Exchange

Chapter 5

'I want to punch him in the face." I muttered to Kate with my head down low, avoiding all eye contact.

"Just ignore them." She replied linking her arm through mine and shifting my shoulders upwards so that I was staring ahead instead of at the ground.

I woke up today with a newly found confidence, positive that from now on, things would be better. Mason would just be one out of another thousand human beings in my life and I would forget about yesterday and pretend as though it had never happened. It's pretty ironic actually, how one of the best and worst moments in my life were within five minutes of each other. Leave it to Mason to screw that one up for me.

Anyway, I woke up this morning prepared to leave the whole incident behind me. However, entering the school premises with Kate a few minutes ago showed me that forgetting about yesterday was going to be a lot easier said than done.

I hadn't even been here for ten minutes and people were already pointing and smirking and snickering behind my back. Actually I take that back. They were doing it right in front of my face, no shame whatsoever.

I was trying to keep my head down and avoid all of the amused stares but Kate was making the task difficult.

"Kate!" I muttered, trying to unlink my arm.

"Just be confident." She said softly, flicking her light locks past her shoulder. "You have nothing to hide."

"Yeah, because Mason made sure to publicly announce it to everyone." I grumbled.

"People are just bored and want something to gossip about." Kate stated, adjusting the strap on her shoulder. "Pretty soon it'll die down and something else will take its place. Like Sally Chalmer's implants for example."

I shot her a surprised glance, momentarily distracted. "She has implants? Who told you?"

Kate pursed her lips, staring forward. "No one but, I mean, come on, have you seen them? From normal to freaking beach balls in the space of three months? Nuh-uh, I don't think so."

My laugh was cut off by the warning bell for first class.

I sighed. "Great."

Kate gave me a sympathetic squeeze on the arm. "It'll be fine. They're just teenagers, not the Nazis."

My lips quirked up into a dry smile. "Thanks for the differentiation."

Kate threw me a quick grin. "Anytime."

~~~

Class wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I mean there were a few smirks, but once Mrs Harris started up on Cold War politics, all conversations came to a stop. Nobody was naive enough to talk in that woman's class.

At the end of class I was busy packing up my books when the intercom above our heads crackled to life and Mr Gates's low voice filled the room.

"Please may all students chosen for the Exchange program head directly to Mrs Pike's office. You have all been excused from second period. Please try to be prompt. Thank you."

I raised a curious eyebrow but didn't complain as I was getting out of Maths. I left the classroom quickly and headed for Mrs Pike's office- our school counsellor.

I had mixed emotions about the woman. I knew she had good intentions and was only ever trying to help but... she didn't understand us. 'Us' as in teenagers of the twenty-first century. Her advice was all too idealistic and not at all realistic.

I knew this first-hand from when I went to her with my troubles about Mason for the first, and last, time in freshman. I was young and sensitive back then and being totally naïve, assumed that going with my problems to the counsellor would sort everything out. I told her the whole story and watched as she nodded and leant forward in her chair.