to get to the arches but I hadn’t anywhere else to go. I was glad I did though because when I reached the bottom I saw Cassidy and Jo sat on the sofas, listening to a battery powered stereo of Jo’s.

“Hey Scar” said Jo as she saw me and got up and hugged me, “Haven’t seen you in ages, how you doing?”

“I’m alright” I said and then promptly burst into tears.

“Aw babe!” Cassidy stood up as well and they both hugged me tightly before drawing me onto the sofa.
“Tell us all”

***

“What a bastard!” said Cassidy after I had gotten right up to the events of this morning. I nodded and accepted the tissue Jo offered me to dry my eyes on.

“So what you going to do now?” Cassidy asked.

“I don’t know” I said still half sobbing and dabbing my eyes, “I would go see Billie but he’s in San Francisco today”

“When’s he back?” Cassidy asked.

“I don’t know” I said, “Later I think”

“You wanna go wait for him there?” she asked, “He won’t mind”

“Um okay” I said getting up, “Give me something to do”

We had just reached the top of the bridge when I heard a crunching of car wheels and a car door slamming.

“SCARLETT ROBERTSON!”

I froze as I heard my mother’s screech from behind me. I turned around as did Jo and Cassidy to face my mother as she stomped towards me and slapped me full across the face.

“Look Lady...” said Cassidy as I twisted away from my mother she stepped in front of me.

“Who are you?!” my mother asked irately of Cassidy.

“None of your business but you just slapped my friend” she said as I stood up again.

“This is my daughter!” she said, “I can hit her if I want for all the stupid things the little slut has done today. Get in the car Scarlett”

“Scar –'

Jo started to talk but I shook my head at her, “It’s alright Jo”

My mum simply gripped my in a vice grip by the upper arm and practically threw me in the car. Jo made a calling gesture with her hand and I mouthed “Call Billie, tell him tomorrow night”. She seemed to get the message because she nodded as my mother sped away leaving them both in a cloud of dust.