'So who won that bet last night?' I asked Bradley, curiously as I jumped in his car the following morning.
He'd gone home at about eleven and come back again before school to pick me up. We still had our detentions until Friday and we were going to another place tonight... which he still wasn't telling me about. The only information he'd given to me on it was the name. Crap I'd even forgotten that! Hmm... I was sure it began with an R.
'Well I'd like to say I did,' Bradley said with a sigh. 'But I believe the winner was you...'
'Yep, no-one ever beats me,' I smirked. 'So when do I get to drive this bad boy?' I added, patting the door.
'That was the lamest line I've ever heard.'
'Quit whining and answer the question!' I laughed.
'Hmm when no-one's around, don't want to give them any ideas,' he smiled.
'What was that place called that you said you were taking me tonight?' I asked nonchalantly.
'I know your game already,' he said, drumming on the steering wheel. 'I'm not telling you so that you can just run to Remi or George and interrogate them about it. I knew you'd forget,' he laughed.
I sighed dramatically.
'You're so annoying.'
'That's why you love me,' he winked.
'Sure, sure,' I mumbled.
As soon as we arrived at school and got out of the car, I was practically mauled by George. He wrapped his hand around my wrist and dragged me away, ignoring my protests.
'Urgent business, sorry to take her from you,' he said, flashing a tooth smile at Bradley before dragging me off further. 'Hey, you're surprisingly easy to kidnap.'
'You could say I'm used to it,' I said dryly. 'Okay, okay is this far enough? I don't want to go on a hike just so you can tell me something that most likely won't interest me in the slightest.'
'This will do. And this may not interest you but it interests me,' he said.
'Explain,' I said, putting my hands on my hips.
'There are two things actually,' he started. 'I'll tell you about my thing first.'
'Are you trying to stall or are you doing it without realising?' I asked.
'You know that thing I told you about when we were in the janitor's closet?' he asked. A few passers-by gave us odd looks.
'About me being "pregnant"?' I asked with a frown.
'No, no, no,' he shook his head. 'The er... other thing,' his cheeks tinted pink and I smirked as I realised what he meant.
'About you having the hots for Tara,' I said slowly.
'Okay, no need to rub it in. You have the hots for-'
'Shut up,' I hissed.
'I don't see why you can't just admit it,' he sighed. 'At least he likes you back.'
'I - no he doesn't and it doesn't matter anyway. It won't happen,' I said quickly.
'But it can easily happen,' George said, narrowing his eyes at me. 'You're not letting it happen though,' he murmured. 'I wonder why that is.' I gave him a pointed look and he continued. 'You need to slip in a good word for me here and there when Tara's around.'
'Okay,' I said. 'But that may be difficult seeing as if I compliment you all the time people will start thinking that I have the hots for you!'
'Nah, absolutely no one will think that,' he said, waving his hand dismissively.
'George, every single one of them is staring over here right now,' I said looking over his shoulder.
'They are?' he asked, preparing to turn.
'Don't turn because then it'll look like we're talking about them!' I hissed.
'But we are talking about them,' he said with a confused laugh.
'I'll try but it probably won't work. You just need to prove to her yourself that you're a good guy,' I shrugged.
'How am I supposed to do that?' he asked, raising his eyebrow.
'Just be you,' I said in an exasperated voice.
'Hmm, that was rather a nice compliment. Maybe I should date you instead and Tara and Bradley can hook up,' he winked.
I scowled.
'Wow, I take that back. I wouldn't be that bad to date would I?' he asked.
'No of course not,' I said.
'Ah... you just got pissed off at the thought of Tara and Bradley together,' he realised, making me turn away with a groan.
'I detest you,' I said simply. 'Now what was the other thing you thought I'd be interested in?'
'Oh right, well Tommy is back at school today.'
'Great. My new best friend.'
'Yeah, just thought I'd warn you,' George said. 'I heard about him being your neighbour from Kyle. Doesn't it creep you out that he's so close to you while you're sleeping?' he asked.
'... I didn't even think about that,' I moaned. 'Great, thanks, George, for the nightmares tonight.'
'I can always keep you company,' he said with a wink.
