'Did you come around here just to start a fight? Drop dead.'
Sam's difficulty with relationships stems all the way back to his adolescence. He hasn't had it easy growing up in the Northeast of England but he managed to escape his teens unscathed. Mo...
My anxiety was through the roof for the rest of that evening, keeping me up throughout the night. It didn't help that Sam had told me he loved me at the end of our phone call yesterday and although I knew it was accidental, my heart couldn't help but skip a beat before it came crashing down once more.
My anxiety didn't disappear the next morning either, only worsening with each step closer I got to school. I thought I was having a heart attack by the time I finally reached the school gates, my feet immediately leading me to the common room where I began frantically searching for my lost journal, which, unfortunately, was nowhere in sight.
"Fuck," I cursed under my breath as I dragged a hand over my face.
"Looking for this?" Natalie's voice pulled me from my distressed thoughts. My head snapped upwards, my stomach sinking as my eyes fell on the forest green journal in her hand. My mouth opened but no words escaped from my lips. "Cat got yer tongue?"
I hated the lack of control that I had over the situation, unable to prevent the salty tears that formed in my eyes. "Natalie-"
"Ya know, I never would have guessed you would have an eating disorder," she laughed. A lump formed at the back of my throat that I desperately tried to swallow to no avail. "But then again, people with eating disorders are usually skinny."
"That's not how eating disorders work," I hissed as tears began to fall from my eyes. I was quick to swipe them away, refusing to let Natalie be the one to break me, much let see it happen.
"Does Sam even know?" she scoffed, folding her arms across her chest with the journal tucked away under her arm.
"Yes. He does. Not that it's any of yer business," I snapped.
"You're getting real mouthy for someone who cheated her way into losing weight," she jeered. "Not that it did much for yer."
"Shut up," I glowered as tears stung my eyes.
"If yer wanted to shift some of that fat, yer coulda just gone on a diet like a normal person but nah, yer couldn't control yourself," she taunted. "I bet Sam's only with yer oot of sympathy."
I clenched my fists tightly at my sides as my blood boiled with rage. "Shut yer fuckin' mouth," I growled as I took a step towards her.
"Or what?" she laughed. "It's not like he's with yer for your looks, is he?"
I let out a snarl as I pulled my hand backwards and aimed it at her face, satisfied with the loud crunching sound that followed. She let out a loud shriek and clutched her face, staring at me in disbelief. I tore the journal from her hands before uttering a firm 'fuck you' and leaving her standing there in shock.
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"Suspended!" my dad spoke in disbelief as he paced back and forth in front of me. I couldn't do anything to displace the feeling of guilt that resided in the pit of my stomach as he lectured me. "What were yer thinking, Rora?"
"I dunna," I muttered, averting my gaze to the wooden table in front of me. It was the safer option between that and my dad's stare of disapproval.
"Yer can't just hit people!" he scolded me. I remained silent. "Ya know I'm gan have to ground yer, reet?"
"What?" I gaped, snapping my head towards him to stare at him in shock.
"Ya punched someone! It think it's only fair," he told me sternly.
"But-"
"No but's Rory," he interjected, folding his arms across his chest to emphasise his seriousness. "You're grounded for two weeks. Yer go to school and that's it."
"Dad!" I protested.
"That's final, Aurora," he clipped.
"I hate yer!" I hissed, pushing my chair outwards with some forced to stand up.
"No, yer don't," he sighed. Through my angry haze, I didn't notice the hurt expression on his face, instead, blinded by my rage at him.
"I do!" I glowered. I whirled around and stormed up to my room, purposefully slamming my bedroom door shut.
Sam
My stomach was doing backflips as I knocked on Rory's front door, anxious to see her after my slip-up the day before but my concerns for her after her breakdown far outweighed the consequences of my words. Lost in my thoughts, I was startled when the door swung open, revealing Jamie, who wore a deep frown on his face.
"Sam?" he questioned.
"Alreet?" I smiled softly. "Is Rory in? I need to speak to her."
"She's grounded, sorry, kid," he sighed, reaching a hand to rub the back of his neck as some sort of stress relief.
"Grounded?" I frowned. "For what?"
"She punched a lass in school," he muttered. "She's been suspended for three days."
"Punched a lass?" I repeated, my eyes blown wide in disbelief. "Why? Surely, she must have some sort of explanation. We all know she wouldn't just punch someone for no reason!"
"Whatever it is, she won't tell me," he shrugged in defeat as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Either way, the bottom line is she hurt someone."
"Yer want me to talk to her?" I asked, hopeful that he would agree.
Instead, he stared at me with a knowing look in his eyes as the corners of his mouth tugged into a subtle smirk. "Yer can talk to her in two weeks when she's finished her sentence," he told me.
My shoulders dropped dejectedly as my lips pulled into a tight line. "Fine," I huffed.
"Sorry, kid," he smiled.
I shrugged noncommittally, silent for a moment. "Before I go... yer don't know whether Rory found her journal, do yer?" I asked quietly.
"Her journal?" he frowned. "I didn't know she'd lost it."
"Oh," I mumbled. "She was a bit upset about it yesterday. Just came to check on her."
"I'll ask her," he assured me. "Thanks, Sam."
"Aye," I replied with a nod, bidding my goodbyes to the older man.
