New Girl {Poldark}

chapter 7

Ross POV

Ross let go of George. Seeing Demelza had drained the anger out of him and he no longer felt like fighting.

"Demelza...I'll, er, I'll explain later," he said to her, picking up his bag and striding off in the opposite direction. He could almost taste the tension he had left behind between them, an image of her defiant, clenched jaw coming face to face with George's sickening smirk. It was a shitty way to leave things, walking away, but he didn't have the energy to talk things out - plus he was late to first period. His English teacher frowned at him as he approached the classroom. Ignoring her, Ross sat down noisily and didn't speak for the rest of the lesson.

When the bell went for lunch at the end of History he breathed an audible sigh of relief. Sauntering towards the canteen, he caught sight of Dwight sitting by himself and immediately joined him.

"Hey," the blond boy said, chewing a sandwich. "Did you sort out the drama with George and the drug thing?"

"Nope," Ross replied, stealing a fry off Dwight's plate. "But I'm going to talk to Demelza after school."

"Good. Anyway, there's this - "

"Dwight Enys!" a voice chirped from behind them. Ross turned round to see a smiling girl with light brown hair, her solid brown eyes gazing directly towards Dwight. "That's your last name right?"

Dwight looked confused but seemed to know her. "Hi... Karen. And yeah, you got my last name right."

"Great because I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at mine after school? To work on the science project thing you were gonna help me with?"

Dwight was biting his lip. "Uh, I'll see if I have anything on and then I'll let you know."

Karen was still smiling but you could feel disappointment oozing off her. "Okay, that's cool. See ya," she waved and returned to where she was sitting.

Ross stole another fry. "Who's she?"

"This girl...Karen. I have a couple of classes with her and I think she likes me because she keeps asking to hang out and stuff, but I'm not really into her so it's kind of awkward. I mean, she's sweet and all, but..."

"Not your kinda girl," Ross finished. "Why is there never any drama in your love life Dwight? Like, have you slept with anyone yet?"

Dwight shrugged. "Nah."

"No one?"

"Nope."

"Have you kissed someone?"

Dwight frowned. "Why do you want to know?"

Ross smiled and leaned his head towards him as if he was an eight year old girl about to tell a massive secret. "Are you gay?"

His friend paused and then laughed. "Just because I'm still a virgin and I don't ramble on about sex, it doesn't mean I'm gay."

"You can tell me, you know. Come out of the closet and all that."

"Ross, I'm not gay," Dwight said firmly, shielding his plate as Ross tried to steal yet another fry. "And stop taking my food."

"But I'm hungry."

"Go and buy something then."

Ross groaned and reluctantly climbed out of his seat, joining the back of the queue.

*

His bed felt small and uncomfortable as Ross lay on it, trying to think of what to say to Demelza. They both had a lot to explain. He sat up and looked at the time - 5:23pm. He still had time to meet her by the cliffs, if he actually managed to text her. Verity was out, Francis was still in hospital and Aunt Agatha was playing cards with herself.