'Tara?' I asked pointedly, raising my eyebrow at his flirtatious behaviour. I genuinely think flirting just came naturally to him. He probably didn't realise he was doing it half the time.
'Shit, sorry. I need to stop doing that,' he said, slapping his own chest.
'If by "doing that" you mean flirting with any female in this high school then yeah you do need to stop,' I agreed.
'Any hot female,' he corrected. 'You can take that as a compliment if you wish.'
'Gee, thanks,' I said sarcastically.
'My pleasure,' he replied, bowing slightly. 'Now I think we should return to the others seeing as we've been gone long enough. Unless you want to wait here for a few more minutes to make our Bradley jealous?' he asked. From the look on his face, I could tell he was actually being genuinely serious.
'"Our Bradley"?' I questioned raising my eyebrows high.
'He is partly mine of course seeing as I've known him for a good fifteen years but then he's also partly yours because you're his spouse,' he explained.
'Are you actually being serious right now?' I asked.
'When am I not?'
'I... am not going to answer that right now,' I said, shaking my head in confusion. 'Now let's go so I can ditch you with someone else!'
'That really makes me feel loved,' he said with a grin.
As we were walking back to the group, more than a couple of girls sent George flirty smiles and I scowled.
'That has got to stop too.'
'Hey I can't help it! They started it!'
'That doesn't mean you have to do it back!' I said.
'Okay, okay, no more talking to potential hook ups,' he said, holding up his hands innocently.
I laughed. 'You can't just call them that so bluntly!'
'What's the point in dodging around the issue? That's what they are. They know it, we know it, everyone knows it! And it's not a bad thing.'
'True, I guess.'
'Hey, Raegan, walk and talk with me okay?' Remi said, swapping herself and George over. 'The bell's about to go anyway so it doesn't matter about coming back here afterwards.'
'Oh no, not before I give my best friend a lovely hug,' George said. There was a suspicious glint in his eyes that I didn't like.
'You're doing this on purpose aren't you!' I whispered at him as he enveloped me in a bone crushing hug.
'I need to make Tara jealous and I may as well make Bradley jealous too,' he laughed.
I wrenched myself away from him and elbowed his side as I walked away with Remi.
'Okay, what now?' I asked her with a tired sigh.
'What does Kyle know that I don't?' she asked, pursing her lips.
'Wait - what?' I said, surprised at her line of questioning.
'Kyle. You and he have a secret, yeah?'
'Why would you think that?' I asked, feeling my stomach tighten nervously.
'When George was being weird that day - the day he thought you were knocked up - you turned to Kyle first as if he'd... told George something that you didn't want everyone else to know,' Remi explained.
'Not a secret,' I mumbled.
'What?'
'It's not exactly a secret. It's not something we cooked up together... it's just something that he found out about me,' I said lowly.
'Oh,' she said in a relieved voice. 'But... how did he find out? Is he the only one that knows?'
'I - well someone from my old... school told him,' I said hesitantly.
'Is that why you had to move?' she said after a long pause.
'Well - no - not exactly,' I said truthfully. 'Look, Remi, Kyle found out by accident. No-one was supposed to know. Please, can we just...?'
'Of course,' she said immediately. 'Just know that I'm there for you if there's anything you need to...' she trailed off and I sent her an appreciative smile. 'Well I better go, my teacher's a bitch!' she said.
I waved goodbye and she streaked off down the corridor and leaned against the locker. I blew out a breath of air and rubbed my temple, feeling a headache brewing.
'I told you everyone had secrets,' a male voice said from my left. 'Seems like you already knew that though.'
'Great you're here,' I said with a scowl.
'You're secretly pleased. I can tell,' Tommy said.
'Sure.'
'So what's your secret?' he asked, leaning against the locker next to me and raising his eyebrow.
'What's yours?' I shot back. He remained silent and I saw his eyes darting around my face. 'I guess it's a mutual agreement then,' I said, pushing away from the locker and walking away from him down the corridor.
'Why have you taken such a major disliking to me?' he asked, falling into step beside me.
'First off, you didn't tell me you were my neighbour,' I began.
