The Girl with Cat's Eyes

C H A P T E R 17

Get back up

After a fall

Braver, stronger

Not just me any more

I'm some one else

Bigger

Better

C H A P T E R 17

They didn't want me to go back, for me to take a break until next term at least, or be home tutored, but I didn't want to. I couldn't be bothered to wait. So I insisted I go back, that I'd be fine. Chelsea and her friends didn't scare me anymore. If they tried to hit me again, I'd be ready.

I hadn't talked to anyone but Jesse yet, and only when we were alone. I didn't plan on changing that for a while. He was going to tell Sarah that I could speak at dinner that night, but I shook my head ever so slightly, silently begging for him not to. He obliged, and changed the subject, Sarah none the wiser.

School was quiet, the day I came back, less than a week later. It was a cold day, April by then, and crocus and other spring flowers were starting to poke from the ground, but the wind still made my hands numb, and my lips blue. The walk that morning seemed longer than it had been before, Jesse and I talking more as well though, which I liked. We talked of everything, from my past, to my future, to his Dad, who left him and his Mum when he was nine, and who he hadn't seen since.

We got to school, and I already had my time table, so we went straight to first period, ignoring all the stares and whispers. I knew every one thought I was a freak but Jesse said I could hang out with him Lilly, Sam and James which sounded cool, though I admit I was still a little wary of James.

We got to first in a hurry, late, but as it turned out English hadn't started yet so we took our seats while catching our breath and waited for her. James and Lilly sat in front of me, Sam next to me and Jesse next to me on my other side. We got to choose our seats for English, which I liked.

'Hey...' Said Lilly lightly, breaking the ice as we sat down.

Hey, I wrote, Sorry about before...

'It's fine, we all have our moments...'

I smiled, glad she barely seemed to remember or care. James, though, was not so easy to cope with.

'Yeah, but still. I never ran off into a cupboard for the best part of the day. Well, unless I'm with a girl if you know what I mean...' He wiggled his eye brows suggestively, but I looked away, disgusted. 'Any ways, the rumors are true, I bet. You're probably mental or somthin'. You'll probably turn into a psycho killer or-'

'That's enough, James.' It was Jesse, who was glaring at him fiercely, Sam looking nearly as annoyed.

James held his hands up in surrender. 'Just saying, guys, just saying.'

'Yeah, well don't.' Sam snapped shortly. I was surprised at how he leapt to my defense, but pleasantly.

Lilly smiled at me reassuringly. 'Don't mind him, he's just an ickle bit upset today...' She said, then looked over at me and stage whispered: 'I think he's on his man period...' She fake gasped and I laughed silently at James' outraged and frankly quite embarrassed face.

Just then the teacher came in. And the lesson started. This was going to be a blast.

School seemed to take forever. Stares, people, whispers in the corridor, it all passed me by in a blur. I didn't care what they said. I had Jesse, and Lilly, and Sam. And maybe James. I wasn't quite sure yet. At break I sat at the table with Jesse and Lilly, Sam and James were in lunch time detention though. Something about teachers not apreciating the use of swearwords and a stolen donkey... Don't ask. It was, no doubt, James' idea.