Logan stared in disbelief at tall, dark-haired boy who had arrived unexpectedly at their table. He wasn't sure what he wanted from Ellie, as such, but he knew it couldn't be anything good. He saw Amber glowering out of the corner of his eye, and he knew she'd be pissed of for at least two reasons; one, that Craig McDonald was more or less infringing upon her territory, and two, that he would probably try and steal their new, pretty friend away from them. Logan knew how protective Amber was of her friends, that it would annoy some people, but Logan didn't mind at all. It made him feel safe, loved, and though he knew it to be wrong, he didn't feel like he needed to cleanse himself whenever he was with with her. She was like the mother whom he never really had.
Ellie and Craig were still locked in a kind of staring match with each other, not with any particular hated or niceness, but sort of eyeing each other up. Ellie still had the expression on her face that was somewhere in between confusion, amusement, and a plain blank stare. Craig wore a similar blank stare, and only a hint of interest showed itself through his mask. Ellie was the first one to speak.
“Yeah, I am. What do you want?” Her voice remained flat, not betraying any feelings. Craig liked her. She could do the monotone 'bored shitless' voice almost as well as he could.
“My parents have this weird interest in England. Do you want to come back to mine after school?” Apart from the part about his parents being interested in England, the rest of the proposal was a standard line for Craig. He did his smile and pouted with his eyes in a way that he knew all the girls loved. Well, most of them. He didn't even know why he was asking this of the foreign girl, maybe some erratic thought said that maybe his parents would do something this time. Pure bullshit.
Ellie remained immune to Craig's 'sexy face,' as Jack called it. “Uh, no. Even I'm not that stupid.” She smirked at Amber, who was half leaning across the table with her mouth open like she was about to jump to Ellie's defence, but frozen in her tracks. Logan just smiled at the confrontation. He had a feeling life was going to get a lot more interesting with Ellie around.
Craig tried not to look pissed off at being rejected for probably the first time in his life. He shrugged, expression remaining nonchalant. “Whatever, British chick. Your loss.” He got up and walked away with as much dignity as possible, his emotionless mask managing to stay fixed on as he told himself that he really didn't care about this, she wasn't even that good looking anyway. With a jolt he realised that he didn't like not being able to have something, like his parents' love, which he had probably known for a long time in his subconsciousness. He knew was also more than just not being able to have something, was like he yearned for it, he needed it.
He shook his head, masking his epiphany and shooting a few people he passed death glares for good measure.
Back at the table, the three remaining students giggled among themselves. Ellie was told that she was probably the first person that had said no to Craig, and she responded with a shrug. “He's just a jerk. I'm sure he'll get over it when he gets older.”
Amber grinned. “Wanna bet?”
They all laughed, Amber and Ellie feeling liberated by the freedom school brought them from their family problems. Amber didn't have to care about her ignorant mother or the blood that was sure to stain the bathtub in the next few days. Ellie didn't have to care about what pain her step-dad was going to inflict on her, what he was going to do to her when he got in from his new job. Logan felt different. He felt like his eating disorder followed him everywhere he went, for when he left his family behind he had to face the bullies at school. Amber kept him safe, as Ellie would now too, but there were times he had to walk alone. He wasn't proud of the fact that he relied on girls to help him out when, if anything, it should have been the other way around. He stared at the lunch he had unintentionally picked at and silently gagged, bile trying to rise up his throat as he stared at the pitiful amount of food he had managed to eat. This is not what you're meant to do, Logan, he told himself. How are you going to improve yourself if you have no self control? You're a failure, a failure! He closed his eyes, trying desperately to block out the thoughts, and failing miserably. He stood up from the table.
“I-I'll be, I'll be back in a m-minute!” He yelped and dashed off, looking as normal as he could muster, heading to the nearest toilets, all of which he had mapped out in his brain.
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Jack found Britney hiding round the back of the school building, leaning underneath a few small trees that provided scarce shelter. She was smoking, nervously glancing round at every rustle and groan the light breeze bought with the wind. Every time she took a drag she appeared to calm down as the smoke filled her lungs, but with every breath out she looked more alert, attentive, but still agitated and anxious. Jack smiled at the sight of the thin, nervous wreck he had apparently offered to take under his wing. He walked closer as her would do to a deer or other shy animal – slowly, carefully and in plain sight. She stared at him for long moments at a time before he got close enough to speak.
“Hey baby,” he grinned at her and she looked at him, eyes wide with a hint of confusion, worry, and happiness.
“Hey?” She answered it as a question. “W-what do you want?” She fiddled aimlessly with the gently smoking, drugged up cigarette in her hand, before deciding to hastily stub it out on a tree and slip the rest into a small plastic bag, which she then stored in a hidden pocket within her school one. Jack raised his eyebrows slightly at this routine – he had a strong suspicion that that wasn't a normal fag, but he found the whole ritual mostly endearing as he watched it quietly before speaking. He shrugged.
“Nothing, really. I guess I just wanted to see you.” He shuffled his feet and Britney felt a light blush rise up her face. There was a short, slightly awkward silence before Britney blurted out.
“I don't get it. I mean, I like you and all, but I've never really spoken to you before. I never speak to anyone really, and, like, why have you taken this interest in me? You could probably go out with anyone you wanted, you're popular like that and stuff...” Her voice trailed off as her eyebrows furrowed in thinking. “Are you spying on me or something? So you can get to know my dirty little secrets and then tell everyone and then I'll get sent to jail for what? Five years? Seven?”