'Maybe I couldn't be bothered,' he shrugged. 'Plus you could have came over and introduced yourself anytime you wanted.'
'So could you,' I snorted.
'But I didn't,' he shrugged. 'I guess it was a mutual agreement,' he said, mimicking me.
'And you were a massive asshole in our previous conversation!'
He frowned. 'The one about eggs?' he asked.
'I - no! The one before school the other day. You basically implied I was a selfish asshole like yourself!' I said.
He shrugged.
'Maybe you're not. I probably shouldn't have said anything at all. I like to keep my life to myself and you clearly do too.'
'Just leave me alone then!' I exclaimed picking up the pace. He didn't follow this time. Jeez, I hadn't even reached first lesson yet and I'd already had three confrontations.
* * *
'-use the quadratic equation to-'
Thankfully the bell cut off the teachers revision summary speech about algebra and I shoved all my stuff into my bag and tried to push the knowledge out of my mind. Definitely wouldn't need that where I was going.
I made my way down the packed hallway, thinking about how much I wanted a soda. I'd been feeling oddly not hungry today. Odd for me because I usually ate like pig. Unfortunately, the school had a whole healthy attitude towards what we ate and drank so it wasn't possible to buy anything remotely as sugary as a coke in school grounds. Maybe I could sneak off to the corner shop without anyone noticing I was gone. Students weren't generally allowed to leave school grounds until the end of the day unless they had a valid excuse.
'Has Remi been asking you a load of questions?' Kyle asked from beside me.
'Holy sh- where did you come from?' I demanded.
'Outer space,' he said dryly. 'Anyway, has she?'
'Yep, that's why she took me off this morning. I told her that you found out by accident - which technically you did seeing as that idiot Benny couldn't keep his mouth closed! He better not be around these parts again else I will skin him alive-'
'Wow, that was violent. At least he told me and not Liam or Tommy so you should count your lucky stars,' he said.
'I guess.' I hesitated and added 'Thanks for being so... understanding.'
He really was doing me a solid. I'm sure it was difficult to not mention it to Remi especially. She could be extremely persuasive.
'No problem,' he said. 'What did Remi say after you told her that?'
'Nothing really. She dropped it as soon as I said I didn't want to talk about it. So basically now Bradley, Remi, George and Tommy know there's a secret that I don't don't anyone to know. Maybe I should just move again,' I sighed.
'Are you still planning to telling Bradley?' he asked, curiously. 'I could cover for you if you... can't do it.' I swallowed and glanced away. I could tell his offer was genuine. It was tempting to accept but that would really be a cowardly escape.
'No... I promised him. And like you said... it's too late now. I have to do it. I have to... or do I?'
'You have to,' Kyle confirmed with a small smile. He pushed open the outside door and we slowly crossed the lawn over to our usual spot. The others were already there.
'I do,' I agreed, sighing miserably.
'Hey, you know I'll...' he winced and took a breath before continuing. 'When you - I'll miss you when you-'
'Thanks,' I said softly, interrupting him. 'That does mean a lot.'
I know I'm not exactly the best person at expressing my emotions, but if I let him finish what he was going to say, I doubted I could hold myself together. I took in a deep breath to calm myself before we reached the trees.
'About Bradley...' he said hesitantly. 'Do you know how you're going to tell him yet?"
'No.'
'Not a clue?' he persisted.
'I really don't want to talk about it, Kyle,' I whispered. He glanced at me and did a double-take as he saw my expression. 'It would have been so much easier if I'd never come here.'
I didn't give him time to reply. Instead, I sped up and joined the others on the floor.
'So why is everyone depressed today?' I asked in a forced happy tone. At break earlier everyone had seemed kind of quiet and tense.
'What's there to look forward to? Exams?' Hayley asked. She had a sour expression on her face. I wondered why she kept hanging out with us, she never seemed to enjoy herself.
'Exams aren't even that bad,' Tara sighted. 'The lead up to them is worse. I always get nervous as hell and struggle to revise.'
'Wow, everyone is pretty down today,' commented Kyle as he sat down too.
'Like I said, what's there to look forward to?' Hayley asked.
