Peer Pressure (6 page)

“Thanks asshole,” was the best she could give back. Laura laughed quietly.

“What were you looking at? You were staring into space.”

“I thought I saw someone I knew,” replied Jodie, her eyes still following Mr. Peer’s every move.

Laura, despite her best efforts, couldn’t see what she was looking at; only that she was hypnotized by whatever it was. She clicked her fingers in front of her friend’s face. Jodie, almost immediately, snapped out of it.

“So...Goatsucker, eh?”

“Don’t start” said Jodie as she slowly began to eat. ”It was an accident. Who told you?”

“Susan. She said you went
‘kind of funny’
in English class. Is that true?”

“Bitch,” Jodie whispered under her breath. Laura’s eyes lit up. She loved gossip.

“So
it is
true?”

“Not exactly.”

“I hear the new teacher’s a fox.”

Jodie stopped eating briefly, before answering.

“Rob.”

“Ooh, first name terms, eh? How very grown up.”

“Okay, Mr. Peer, is that better?”

“Just tell me, is he hot or not?”

“Judge for yourself.”

Jodie motioned across the room to where Mr. Peer was sitting with the other staff, smiling the smile that had already won over Jodie and now worked its magic on Laura.

“Holy shit. He looks our age.”

“You’re not far off. He’s twenty five.”

“He’s twenty-
fine
more like. You’re a lucky cow getting to spend a year with him. I have the joy of spending my year with Mr. Spencer and Miss Hughes. Have you seen the sweat marks under Spencer’s arms? It’s disgusting.”

“I haven’t had that pleasure, no. I don’t think Mr. Peer has the same problem.” Both girls were now looking over at Mr. Peer who, oblivious to the attention, was deep in the midst of a conversation with Mr. Marker, from PE.

“No, he looks cute. Too cute, in fact. He’s probably gay.”

“He is not gay, Laura,” snapped Jodie, with an aggression that surprised even herself.

Laura held up her hands in faux surrender.

“Oh, okay, don’t get defensive about your
‘boyfriend’
.”

Laura was joking, but somewhere deep down, Jodie wished for there to be some truth in that.

At the bottom of the same table, two seats away from Laura and Jodie, Patrick Fitzpatrick continued to play his handheld game, the remnants of a packed lunch in front of him.

Sean, who had been circling the lunch hall for a good five minutes, spotted him and made a bee line for the table, putting down his tray and taking the seat next to him. Patrick didn’t acknowledge his unwanted visitor, but Sean started to talk anyway.

“Hi Patrick, how’s it going?” he asked cheerfully.

“What do you want?” was the blunt reply he received. Patrick didn’t even look up. Sean turned his attention to his food tray.

“Anything other than this lunch.”

“I bring my own.” Patrick prodded his plastic sandwich box.

“Smart man.” Sean now looked around the room, taking in his surroundings, looking for any sense of familiarity, a friendly face, anything, before returning to Patrick.

“So, how’s your day going?”

“I’m down twelve life points, but up six hundred power coins.” Sean didn’t know what this meant, but indulged him regardless.

“That’s...impressive. Aren’t you going to ask me how my day’s going?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

Sean looked at Patrick blankly before responding.

“Has anyone ever told you you’ve got a really charming way about you?”

Patrick, not sensing the sarcasm, gave Sean a quick suspicious look, followed by:

“Look, I’m straight, alright?”

“Yeah right!” interrupted Laura, who had been eavesdropping since Sean had taken his seat.

Both boys turned to their left to see both Laura and Jodie looking at them. Sean, looking straight at Jodie, gave a smile. Patrick was less cheerful, as his game beeped at him, flaunting its victory.

“Who asked for your opinion?”

“No one,” replied Laura. ”I just wanted to introduce myself to your new friend. What’s your name?”

“Sean Lewis. What’s yours?”

“I’m Laura, and this is...”

“Jodie,” said Sean, before Laura had a chance to introduce her properly. She looked round at Jodie in surprise.

“You guys know each other?”

Jodie leaned into Laura’s ear and whispered

“He’s in my English class.”

Laura looked at Jodie with a certain amount of envy.

