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Post by Bee on Apr 7, 2011 22:36:30 GMT
Great update Sophie...
Question in England do you really knock on your own front door and have someone else open it? Lol
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Post by sophie on Apr 7, 2011 23:26:47 GMT
Depends on whether or not they have a doorbell! Most houses have doorbells though. I thought it would sound better if Declan woke up to a knocking than a ringing sound.
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Post by Bee on Apr 8, 2011 0:06:29 GMT
Lol that's so weird! Id find it soooo weird knocking on my own front door!
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Post by sophie on Apr 8, 2011 0:13:17 GMT
My friend's house has a door-knocker. But most houses have door bells, I assume yours would too?
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Post by Bee on Apr 8, 2011 2:54:37 GMT
You just knock on the door but only the doors of houses you don't own I just walk straight into my house without knocking
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Post by sophie on Apr 8, 2011 9:37:32 GMT
But it's not Donna's house so why's it weird? Unless you don't knock on your friend's doors?
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Post by Bee on Apr 8, 2011 10:31:01 GMT
"He'll get over it. He probably already is. Now come on, get dressed," and India meekly did so and an hour later they were at the front door and Declan was opening it, looking as awkward as India felt.
Doesnt that mean they knocked on the door and dec answered?
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Post by sophie on Apr 8, 2011 10:48:56 GMT
I didn't really think about it! They'd have rung on the bell or knocked on the door. Most doors here lock automatically when you close them so you have to ring or knock.
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Post by Bee on Apr 8, 2011 10:53:12 GMT
ohk well Australian's are way too carefree... we rarely lock our doors haha
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Post by sophie on Apr 11, 2011 21:42:50 GMT
Most of the doors are designed like that so you don't have to lock it behind you.
On Monday morning India was walking to school when she heard a call of, "Indy!" and she turned round to see Lydia, pink in the face and breathless hurrying up to her. India waited.
"I'm sorry about my mum," she panted when she got up to her. "Did your dad go mad? I didn't know until I got home and she's already phoned him."
"He didn't believe that I was taking drugs, but he found my pill," said India irritably. "So you can thank Luke for that!"
"So he knows?"
"Yeah."
"What did he do?" asked Lydia in a hushed voice. "My dad would go mad."
"You know. Yelled a lot. Asked what I'd do if I got pregnant. We had a fight, but he's sort of over it. He's not happy though and I don't think Elliot can come round for a while."
"I'm sorry, Indy," said Lydia. "I didn't know until I got home. I nearly killed Luke."
"It's not your fault."
"I told her she had it totally wrong," Lydia continued. "And she asked what was really going on, and I tried to hide it, but I can't lie for anything so I just told her the truth and she still went mad."
"Why?" exclaimed India and Lydia shrugged and said, "She was going on about giving me ideas or something."
"So she thinks that because I've had sex I'm a bad influence?" asked India incredulously, disliking Lydia's mother and more and more.
"I told her to stick it," said Lydia. "Well. Not in those words. My mum's crazy."
The girls fell into silence and walked along without saying anything. India kicked a stone tha had fallen into her path when Lydia suddenly exclaimed, "Look!" and India looked up to see Jamie walking alone up ahead.
"Aren't you going to talk to him?" Lydia asked and India shrugged.
"Are you still in a fight?"
"It's not really a fight."
"So why aren't you going to talk to him?"
"I don't know," exclaimed India. "It feels weird. And anyway, his friends are there," as some boys suddenly joined him.
"Excuses, Napier," said Lydia pointedly, nudging her, but India ignored her and they walked silently again for the rest of the way.
At recess India saw Jamie sitting by a tree and debated going to talk to him, almost turned away but then decided she was being stupid and started to walk over, but someone else reached him before she could, a blonde someone with pink nail polish and India watched in disbelief as Stephanie sat beside him, giggling and flicking her hair at whatever it was that Jamie said. India stared at them for a while, before finally turning around and finding somewhere else to sit, and felt in shock for the rest of the day.
"You're going with Stephanie now?"
"What?" asked Jamie, turning around and seeing India behind him as he began to walk home.
"Are you going out with her?" India demanded again and he shrugged.
"What does that mean?"
"Why does it matter?" Jamie asked.
"I saw you talking at recess."
