Good Riddance

The next day Billie was waiting for me on the other side of the gate. I tapped in the pin as ever and stepped through the gate to greet him but I didn’t give him a hug when he opened his arms to me.

“What?” he asked me as I stepped past him.

“Where’s Marie?” I asked coolly, we hadn’t even set off for school, instead we were stood on the curb outside of the suburb.

“She’s gone home?” asked Billie looking at me weirdly, “I don’t know”

“Well that’s nice!” I snapped and started to walk, “Screw ‘em and leave ‘em”

“Whoa!” said Billie hurrying to keep up with me, “What happened to the whole not giving a shit thing?”

I huffed and didn’t answer him but kept walking until he caught my arm and physically stopped me from walking any further, we were stood under a large Poplar tree on the sidewalk and leaves blew around us.

“So you do care?” Billie asked me.

“What about?” I asked him staring moodily at the floor, I felt a little like a spoilt brat, undoubtedly I looked like one as well.

“Me fucking other girls” he put it bluntly and I winced at his wording.

“See!” he crowed in delight, “Scarlett, if you just told me then I would have done something about it”

“What makes you think I care?” I shouted at him, “Maybe I’m just in a really bad mood this morning and I think you should go – urgh!”

I glared at him and the stalked off, or at least tried too. Billie caught hold of my upper arm again and practically dragged me backwards, my back hit the trunk of the Poplar tree and I was about to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing when his lips crashed onto mine. I struggled for a moment before I realised subconsciously that he wasn’t going to let go and his lips felt so good on mine, I relaxed back onto the Poplar tree and his hands let go of my wrists, one came to my side and the other to the tree trunk behind me. His mouth opened slightly and I followed his lead and tilted my head slightly to the right and changed the shape of my lips. I had my hand on his back and I had no idea how it got there, we broke apart.

The immediate effect of the kiss was totally blankness. I felt warm and like a bubbly feeling had awoken in my stomach but I couldn’t even remember my own name, never mind his.

“Scarlett?” Billie whispered after a moment.

“Uh-huh?” I asked him still slightly spaced out.

“Are you alright?” he asked. I shook myself mentally and then bit my lip.

“Um, wow” I said, “Wh-what, what was that for?”

“Because you’re sexy when you’re mad and also I happen to be very fond of you” said Billie with a smile.

“Thank you?” I asked. I was still leaning against the tree and I hadn’t realised that he was stood between my jeaned legs. I didn’t make any attempt to move, I just prayed with all my heart that some neighbours weren’t about to see me and tell my mum; that would mean grounding forever.

“Did you like it?” asked Billie.

“What?” I asked.

“The kissing dipshit?” he asked.

“Oh, so that’s what that was called?” I asked teasingly. Billie looked melodramatically hurt and I lifted his chin with my fingers.

“I loved it” I said with a smile.

Billie didn’t say anything else to me, he merely lowered his head and I didn’t protest as his lips captured mine again. I put my arms around his neck and stood up on my tiptoes to reach him easier, his mouth opened again and his tongue licked my bottom lip, my mouth fell open and he took advantage of that to slip his tongue into my mouth. His hands were firmly attached to my sides and I kissed back with fervour. During this kiss my mind was going at about six million miles a second and I was over thinking everything from the way his kiss felt to what people would think if they saw us. His kiss felt wonderful but the consequences wouldn’t be quite so wonderful.

“Fucking finally!”

I heard a yell behind Billie and I nearly whacked my head on the poplar trunk as we broke apart.

“Do you mind?” asked Billie keeping me firmly behind him and out of the sight of the people although I knew it was Kiera, Jess, Mike and Tre.

“That is Scarlett behind there right?” asked Mike’s voice.

“Obviously” said Jess side stepping Billie and grabbing the blushing me from behind Billie’s body and pulling me to the forefront.

“Do you mind?” Billie asked grabbing me back again and holding me firmly to his side.

“So are you two like dating or something?” asked Kiera.

“Erm,” said Billie looking down at me, “We are, I think”

“We are?” I asked him and at the look he gave me I smiled and nodded, “We are”

“Awesome!” said Kiera, “Now let’s go get some breakfast”

With that the others turned around and walked away from the school, down the road toward the lake and the lake front cafes. Billie grinned it at me and pulled me to his side, he grabbed my hand and we walked hand in hand down the road.

We got to school really late that day and I couldn’t help freaking out more than slightly. I was terrified that the school would have phoned home and told them I wasn’t there or I was going to get expelled or something. I voiced these fears to Billie and he grinned down at me.

“How do you think I’m still here?” he asked with a laugh.

“Erm,” I said without much idea, “But don’t your parents tell you off?”

“Ollie’s not in often enough” said Billie sadly, “And as for the other wanker who lives with us, he can try and sometimes succeed in really getting me but not very often”

“Getting you?” I questioned worriedly.

“Nothing to worry about” he said with an easy smile and he kissed my cheek to sooth me, “Trust me, the school have much more important things to worry about than people skiving”

I nodded my head showing that I believed him, it turned out it was break when we got back and besides there was something much worse waiting for me at school than an irate teacher.

It came in the form of an irate Marie.

She stormed across the front of the school toward us and I think Billie was as shocked as I was.

“What the fuck Billie?!” she shouted at him.

