Too Soon | Sidemen fanfiction

9

"Hey Josh!" Josh pulled out an earphone and raised a brow, turning back only slightly before he saw the familiar figure appear beside him.  Internally rolling his eyes, Josh responded reluctantly.

"Mornin' Val." He could feel the shift in her demeanour after he had spoken. Perhaps it was because he'd replied for once. Or maybe the fact he still carried a raspy and deeper morning voice- having just woken up only a few minutes before he had left to go to school. Or it could have been the fact that he had subconsciously given her a nickname.

"Uh- uh, 'Val', huh." She stuttered, clearly thrown off. Josh didn't know whether he wanted to roll his eyes or smile more. It was a weird feeling, smiling. Especially smiling genuinely.

Josh wished he could say he didn't remember the last time he had smiled genuinely.

That day when his mum stepped into his room and told him about his dad's absence which would follow for the next three years; all the way up to this very moment. He had hated his father before he had left. The abusive, uncaring, sick excuse of a Dad.

"What do you want?" Josh questioned, looking up from his phone for a minute to notice that they had stepped through the school gates, now.

"Well, I noticed that yesterday you dropped your book whilst you were in the, uhm... hospital." Valerie stated, flipping her bag to her front to dig through it, attempting to find the book she had picked up.

Josh's eyes had widened as she had mentioned his book, hands finding his earphones and ripping them out of his ears as his head snapped around to stare at Val, as she  reached to the very bottom before pulling out the black, leather book with initials engraved in gold.

Within milliseconds of Val having pulled the book, Josh had snatched it out of her hands with such aggression he had caused her to stumble closer.

"Val, did you look inside this fucking journal?" Josh questioned, tone quiet and filled with venom, a threat rather than a question. His eyes burnt into his, small amber flecks reflecting pits of fire... And yet the only language Val gathered from him was fear. 

"No! W-well, just the first page to see if there was an address or anything, but... since there wasn't I stopped looking instantly." Val answered honestly, staring back into his eyes, her own blue eyes flowing through his own, putting out his fires and fears.

Josh felt his chest rising and falling heavily as he found himself unable to break the eye contact. 

"JOSH!" Both broke their eye contact to stare down the corridor, Josh's heart falling down from his throat to the bottom of his stomach as he saw a particular blonde marching down the corridor, two other girls following after her. 

"Hi Freya!" Valerie smiled as she saw her, clearly not feeling the same fear as Josh beheld to Freya's disapproving glare.

"Hey....!" Freya said, looking the other girl up and down before joining Josh- linking his hand with hers and standing opposite her. Josh could feel the jealousy radiating off of her. 

Fuck. He knew he was gonna get it from her.

"What do we have first, today? I haven't quite learnt the timetable yet." Valerie asked, clearly not realising, or refusing to acknowledge Freya's jealous notions.

"Art then English." Freya sniffed, picking lint off of her blazer. "Anyways, Josh? Let's go have a little chat..."

...

"You can sit at the back of the class beside Simon and JJ." The English teacher motioned Valerie to the three desks at the back of the class, one of which was unoccupied.