Getting Over Matt

19 - "Bella..."

Chapter 19 - "Bella..."

People were still staring and whispering when I arrived at school on Wednesday, but I'd learnt to ignore them. When I got to my locker, I noticed Jess standing across the hallway, her arms wrapped around Alex's waist as she gazed longingly into his eyes. He looked at her with equal adoration and I don't think even an earthquake could have torn their attention away from each other. 

I sighed to myself, opening my locker. Matt used to look at me like that, though perhaps not in the middle of the hallway for hundreds of people to see. That was far too much PDA for him.  

"Izzy?" 

I looked up from my locker to see Tommy White, whom I'd never spoken to before. Kat and I used to discuss him all the time but I'd never actually said anything to his face. It felt weird for him to be actually here in the flesh, standing in front of me, when I'd heard so much about him. Luckily, he looked just as awkward as I felt.  

"Um, yeah?" I asked, lacking any degree of smoothness whatsoever.  

He scratched his head, looking even more uncomfortable. "First I just wanna say I'm sorry about you and Matt and stuff." 

"Oh. It's okay." Even though it wasn't. It was not okay. It wasn't even close to okay.  

"I know loads of people are talking about it which must be making it even more difficult for you... I know there are lots of rumours and stuff..." 

"Most of the rumours aren't true," I told him, just to break up his little speech because he was talking increasingly quickly and I wanted this awkward conversation to be over as soon as possible. I naturally associated Tommy with Katrina. And thinking about Katrina made me think about her and Matt. It wasn't a pleasant train of thought.  

"Yeah...I sort of guessed...people exaggerate and stuff... Look I know you probably really don't wanna talk about it...but Katrina and Matt?"  

He was correct; I really did not want to talk about it. However, the sooner I did talk about it, the sooner Tommy would leave and I could stop talking about it.  

"What about it?" I asked.  

"What, like, happened? Did they actually get together?" 

"Yeah, at a party." 

He sighed, looking almost in pain as he ran a hand through his hair. Disappointment lined his features as he stared out into the hallway, his eyes focusing on nothing in particular.  

"I'm sorry," I said. "I know you and Kat had...something."  

"I knew she slept around... I just never thought she'd be as bad as to get with her best friend's man. I guess I barely knew her at all." 

I shrugged. "Well sometimes the people we know the best are the ones who can surprise us the most." 

He looked at me properly for the first time in the whole conversation. "Yeah. You're right." He licked his lips as he considered his next sentence. "Was she actually interested in me at all? Or was I really just another fling to her?" 

"It's not my place to say. Are you not with Kara now?"

"I was only flirting with Kara to provoke a reaction in Kat," he muttered. "Ironic really... Maybe's she's not as great as I first thought." 

"Well, I think she's making a lot of people reconsider what they thought of her." 

Tommy smiled awkwardly. "I'm sorry for making you talk about this. It must be really horrible."