Sorry (ON HOLD)

Chapter 9

As soon as the final bell rang, I was out the door.

I rummaged through my bag in attempt to find my phone. It wasn’t working very well. I had so much stuff in there it wasn’t even funny.

Just when I had almost given up on looking for it, I received a text and it lit up. I pulled it out and looked at the message.

‘Waiting outside.’

‘I’ll be right there.’ I couldn’t believe I was going to see him again. I started walking towards the front gate.

There he was, leaning against the brick wall, looking at the ground, wearing blue jeans and a simple black shirt that pulled tight against his skin, showing a hint of a 6 pack.

He was better than my memory. In one hand he was holding a single red rose. He looked up and saw me.

A smile came across his face and he walked towards me. ‘Hey babe.’

‘Oh, I’m babe now?’ I asked smiling up at him as he gave me a hug.

‘Only if it’s alright with you.’  

‘Haha, that’s fine.’ He lent down and kissed my check.

‘I missed you; I think I annoyed the boys a bit though. Wasn’t focused enough.’

‘Yeah, Will told me about it yesterday,’ I laughed.

‘Haha, of course he did. I got you a flower,’ he said, handing it to me.

‘It’s beautiful thank you, you didn’t have to.’

‘I know, I wanted to,’ he responded.

Julian grabbed my hand and held it tightly in his as we walked towards the front gate.

I could see people staring at us, it made me self-conscious. Then I heard 2 girls behind us laughing.

‘I didn’t know there was a girl in The Collective,’ they snickered. My heart dropped.

I knew Julian had heard what they said. They had said it loud enough; they had wanted us to hear it. They had already ruined my life, I didn’t want them hurting Julian.

As we walked out they front gates and around the corner, I stopped walking and let go of Julian’s hand. He turned back and looked at me confused.

‘You don’t have to do this,’ I told the ground, too scared to look into his eyes.

‘Do what?’ He frowned, looking confused.

‘The things those girls said, it’s not going to stop there. You can shrug it off and smile for now, but not forever. This is just the start believe me. I’ve had them on my back since Will left school. They won’t stop until there is nothing left of you. I don’t want that to happen to you. I’ve had people leave me because of them. It always ends in heart break.’ I wasn’t able to look into his eyes as I spoke.

He walked towards me, towering over me. He lifted my head up with his finger. I looked into his eyes, oh those beautiful blue, sparkling eyes.

‘Do you really think that I’m going to leave you because of some stupid school girls? Is that the kind of guy you think I am? Maddy, I’m not gonna leave you like that.’ There was a pause as he lent in closer to me, ‘I’m not like those other people,’ he whispered. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my forehead.

We walked along the path, hand in hand again.

‘Are your parents coming tonight?’ I asked.

‘Yeah, they come to every show, and my Nonna as well.’

‘Sounds like they love you a lot, you’re lucky to have such a supportive family.’

‘Yeah I am, how about your family?’

‘Well my dad left me and my mum when I was 2 and my mum never talks about my nana and pa, so it’s just me and my mum.’

Julian looked down to me, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know.’

‘Don’t be, I’ve gotten used to it, me and my mum are alright together.’

Just then a girl runs up to Julian. It looked like she was about to drop dead any second. She was breathing really heavily.

‘Oh my god! Hi! I’m one of your biggest fans and I was wondering if I could get a photo please?’

‘Oh thank you. Yeah sure, do you have a camera?’

The girl pulls out a phone from her pocket. I pull away from Julian so she can take the picture.

The girl looks back to me and says, ‘You can be in the picture if you want.’

We all pose for the picture. ‘Are you coming to see us tonight?’ Julian asked the girl.

‘Yeah, I finally convinced my mum to let me get tickets.’ It looked like she was about to pass out.

‘I’ve made a HUGE poster. Look for a big shiny gold poster and I’ll be the one underneath it,’ she smiled.

‘Aww thank you,’ Julian smiled, ‘alright well we gotta go now, it was really nice meeting you, and thank you so much for the support,’ Julian thanked.

He gave her one last hug before we went our separate ways.