Chapter 24
What's the point any more? I wasn't even going to pretend that I was okay, because I wasn't. I was crumbling apart inside and it was all her fault. Why? Why did she play with my emotions like that? She kissed me one day and the next, she told me that she didn't want to be girlfriends or friends. What had I done to her to make her so upset and angry? Because so far, I can't think of anything. The only thing I had ever done for her was listen and love her, and I don't see that as a crime. I was always there for her, whether she was drunk, upset or just wanting a cuddle. I would do anything for her, and she knew that. So that brings me back to my question. Why? Why did she go back with Kyle? As far as I was concerned, she hated him. He had hurt her so much, scaring her from pretty much every guy. Why had she gone back with him? Was it because of her parents? Or did she make the decision herself? I had so many questions that needed answered, but I wasn't going to ask her. I wasn't even going to talk to her. If she didn't want to be my friend, then that's what she was going to get. I was going to treat her like I would treat anyone else that was not my friend. Tweedy was back.
As I walked out of the bathroom in my school uniform, I quickly glanced over at Kimberley. She had been crying, her eyes were red and puffy, but I didn't care. She wasn't my responsibility any more. She was still lying in her bed, even though classes started in ten minutes. I opened my mouth to remind her, but I quickly shut it again. She wasn't my problem. Picking up my bag, I walked out the room, slamming the door behind me. I waited outside for a moment, and soon enough, I heard her begin to cry. It only made me even more angry. Why was she crying? She was the one who made everything the way it was. Sighing, I shook the thoughts out of my head. I wasn't meant to be caring about it. If she was suffering, it was her own fault. She deserved it.
The first class I had today was science, which meant I would be sitting next to Kimberley. Although, I had a feeling that she wasn't even going to show up today. As I walked into the class, I noticed that Sarah, Nadine and Nicola were all already there. Smiling at them, I walked over and took my seat in front of them. None of them really knew what was going on, the day Kimberley and I had ended, I ran to their room and told them we had fallen out. I didn't go into details though, they didn't need to know.
“Didn't think you were gonna show up, Chez!” Sarah joked as I turned around in my seat to face them. Out of the three of them, Sarah had been the most supportive and comforting. She had been the one that had been there for me all week, making sure that I was okay. It was surprising, Nicola had always been the closest to me. I suppose she found it hard though, she was close to both me and Kimberley.
“Slept in.” I smiled. “Not that I would have missed much if I hadn't shown up.” Nicola and Sarah laughed at my joke, but Nadine didn't. Ever since Kimberley and I had broken up, Nadine had been acting weird, like she was on edge about something. “You okay, Nadine?”
“Yeah, I'm fine.” She smiled slightly. “Where's Kimberley?” That was it. She had let the cat out of the bag. I knew they were all thinking it, I just wanted to see which one had the balls to do so. Nicola shifted uncomfortably in her seat, waiting for my answer and Sarah slapped Nadine's arm for asking such a stupid question.
“I don't know, and I don't care.” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. “When I left this morning, she wasn't even up. She was in her bed crying.”
“I'm going to go and check on her then.” Nadine stood up, ready to leave, but Sarah grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. Sarah glared at her and gave her a look that I didn't understand, but Nadine must of as she didn't try to get up again. Instead, she turned quiet and hung her head. Before I could ask any questions about it, D*ckhead Davidson walked in so I turned around in my seat, ready for today's lesson.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Halfway through the class, the door opened, causing everyone to look up in distraction. When she walked in, I felt my heart flutter. This feeling wasn't going to go away any time soon, even though I wanted it to. Her eyes locked on mine before looking away quickly. She looked like sh*t, she had dark bags under her eyes and they were still red and puffy.
“Miss Walsh, you're late.” D*ckhead Davidson stated. Her cheeks turned red due to embarrassment and she opened her mouth to explain herself, but he bet her to it. “I don't want to hear excuses Miss Walsh, if Miss Tweedy can get here on time, then so can you.”
“Exactly!” I chipped in. She didn't want to be friends, then I was going to treat her like everyone else. “If I can get here then so can you. It's not like you were doing anything... your boyfriend lives four hours away!” The class roared in laughter when they heard my joke, and I smirked at Kimberley. She had tears in her eyes. Turning around, she ran back out of the classroom, not bothering to look back at me.
