Free Falling (11 page)

He smirked at me. “A lot going on? Like getting fitter so
you can run further without having to stop?” he offered, laughing quietly to
himself.

Oh yeah, he’s definitely blackmailing me!

His aunt cleared her throat. “Well if you can’t do it and
know of someone who can, then give them my number, okay?” she requested,
holding out a card to me.

Zach snatched it out of her hand and stuffed it in his
pocket as he looked at me challengingly. “Maisie’s going to do it. Aren’t you?”

I could feel my fists clenching in anger. I really wanted to
punch him in his smirking face. “I guess it would be alright. We could see how
it goes,” I offered, looking him right in the eye, showing him that I wasn’t
going to be intimidated by his badass attitude.

“Great,” his aunt chirped. “Right well then I’d best be off to
work. Zach, please behave.” She looked at him pleadingly, and his face softened
as he rolled his eyes and nodded. She turned back to Principal Bennett. “Thank
you for your time, and we really are both very sorry.” They shook hands and she
left, leaving us standing there with the Principal.

“Well, you’d best get on with the tour then. The bell rings
in five minutes, would you like a note to get you both out of first period so
you can do a thorough tour?” she asked, already reaching for the yellow pad behind
the desk and scribbling two of them. 

No, I want to get rid of this jerk as fast as possible!
“No, it’s fine; I’ll just go with a quick tour. I’m sure Zach can find his way
around on his own.”

She waved her hand dismissively and handed me the two slips.
“Don’t worry. Take the longer tour and show him the way to all of his classes,
it’ll be easier once the hallways are empty.”

I frowned and nodded, storing my pass into my bag and
handing Zach his one. He semi screwed it up and pushed it into his pocket, then
turned and smiled sweetly, motioning for me to go first out of the door.
“Ladies first.”

I took a deep calming breath. I needed to remember he seemed
like a nice guy when I met him Friday night. He could have got me into a lot of
trouble and left me stranded by the side of the road – but he didn’t. Therefore
I needed to give him a chance today. Maybe he was just behaving like this
because he was scared and was putting on a front. Starting a new school was
undoubtedly a little daunting.

I headed out of the door and turned back to smile at him,
only to find his eyes were glued to my derrière. I gasped and shoved on his
chest. “Stop staring at my ass!” I growled angrily.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Pur-leaze, that thing could
barely even be classed as an ass! Besides, it’s hidden under the T-shirt, I
couldn’t perv on it even if I wanted to,” he retorted, looking at me
distastefully.

I frowned and suddenly felt self-conscious. ‘Barely be
classed as an ass’, what was that supposed to mean? “Just shut up,” I scolded,
turning and walking off up the hallway, pulling his schedule and locker
information from my bag. I headed up to his locker and handed him the
combination. “That’s your locker there if you want to store anything.”

He laughed and held up his empty hands. “Don’t have anything
to store.”

I frowned. “Well where are your books and stuff?”

He laughed, shrugging noncommittally. “Lost them?”

Wow, this guy is stupid!
“No wonder you’re repeating
senior year,” I scoffed as I turned to walk off up the hallway to show him
where his classes were. The rest of the tour was quiet, neither of us spoke
apart from me telling him where things were, pointing out the fire exits and
the gym, bathrooms, and the cafeteria.

When we were done there was still a little while left until
second period started. “Want to go to the last fifteen minutes of class, or get
a drink instead?” I asked, shrugging.

“Whatever,” he grunted, folding his arms across his chest.

I smiled and decided to be the bigger person and make some
small talk. Instead of heading to classes, we stopped at the vending machines;
I bought two bottles of water and led him out onto the benches at the side of
the school. I sat down and handed him one.

“So, how long have you been doing partor?” I asked, smiling,
trying to be friendly.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. “It’s parkour, sweetheart,”
he corrected sarcastically. I sighed and closed my eyes. He was making this so
difficult. Why did this have to happen to me today? I had to meet him at
lunchtime today too. He was going to drive me crazy by the end of the day if he
kept being this sarcastic and snappy. He sighed too and surprised me when he
started talking again; I was expecting him to just ignore me for a while or
something, just to prove that he was the jerk I thought he was. “I’ve been
doing it for the last three years I guess. I train a lot, it takes a lot of
time to master.”