“Marie –'

“Leave it out Billie, I don’t give a shit” she said, “I want to talk to this little whore here”

“Don’t talk to –'

“I thought I told you shut the fuck up!” Marie shouted at him before turning back to me; I had my weight on my back foot and was leaned away from her, my hand was still clasped in Billie’s and I wanted nothing more than to hide behind him but I guessed that would be a little bit childish.

“What Marie?” I asked her in a calm but steady voice which made Billie look down at me in shock, this was a bit different, even I was taken aback by myself.

Marie didn’t say anything she merely stepped closer to me and before I knew it she had slapped me full across the face making my head snap into Billie’s arm. I let out my gasp of breath and tears formed in my eyes. I did the only thing that really came to my mind, I turned and ran. I guessed I was definitely being childish now but I didn’t care, my cheek was on fire and I ran into the main building with cooling tears running down my face. I threw myself into the girls toilets and into a cubicle, locking the door behind me.

Approximately five seconds I had done so the door opened again, banging into the wood behind it.

“Scarlett!” I heard Billie’s voice. I stood up and opened the door and leaned against the pink door frame.

“You’re not supposed to be in here” I said with a few more tears spilling.

“Do you think I care about that?” he asked coming toward me carefully. I stepped towards him and cried into his shoulder, I wasn’t even crying because it hurt anymore, I was crying because of the shock.

“I’m sorry Scarlett” he whispered into my hair.

“Sorry?” I burbled, “It’s not your fault”

“It is” he said, “I’d should have known she’d be jealous”

“Be quiet” I said to him, “It is not your fault.”

He held me away from him and looked at my cheek, he stroked it softly and I shuddered from the coldness of his hand against my still flaming cheek. He moved away from me to the sink and got some of the paper and putting it under the cold tap he started to bathe my cheek, it felt wonderful because he was cooling it down. I sobbed again a little with the whole overwhelming nature of this morning.
Billie finished bathing my cheek and he kissed me softly on the lips. I put my arms around the back of his neck and moved myself closer to his body; since I had discovered this kissing thing I couldn’t get enough of it.

“Hey!”

We broke apart at a voice behind us. I turned around to see a girl stood behind us with a grin on her face.

“This is a girls bathroom,” she said, “Go find somewhere else to make out”

Billie just smiled and putting his arm around my waist we left the bathroom and walked into the now empty corridor.

“I really should be getting to physics” I said softly to him, “Where should you be?”

“I’ve got a free now” he said.

“Stupid Seniors who get a ridiculous amount of frees” I mumbled.

“Well at least I can walk you to class now” he said.

“How very gentlemanly” I said with a giggle, “It’s in A Block”

“A Block?!” Billie asked, “Well we better get going then seeing as that’s about four miles away”

“Not quiet” I admonished him. He took my hand and we walked in comfortable silence from the L Block we were in directly to the A Block. He kissed me goodbye at the door and said he’d wait for me at the end of the lesson.

Physics was despairingly boring, it always was, I didn’t get it and had given up trying a long time ago. I received a few interested looks as I entered the classroom and I guessed that was because I still had a bright red mark on my cheek.

The bell rang not a moment too late and I hurried out of class to find Billie Joe waiting for me. I smiled and together we walked down to the lunch room, getting even more looks because he had my hand held tightly in his. I saw Mr Carlson stood outside his maths classroom, he looked down at mine and Billie’s clasped hands and he shook his head at me to show his disappointment, I bit my lip and looked down at the floor so I didn’t have to meet his gaze. Who was he to judge me anyway?

I had to go home at normal time that night because my mum was starting to get a little suspicious of me staying out every night after dance to hang out with Wilhelmina. It was ironic really that the day I actually became Billie’s girlfriend was the day I couldn’t hang out with him. It sucked to be honest. Dad was back at a civilised hour this evening which made a change so mum insisted that we out to a lake side restaurant as a family to talk.

“Go get changed darling” said mum.

“I was planning to go out like this” I said.

“You are not going out like that!” mum said as if I was being silly, “Now go get changed”

I almost rolled my eyes in front of her but then I realised what company I was keeping and quickly turned away and went up the stairs. I turned to my closet trying to visualise what I was going to wear. I opened it and picked out a black dress top, I turned to my draws and got out a pair of black tights and white long sleeved t-shirt, I threw all this on; the black dress top came down to mid thigh so with black tights I could easily wear it without anything under it. I got a pair of silver heels out of my draw and after I had put them on I went back downstairs.

“You look lovely” said mum, “much better”

“Thanks” I said and together we went out the door.

“Are you sure you can walk in those?” asked my dad sceptically, looking at my heels.

“Yes dad” I said, “I’m a dancer remember, I have a good sense of balance”

Dad just smiled as we got into the car and headed out of the community. There was people walking around the fast darkening streets and I saw a group of five people stood on the street corner near us and my heart sank but still beat faster as we had to stop for traffic lights next to them. I slumped low in my seat but I was pretty sure Jess had seen me, I just prayed that Billie would make her not say anything.

“Look at those people” said my mum despairingly, “Where are their parents? Why are they hanging about on the streets scruffying up the place?”

“They might just be going somewhere” I whispered wishing the lights would hurry up and change.

“Yeah, with cigarettes in their mouths, undoubtedly with something other than tobacco in them” said my dad dismissively.

“You don’t know that” I said, “You shouldn’t judge them”

My dad just made a despairing noise and drove on as the lights changed. I twisted around to look out of the back window to see Billie blow a kiss at me, I caught it and put it on my lips.

I saw him laugh.