"Ooh, talking," echoed Jamie annoyingly and India snapped, "You don't have to be childish about it!"
"Oh, I'm being childish?" retorted Jamie. "I'm not the one who ran up and interrogated you about who you were going out with."
"I was just asking," snapped India, feeling uncomfortable.
"Maybe," said Jamie in an airy voice. "Maybe not. Why do you care?"
"I don't care!" exclaimed India. "I was just asking, that's what friends do!"
"That's right; friends ask, they don't yell at you about it!"
"And I thought friends told you what was going on in their lives!"
There was an uncomfortable silence and then Jamie finally said, "Look, we're going out for a milkshake, that's all."
"Right," said India, feeling a little shocked. She didn't know why but it was the same feeling she had had all those years ago when he had chosen to sit by her in Maths.
"So...I'm going home now," said Jamie awkwardly and India quickly said, "See you tomorrow," and turned in the opposite direction and shouting out, without thinking, "You know, she still only talks about nail polish!" and then feeling like a moron. Jamie yelled back, "Whatever!" and they glared at each other before walking the opposite way home.
"Dad," said India miserably as she came in, "Have you ever said a really stupid thing?"
"Is that a joke, Indy?" asked Declan absent-mindedly, not looking up from the website. "You know how much I stuff things up."
"I said a really stupid thing," said India miserably.
No response.
"It was really stupid," said India again but Declan didn't respond.
"Dad!"
"Yeah," he said without looking up and India, losing her temper, exclaimed, "Your daughter is in trouble here, the least you could do is look up! They say kids are the ones obsessed with technology...."
Declan sighed, closed the laptop and looked up.
"What was so terrible? You have my full and undivided attention."
"Jamie was talking to Stephanie..."
"And?"
"And I got mad," said India, starting to feel embarrassed. "And I might have yelled that she still wears pink nail polish..."
Declan tried not to laugh and failed.
"Dad!" exclaimed India. "It's not funny!"
"The green-eyed monster in you is!"
"What?" exclaimed India, going red. "I'm not jealous!"
"Really," said Declan sarcastically.
"Really," said India defensively. "I'm with Elliot, he can go out with whoever he wants."
"But not her?"
"She's not good enough for him!"
"Right," said Declan sarcastically and India looked the other way.
"What were you doing on the computer?" she asked finally.
"Oh, looking at the fashion shoot pictures," said Declan, opening it back up. "There's more on the website than in the magazine."
India leant forward to see and burst out laughing. As well as the pictures that had been included in the magazine, there were some of her father walking along the catwalk and trying to hold the robe tight at the same time, one where he had one hand on his hip and pointing at the camera and one of – "Me!" exclaimed India in horror, no longer laughing. "Why am I on there?"
"They clearly think you did a good job with the shrugerlaro," said Declan, feeling smug that someone else was on the receiving end.
"Why?" groaned India, catching sight of a less flattering shot where she was squinting from the bright light of the camera.
"I don't know, but you have fifty likes which is five more than me," said Declan, trying not to laugh. "So you must be doing something right!"
"I knew I never should have agreed to it," grumbled India, deciding to no longer look at the pictures after seeing one of her behind the scenes and coughing at the hairspray. "Can't we delete them or something?"
"A family heirloom, remember?" teased Declan and India groaned and went to her room. Declan continued to click through the photos but then quickly turned off the computer again after seeing one of him tripping over, feeling relieved that she hadn't seen it. India did not sleep well. She tossed and turned, thinking about Jamie and Stephanie, unable to get comfortable and finally sat up, shaking her hair out of the way and turned the pillow over before lying back down and sternly telling herself not to be so ridiculous. Even if Stephanie was an insipid, giggling moron it was her friend's choice if he wanted to go out with her...his choice if he wanted to be bored stiff about pink nail polish...his choice if he wanted to go out with someone with a brain the size of a pea but with the breasts the size of...
"For God's sake!" India said out loud, sitting up again. Why was she thinking like this? It was beginning to bother her and India finally turned the bedside lamp on and got her book to try and read herself to sleep and get her mind off things and, as she reached for it, India noticed Bridget's photo.
"What's wrong with me, Mum?" India asked out loud.
