Living the Life of Riley | ✔

Chapter Four

My fist brought itself up and smacked straight into the middle of his ugly mug.  My mouth was set into a deep scowl as I did it, and it cracked into a small smile when he staggered back; cursing every swear word he'd ever learnt.  His friends didn't look too pleased but none of them (I bet) were willing to hit a girl.  Just like him.  None would admit being hit by a girl either.

“Oh my gosh!  I'm so sorry, my fist slipped.”  I said sarcastically and smiled at him sympathetically.  He was cradling his nose, which wasn't even bleeding!  I doubt that I broke it.  My fist was hurting, but it wasn't too bad.  I was used to the pain...ish.  My old crew was used to throwing punches and if you didn't learn how to throw one, you were often on the receiving end.  I was a quick learner.

“You bitch!”  He cried out, and when he pulled his hand away, there was a tiny amount of blood.  I knew I hadn't broken his nose though.  It would look a lot worse if I had.  Maybe I'd just given him a nose bleed, or something.

“Now, is anyone else going to stand in my way?”  I asked, surveying the group.  They all look shocked, and slightly scared too.  They all shook their heads and took away Mr. Macho before he could take a swipe at me.  “Buh-bye!”  I waved at them as they all strolled down the corridor away from me.

“I'll get you for this!”  The punchée shouted out.  I nodded, and rolled my eyes.  Did he think he had scared me?  A little threat did nothing for me.  I guess I should have been more concerned seeming as I had a baby living inside me... but I didn't.

Looking down, I saw a kid on the floor holding himself.  I felt a lot of pity for him.  I wouldn't have expected him to be beaten up.  Sitting cross-legged in front of him, I studied him.  He had a few marks on his face and no doubt he was going to be scarred for life.  Beatings never faded from the mind.  I would know.  As I observed him more, he looked to be a lot taller than I was–maybe even bigger.  What was he doing on the floor?  He should have been able to protect himself and fight back.

“You alright, buddy?”  I asked, genuinely concerned.

“Y-yeah.  Thanks for that.”  I nodded, smiling.

“It was no problem, honestly.  So what did you do to him?”  I pulled my bag onto my lap.  As I looked through it, I was sure I'd packed a first-aid kit in there somewhere.  I always took one with me.  Old habits die hard.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?  Come on, no-one beats up someone without a reason.  Even if it's for a stupid reason, like you looked at him funny.”  I rose my eyebrow at him.  What was this kid hiding?  I wasn't going to beat him up.  Not unless he did something to me first.  “Dude, I ain't gonna beat you up.  I just saved your arse.”

He looked at me for a moment, studying me.  He did that odd thing which a lot of people seemed to be doing here, which was sniffing.  “I'll tell you, if you tell me a secret.”  He bargained.  This kid was sneaky, and clever.  Whatever it was that he got beaten up for, it was enough that he wanted, no needed, something to hold over me.

“Deal.”  Normally, I would have gone off but I had no friends to bother.  Well, not unless you counted.  But I wasn't too sure on that.  Plus, I had a lot of small secrets I could tell him.

“Tell me yours first.”  He told me.  He'd stopped sounding like he was in pain now, and had stopped holding himself.  I could see bruises slowly developing though.  That was going to hurt tomorrow.

“I do weed.”  I shrugged casually.  It wasn't a big secret and it was known by everyone in my old town but I didn't know what these people would think of it.

“Big deal.”  He scoffed, not liking it.  “Everyone does a bit of weed.  I want to know something that's really big.”  Gulping, I knew he was being serious.  I only had one big secret and I didn't want to say it.  I mean, I hadn't exactly told people.  Yes, I told Kaya and Liam but that was because I wanted to.  I wasn't going to lie to them.  I was very close to them and not just because they were family.  They deserved to know.

“Is it really worth your secret?”  I wasn't so sure any more.  I wasn't going to give up my big secret.  Well, even if I did and he leaked it, I'd just go straight to him.  I wasn't a very nice person when I was angry.  Most people tended to stay away from our entire group when we were angry.

“And more.”  He nodded.  Shrugging, I guessed there was really no harm in telling him.  It would eventually be known and I'd have to get used to talking about it.  Why not start now?

“I'm pregnant.”  I blurted out after a few minutes of silence.  He didn't seem to look surprised which made me suspicious.  He couldn't have known.

“Huh.  You don't look it.”  I narrowed my eyes at him.  What was he playing at?  Surely he should be surprised?  Unless he didn't care.  Well, I suppose the guy didn't know me but still.  Everyone had that "You're pregnant?!" look on their face.  It was as if being pregnant was some magical thing which was bull.

“So, what's your story then?”  I asked, glad we were moving the topic away from me.  My past wasn't so straightforward, nor was it clean.  He looked as if he was about to argue, or protest.  “Dude, you can't back out now.  I told you mine, now tell me yours.  Or I will pummel into you.”  I joked on the last part, hoping he didn't think I was serious.

“Fine.”  He sighed out.  He took a few moments before telling me his big secret.  “I'm... I'm gay.”

“That's it?”  I was outraged.  I gave up my secret of pregnancy for someone to be gay?  It wasn't like it was illegal!  In my old school, we had people 'coming out of the closet' so much that you'd think they were just talking about the weather!  “I tell you my deepest secret, well, one of them, and all I get is that you're gay?!”

“You're new around here, you'll see that people are very judgemental.  Very judgemental.  It's not just because it's a small village.  You hang out with a certain people and no matter what you do, you're going to be the same as the group of people."  He said.  "And certain people don't like some groups and decide to act upon it.  You'll get used to it.  People here aren't like anywhere else. They'll judge you."

“It's not gonna make a difference to me.”  I told him.  “I've faced people like that all my life.  I lived with one.  They can judge and stare all I like, but they're going to find that I couldn't care less about their opinions.  They'll care though when I get mad because I go crazy.”

“Like Godzilla then?”  He laughed slightly and we sat there.  This kid was pretty cool.  It seemed like this school wasn't going to be so bad.  This town wasn't looking so bad either.

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Gonna apologise for the very long wait... to those who are reading.  I went to Greece for two weeks and then when I got back my laptop was broken.  Well, the charger anyway and it had been run down to like 10% so I couldn't do anything.  But here we go!  I edited the chapter a hell of a lot... because I'm changing the story slightly.  Like the characters and their personalities.  Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! xx