Secrets and School

Chapter 3

POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING---Small Amount Of Violence

I walked into my Maths class room with Zoe at my side. The teacher was sat at the desk at the front of the room. "You can sit with me. No one sits next to me." Zoe said as she headed towards the back of the classroom. I swiftly followed. The teacher looked up as a few more students began entering the room. She saw me and smiled as she got up and began to walk over to me.

"You must be Jake. I am Mrs Carter. Zoe will be able to help you through the lesson as she is quite the mathematician and you can always ask me."

"Thank you Miss." I replied as she handed me a new Maths book for me to take notes in.

"No problem Jake. Just fill out the front of this book, you are in the top set." She smiled once again before returning to the front of the room. I started to write my name on lines provided on the front of the book, when I heard someone shouting at Zoe.

"With your new boyfriend Zoe?" A very tall boy shouted across the classroom. I looked over at Zoe, she was just looking down at the table, trying her best to ignore the boy.

"Charlie, sit down!" Mrs Carter, shouted at the boy. He sneered in our direction before eventually taking a seat. I looked back over at Zoe, she hadn't moved at all.

"Like you said to me earlier, just ignore them. They're pricks." I said to her quietly. She smiled at that.

Maths went by without any more issues. Quadratic equations were easy. Science next.

Me and Zoe once again, sat towards the back of the classroom. I was glad she liked sitting at the back, as I hated sitting at the front and feeling as though everyone was looking at me, silently judging me. I saw Charlie walk in the room. Great. With another guy, who I haven't seen before. They looked like good friends, so  I am guessing this other guy is a bit of a bully too.

I tried to take a deep breath, but I felt my binder restrict me slightly. Today was going to be a long day. I saw Charlie and the other guy turn and look at me and Zoe. Charlie made a comment and the other guy laughed. "Zoe, who is that guy with Charlie?" I asked quietly.

She looked up in Charlie's direction. "Oh that's Declan. He's more of a prick than Charlie, if that's even possible. Their girlfriends aren't much nicer." With that she went quiet and continued scribbling down answers on the worksheets we had been given. I also continued with my worksheets. I still felt the boys' eyes on me but I didn't dare look up.

Laughter filled the room, as the boys made yet another joke, probably about me and Zoe. I sighed as I looked up at the clock. It had only been twenty minutes. I looked over at Zoe, to see if she had noticed the boys. She had her eyes glued to her sheet. I now see what she means by ignoring the bullies, she is bloody good at it. I looked back down at my sheets, I was about half way through. I looked up and saw Declan looking at me. Shit. I quickly looked down again and pretended I was writing. My heart was ringing in my ears. I began breathing quickly. I then felt a hand rubbing my wrist. Looking down at my wrist I saw it was Zoe's hand. "Calm down. It's going to be fine." She whispered. I focused on her hand on my wrist. It was soft and warm. Her fingers looked delicate and fragile, but still beautiful. My breathing slowed to normal pace and my heart was no longer ringing in my ears. My wrist became colder with the absence of Zoe's hand.

I looked back up at the clock for the millionth time that lesson. Ten minutes left, thank goodness. The teacher who never bothered to introduce himself to me, set us homework due in for next week. I quickly glanced at the paper. It wouldn't take me too long to complete. Oh, wait. It's double sided. I sighed as I folded the sheet and put it into my bag. I looked over at Zoe to see if she was ready for the bell. She was looking out the window, not paying the slightest bit of attention to those in the room. The bell sounded and her face lit up with joy. The teacher dismissed us table by table. Me and Zoe were the last to leave as we were at the back of the room.

We were walking down the corridor to the dining hall when a girl forcefully shoved Zoe into the wall. "With your new boyfriend? He deserves someone better than you." She laughed again as she once again shoved Zoe into the wall. The girl was with another girl, both of which were caked with make-up. The other girl laughed and also pushed Zoe into the wall, but nowhere near as forcefully as the other girl. She went in for another shove so I jumped in the way. Her hands pushed against my shoulder, barely making me move. "Look, your boyfriend is saving the day." They laughed as they strutted away. I turned to see Zoe crying.