Silence, but Bridget smiled back, her mouth open in careless laughter and instead of reading her book, India lay back down and tried hard to imagine the conversation with her mother.
Could you be jealous?[/] she imagined her mother saying.
No...
Are you sure about that?
Yes!
So why are you annoyed?
I don't know. What's wrong with me, Mum?
But try as she could, India couldn't imagine what else her mother would say and finally, feeling exhausted, she turned the light back off with two types of sadness in her heart.
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Post by Bee on Apr 12, 2011 0:34:46 GMT
That was a great update sophie (: can't wait for more (:
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Post by sophie on Apr 12, 2011 21:52:26 GMT
Thanks!
The next day India did not talk to Jamie at all, but saw him talking to other people all throughout the day, mainly one person, a person with a silly giggle and pink nail polish and India found herself glaring at them at lunch and recess, despite knowing that she was being stupid. All the same, she felt annoyed, and wondered what it was about that he seemed to like so much, and what was so funny in what she said. Yes, she was pretty enough, India admitted grudgingly, but Stephanie wasn’t exactly known for her intellectual stimulation...then again, that probably wasn't what he was after, she reflected in disgust.
India shook herself. Why was it bothering her so much? Why should she care, she asked herself uneasily, when she already had someone? It began to bother her that she felt so bothered and, as she left school, she tried to tell herself that it was simply due to Jamie deserving someone better and the bitterness was left over from all those years before. Still, it played uneasily at the back of her mind, although she tried to shake it and India felt confused and a little upset as she began to walk home.
“Hey!”
“Elliot!” India exclaimed, feeling herself blush slightly as she saw her boyfriend smiling and walking up to her. “What are you doing here?”
“I haven’t seen you for a few days,” said Elliot, after giving her a quick kiss. “What’s been going on?”
“Oh...nothing,” said India, thinking back to Jamie and Lydia, and they began to walk along, him taking her hand. “Oh no, wait! Something has happened – two somethings!”
“Good or bad?”
“Bad – good – both.”
“Well, that makes a heap of sense,” said Elliot sarcastically and India stopped suddenly.
“What?”
“We can’t go back to my place.”
“Why?”
“Dad found out we slept together,” India told him. “That was one of the somethings.”
“What?” Elliot exclaimed, beginning to look nervous in case Declan suddenly appeared. “When? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was only on Saturday.”
“That’s long enough!”
“I know, I’m sorry. I just felt so mixed up, it all happened so fast and we had a fight.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Elliot asked again, looking hurt and India felt upset.
“I don’t know. I’m sorry. It all happened so quickly and I didn’t want to talk about it because I felt so upset and I didn’t want to worry you.”
“Was it really bad?”
“Yeah,” said India, wrinkling her nose. “Well. It could have been worse, I guess. He got over it. Sort of over it but I don’t reckon you should come back to my place anytime soon. He said you could never come back – he was pretty mad when he said it but I think he meant it, on some level anyway.”
“How did he find out?”
“He was putting my laundry away and found the contraception at the back of the drawer.”
“Why was it there?”
“Why do you think? So he wouldn’t find it. Guess that didn’t exactly work out.”
“Are you okay? I know your dad can be scary when he’s angry and you’re close.”
“It was okay in the end,” sighed India. “I went to my grandma’s and she went back to see Dad and calm him down. She’s awesome. She always knows what to do and what to say.”
“Was she mad too?”
“No, she was cool about it.”
“Not your typical grandma then!”
“No!” laughed India. “She’s definitely not.”
They walked along in silence for a while, in the opposite direction to India’s and India held Elliot’s hand tightly. I don’t care about what Jamie does, she thought firmly and then felt angry again – why was he even in her thoughts? Why wasn’t she just thinking about being with Elliot?
“What did he do?”
“Huh?” asked India, blinking from being broken from her reverie.
“Your dad,” said Elliot, surprised at her confusion. “What did he say? Is he out for my blood?”
“Pretty much,” said India with a wry laugh, relaxing again. “He yelled all the stuff he’d expect – asked me about what I’d do if I got pregnant, that kind of thing.”
“Right,” said Elliot uncomfortably but India brightened and said, “But that’s the good something!”
“What is?”
“Getting pregnant – or rather, not getting pregnant. I got my period today so it doesn’t matter that we didn’t use a condom the first time.”
