Bigger Boys & Stolen Sweethearts - Alex Turner

19. Joining The Dots

  I weaved my way in and out of different bodies toward that sea of blue and green, muttering excuse me's and sorry's to all the people I bumped into. I had more important things on my mind. Everything was washing by me in a blur. I couldn't even feel the floor beneath my feet as I jogged up the steel steps of the bleachers right up to the back. Someone called my name. I ignored them. The agreement I'd just made surged my adrenaline to new heights, determination in my veins.

  I grabbed my bag the second I saw it and my towel, I already had another bag over one shoulder. I looked like a thief.

  "Woah were are you going?" Jamie's voice managed to click me out of my trance.

  "I'm leaving," I said and slung my bag over my back.

  "Why?" Matt asked, looking me up and down. I think he noticed that I was fairly flustered.

  "Arabella wants to go," I said awkwardly.

  "What do yer just leaving?" Jamie asked.

  "She's upset," I told them in confidence.

  "Oh," Jamie said and sat back.

  "Don't you have a race still?" Matt asked.

  "Shit," I swore. I'd forgotten completely that I had duties that day. They just didn't matter any more. "Tell em I got sick."

  "I guess," Matt shrugged.

  I said goodbye and then jogged down the bleachers not-so-stealthily and got caught up by Mr Neil. He wanted the toilet pass back. I ended up coming up with a potentially humiliating lie that I had a 'medical bathroom problem' and I needed to go back and that was why I had my bag. Evidently grosses out, he nodded and told me to be quick, not even questioning the two bags I had. One was Arabella's.

  I tried my best to hide from as many teachers as possible because I really didn't need another detention or suspension. I'd honestly had my fair share of being told off over the past month and a bit. Not even counting the fact that I was fucking arrested.

  I already knew that I was going to get scalded the next time I was at school for missing my last race but decided it was worth what I currently had on my hands. I managed to sneak passed the teachers monitoring the bathroom halls and jogged outside the center to find Arabella standing there waiting for me with her arms folded and her cheeks still streaked by her despair.

  "Hey," I puffed as I reached her.

  "You don't have to leave if you don't want to," she said to me, hiding her face.

  "Of course I do," I said and put a hand on her arm, "I'm not leaving you alone when you need me."

  She rolled her eyes and scoffed, "who said I need you?"

  I shook my head and hugged her tight, she returned the favour immediately to prove that her words were empty.

  "I'm sorry," she said quietly into my chest. "I didn't mean that."

  I managed a smile and stroked her hair gently, "I know."

  We didn't have a car, nor her motorbike so we just had to walk to wherever our feet would take us. I didn't ask any questions and only spoke if she wanted me to. I didn't want to push her because I knew it was a personal matter and she'd already told me what was affecting her at home.

  Very unlike her, she was walking slowly, even slower than my regular pace that usually irritated her due to how slow I moved. So I strolled to match her pace. She had her hands hidden in the conjoined pocket of my grey jumper, I could see her playing with her fingers nervously through the fabric.