I opened my eyes and smiled at him gratefully.
Hmm, maybe
he is going to go easy on me after all.
“Yeah? How many classes does it
take before they teach you how to avoid getting flattened by a drunken girl
driving a stolen sports car?” I joked.

He smiled causing a little dimple to appear in his right
cheek. “That one’s a basic requirement, survival guide number one. You’d be
surprised how often that comes in handy.”

“So, how come you’re transferring mid-semester?” I asked
curiously. My best guess was that he’d moved house or something. He was
obviously living with his aunt, but I didn’t want to pry and ask why he didn’t
live with his parents.

He laughed. “I’m not transferring. I was excluded from my
last school,” he said, shrugging as if it was no big deal as he pulled his hood
up and then pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket.

I eyed him warily. He wouldn’t smoke on school grounds,
would he? Surely he was just after a reaction from me. “What were you excluded
for?” I asked curiously.

He grinned. “The final straw was smoking, but I was hanging
by a thread for fighting and skipping class before that,” he muttered, pulling
out a cigarette and offering me the packet.

I shook my head and frowned at him. “You got excluded for
smoking? That kind of seems a little harsh,” I admitted.

He shrugged. “Yeah, it didn’t help that I forgot to stub out
my butt properly and the carpet in the English block caught fire,” he replied
indifferently. I gulped at his words. As I opened my mouth to speak, he pulled
a silver lighter from his pocket, flicked the flame on and cupped his hand
around it as he brought the tip of his cigarette to it. I gasped in shock that he
was seriously lighting up in the school, especially after what happened in his
last one.

I ripped the freshly lit cigarette from between his lips and
stubbed it out onto the bench, looking around to make sure no one saw. “What
the hell are you doing?” I hissed, glaring at him.

He frowned at me angrily, but didn’t say anything, just
pulled out another one and lit it. I snatched it out of his mouth and stubbed
that one out too. He was really angry now, his jaw tight as his eyes seemed to
hold a burning passion in them that actually made me flinch. I glared back at
him. Neither of us spoke as he calmly got another from the packet. Before he
could even flick the flame on his lighter I grabbed the packet and his unlit
one from his hand, put it on the table and poured the rest of my drink onto
them.

He jumped up in shock and dived for the packet, flicking the
water from it. “What the hell are you doing? Are you stupid or something?” he
shouted, his whole body tensing up as he scowled at me.

I calmly stood up and nodded. “Yeah, I’m the stupid one. I’m
the one who set fire to my old school and got kicked out. I’m the one who’s
repeating senior year because I couldn’t be bothered to turn up and go to
class. I’m the one that actually pays to put poison inside my body because I
think it looks cool. Absolutely I’m stupid,” I stated sarcastically.

He stared at me for a couple of seconds before a smile
twitched at the corner of his mouth, then he broke out into a full smile. I
frowned, a little confused at the sudden change in mood. “There was me having
you pegged for a little pushover girl who wouldn’t say boo to a goose and
wouldn’t in a million years stand up for herself. I guess I was wrong, huh?” He
regarded me almost proudly.

I frowned. I’d never met anyone as confusing as this guy.
One minute he behaved like a jackass, and the next he was being nice, I
literally couldn’t keep up with him. I had a feeling that most of this was an
act to get a reaction from people, maybe he liked the attention.

“I guess you did,” I muttered, my voice a little weaker now.
“Anyway, the bell’s about to ring so maybe we should think about getting you to
your next class. I assume you are going to class?” I asked, raising one eyebrow
at him curiously. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d walked out of school as
soon as the tour finished.

He cocked his head to the side. “Do I have any classes with
you?”

I nodded and pulled out his schedule. “Two. Both after
lunch.”

A wicked smile crossed his face. “Then I guess I’m sticking
around, wouldn’t miss the opportunity to piss you off for the world,” he
stated, laughing quietly as I glared at him. I grabbed my bag and walked off
without waiting for him, I headed in the direction of his history class. He
caught me up easily. “So, does the cheating ex go to this school?” he asked.