'The summer break,' I shrugged.
'What's so good about that?' she snorted, raising one of her pencilled eyebrows. I suddenly had a mental image of someone waxing her eyebrows off in the middle of the night because they were so sick of her attitude. I had to hold back a smile.
'Sun, holiday, beaches, staying out late, camping,' I replied, ticking them off on my fingers.
'Yeah we should all go camping at one point during the summer. It's everyone's last year here so it could be a goodbye thing,' George called, as he approached with Bradley. He purposely sat down next to Tara. 'I'll share a tent with you, Raegan,' he added with a wink. I let out a sigh as I saw Tara lean away from him with an irritated expression. Oh George.
'No thanks,' I said. 'I'd rather sleep in a thorn bush.'
'Masochist, huh? I can deal with that.'
'You're an annoyance,' I muttered.
'Why are you still standing, Bradley?' George asked innocently.
'Daydream,' he said. He'd been looking between George and I with a confused kind of frown, as if he was trying hard to figure something out. When he sat down next to me I could practically feel waves of annoyance from his direction.
'Anyway, that campout idea sounds good, who's up for it?' George asked. 'We'll have to do it after the exams so maybe in a month's time or so...'
There was a mumble of agreement around the group but I kept my mouth firmly sealed shut. I would have sincerely loved to go but it wasn't possible.
'Great all we get to look forward to now is a lousy campout,' Hayley said.
'No-one said you had to come,' Kyle pointed out, raising his eyebrow at her. Tara looked over at her with a frown too and George looked like he was considering tipping his water bottle over her head.
'Obviously the reason everyone here is so depressed is 'cos the future ahead is looking pretty shitty,' she said pointed out.
'Speak for yourself,' George muttered.
'At least-' I began before snapping my mouth shut at Kyle's warning look. He must've sensed that I was going to say something too revealing.
'Why are you looking at her like that?' Tara wondered out loud, tilting her head at Kyle.
'What were you going to say?' Hayley demanded
'I don't remember,' I said.
'Well it's obvious you do,' she said.
'And it's also obvious that it doesn't matter,' I replied.
I wondered how hard I could punch her in the face. I'd never seriously punched anyone before. I mean, I attacked Bradley all the time but I didn't put any real effort into it. I glanced over at him, realising he'd been quiet the whole time but he was staring off into space.
'No need to get so-'
'So what?' Tara stepped in, snapping at last.
'Whatever. You guys are clearly not in a good mood today. Maybe I'll go hang around with Tommy instead,' she said, getting to her feet.
'You two deserve each other,' Bradley said somewhat absently. I laughed and she sent us both a scowl before taking off towards the school.
As soon as she was gone, the whole mood seemed to lighten.
'She is such a waste of space,' Tara said.
'What's up with Hayley? I said hey and all she did was glare at me and keep walking,' Remi said, sitting down next to Kyle and kissing him on the cheek.
'She's just being her usual negative self,' George said. 'Thankfully, Tara pissed her off enough that she left.'
'It wasn't just me,' Tara exclaimed.
'Hey it was a compliment,' he said with a chuckle.
'There's a lot of tension between her and Raegan by the looks of it,' Tara pointed out.
'Hmm, I'm pretty sure I don't give a fuck,' I mused. Tara laughed in agreement and the bell went overhead.
'Okay seriously what the hell?' George complained. 'They keep shortening the lunch period I swear to God!'
'Time flies when you're arguing with a bitch,' Tara snorted.
We all made our way back towards the school building and for once everyone was headed the same way. Just as we got inside and were heading down a hallway, George and Tara both spoke at the same time.
'Raegan, can I talk to you for a minute?'
'Hey, Raegan come here.'
'Er-,' I said, looking between the both of them as we pulled to a stop.
'Hey, I said it first-' Tara began with a scowl.
'Well I bet mine is more important-' George said.
'Nothing is more important than what I have to-'
I didn't hear much more of their exchange as I was suddenly kidnapped. I felt a strong arm around my waist and I was pulled through the classroom door next to us. I opened my mouth, ready to shout at whoever it was but stopped at they spoke.
