Chapter 66

I walk back from school on Friday night with Conor, Jack and Lois. As soon as I get home, I need to get changed, eat something and go straight to James’s. He texted me his address yesterday and I think I know my way. I remember passing the street many times when I’m coming home from town.

“Stay at mine tonight” Conor demands.

“I can’t”

“Why not?” he frowns.

“I have plans” I say quickly and my heart starts beating much faster with guilt.

“What are you doing?”

“I have to um, go out for a meal,” I nod “with my family”

“Since when have you gone out for meals” he raises his eyebrow at me.

“Since now” I snap and his eyes go wide.

“Alright, calm down” he sighs. “When will you be back then?”

I shrug, “Not sure”

“Well text me when you’re back”

“I’ll try” I nod. I can’t even look him in the eyes at this point. If I do, I’ll either give it away or he’ll just know that I’m lying to him. I hate lying but it’s for the best right?

We split up to go to our own houses and as soon as I get in, I get changed quickly and head out of the house. I decide against eating because I’m not the slightest bit hungry. I’m really scared actually and I don’t know why.

I walk down the road and keep searching for number ‘24’. I’m at ‘20’ so far so I’m almost there. I spot his glossy black door and take a deep breath before I walk down his path. I hesitantly knock on the door and within seconds, he swings it open and invites me in. I feel like Conor needs to know where I am right now but he’ll probably turn up at James’s door and knock it down or something.

I knew it was unnecessary coming round to his house. We’ve practically finished already and we’ve only been in his room for 2 hours or so, which could easily be done in school.

“So we have plenty more time” he smirks at me once I’ve packed up all the coursework we’ve had to write out.

“Yeah well I need to go now” I smile, trying to leave in the nicest way possible.

“Come on, five more minutes won’t do you no harm. Where are you going?” he frowns.

“Mum asked me to be home before six. It’s her birthday and we’re going out for a meal” I use the same lie with him as I did with Conor... Minus the birthday part.

“Well I’m sure she won’t mind you being five minutes late” he shrugs. “Anyway, we haven’t had time to get to know each other yet. Sit down” he smiles, patting the empty space on the bed next to him.

“I really think I should-“

“Sit down” his smile drops and he just glares at me. Fuck.

I sit on the edge of his bed at a distance from him and just smile awkwardly. He moves up so our thighs are practically touching.

“When’s your birthday?” he flashes his – what I’ve learnt now – false smile at me.

“Fifth of June” I lie. I don’t even want to tell him my actual birthday now...

“Cool” he nods slowly. “So, maybe we could do something else to keep ourselves entertained for a while” he smirks, running his finger up my thigh. That was a quick game...

“Woah” I back away. “That escalated quickly” I try saying as calm as possible although I’m literally shaking.

“Why are you moving away from me?” he snaps and my face drops. He’s actually being serious about this. What the fuck do I do?

“James, I-I have a boyfriend”

“Shut the fuck up about you and your stupid boyfriend” he shakes his head, frowning at me.

“No, just leave me alone!” I shout, standing up from the bed. He stands up as soon as I do and looks down at me. Our chests are touching and I think I’m about to pass out. I’m literally panting right now.

“What did you just fucking say?” he pushes me back onto the bed and slowly climbs on top of me.

“P-please, stop” I breathe. I need Conor. I need Conor.

As if my phone read my mind, my phone interrupts what James was about to do, and in shock, he jumps up from the bed.

“Who is it?” he shouts.

“Co- um, my Mum” I hesitate.

“You don’t seem too sure”

“I am. She’ll want me to um, come back for h-her birthday... meal” I stutter. His face drops slightly but then he starts laughing really loudly.

“Well aren’t you going to pick up the phone?” he smirks and I nod slightly before the call ends. Fuck you Conor. “That’s a shame” he sighs sympathetically.