I frowned and looked him from the corner of my eye. Why did
he have to bring up Luke again? I was getting along fine not thinking about
him, Zach and his ‘look at me I’m a badass’ personality were keeping my mind
off of the betrayal for a while.

“Yes, and so does the slut he cleated with,” I muttered,
hugging my bag to me, wishing that everything would just go back to normal or
that I would stop feeling this pain every time I thought of Luke and what he’d
done.

“Today’s gonna be fun for you then I bet,” he teased,
laughing quietly.

I stopped walking and closed my eyes. “Do you have to be
such an asshole? Look, I’m sorry I almost ran you over. I’m sorry I ruined your
cigarettes. I’m sorry that you have to come to this school when you would
probably rather be somewhere else, screwing slutty girls, or jumping over cars,
or whatever the hell is it that you find interesting. Just don’t take it out on
me, okay?” I hated the way my voice shook when I said it, I hated the way I felt
so broken and vulnerable, I just hated everything about myself at that moment.

He laughed. “Wow, you’re definitely getting better at the
bitchy comebacks. You need a little more practice though so I’ll let you keep
working on them. Come on, little miss DUI, I don’t want to be late for my first
official class,” he chirped, clearly having a great time at my expense.

I gritted my teeth. This torture would only last for a
couple of days, by then he would know his way around and meet a couple of
friends. Then I’d be free to pretend like I didn’t even know him. “Right well,
I’ll show you where your class is and then you’re on your own until this
afternoon when I’ll see you in gym,” I muttered, just wanting to be away from
him. I scribbled my name and number at the top on a piece of scrap paper and
then handed it to him along with the stack of paperwork Principal Bennett had
given me the other day. “There’s a map of the school and a list of your
classes. If you get lost or anything then that’s my number. Or you could just
ask someone, I’m pretty sure the girls will help you,” I stated, turning my
nose up at the thought of the girls that were going to be swooning over the new
badass.

Zach shoved my number in his pocket and followed along at my
side as we walked through the deserted hallways. I made the most of the quiet
because I knew that in a few minutes they would be teeming with people and
everyone would stare at me, whispering about how Luke had cheated. I swallowed
the lump in my throat. All I wanted to do was go home. During the night I’d
actually considered finishing my senior year by correspondence. That idea was
getting more appealing by the second.

“The Principal said I’d be eating with you today,” Zach said
casually at my shoulder.

I frowned and shrugged. “You don’t have to. I have things to
do so if you wouldn’t mind braving it on your own,” I suggested hopefully.

He smiled that dimpled smile again. “What you gonna do at
lunchtime? Cry in the bathrooms about the prick that thought with the little
head at the party?” he joked.

“Do you have to be such an ass?” I snapped, shoving on his
shoulder.

His smile faded instantly. “Sorry, I was just joking
around.” An apologetic expression crossed his face before he frowned and looked
at the door of his next class. “Thanks for showing me the way; I’ll see you at
lunchtime. No crying over the dickwad, okay? He’s obviously stupid to have done
that to a girl like you,” he stated, crossing his arms over his chest, clearly
uncomfortable.

I raised one eyebrow. That was the first nice thing he’d
said to me. He looked like a fish out of water, like he wasn’t used to being nice
or something. His eyes were looking anywhere but me, and I couldn’t help but
smile a little.

“Right, well, okay, yeah,” I muttered weakly, not knowing
what else to say. “I’ll see you in the lunchroom then.” I turned and headed off
towards my class, wanting to get there before the hallways filled with people.
Today was going to be hard; thank goodness I didn’t have any classes with Luke
though so I got out of that one. The same couldn’t be said for Sandy though;
she was in my gym class, as was Zach. That class was going to be a nightmare no
doubt.

I stopped outside of my class and pulled out my textbook as
the bell rang, pretending to be engrossed in it as people streamed out of the
classroom. I gulped, my eyes filling with tears as people were already having
whisper conversations about me. All I could hear were people telling the story
over and over, how I had walked in on my long term boyfriend in bed with
another girl.