Repaying Her Blood

Chapter nine: The cinema

Marissa

"I'm sorry once again. I can't stop apologising."

We were stepping inside of the cinema's entrance when Jordan broke the silence between us.

"So about your friend uh-"

"Gracie."

"Ah yes, can I just ask this?" He looked my way as we walked into the cinema. "What happened between you and her?"

"She wants to be your friend, Jordan." I shook my head bitterly whilst a humourless chuckle escaped from my mouth. "You're more fearless than I'll ever be."

"So she just dumped you just like that..." He trailed off, frowning at my curt nod.

"I don't take risks like you do." I huffed, looking towards the ground. "She preferred to have more bold friends."

"You think you're not bold?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow.

I folded my arms, rubbing my cold skin "Well, I'm not exactly the most rebellious student in our school," I explained. "You hold that title."

At that statement, he stopped and stupidly bowed. "Yes, I indeed am the most rebellious of the lot."

I rolled my eyes and carried on walking, leaving him behind.

†

"How did you do it?" I suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"What do you mean?" Jordan glanced at me whilst we sat into our assigned seats.

"Earn that horrific title," I murmured, fiddling with my drink's straw.

His eyes rolled to the side and he sighed out. "I, uh, saw this girl getting bullied and I ended up beating the guy up. Everyone managed to get their phones out in time to record it before a teacher came along and pulled us apart." He brought his fingers to his nose, pinching the bridge of it.

"Then everyone posted it onto social media, didn't they?" I guessed, my voice lowering in pity.

"Yep, that then created rumours. Ever since, I have been pinned the bad guy. I always get called to the head teacher's office if one bad thing happens. I try to argue my way out of it, but I get the blame anyway." He scratched his head, appearing extremely awkward. I guessed he didn’t like talking about his reputation- a reputation practically based on lies. 

I felt sorry for him. He was only just doing what was morally right and he, in the end, was made out to be a horrible person. My eyes softened, watching his face harden in discomfort as he began to rub the back of his neck. I almost felt like reaching over and patting his shoulder- but of course, that would be too awkward.

"You are pretty mean though," I stated with an amusing smile painted on my face.

"Oh yeah?" He raised his eyebrows up curiously.

"You did slam me against a wall," I pointed out. "Twice."

"You kind of deserved it," he chuckled, his laughter sending chills down my spine. "Both times."

"How?" I guffawed with my eyes wide.

"One, you snooped and two you got my friend thrown into detention by drawing the middle finger," he explained, holding his fingers up to emphasise what he was saying.

Before I could reply to that, the screen lit up, signalling the adverts part at the start of the film.

Adverts ruined the whole cinema experience for the audience. It was absolutely ridiculous to have them there. I mean people paid to go and watch a film, not to watch twenty minutes of boring adverts as well.

"Yay," he sarcastically cheered quietly to me.
I held in the laughter I felt boiling up inside of me and ignored him.

†

After the movie, we decided to go sit in the park and chat about the film.
Weirdly, it didn't feel like I was forced to go at all. It felt like we were just normal friends who planned to go and watch a film together after school.

"The first two scenes had me questioning the whole film but when it really started getting into the storyline, I began enjoying it," he told me whilst I nodded along with what he said.

I glanced up at the sky and noticed it was a lot darker than it was when we had got pizza.

"It's getting late and my parents will be worrying soon so I should go," I informed him, standing up steadily. "Thanks for tonight. Even though it was forced, I did have fun."

He stood up and smiled. "I should too. Sorry, uh, about it being forced onto you. I couldn't just waste a ticket to see a good film."

"Nah it's alright. Well good bye." I waved at him, walking off home.

I passed a few people I went to school with, which did worry me a bit. They could have seen us together. What would they have thought if they had?

What would Gracie do if she heard about us hanging out today? God only knows what she would do.

Shaking off the thoughts, I carried on strolling home with a slight smile upon my face. I hung out with Jordan, Jordan Peters, and it wasn't so bad.

The guy was known to be dangerous though. I even warned Gracie to stay away from them, including him. That was only a few days ago too. If that wasn't hypocritical enough, I even thought about the idea of being friends with Jordan.

I frowned and got home feeling guilty and stupid. I shouldn't have followed him into the English classroom that day. It had led me into interacting with him, which had then roped me into going to the cinema with him.
However, what could I do? What was done was done. I now was known by Jordan Peters. He surprisingly had a nickname for me as well.

Once I was inside, my mum came around the corner along with my dad who held a box in his hands. Their faces showed tiredness and worry.

"We need to talk, sweetheart," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around my dad's waist. "It's about your sister."