At the End of the Garden

Chapter Eight

That evening, Eden didn't stay after school. So, when Sidney asked if we could meet to talk about the new information we'd got, I'd told him it would have to wait. I was going straight to Eden's instead. I don't know why I said that. Sidney would have cheered me up from the bad mood I was in, for sure. But I guess I wanted the comfort of the same routine I'd had since Year 7. Not that there was anything comforting about Eden's house, except maybe the garden. Eden himself wasn't even comforting, but at least he wasn't ignoring me like Angie was.
Since she found out I'd been talking to Sidney about the rumour, Angie had been avoiding me. I'd spent the whole Lunch hour trying to get her to talk to me with no response. Every moment I could was spent seeking her out. Every time I went near her, she told me she was busy. If there was no-one else around, she'd tell me to go away. So, at Eden's house later, I hadn't even been trying to do my homework like he was. While Eden was sat opposite me, I had my head slumped on the table while fiddling with a paper clip.
"Would you stop that? I'll need it later."
I dropped the paper clip onto the table and found further short-lived amusement by watching it wobble and fall flat on the surface. When that was over, I let out an involuntarily sigh.
"Is something the matter? Because I need to ask something." Eden said.
"Yes. But what?"
Eden didn't seem sure if he should ask his question or not, but eventually shook his head and was out with it.
"What's with the sudden interest in Sidney?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, you haven't noticed? I must be imagining things." Eden said.
"Are you being sarcastic?" I said, almost impressed.
Eden didn't reply, but he did shut his book to actually give me all his attention. Which probably meant he has serious.
"Why do you care who I talk to?" I said, trying to mimic a tone my mother might have used.
"Well, people are talking."
"Since when have you ever cared about rumours?"
"I'm not a robot, Marie." He scowled. "It doesn't look good on me - us."
"You're jealous!" I jumped in immediately. This was the first thing today to bring a smile to my face, or maybe it was more like one of Sidney's smirks.
"Am not."
"Are too. Why would you care otherwise?"
"Didn't I just explain that?" The fed up look on Eden's face reminded me of his father.
"But you said it yourself, you're not a robot - "
"God, not everything's about you, Marie!"
He didn't shout, but he certainly raised his voice. Which was just as intimidating as it was rare. It made me flinch. Eden could be bitter and sharp when we were arguing, but he had rarely raised his voice since we were kids. Now we were older, that loud voice wasn't his, it was more like his father's.
   Though, while I'd never felt the wrath of Victor Quinn's shout, I'd heard him through the walls once when Eden was younger. Victor Quinn was good at dealing with things calmly, but his shout would strike silence in a room like thunder. On countless occasions, I'd seen Eden beg his mum not to tell his father if he was in trouble to avoid being shouted at.
"Arguing, again?"
His normal tone however, was still very effective. Victor Quinn must have heard his son from his office and came out to see what the problem was, knowing he could get silence with just two words. It was strange. I'd known this man my whole life, he'd probably even held me as a baby, but my natural reaction was to look away from him.
"I'm in charge of 600 teenagers who do nothing but have petty squabbles, I expect you two to set better examples."
As if it were a natural reaction, I raised my shoulders to my cheeks in embarrassment, fear and anger at Eden. I became very aware of my breathing.
"Sorry." When I finally spoke, it felt like all my nerves were escaping through my mouth.
Victor Quinn turned to his son, expecting the same response.
"What she said." As Eden spoke, he stood up, picked up his books and rushed towards the stairs.
If I wasn't so tense and nervous that I'd been left alone with Victor Quinn, I would have been shocked. His father did nothing but click his tongue as if Eden had mildly inconvenienced him.
I sat anxiously and waiting for the moment my Headteacher would demand an explanation about the argument. As Eden and I had agreed not to tell our parents about our relationship, I couldn't use that as my answer. Besides, if I could say 'your son is jealous', I had this awful feeling he would side with Eden.
He did none of that. Instead, just told me my dad would be late to pick me up today and left the room.