“Good,” said Elliot, and he smiled and visibly relaxed.
“I still think we should use them though,” continued India. “I know my dad’s a paranoid but I don’t want to risk it and prove him right. I mean – he doesn’t want to be proven right but I get why he’s worried. I’m not in any hurry to be a mum.”
“Do you think I’m in any hurry to be a dad?” exclaimed Elliot. “But I don’t think we’re really risking it if we don’t use condoms – the pill’s really effective, isn’t it, and it didn’t matter that we didn’t use one the first time.”
“There’s still a risk,” said India stubbornly. “Even if it is really low, it’s still there. I’d feel better with them.”
“Fine,” said Elliot irritably and there was an awkward silence.
“Look, my mum and dad were teenage parents,” India suddenly said in a rush. “And I know how hard it was for them. I don’t know if I’d be more relaxed if they hadn’t been, but I’m not. I can’t risk getting pregnant. I know I wouldn’t have to do it their way, or even go through with it, but I don’t want to make that kind of decision. I’m only seventeen. I know I’m sounding like my dad, but I know where he’s coming from. I can’t risk it.”
“Do you think I’m relaxed about it?” exclaimed Elliot. “Do you think I want you to get pregnant? I’m not stupid enough to think that you can have sex and not get pregnant if you do it standing up or something, or if you only do it on a certain day. It’s not like I’m saying not to use anything at all!”
“I know but –“
“The only way you can be totally risk-free is if we don’t do it at all!”
“I know!” snapped India. “I’m not trying to say that you don’t care about it, or haven’t thought about it, I just want you to see where I’m coming from! I don’t want us to stop sleeping together and I know it’s never going to be 100% safe, but it’s the safest we can get unless we get sterilised or something. Part of me doesn’t want to use condoms either but I’d rather have the hassle and not worry about getting pregnant.”
They fell into an awkward silence again and both avoided each other’s gaze.
“Do you think I’m a real paranoid?” India finally asked and Elliot looked ashamed and said, “No, just sensible. Sorry, I was being a jerk.”
“You weren’t.”
“I was. You know I don’t want to you to get pregnant or do anything you don’t feel right about.”
“I know,” said India, smiling and she leant upwards and they kissed, wrapping their arms around each other.
“Do you want to go back to mine?” Elliot asked suddenly and India nodded, and they took each other’s hands again and began to walk.
“I talked to Maddie,” he continued.
“Oh yeah?”
“She confessed everything,” Elliot said. “I couldn’t really get a straight answer out of her about why she was doing it. I think she was worried that you were taking me away, so I told her it could never happen and she seemed okay after that. She was pretty upset.”
“Poor Maddie,” said India sympathetically, as they reached his house. “I guess she didn’t know how to deal with it.”
“How could she think that I’d stop loving her?”
“She is only ten,” India said. “She just felt left out.”
“I guess,” said Elliot, and they went inside. India ended up showing him the pictures of the fashion show on the website, and he fell about laughing, demanding a replay.
“I can’t, I don’t have the outfit anymore!” India protested though her laughter and he managed to say, “I don’t care, do the walk anyway!” before collapsing back into laughter and so India did a silly walk, Elliot pretending to take pictures, throwing her head back so her curls blew out.
“I feel like an idiot!” she exclaimed but then Maddie and Leah heard them and came running in.
“I want to play!” Leah shouted. “I want to play supermodel too!” so Maddie ran and got her her fairy wings and a dress for herself, and all three ended up playing ‘supermodel’, Elliot doing a pose as well and India was still laughing as she came home for dinner, feeling on top of the world. Elliot was okay about her not telling her about the fight, they had made up their small argument, Maddie didn’t hate her anymore, something India had never expected to happen and most of all she wasn’t pregnant and India ran inside, simply ecstatic.
“Someone’s happy,” commented Declan as India, still giggling slightly, came up to her father and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“What’s that for?” he asked, pleasantly surprised and India blithely said, “I just feel happy. Isn’t life great?” before going to her room before Declan could ask any further, leaving him feeling pleased and confused.
“You’re beautiful.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m just India...”
“You’ve always been beautiful to me....”