“Look, seriously. It was nice being round and everything but I really have to go” I stand up from the bed and head towards his bedroom door, before he steps in front of me and slams his hand on the door making me jump out of my skin.

“You don’t know how much I fucking hate Conor after everything he’s done to me and I swear down, if you leave my room now, I’ll cause serious shit between the two of you and that’ll only be the start of it” he says through his teeth. I feel my eyes fill up with tears as he pushes my back to the door and blocks me in with each arm. “You think that Conor can stand up against me?” he laughs slightly. “Do you?”

“Yes” I nod, a tear rolling down his cheek.

“Fuck, Lucy. I gave him multiple broken bones and even sent him to hospital one time with his brother and you still think he can fight me?” he mumbles against my neck, kissing me slightly.

“Just, leave me alone” I push him away and cover my face with my hands as I cry.

“But we still have work to do” he gasps. “Tell you what, come back here tomorrow and-“

“I’m not coming anywhere near you again” I interrupt him, putting my hand on the door handle to try and get away.

“Listen to me,” he slams his hand next to my head against the door “if you don’t want your fucking boyfriend to lose it, I suggest you come round here tomorrow so we can finish the fucking ‘project’. Am I clear?”

“No!” I shout.

“So you don’t mind if I...” he smirks and starts trailing his fingers up the inside of my thigh.

“Alright, alright!” I slap his hand away. What the fuck am I getting into? “I’ll come” I say through my tears.

“Good girl. And you don’t tell anyone about this? You know the things I can do to Conor” he snaps and I nod frustratedly. “Now get the fuck out”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, I grab the door handle and run out of his house and all the way home. I can’t go back there again. I really can’t. But I know he can handle Conor, and Jack for that matter, and I’m not getting them both into trouble. That’s definitely not happening. Maybe if I go, he won’t try and touch me this time. He wasn’t too bad just then but if I have Conor’s, Jack’s, Mum’s and even the police’s number on speed dial, I should be okay.

I’m not even thinking straight right now. This boy tried to fucking touch me and I’m going to go home and not say a word to anyone. I should just call the police right now but what evidence do I have? They won’t believe that some boy in my class tried to do things to me when I go round to do a project. He didn’t do anything, he only tried.

I run inside my front door and up my stairs into my room. I throw myself onto my bed and just cry and cry until there’s no tears left. My phone’s been vibrating like crazy ever since I got home from James’s so I slowly pick it up from my desk and see who’s been trying to contact me.

From - Lois: call me when you can, I have news;)

As much as I want to just turn off my phone and sleep this off, I decide to call her first. She answers on the third ring.

“Hey!” she cheerfully answers.

“Hi”

“What’s up with you?” she asks, concerned.

“N-Nothing,” I stutter “what do you want?”

“Oh, never mind”

“No, tell me!”

“Um, you know that IT project? Well I got to switch partners and I now have Sam. Do you know who I mean?”

“Not really” I trail off. I don’t know anyone except our group and a few people in registration class.

“That really tall one with brown hair. He’s hot as fuck” she laughs and I giggle slightly.

“I think I know who you mean”

“Maybe we can get together after school and do some ‘extra work outside of class’” she jokes but I don’t laugh. I just freeze. That’s exactly what James said to me. I hold back the forming tears and try to talk.

“Y-yeah” I sniffle/laugh.

“Are you alright? You don’t seem yourself. I mean, I’ve just told you I’m paired up with Sam. Usually, you’d be bouncing off the walls!” she laughs and I just chuckle lightly.

“Sorry, it’s um, been a long day”

“You sound like my nan” she groans. “Anyway, how are things with James?” she laughs. Fuck. I can’t hold back my tears any longer than I have done. I just burst out crying on the phone and let the tears run down my face. “Lucy, what’s going on? Did I say something?”

“N-no” I cry.

“Please tell me what’s going on. You’re never upset so I’m finding this weird” she tries to joke but I continue to cry. I’m thinking about just hanging up now but she’s only trying to make me feel better. “Do you want me to come round or anything?”