Jack almost laughed. He put his hand up to Britney's shoulder, their first touch both foreign and calming to them both. “Of course I'm not. I like you. I think you're pretty and cute and I wish I'd gotten to know you sooner. Though, if you ask me, I'd say you probably only have one dirty little secret.”
Britney twitched and shuddered lightly. Her eyes, already big, got even wider. “So you ARE a spy!” She half gasped and half shouted, an odd combination, even for her.
Jack gave in to his laughter. This girl was too cute and funny, he would take her, and even if it meant accommodating for all her problems too, he didn't care. He pulled her light, delicate frame into a hug and kissed the top of her head, to a surprised 'mmphf!' from Britney.
“You're too cute, Britney.” He pulled her close to his chest. There was no doubt about it, he thought this girl was amazing.
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Craig stalked moodily around the school, not a hard thing to manage for him. Anyone curious enough to send him a questioning glance soon wished they hadn't bothered to make the effort. Pissed off was an emotion that came to him surprisingly easily, and he let it show, even though he had no real reason to be annoyed. He blamed it on mood swings and hormones, though he had matured early for someone his age and considered himself above everybody else. Snobby could be one word to describe it, but Craig thought that the word was crude, and just preferred to think of himself as actually being better than other people. His parents used to be excluded from that band, but now he had half-given up and thought of them as no better than anyone else.
He spied Jack and Britney through the glass doors that led to outside, under the few trees next to the car park. He contemplated going over to them just to break up their tender moment, but the couple split, Britney staying under her tree, looking a tiny bit more relaxed than she normally did. Jack headed inside, and seeing Craig made a beeline for him.
“Score.” He hissed to Craig while simultaneously grinning.
Craig laughed, a sound rare apart from when he was around Jack, and rolled his eyes at his friend's childish happiness. “Did you come in here just to tell me that?”
“Nah, mate, I need a piss.” Jack chuckled but talked matter-of-factly with an oddly straight face.
“Just a piss?” Craig raised his eyebrows and a mischievous sparkle brightened his eyes for a second before Jack gave him another bruise.
“Yes! Just a piss, man!”
The two boys both laughed, Craig not bothering to voice his decision that he was going to accompany Jack to the toilets. How very classy they were.
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The water shone from the bright, harsh lights above, and Logan could vaguely see his reflection in the toilet bowl, his silhouette illuminated by a halo of light from the bulbs above. A routine procedure, he told himself. I'll make myself better so I can deserve my friends. The mocking faces didn't swirl around his mind this time, occasionally they refused to make an appearance, but the water still glared at him. It was like, that this time, it was personal. This was Logan's battle against himself, a civil war waged on his impurities. He felt calmer than he usually did, he and as he thrust his fingers down his throat, he went with the retches as they brought he measly lunch back to the surface. The deserted toilets echoed with his gags, and it was of course then that Jack and Craig decided to make their appearance.
Their friendly banter was deadened as the inhuman noises reached their ears. Logan froze, or as much as you could do while you're throwing up.
“Logan?” Craig didn't know the boy very well, but he knew of him, and he wasn't so heartless that he didn't feel concern for the skinny teenager hunched over one of the toilets.
Logan gagged a few more times, spat into the water to clear his bile, and after flushing the chain exited the cubicle to glare at the two boys who were staring at him with mouths agape.
“What?” He questioned them quite harshly, his well hidden secret for the past few years now almost definitely out in the open. He might have trusted Craig to keep his mouth shut, but if he so wished, Jack could have half the school knowing in the ten minutes left of lunchtime.
“A-Are you alright?” Jack sounded genuinely concerned, and Logan's dull hopes rose slightly. Maybe I can convince them I'm just ill. If people found out... they'd know that, they'd know, they'd know. He couldn't think past the two words that dominated his brain, expression slightly dazed, before he composed himself.
Logan gave the two taller boys a small smile. “Yeah, I think I've just got a stomach bug or something. I'll be fine in a minute.” He shook slightly, an expected after-effect, as he calmly washed his hands and face in one of the grotty sinks.
“Oh. Uh, I hope you get better soon, I guess,” Jack sounded convinced, though Craig remained silent, sceptical.
“You seem very... calm.” Craig voiced his opinion in his normal monotone, voice giving nothing away of what he was thinking inside.
Logan's expression changed, flitting between surprise, stress and anxiety, before settling on a totally different one. Anger. As he walked past the dark-haired pair to the exit, he paused and glared at them right in the face.
“You're not going to tell anybody about this, okay?” He hissed before leaving, his normally mild expression twisted into something surprisingly intimidating.
The two left in the bathroom stared, stunned, before Jack turned and broke the shocked silence and turned to Craig.
“I don't really think I need to piss any more.”
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Erm, so, yeah... I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and stuff.. :) I'm not too sure if I like this chapter or not, haha, but tell me what you think about it and if you liked it and how to improve and other things!! it will help me become a better writer too :)
Oh, and the next chapter might be a bit late because I haven't written anything of it yet, and I'm not even sure whats gonna happen, which I'd already worked out last time... so next chapter might just be a bit of a filler with everyone getting to know each other better, etc :D
I hope you enjoyed this! And don't forget to vote, comment, give me feedback, all them things! ^.^