India smiled at him, it not feeling real, and he took her hands and moved forwards to kiss her. They were in a cloistered, wooded oasis and India closed her eyes and leant forward as well but they were rudely interrupted by, “Come on!” and India looked up to see Elliot standing by a long, endless seeming road away from the harmony of their surroundings.
“I don’t want to go,” India said weakly but he shook his head and said, “You have to, for us.”
“Us?” echoed India and looked down to see her stomach considerably larger than its usual size and gasped.
“You have to go,” Jamie said and then India began to scream and found herself sitting up in her bed, her mouth still open and then hurried footsteps sounded and Declan burst in.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking worried and India shook her head, feeling dazed and said, “Just a bad dream.”
“You scared me half to death with that scream.”
“Sorry,” said India awkwardly, still feeling agitated. “It was just a nightmare. I don’t remember it.”
Declan nodded and went back to bed, able to relax and go back to sleep, but India lay back down, still feeling anxious.
“It was just a dream,” she repeated to herself, as though to child, to try and calm herself. “Just a dream. Go back to sleep,” but it was nearly dawn before India fell into another uneasy sleep without dreams.
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Post by Bee on Apr 12, 2011 23:25:20 GMT
oooooh great update sophie (:
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Post by sophie on Apr 14, 2011 21:42:11 GMT
Thanks!
India still felt freaked out the next morning when she got up, the dream still horribly vivid in her mind. It was just a dream though, she thought as she got ready for school. She knew she wasn’t pregnant, she had her period, so it couldn’t mean anything, she told herself firmly, trying to battle the anxiousness in her mind, and stood under the hot water in the shower for a lot longer than she needed to, closing her eyes and trying to relax. That didn’t last, however, as there was a loud bang on the door making her jump.
“Indy, get out of there!” yelled her father. “Some of us need to use the bathroom and besides, I have a water bill to pay!”
“Sorry!” shouted India, turning the water off and stepping out into a loud of steam, grabbing her towel.
“Any much longer and you would have drowned,” commented Declan as India opened the door. "Why do you women always have to spend about a year in the shower?"
“I wasn’t that long...”
Declan snorted.
“We’ll see about that when I get the next water bill!”
“Sorry,” said India, gave her father a quick smile and went to get dressed. She glanced at the clock and then stared at it in horror: her father was right: she had been a while. Half an hour longer than usual and she had ten minutes to get to school. India threw her clothes on, grabbed her bag and hurried to the door.
“Hey!” shouted Declan, leaving the bathroom. “Have you eaten breakfast?”
“I don’t have time!” panted India.
“You’re not leaving without breakfast,” lectured her father. “It’s the most important meal of the day.”
“Look, I’ll eat this on the way to school,” said India absentmindedly, getting a cereal bar from the cupboard.
“That’s not –“
“I’m going to be late!” yelped India and, before her father could argue any further, she ran outside, opening the bar as she went and stuffing it in her mouth and quickly checking her watch, eating it as quickly as she could without choking. Five minutes. India grimaced and upped her pace.
“Hey! Wait up!”
India unwillingly turned, gasping for air, and saw Jamie running to catch up with her.
“How come you’re so late?” she asked and he retorted, “How come you are? You’re never late.”
“Lost track of the time,” shrugged India and he looked surprised.
“It’s not like you.”
India shrugged again and then the other part of her dream suddenly came back to her and she reeled slightly as she looked at her friend. Her friend, she thought firmly.
“What?” asked Jamie, noticing his friend giving him a strange look.
“Nothing...” India shook her head. “Can we please keep running? We’re going to be so late.”
“Relax, Napier,” teased Jamie. “They won’t throw you out!”
In response India turned and started running again, Jamie trying to keep up and gasping, “Slow down, some of us aren’t as fit as you!”
Five minutes later and a pair of hot and sweaty pair of teenagers, red in the face, burst into Ella Brown’s Maths class and the entire class looked up in amusement.
“Sorry we’re late,” panted India, a hand to the stitch in her side and the students started giggling.
“That’s enough,” Ms Brown said automatically. “Where have you two been?”
“Lost track of time,” said India awkwardly, and then went red as everyone laughed harder, realising how it sounded and Marcus Clod remarked, “Heavy pashing session, huh?”