“Two newbies, in one day? How come you get all the hot ones?”

Sean heard this, however, and grinned a little to himself. Jodie felt embarrassed by Laura’s frankness, but Laura couldn’t have cared less, continuing:

“So you’re new here?”

“Yeah, young Patrick here was showing me around earlier. We hit it off didn’t we Pat?”

Sean placed his arm on Patrick’s shoulder, who merely put down his game console and sighed:

“Whatever.”

He then put everything back in his bag and walked off. Laura and Sean watched him go, before looking at each other and smiling.

Jodie, meanwhile, was trying to look over at Mr. Peer, but her view kept getting obscured by students. Laura continued to talk with Sean.

“Where did you move from?”

“Germany.”

“Cool. And how does Aberdeen compare?”

“All cities are the same, you know? Only the people change.” Sean said this with a slight hint of sadness, but neither Laura nor Jodie picked up on it.

“Well, if you need anyone to show you around...”

“I will, thanks,” but Sean was looking at Jodie when he said this. Laura rolled her eyes and waved a hand in front of Jodie’s face to get Sean’s attention, adding

“I was talking about me.”

Sean, however, still looking at Jodie just said:

“Yeah, I know.”

Laura turned to face Jodie as she grabbed her bag and quietly mouthed:
‘He’s so hot’
to her. Then she got up and left.

Jodie smiled and waved as she went, but she was already looking back towards Mr.

Peer’s direction where he was slowly getting up from his table. As he did, he made eye contact with her. Just for a second but it was enough.

Jodie felt a sudden sensation of warmth, as if her body had started to go numb, a feeling that would have continued had the spell not been broken by Sean.

“Your friend’s nice.”

Jodie turned back towards Sean, slightly irritated.

“Huh? Oh, Laura, yeah, she’s nuts but in a good way.”

“And what about you?”

Jodie didn’t understand the question.

“What about me?”

“Good, but in a nuts way?” Sean smiled. Jodie didn’t smile back; instead she started to get up.

“Yeah, very funny. I’ve got to go.”

“Sure. Nice meeting you again.”

But Jodie was already on her feet, heading for the door, hoping to catch up with Mr. Peer as he left.

The plan was simple. She would just happen to be going the same direction, they would strike up a conversation about something incredibly intellectual and it would all go from there.

Alas, it wasn’t to be, as she suddenly heard Sean shout out to her.

“Jodie!”

Now she was pissed, and turned back to face him.

“What?!” she snapped. But she regretted it almost immediately, as she saw Sean approaching her carrying her bag.

“You forgot this,” he said, slightly hurt by her response but not showing it.

Jodie didn’t know what to say. She turned towards the door in time to see Mr. Peer leave.

She sighed and turned back to Sean. He handed her the bag.

“Thank you,” was all she could muster.

“No problem,” Sean replied. He smiled again, but Jodie just turned and quickly walked out of the lunch hall.

At the door, she stopped looking to her left and right, down the hallway.

Mr. Peer, however, was already gone.

Brushwood Academy was only a five minute drive or a ten minute walk from Jodie’s house. Despite the fact that she was learning to drive and had had three driving lessons, all of which were with her mother, she desperately needed to clear her head after the day’s trauma, and therefore decided to walk home that day, slowly.

Her mind, however, raced ahead of her. As first days of term went, it hadn’t been the smoothest and although the day had brought more stress than she would have cared for in any given week, Jodie still felt a certain flurry of excitement.

It was a feeling that was new to her, a sensation that made her nervous, happy and confused all at once, along with a slight ache in her stomach. True, this could have been the lunch she had eaten in the cafeteria, but Jodie knew that something was up. She might have even put it down to puppy love, if she had ever felt such a feeling before. She had felt something similar just shortly after her first kiss, but was twelve when that had happened and the boy ran away rapidly after taking her by surprise. To this day, she never knew the boy’s name.

No, this was different. And while her mother had always taught her that it was better to be in complete control of your emotions, the trouble seemed to be that Jodie wasn’t able to put her finger on just what was causing such feelings in the first place.

