Dearest Kit

Chapter Twenty Three

   I sat eating my lunch on one of the couches at the back of the form room. I was watching my wristwatch carefully, waiting for the moment when my phone would ring and Jimmy would save me from conversations of drunken nights and tragic regrets; neither of which I cared particularly about. 

   “What time’s he coming?” Dahlia noticed how often I glanced at the clock on the wall, hanging above the door. She had been the only one I had told about the whole thing, because I thought she’d be good at playing along, and she’d appreciate the joke. 

   “Anytime now, he said he’d call,” I explained. 

   “I didn’t realize Kit was coming down today?” Beth frowned.

   “I do know other guys,” I said jokingly, although in actuality that was another thing which grated on me, the fact they thought I didn’t have any other friends, like I didn’t deserve to know cool people.

   “Oh, right,” she seemed a little taken a back by that but I thought I noticed Dahlia giggling, pretending it was something funny Gracie had said. 

   We sat in near silence for a little bit, neither one of us wanting to give in and ask, or tell, who was in fact coming to see me. I continued to chew on the rubbery cheese of my baguette and nudged Dahlia, meaning to say something once I’d finished my mouthful when Sacha caved and asked first. 

   “Who is it then? Coming into school?” She wondered, her tone overly casual. 

   “Just this guy from my old school,” I replied. 

   “How come Dahlia knows him then?” Beth pouted. 

   “We went to a concert together,” I said truthfully. 

   “What’s his name?” Sacha queried. 

   “Jimmy Coltrane? He was in a band for a little while, The Bones?” I asked unsurely. 

   “Isn’t he the guitarist in your band?” Gracie pointed out. 

   “Oh yeah, I’ve probably mentioned him before, he’s really nice and cool and like a brother to me, I think you guys will like him,” I grinned. 

   “I’m sure we’ve met him, haven’t we, Beth?” Sacha turned to Beth, who nodded vigorously. 

   “I don’t know,” I shrugged, as my phone began to vibrate, “I’m gonna’ go get him,” I replied to the text quickly before walking the long corridor in the entrance of our sixth form building to the tall, grand front door. I pulled it open and Jimmy was leaning against the scaffolding, in his scuffed skinny jeans and black shirt, done up to the top. He was wearing a burgundy coloured beanie hat over his brown hair and his cheeks had turned ruddy in the cold. 

   “Welcome to my humble abode,” I said happily, taking his hand and pulling him into the warm. 

   “How are you?” Jimmy asked, as we stood in the entrance hall, his arms around me. 

   “I’m alright,” I nodded, “they’re still being annoying, I don’t know, I might crack soon.” 

   “Maybe you should just say something?” He suggested, taking my hand and starting to walk back down the hallway to the form room. 

   “I think it would make it worse,” I admitted sheepishly. 

   “But it can’t be easy for you to keep it all inside, to go without saying anything?” He thought. 

   “Yes,” I agreed, “but I don’t want it to be uncomfortable, I’m at school with these people like seven hours a day, if we fell out, I think it would be unbearable.”