“Shut up, Clod!” snapped Jamie, going a deeper shade of red, the classroom erupting into more laughter and Ms Brown snapped, “All right, that’s enough all of you, sit down and get back to work. India, Jamie, the work’s on the board and you can both fill out late forms at recess to explain why you were late.”
India slid into her seat, feeling embarrassed but as the class settled back down and even as Jamie concentrated on the work, India found herself unable to do the same. The dream was haunting her. India tried to shake herself, tried to tell herself she being stupid...dreams don’t mean anything. They’re just a giant mish-mash of what’s in your mind, just your brain sorting through what you’ve been thinking about, she told herself sternly. Of course she worried about getting pregnant but it didn’t mean that she actually was. And as for the Jamie thing...India couldn’t think of a way to answer that and so looked down at the page and tried to worry about the work set in front of her instead.
“What’s going on?” Jamie asked her.
“Nothing,” said India automatically. It was lunchtime and she was sitting under the shade of a tree and Jamie’s shadow had just appeared in front of her.
“You’re in a really weird mood.”
“I’m not.”
“You’ve been really quiet all day and you wouldn’t even look at me when you filled out your late slip. What’s up?”
“Nothing,” sighed India.
“I don’t believe you.”
“It was just...I had a bad dream.”
“A bad dream?” echoed Jamie, sounding slightly amused and India felt stupid and annoyed.
“I knew you’d laugh!”
“I’m not laughing!” contradicted Jamie. “Do you remember it?”
“Not really.”
“Was I in it?”
“No,” lied India and they fell silent.
“So how’s it going with Stephanie?” India asked and he stared at her, looking for any annoyance in her tone or sarcasm.
“Are you being genuine?”
“Is it so surprising?” asked India tightly. “We’re friends.”
“You went off your head when I told you I was going out with her. And it wasn’t even going out with her, it was a milkshake.”
“Fine, I won’t ask then!”
“It’s going okay,” said Jamie after a pause. “She’s okay. I’ve only seen her a couple of times.”
“Are you going to see her again?” asked India, trying to ignore her feeling of annoyance. She was being a friend and friends didn’t kick off about other friend’s girlfriends...even if they are insipid idiots...
“Maybe,” he shrugged, grinning. “I’m not sure yet.”
“What do you see in her?” India blurted out before she could stop herself and he looked annoyed.
“She’s pretty. She’s nice. She’s funny.”
“Funny how?” asked India. “I never thought she was much of a comedian.”
“That’s another thing, she doesn’t jump down my throat the whole time,” snapped Jamie. “I don’t have to worry about her blowing a fuse about anything I say.”
“Stephanie doesn’t have the brain power,” said India snarkily. “Or even a brain.”
“Because you’re such a paragon of intelligence?” snapped Jamie hurtfully and India, feeling stung, retorted, “No, but at least I’m not some robot girl who just sits there and giggles!”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” exclaimed Jamie and India felt slightly ashamed. “You don’t even know her! Do you know what this is? This is you never getting over the time I went out with her over you when we were twelve. Guess what Indy; it’s been five years now. Get over it!”
“Don’t patronise me!” snapped India furiously and Jamie snapped, “Don’t be such a bitch then!” and stormed away, leaving India feeling like she had been punched in the chest. He had never called her that before. He had called her lots of names in arguments over the years: idiot, cow, stinky-breath and snot-nose when they were younger but he had never, ever called her a bitch and India sniffled as tears started rolling down her cheeks and though she rubbed them away new ones started rolling and India simply sat under the tree crying, not even having a tissue to wipe them away.
“Indy!”
India looked up, sniffling, to see Lydia standing over her and then crouching down beside her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Jamie called me a bitch!” wailed India and Lydia looked a little shocked and then put an arm around her and fished in her bag for a tissue.
“Here.”
“Thanks,” sniffled India, and took it gratefully, wiping her face and blowing her nose.
“Where is he?” demanded Lydia. “I’ll go and punch him for you.”
India had to laugh at that. It was hard to imagine Lydia, afraid of playing netball in PE in case of breaking a nail, trying to punch anyone.
“Thanks, but you’re okay.”
“You’re going to do it?”
“I guess,” shrugged India, but she didn’t feel much better. Even though she was angry she felt more upset than anything.
