mutuality | wroetoshaw

nine

Enjoy the Matilda & Tobi content :)

Even when I was little, I'd always been closer with boys my age than girls. When I was younger and still in school, I came home to a house full of girls everyday, especially when Archie was off at university, or off doing his apprenticeship. 

In my mind, I had all the girlfriends I could ever need, and that came in the form of my three sisters. Also my Mum, when she wasn't busy working. 

If I ever needed boy advice, or help choosing an outfit I would go straight to my sisters. It especially  helped that they were all older than me. They'd done all of this before. They helped me through it. 

But girls at school? That was a different story. there were all the usual cliques; the sporty girls, the popular academic girls, the quiet girls. I didn't belong to any of those groups. 

No, during school I made friends with all of the boys in my photography class. You would've thought that photography was a balanced class, with about the same number of boys and girls. 

Well, so did I. But as it turned out, I was one of seven girls in a class of thirty. When I turned fourteen, and in that photography class for the first time, I knew one person. 

And that was Kon. 

We stuck together in school, not outcasts necessarily, but we kept to ourselves. We were known by everyone, but not everyone knew us. But we liked it that way. 

But when we got to our photography class, we instantly gravitated towards a group of seven boys, who instantly took us under their wing. I'd never shared so many laughs inside of a school building until I was in photography. 

I still remember all of their names, even now. We don't talk anymore, and I haven't seen most of them since we left school to go to university, but I think about them often. 

I'm thinking about them now, as I sit on the balcony attached to Tobi's flat. 

He'd gone inside to grab us some food, and a question he'd asked earlier had sent me back in time, thinking about all of the decisions I'd made, that had ultimately landed me here. 

It had gotten me thinking, too. Being around boys for so much of my life had played a big factor into how I had become so comfortable around all of the guys here. Because it felt like school once again. 

Seven boys back then. Seven men now. Kon by my side as always. 

It was almost like I'd doubled back in my life and was replaying it on a loop. I'd like to think that I would learn from my mistakes when I was a teenager, and there were definitely a fair few. I was more mature now, too. Well, Kon wouldn't agree but he's biased. 

The only difference now, though, was that I was starting to feel equally comfortable around the female friendship group. Kirsty. Talia. Freya. Even Faith and Ellie, although I didn't get to see them as much as I would've liked. 

Sometimes there was a harsh ache in my chest as I thought about my family. They all still lived down in Cornwall, and I wish I was able to visit them more. 

Archie was the oldest at thirty-two. I didn't really see a lot of him when I was growing up, especially with the ten year age gap. He still made an effort to be around as much as he could, and never failed to be there for my birthday, or Christmas, or any special events. He was the typical overprotective big brother, and as much as he teased us, every single one of us could always count on him.

Charlotte had bought a house little over a year ago, finally moving out of her fiancé's house, with her little Eliza finally getting the room she'd always dreamed of. She was one of my favourite parts of visiting home, getting to spend time with my sister's little mini me. Part of me still can't believe she's going to turn five next year.