“No, i-it’s fine” I sniffle.

“Are you sure? I’m doing nothing but texting Olivia about Sam right now” she laughs.

“You sound obsessed” I laugh through my tears.

“I think I am” she chuckles. “I’ll come round ok?”

“Yeah, ok” I nod. I can’t just sit here feeling sorry for myself. At least Lois can make me feel better.

“I’ll be five minutes, max”

“Ok” I sigh heavily and end the call. I reply to the rest of my texts and decide to call Conor once I’ve settled down a little bit. He’ll probably be worrying seeing as I’ve missed 5 of his calls.

“Hey” he answers grumpily.

“Hi, I- um” I sigh. “Sorry I didn’t pick up. I was, busy”

“Where have you been?”

“I- out for a meal” I lie again.

“Whatever” he sighs, ending the call. What was that all about? I put my phone on my bed and go downstairs to answer the knocking door.

“Hey” Lois smiles, pulling me in for a hug. I lead the way to my room and practically throw myself on the bed again. “So what’s up?” she frowns.

“I don’t know” I sigh, feeling the tears coming back. I don’t know if I should tell Lois or not. She’d only make me tell Conor or something.

“You can trust me Lucy” she nods. I take a deep breath.

“James asked me to go over to his for ‘extra work outside of class’” I breathe. “A-and, we finished it but he tried... He tried to-“

I burst out crying before I can even finish my sentence and Lois is quiet for a while until I hear her gasp really loudly.

“Lucy, did he... Touch you?” she hesitantly asks and I nod.

“He tried” I cry. “He said- he can hurt Conor and Jack, so I need to go back tomorrow”

“Fuck! Lucy, you need to call the police or something!” she gasps.

“No! They won’t believe me, and he’ll hurt Conor if I do” I sniffle.

“Oh come on Lucy, I think we both know who’d win in a fight with Conor and James” she says as if I’m stupid.

“He said he’s sent Conor to hospital before” I mumble.

“Really?” she frowns. “I didn’t know... Anyway, you need to tell Conor! You can’t go back there!”

“I am not telling Conor! You know how he’ll react!”

“Yeah but Lucy, maybe it’s good that he’ll overreact. It’ll teach James a lesson! Please don’t tell me you’re actually going back there tomorrow”

“I have to! He won’t try anything” I think I’m trying to convince myself more than Lois.

“Don’t be so stupid Lucy! If anything, he’ll be worse this time!”

“He won’t, I’ve thought of ways of getting out of it anyway. Lois, you can’t tell anyone about this” I warn her.

“Maybe it’s best that I do” she frowns.

“It’s not” I shake my head.

“Well, tell me what you’re planning on doing”

“I’ll just go round tomorrow, finish ‘analysing’ the IT project and come straight home. If he tries to do anything, I’ll call Conor straight away” I nod. She’s silent for a while just staring at me, obviously thinking about something.

“I don’t know” she trails off.

“Lois, you’re supposed to be my best friend and stick by my choices”

“Fine!” she sighs. “But you don’t understand how worried I am. Maybe I should come with you”

“No. I don’t need your help”

“I don’t see why you’re going round there. He can’t hurt Conor or Jack and he’s not going to do anything if you stay at home!”

“He put Conor in fucking hospital!” I scream and her eyes go wide in shock. “If I stay at home, he’s going to hurt Conor, and if he doesn’t hurt Conor, he’ll get me to come round again or do something ten times worse. I’m not risking it Lois” I shake my head and she nods understandingly.

“Ok” she nods. “But you call one of us if anything goes wrong, do you hear me?”

“Yes” I nod.

“We’re all meeting up tomorrow anyway so we’ll all crack up at his door if he tries anything” she jokes and I laugh slightly. “And if everything goes to how you plan it to be, call me and we’ll make plans to meet you, yeah?”

I chuckle, “Yeah”