“Oh, don’t start crying again,” said Lydia in alarm, as more tears started to fall down her friend’s cheeks. “He’s a moron but he didn’t mean it.”
“He’s never called me that before!”
“He didn’t mean it,” Lydia said again. “Come on, go and wash your face, we have English.”
India nodded, wiping her face and got up, feeling glad that Jamie wasn’t in her class and followed her friend back to school. She concentrated hard on the assessment, trying hard not to think about either her dream or her argument with Jamie, but she couldn’t help doing so and still felt thoroughly miserable as she walked home with Lydia.
“I know it’s not that bad a word,” she said, kicking a stone as she walked. “It’s just that he’s never called me that before. I don’t think he ever even thought about using it about me.”
“He was being a jerk.”
“Maybe I was being a bitch,” said India miserably, hating the word as she said it. “He’s right, I don’t know Stephanie and it is none of my business.”
“Don’t be stupid. Stephanie’s a moron and anyway, I know why you’re so upset about it...”
“I don’t like him,” exclaimed India, her cheeks going red. “Not that way!”
“Whatever,” remarked Lydia, raising her eyebrows, and they fell into silence.
“I had the worst dream last night,” said India, allowing herself to think about it again.
“What about?”
“I dreamt I was pregnant.”
Lydia stopped walking and stared at her friend.
“But I can’t be,” said India quickly. “I’ve got my period. I think it was just because I was freaking out a bit before.”
“Maybe,” said Lydia, and India began to wish that she hadn’t told her. Lydia was one of those people who believe in the power of dreams and premonitions, not the type to reassure her that it was all nonsense and make her feel better.
“I know it is,” she said firmly. “We’ve been really careful and anyway, I know I’m not pregnant so it’s not an issue.”
“Probably,” agreed Lydia, but she did not sound convinced and India decided quietly to leave the rest of the dream out.
They walked the rest of the way in silence and finally Lydia turned to go onto her road and said, “Look, don’t worry about it. Jamie will realise he was a moron.”
“I know,” sighed India.
“See you in the morning, okay?” said Lydia and she waved slightly and turned away and India started to walk again, feeling morose. Lydia didn’t understand how it had felt because she had never had a friend like Jamie, she thought, and she wished that she had not chosen to tell her worries about her dream to someone who believed in premonition nonsense. But she’s had to get it off her chest and she couldn’t tell Elliot, Jamie or her father. Maybe Donna, she thought, but she remembered that she the type who bought into all that dream meaning stuff too.
“Leave me alone!”
India looked up to see a boy yelling at a girl, and then, on closer inspection saw that it was Theo with a girl from his primary school and she moved a little closer to hear what was going on.
“But Theo –“
“Go away!” Theo yelled and the girl looked hurt. “I don’t want to go out with you!”
The girl’s lip wobbled and she turned and ran away. India waited until she had gone and then hurried up to Theo, who was stomping away.
“Who was that?” she asked, making him jump.
“Just Sarah,” he said moodily.
“Who’s just Sarah?” asked India, amused and he said irritably, “A girl in my grade.”
“Is she nice?”
“She’s okay,” shrugged Theo. “She wants my phone number so she can go out with me. I said no.”
“You weren’t very nice about it.”
Theo shrugged again.
“I’ve said no about five times, she won’t leave me alone.”
“Five times?”
“Well...twice,” admitted Theo. “But she won’t leave me alone!”
“An admirer, huh?” asked India, the corners of her mouth twitching. “How come you said no?”
“I dunno,” said Theo, kicking a stone. “She’s really quiet.”
“She must like you a lot then if she’s asked you out. Gutsy as well, it’s tough asking out a guy you like, especially if you’re shy.”
“I know it’s hard asking someone out,” said Theo pointedly, and India felt embarrassed. “When they say no. But she’s not right for me.”
“You don’t know yet,” said India. “Anyway, you’re only eleven. You don’t need to go out with anyone.”
“You’re right for me,” said Theo in a rush. “I don’t want anyone else!” and before India could contradict him he had run away, his rucksack bouncing on his back. India stood still for a moment, watching him go, and found herself wishing that she too was back in primary school where the worst thing a boy could tell you was that you smelt funny.
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Post by Bee on Apr 14, 2011 23:44:07 GMT
Great update Sophie can't wait for more!
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