Nevertheless, it was a feeling that followed her down the street that afternoon, a feeling that followed her all the way to her front door. It followed her inside and it would have followed her up the stairs to her bedroom, had she not been greeted by her mother in the hallway.

“We have new neighbors.”

Jodie nodded, not really interested.

“Really?”

Katy nodded,

“Really. How was your first day back?”

Jodie didn’t feel like re-counting the horrors of her day, instead responding with a simple

“Same old, same old. We have a new English teacher, Mr. Peer. What’s for tea?”

“I thought we’d order in tonight...my day was fine by the way.”

Katy’s words snapped Jodie out of her post-school stupor and she laughed apologetically at her mother.

“Sorry Mum. How was your day?”

“I told you, we have new neighbors,” Katy repeated herself, hoping for a little more enthusiasm from her daughter, but she was not exactly forthcoming.

“Okay,” was the best Jodie could do, distracted as she was by the small basket sitting at the bottom of the stairs. A large bow was tied around its handle, while the basket itself contained mixed fruit, a jar of marmalade, various cheeses and a bottle of wine.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s a gift basket,” her mother replied, with a smile.

“Who gave you a gift basket?”

“No one did. I bought it for next door.”

Jodie nodded,

“Oh, that was thoughtful of you.”

“Thoughtful of
us
and you’re taking it round.”

Jodie exhaled loudly and rolled her eyes,

“Oh come on Mum...”

“Don’t argue. You need to introduce yourself. And I’m busy.”

Jodie gave her a look, noticing the glass of red wine, half empty, in her hand, and replied with as much sarcasm as she could muster,

“Yes, I can see you’re really busy. Whose gift basket did
that
come from?”

Katy merely sighed.

“Just do it, Jodie. It’s a nice gesture.”

Jodie didn’t answer. She knew her mother too well, safe in the knowledge that no matter how much she argued, in the end she would still have to take the basket next door. And right now, she was too tired for that argument. So she relented.

“Fine, can I get changed first?”

Katy smiled.

“Of course you can. I’ll order pizza.”

Katy walked off into the living room, sipping at her glass. Jodie gave another sigh before starting to make her way up the stairs, stopping only to drop her bag in the hallway, next to the gift basket. She had made it up three steps before she heard her mum yell:

“Bag!”

Jodie grunted and slowly retook the few steps back down to re-claim her abandoned bag, offering an unconvincing

“Sorry!”

Jodie entered her bedroom and closed the door, flopping down on the bed. It felt good to be back in her own space, where she could clear her mind, surrounded by her belongings.

It was her little island of calm in the middle of an often tempestuous sea. She had only one or two posters on her walls, leaving more space for shelves and her large wardrobe, which took up almost one whole side of the room. The only other significant feature was her window, which looked across to the house next door.

The house next door, being the same design, also had a window which looked across to Jodie’s room, as if someone were holding a giant mirror up the side of the house. With a mere ten feet between them, you could almost lean out of the window and shake hands with your neighbor. That’s if you knew them, of course, which Jodie didn’t.

As habit took over, the first thing Jodie did as she got up from her bed, was close her blinds. She could see there was no one in the room across from her, the light not being on and with no sign of life inside, but she didn’t want to take the risk of being seen undressing.

Her school tie was the first to go, followed by her shoes, skirt and blouse. She jumped into a pair of jeans, grabbed a t-shirt and gave her hair a quick brush, checking her complexion in her dresser mirror, before turning back to the window and opening the blinds back up. She was surprised to find the light in the room opposite was now on and there was somebody there, rummaging through a box of books.

She could only see their back, but could tell by the build that it was a young man, wearing a white t-shirt. Jodie squinted, hoping he would turn around and at least give her a look at his face, but before that opportunity presented itself, she heard her mother shouting up the stairs.

“Jodie! The pizza is on its way. Are you going to get going or what?”

Basket in hand, Jodie left the house and walked the twenty steps next door, going through a series of
‘hellos’
in her head, trying to find one that said
‘welcome to the
neighborhood’
, without making her sound like a complete dork.

In the end, all this fretting over heirs and graces would prove pointless and mute as her knock on the door was greeted by the confused face of Sean Lewis.