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The class filled up slowly and James was one of the last people to enter. I kept my eyes to the front of the class and tried to hide my glances as he walked over and took the seat next to me. “I missed you at breakfast,” he said quietly as he unzipped his bag and pulled out a fancy, leather-bound notebook that I hadn’t seen before. “I was going to give this to you then,” he said as he slid it over to me.
I looked at him in surprise for a moment. Of all the reactions I’d thought he would have to me in school, giving me gifts had somehow not made it on to the list. “Thanks,” I managed to stutter out as I ran my hands across its cover and breathed in its scent deeply.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile as he watched me take in the present he’d given me. “I hoped you’d like it.”
“Oh, it’s good to see that you’re back,” Sam’s voice interrupted my appreciation for the notebook that was still in my hands.
“Thanks,” I said without looking back at him.
“Those are some pretty nasty burns you’ve got,” Sam said, and he didn’t even bother to disguise the disgust in his voice.
“Well, that’s what happens when a firework goes off in your face,” I said without flinching. I’d been expecting some people to make comments, although I hadn’t considered Sam to be one of those people. I glanced over at James to see whether he was going to say anything, but his eyes seemed to be fixed on the board at the front and his look was so distant that I had no problem in assuming that he wasn’t actually in the room at all.
“I guess so,” Sam said with a shrug. “I’m just glad I tried my luck before you got all disfigured. I mean, you’re still pretty hot but I’d hate knowing that I’d have to touch it,” Sam said with sneer and then he turned and started to walk back over to his seat.
*******
Chapter 14
James
At first, I thought I’d be able to hold my anger in. I stared at the front of the class and I tried my hardest to ignore everything that was being said, but then I felt Tilly’s eyes on me and she brought me crashing back into the room and into earshot of Sam. I heard what he said. I heard his vile words, probably born from the fact that she’d turned him down. I’d seen the way that Tilly’s face had flinched without it even moving.
The next thing I knew, the stool was scraping against the ground behind me as I turned around and swung for him. I didn’t miss, either. My fist crunched into the bridge of his nose, and after a second that seemed to drag on for an hour, I saw blood starting to pour out of it. He just looked at me. He had this crazed kind of look in his eyes, as though he’d always been waiting for this moment and now everything he’d ever dreamed of was coming true. He took a swing at me, but his balance was off, and I dodged it easily.
“You know, it’s sick, really,” Sam taunted me as I pulled my fist back and planted it straight into his stomach. “You and your sister? That’s just wrong,” Sam said. His voice was raspy, and I could hear that I’d winded him with my last punch.
“You don’t talk about Tilly,” I said as I punched him again clean in the gut. I could hear the class around me as they exploded with taunts at us both, but I ignored them. The only thing that mattered was teaching Sam a lesson and that was exactly what I planned to do. I swung for him again, but he dodged my swinging arm and sneered at my poor attempt.
“Seriously, you’re both sick,” he said with a devilish grin. “I mean, no wonder she turned me down when she likes to keep it in the family,” Sam spat and I swung for him again. This time I struck his jaw and he went tumbling backwards.
The crowd’s shouts finally reached me, and I realized that among them was the sound of my teacher screaming at me to stop. I watched as Sam fell against the floor and his head smacked against the cold tiles. The crowd fell into silence as they waited for Sam to get back up, but he didn’t. I stepped forward to check that he was alright, but I was pulled back with force and then I felt the cold touch of metal as I was handcuffed.
“You need to come with us,” one of two police officers said as they pulled me through the crowd and marched me out of the doors.
They sat me in the back of the car, and for a long time there was silence. I looked out of the window at the passers-by, but quickly stopped when everyone looking back gave me a look that told me I was dirt to them. I sighed and sat back in the seat as I waited to be taken to the police station.
“You know,” one of the police officers said as he looked back at me, “I’ve seen fights before and I think I’m a pretty good judge of character. I could tell that there was more to this than just throwing fists, and if you explain, maybe I’ll be able to help you out,” he said with a genuine smile that told me that he wasn’t trying to bullshit me.
“Right,” I said as I thought about his offer. “The guy I was just pounding on was saying shit about my stepsister. She’s just been in an accident and she’s got some pretty bad scars.”
“He sounds like a real dirt bag,” the officer said with a small nod of his head. “I’ll see what I can do for you, son.”
I knew there was very little he could do for me, but knowing that he’d probably have done the same thing was enough for me in a strange kind of way. I looked back out of the window and saw the station as we pulled up in the parking lot, and I waited for the police officers to walk around and let me out of the back.
The station smelled a lot like the science labs, but that was little comfort when they led me into a small cubicle-sized room and told me to sit down at the table. I did as I was told and the police officer who had taken me into the room sat down on the other side.
“I’m going to need you to explain what’s happened today, son,” he said as he pushed down the record button on a small tape player just like they did in the movies.
“I got into a fight,” I said with a shrug.
“You know the kid is planning on pressing charges?” the police officer said, as though I’d have this knowledge already.
“Well, I guess that makes sense,” I said as I tried to work out what that would mean for my dreams about college and proving to Tilly that I was worthwhile.
“Do you want your phone call?” the police officer asked me, and I nodded as I realized that the only thing I could do at this point was come clean about everything.
He walked me over to a small payphone that was attached to one of the paint-peeled walls, and then he walked off into a small office that was down the hallway. I pulled the phone receiver towards me and pressed the only number that mattered, and then I waited for her to pick up.
******
Chapter 15
Tilly
I couldn’t believe it. I’d seen it with my own eyes, but I still couldn’t believe what had happened. James had been taken away by the police and Sam had been left sneering at his fading shadow. The whispers had started straight away. I could hear everybody talking about what Sam had said and what it meant.
I stayed for the rest of science, but then I made swift exit out of the front doors. I thought about going straight home, but I didn’t know how I would explain what had happened to my mom or James' father. Instead, I just found myself aimlessly walking around town, until my cell phone pulled me out of my misery and I pulled it out my pocket to answer the unknown number that flashed on my screen.
“Hello?” I asked cautiously as I waited for them to introduce themselves to me.
“Tilly, it’s James. I need to tell you some stuff,” James said, and he sounded panicked.
I could feel my feet stop dead at the sound of his voice as I waited for him to explain what had happened earlier.
“It was me,” James said.
“I know it was you.”
“No, I mean the fireworks. Sam and I set them off. It was me who burned you. It was all my fault, but I swear that I didn’t know you were in the woods,” James said in a panicked whisper.
I tried to soak in everything he’d just told me. “It was you?” I repeated as a question.
“You didn’t know I was in the woods.”
“You have to believe me, Tilly. Sam came out and told me that you were back at the party. I thought it was going to be a harmless prank, but it wasn’t, and now telling the truth is the only way that I can get out of these charges. I just needed you to know before I told the police. I wanted you to hear it from me because do you know what, Tilly?”
“What?” I asked him in a dumbfounded kind of way.
“I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time, and I think over the last few months we’ve gotten close. I mean, at least that’s how it’s seemed to me, and you have a right to know. The only reason that it’s taken me this long to tell you is because I’d convinced myself that it would be selfish to tell the truth. I mean, no good could have come from it,” he explained to me.
“James, you can’t tell the police,” I said quickly, as my mind tried to tick over. I could feel a jumble of thoughts racing through and pushing to be the center of my attention, but none of them were succeeding.
