When We Were Younger (you me at six)

Bite My Tongue

The remainder of the morning passed by relatively quickly. I sat with the guys in every one of my classes, ignoring Josh as much as possible. It was impossible to avoid him completely though. Every so often, I would hear him mutter some sarcastic comment or roll his eyes at something I said. I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from snapping at him and saying something I would probably grow to regret.

Lunch had just finished and I was making my way to physics with Matt and Josh. It was a double period, which meant I only had this one class left before I could leave. I had almost successfully survived my first day in an English school. Matt opened the door to classroom and walked inside with me hot on his heels.

"Jesus! Matt, what the fuck?" I shouted. For some unknown reason, Matt had suddenly stopped walking and I had crashed straight into his back. He turned around to look at me apprehensively.

"This teacher's pretty cool. She kind of just lets us do whatever we want but she's strict about her seating plan. She chooses where we sit at the start of every year and this year, there's only one spare seat next to-"

"Oh fuck me!" Josh exclaimed from behind us.

"No thanks, I don't want to catch herpes," I said in a bored sounding tone.

Someone laughed and I turned to look at a boy I had never seen before. He was standing sharpening his pencil over the bin, smiling at me. Josh glared at the boy who was deliberately ignoring him. "I'm Sam. You're Hayley, the new girl, right?"

I smirked, "I believe that is my full title."

He laughed again and made his way back to his seat. By this time, the teacher had entered the room. I walked over to her desk and handed her the form I needed to get signed. "Ah, our new student, Miss Phillips. I'm Miss Church, welcome to our class. There's a spare seat next to Mr Franceschi at the back there if you'd like to sit down."

I wandered slowly to the back of the classroom. Matt was on the opposite side of the room, there was no way I'd be able to talk to him.

"A whole hundred minutes with my new best friend. Brilliant," Josh muttered sarcastically as I sat down next to him.

"Right class," Miss Church shouted from the front of the room to gain everyone's attention."We were supposed to be doing an experiment today but the technician hasn't delivered the equipment we need. Until he does, you're free to do whatever you want. Just keep the noise to an acceptable level!"

Brilliant, I thought bitterly. I had been hoping on having to work hard this afternoon, so as to distract me from the blue-eyed boy sitting two feet away from me. This was going to be more than awkward.

A few minutes had passed and Josh hadn't said a single word. "Hi Hayley," a voice said from in front of me. I looked up from my intense study of the wood pattern on the desk to find Sam sitting at the table in front of me. He was leaning around in his chair to face me.

"Hey Sam," I grinned.

"So listen, I know it's quite sudden but I'm having a party at my house this Friday and I was wondering if you'd like to come?" he asked. He looked quite nervous. His words tumbled out in one big mess but I managed to catch the gist of what he was saying. "You can come too if you want Josh," he added as an afterthought, so as not to seem too eager.

Josh shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and I rolled my eyes. Typical guy, I thought. Trying to look as if he was dead cool and was too busy to consider going to such an event. I turned to smile at Sam."Sure, I'd love to."

"Great. Maybe I could have your number and I could text you the details?" I nodded and quickly scribbled my mobile number on a sheet of paper, before handing it over to him. "Thanks, I'll text you after school. Save me a dance on Friday?"

I laughed and nodded my head. "Definitely."

Sam turned back around to talk to the boy who was sitting next to him.

"I'd watch out for him," Josh whispered in my ear and I jumped. "He's kind of a player."

"Is he now?" I narrowed my eyes at Josh. "And why would that concern you, Franceschi?"

He raised his arms defensively. "I'm just trying to be nice and look out for you."

I laughed. "Why on earth would you do that? You've been nothing but rude to me the entire day."

His face hardened. "Well no wonder. Who the fuck do you think you are? You came in here today, acted as if you owned the place and started following my friends around like a lost little dog. No one wants you here."

Our whispered argument had brought the two of us closer to each other. Our noses were almost touching. I looked deep into his eyes, trying to search for some sign that he didn't mean it. I couldn't find even a hint of one. "Fuck you Franceschi. I do not act as if I own this place and I definitely do not follow your friends around like a dog. I'm here because Matt was kind and offered to show me around the school. The rest of the guys didn't seem to mind. In fact, they seem to quite like me. The only one with the problem here is you."

"No, you've got a problem as well. You're hiding something I can tell."

I froze. There was no way he could know what happened, was there? "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You. I'm very perceptive. Someone will say or do something and you'll just freeze up like you are now. You get this look in your eyes and it's as if you're not here, your mind is somewhere else. It takes a while but eventually you come back and start acting normally and then it'll happen again. What aren't you telling us?"

He was right. I was hiding something but there was no way in hell I was telling anyone what happened that night, especially not Josh. How had he even noticed all this? "I'm not hiding anything, and even if I was, you would be the last person I would tell Franceschi. But y'know what, if no one wants me here, I'll leave."

Without looking back at him, I grabbed my bag, walked up to the front of the class and stopped in front of the teacher's desk. "Miss Church? I'm not feeling that well, would it be okay if I went to the medical room?"

She looked up from the papers on her desk and studied me over the top of her glasses. "Hmm, you don't look too great. On you go. Feel better soon."

I nodded and left the room. I started to walk, making it look as if I was going to the medical room. I reached the exit, and hoping no one was looking, I ran outside, across the school grounds and out the gate. I didn't care what my mum would think, I had to get out of there. Away from that class, away from him, away from all the memories that he made me remember.

I had almost survived my first day. Almost. But it looked as if Josh Franceschi was out to ruin everything.