'Why is it that everyone wants to talk to you today?' Bradley murmured in my ear. He was leaning against the door and was holding me so my back was pressed to his chest. I felt myself relax as I realised I wasn't being abducted.
'I really don't know,' I sighed.
He covered my mouth with his hand.
'They'll hear you,' he whispered.
He slid down the door and brought me with him. I ended up sitting between his legs and leaning back into his chest. I pulled his hand away from my mouth and held it in my own as we listened to George and Tara's retreating voices. They must have finally realised I was no longer there.
'They're gone.'
'Mhm,' he said quietly, making no effort to get up.
He rested his chin on my shoulder and I clasped his hand between both of mine, looking around the dark empty classroom. It was one of the old chem labs which hadn't been used for a while. The blinds had all been pulled shut and there were dust sheets on all the desks.
'What did you kidnap me for?' I asked, trailing my fingers over the back of his hand slowly.
'I wanted you alone for a while,' he said simply.
'You have me after school,' I pointed out, swallowing past the sudden lump in my throat. 'In detention and afterwards.'
'Not enough,' I heard him whisper.
I squeezed my eyes shut tightly at his words. I wanted nothing more than to spend every waking minute of the rest of my life with him. But that was quite an unrealistic wish.
'What is?' I asked.
'Nothing is,' he breathed in my ear.
I couldn't put together words to reply to him. I couldn't lie and I also didn't want to tell him my real feelings. I ended up just tracing the back of his hand and leaning further into his chest.
'So why was everyone taking you away today?' he asked in an annoyed tone of voice, knocking his head back against the door.
'Where to begin?' I muttered.
'George,' Bradley said immediately.
'George?' I snorted. 'Why George?'
'Just... because.'
'He's got a thing for Tara,' I smiled. 'He's been asking for my help to convince her to go out with him.'
'Oh.'
'He's actually kind of useless when it comes to girls - except getting them into his bed,' I mused.
'He's pretty pro at the flirting part,' Bradley muttered.
'I guess.'
'And what about Remi?' he asked.
'She wanted to talk about Kyle,' I said evasively.
'Why? Is he being nasty to her?' Bradley asked quickly, going into defensive mode immediately.
'No of course not!' I laughed, pinching the back of his hand. He laughed and squeezed his arm around my waist tighter in response. 'Do you really think I'd be sitting here now if he was?'
'I suppose not.'
'I also spoke to Tommy,' I said with a frown he couldn't see.
'What?' he asked in surprise. I felt his body tense up against my own. 'When?'
'Just after I finished with Remi.'
'What did he say? Did he threaten you?' he asked jumping to the worst conclusion again.
'You really are over thinking today,' I laughed again.
'Raegan,' he groaned.
'Okay, okay. No of course he didn't threaten me! He was being his usual stalkerish self.'
'He's weird,' Bradley said slowly. 'Let me know if he ever approaches you, I don't trust him one bit.'
'Isn't that what I just did?' I snorted.
'And Tara?'
'No idea what she wants. Probably wants to talk about George,' I sighed. 'D'you think they're a good match?'
'I suppose so,' Bradley said. 'But they've known each other for a while so it would be really awkward if they broke up.'
'I guess, but people shouldn't look negatively like that in the first place,' I pointed out, sending my elbow back into his stomach.
'What can I say? I'm a negative person,' he replied.
'Hardly!'
'Unfortunately I don't think we should be skipping lessons,' Bradley murmured, letting out a breath which tickled my neck.
'And unfortunately I agree,' I smiled, attempting to get up. He tightened his hold on me and refused to let me leave.
'A few more seconds,' he breathed.
'How late do you want to be?' I said quietly.
'Very.'
I managed to wriggle around in his hold and press my cheek to his warm chest, letting out a sigh. One of his hands came up and I felt him stroking my hair affectionately as he rested his chin on my head.
'You are going to get me in so much trouble,' I whispered as I clung to his shirt.
And I didn't mean just from skipping class. He'd slowly but surely managed to worm his way into my life until he was the only thing left I really cared about.
'Is it worth it?' he murmured.
I closed my eyes.
'Yes.'