Hurricane Love

Thirty Seven

'Nothing is going on,' I told Christine, as I instantly made way for the door.

'Why is Mason back on the scene?' she asked, following me down the passageway.

'He's not back on the scene,' I sighed. 'We just made up - as friends!'

'Oh, is that the story?' she scoffed.

'I'm serious,' I said, as I climbed one step and turned back to her. 'I'm in no place to be starting up anything with anyone, including Mason, and it's actually kind of insulting for you to suggest I could just move on so quickly and easily.'

'Okay,' she said, nodding at me. 'My apologies. You know how I worry.'

'Mason is being nice and he knows what I'm going through,' I told her. 'He's actually the one who got me the place on my apprenticeship and he's offering to help tutor me.'

'I think it's very obvious that Mason has high hopes for something more,' she said. 'Don't lead him on. Make it clear where he stands.'

'I think I already have,' I said. 'Anyway, I have to study.'

I turned and headed upstairs to my room, taking a seat at my desk as I pulled out my acceptance letter from The Apprenticeship Scheme and logged onto the website. I signed in with the login details and set up new ones before finding my application. I grinned at the screen as I clicked accept to confirm the offer for my place. I knew I wanted to have a good read through the application to see what Mason had written for me, but I planned to do so after some studying. I gathered my notes and textbooks, ready to knuckle down for the night and revise for the mini test that Abbie was giving me on Monday.

Now, I was finally alone, and as I flicked through my notes, the memory of the school hallway came into my head and I leaned back in my chair, remembering the way Ryker looked at me, the way he'd spoken and the way he'd grabbed me.

Somewhere inside, I believed the look on his face was jealousy from seeing me with Mason. I believed the words he was saying made it clear that he was annoyed at seeing us, even though he'd told me to give Mason another chance. The way he'd grabbed me and held onto me showed me how emotional he clearly still was; whatever those emotions were.

'Stop it, Amelia,' I whispered to myself, shaking my head and returning to my reading. None of the tiniest, unimportant details mattered anyway. Regardless of anything I still believed, it did not take away the reality of the situation and the fact that he was a terrible person who had broken my heart.

After a few hours of studying, I found myself reading words that were going in one ear and out of the other as tiredness fell over me and I moved from the chair to the bed, crashing in my clothes and falling asleep before I could even get a chance to change.

The next day, I woke up and groaned as I realised it was Saturday and I was back to work. Heading to the bathroom, I took a shower and then dried and waved my hair before applying my usual work makeup routine and put on my uniform.

I could smell toast burning downstairs as I headed down and when I reached the kitchen, Stan was pulling jet black toast from the toaster carefully.

'Fuck's sake!' he hissed, throwing the food straight into the bin.

'Wow,' I chuckled, as he looked at me with an irritated expression. 'I didn't realise you were so useless around the house that you can't even make toast.'

'Very funny,' he said, sarcastically.

'I'm kidding,' I laughed. 'What are you even doing?'

'Making it for Christine!' he cried. 'She woke up feeling unwell so she's staying in bed.'