“TWEEDY!” D*ckhead Davidson yelled, causing me to turn and look at him. “I will not have anyone in my class talk to another pupil like that! I want you to go and find Kimberley and apologise!”
I rolled my eyes at him dramatically before replying. “No thanks, I don't do apologies.” I felt bad for what I said, but it couldn't be helped. I had to get over Kimberley and this is how I was going to do it. Yes, she was going to get hurt in the process, but she had hurt me.
“Get out the classroom now!” D*ickhead Davidson ordered as he pointed towards the door. Jumping up from my seat, I gathered up my stuff and marched proudly towards the door, I winked at Sarah who was still laughing about the situation before leaving.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“What's the verdict then?” Sarah asked as I stepped into her, Nadine and Nicola's room. I had been summoned back to science at the end of the day to talk about my 'outburst' in class.
“After school detention this Friday night.” I sighed, rolling my eyes as I collapsed down onto Sarah's bed next to her. “I talked my way out of going to speak to the headmistress about it all, so I shouldn't complain.”
“What you did was hilarious, I'm glad Tweedy is back!” Sarah laughed as she gave me a high five.
“It wasn't funny.” Nadine stated very matter of factly. “It wasn't funny at all.”
“Shut up, Nadine.” Sarah growled. “No one wants your opinion!”
“I agree with her.” Nicola spoke up. “I don't know what has gone down with you and Kimberley, but you're both my friends. She might have hurt you, Cheryl, but you had no right in doing that in front of the whole class. How do you think it made her feel? You embarrassed and humiliated her in front of everyone!”
“I don't care if I embarrassed her, she deserved it.” I shrugged, pretending that I didn't care. I hadn't actually thought about what I had done too much, but as Nicola pointed out, I had embarrassed her in front of everyone, and I did sort of feel bad for that.
“She didn't deserve it!” Nicola's voice raised, she was getting angry now. “No one deserves that! Do you know what, I'm going to go and talk to her!” Nicola clambered off her bed and ran out the room.
“I'll go and talk some sense into her.” Sarah muttered. She shot Nadine another look that I couldn't quite read and she ran off in the same direction as her. Nadine and Sarah had been acting weird lately. When Sarah was around, Nadine was really quiet and she only ever agreed with Sarah. That wasn't like Nadine at all. She was loud and very opinionated, just like the rest of us. Also, Sarah kept giving her funny looks, and I didn't understand what any of them meant. It was like they were sharing some sort of secret.
“Are you alright, Nadine?” I asked as I saw the distant look in her eye. She seemed distracted by something, but to me, there was nothing to be distracted about. She simply nodded her head in reply, not even bothering to talk to me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sarah and Nicola returned fifteen minutes later. I don't think Nicola went and spoke to Kimberley. There was something wrong with her, I could tell. She was being very quiet, and when someone would say something, she would jump at the sound of their voice. Especially Sarah's. I wondered what Sarah had said to Nicola to persuade her not to go and talk to Kimberley.
“Nads, where are you going?” Sarah asked as Nadine stood up from her bed. Another thing that I had noticed was that Sarah was very protective over Nadine and she was constantly checking up on her. I think she cared about Nadine a lot.
“Erm, I have got my singing lesson...” She replied, edging her way to the door. I knew Nadine was lying, she told me this morning that her singing lesson had been rescheduled for next week. I decided not to mention it though because I knew that if Nadine wanted us to know where she was actually going then she would have told us.
“Okay then. Have fun.” Sarah watched as Nadine slipped out of the room and ran down the corridor. “Wow, she must be late or something.” Sarah joked, she had obviously believed her lie.
“I promised I'd meet Charlie at the library.” Nicola said as she stood up. It was the first thing she had said since getting back here. Charlie was her boyfriend, they made a cute couple. I glanced at the time, it wasn't even five o'clock yet. Charlie had detention, he didn't get out until half past six.
“Well, it's just you and me Cheryl.” Sarah said as Nicola ran out the room, taking the same route as Nadine went. Which was funny, considering to get to the library you had to take the left, not the right as she had done.
“Yeah...” I replied, not really paying much attention any more. It finally clicked. I knew where they were going. They were going to visit Kimberley.