Black Secrets & White Lies [On Hold]

Chapter 2 - So Many People

My dad was still out cold on the floor in the morning as I made my way to school. I shivered as the cold air hit me, reminding me of the bruises I now bore under my clothes. I suppose my dad doesn't mean to hit me when he's drunk, so I can forgive him. Only because he was drunk. If he was sober, he would have had a reason. I'd have done something wrong. Messed things up. When I mess things up, I get punished. Simple as. There's not a lot of love in this world, in fact, there's hardly any. Friends betray each other, lovers cheat. It's every person for themselves, it's the way it's always been.

But with everything, there are the exceptions. The good people. The nice ones. But it isn't worth getting to know them. It never is. They'll only be stolen away from you...hurt in the process of hatred. Of greed. A single tear escaped my eye, just one. I brushed it away, hardening my mental walls.

People come and go. It doesn't matter, they're only people.

"Why did it have to happen, Matt?" I spat "where did it all go wrong?"

Only people.

I arrived at school, the sea of faces were still unfamiliar. I'd spoken to some people, made some 'friends'. Well, if I could call them friends. They'd never really be friends. Just people I could talk to at school, nothing more. Nothing less.

*****

Geography. It could have been interesting. I suppose everything in school could have been interesting. But it wasn't. It just wasn't.

"So, I'm going to set you a homework project." Said the teacher, Miss- oh, what was her name? The class groaned collectively at the prospect of homework. I can't say I was overly excited either. The last thing I needed on top of everything else was homework. "It is to be completed in pairs, which I have assigned, and completed by the time we get back from half-term.

The teacher paused as whispers sounded throughout the room "yes, I'm giving you that long to do it. So I expect it to be done properly. I'd like you to research different places in England, getting answers to questions on the sheet I've given you. We've been doing our local area recently, so I'd like you to look further a field. If possible, I'd like you to go and visit some of the places yourselves, get some pictures. Make sure to have a variety of different places so you can compare them in an essay at the end of this unit." Again, sighs and moans but there was an undercurrent of excitement, the joy of visiting other places.

"Ideally, I would have liked to let you choose your own pairs for this but, as you know, the school has been encouraging group work and the headmaster insists you are placed outside of your friendship groups to give you more experience in things like this." In a way, the teacher had done me a big favour, now I wouldn't have to find someone to go with. But I frowned at the idea of spending so much time out of school with someone, it wasn't great for me. I needed to avoid people. Don't get close.

"Hey, you need to get your head out of the clouds." Said a voice. Startled, I jumped and looked up to see the class all changing seats. Gosh, I'd completely missed the teacher reading out our pairs. "I am here you know, space case." I looked over to see Liam sitting beside me grinning. I smiled back tentatively and he just laughed at my confused expression. "Surprised to see me?"

"Yes...I am actually."

"No wonder, you were in a world of your own then. Anyway, we're partners for the project or did you miss that part too?"

"No, of course I didn't." I said, indignantly. My heart sank when I realised Liam was my partner, he was talking to me too much as it was. I couldn't afford a friend...or a fake one. I didn't know if I could trust him, I didn't know if he wanted something from me. So the best thing was to do was to keep him at arms length, but that plan didn't seem to be working out very well.

"So, have you travelled much?"

I nodded "quite a lot. I don't think we'll actually need to go anywhere, you know. I can go and write about where I've been and you can do where you've been and then, we can put our work together and-"

"No way." Said Liam, holding up his hand. "We do this together, or not at all. You're not shaking me off that easily this time. You think I like being brushed off? No, I don't. You're going to see it's well worth your time hanging out with me."

"That's just what I was afraid of," I grumbled.

*****

A knife clattered to the floor and I swivelled my eyes in the dark alley, not daring to turn my head enough to look the man in the eyes. I tensed my muscles, listening for any tell tale sounds. A stone skittered across the ground, coming to a stand still by my foot.

Any minute now.

I spun around just in time to catch my attacker on his feet, slashing towards my face. Lifting my hand, I blocked his way, giving me the chance to press the dart into his thigh. The effect was almost immediate and I stood, panting, staring at his motionless body. That was when the pain kicked in, burning on my palm. I swore violently when I saw the cut, dripping with blood. Gritting my teeth I darted from the street, only to find my way blocked my two men dressed in black. I avoided the punch my mere centimetres, but by doing so I lost my balance and was slammed into a wall by the other man. I looked into his eyes and I saw familiarity staring back at me. "Not you." I whispered.

"Yes me, honey." He spat, pressing his blade into my already deep cut. I grunted as pain laced up my arm, refusing to cry out. "Oh, that not quite doing it for you?" He sneered, twisting the knife so I cried out, spots dancing before my eyes. "You going to tell us what we need to know, Rosie? Or you going to be stubborn?" He placed a finger gently over my pulse in my neck and I shuddered.

"Fine. I'll tell you." I said, my eyes watering.

The look of shock on his face was unmistakable "go on, then." I mumbled something under my breath and he said "what was that?"

"You want me to shout it out to the world?" I hissed. He leaned in closer but before he had time to draw breath I slammed my fist into his face. I felt his nose break but before he had time to yell after me, I was gone.

Sometimes, the past comes back to haunt you. Sometimes, the past does worse than haunting.

Sometimes the past will try to kill you.

But the past is the past and you've got to live in the present. A lot of people from my past would like to see me dead so it's hard to live in the present with death over shadowing my every step.

To guarantee my ticket to the future I'll just have to make sure they're dead before me. Simple, right?

*****

A/N: Here we go! Chapter two :) I hope you liked it - I hope you're not getting bored. I hope this isn't too cliched and you will get some sort of enjoyment out of it. So, yeah, I don't have much to say apart from thank you so much for reading and I thank my fans I have so far and I thank you people for all the support I have received so far :)