Chapter 44

I finish my tea and sit on the sofa with Conor. He’s been texting all day...

“Who you texting?” I ask out of curiousity.

“No one” he mumbles, puts his phone in his pocket and runs his fingers through his hair. That was clearly a lie...

“You sure?”

“Yep. Why aren’t you with Jack?” he frowns.

“Because I wanted to spend time with you?” I say but it comes out as a question.

“Oh”

“On second thoughts, I will stay with Jack” I get up off the sofa and walk out of the room. I turn back around and see Conor texting again.

Dickhead.

I walk into Jack’s room and see him on the Xbox as usual.

“Hey”

“Hey, what’s up?” he asks, keeping his eyes locked to the TV.

“Conor being a dick”

“Fuck sake, what’s happened now?” he pauses his game and turns to me.

“He just keeps texting and he’s being off with me so I decided to come in here”

“Oh” he coughs awkwardly and turns back around. Seriously, what is their problem?

“Have I done something wrong?” I ask him.

“What? No”

“Well why are you both acting weird?”

“We’re not... I’m not” he corrects himself.

“So Conor is?”

“What?”

“Conor’s acting weird?”

“No... I um, I don’t know” he shrugs, still not making eye contact with me.

I sigh and get up from my seat and walk back downstairs. I walk into the living room and see Conor’s phone on the coffee table, but no sign of Conor. I sit on the sofa where I was earlier and debate whether I should read his texts. I’d go mental if he read mine so I decide against the idea and just wait for Conor to come back... Until his phone starts vibrating.

I look at the screen and see ‘Claire’ calling him. Who the fuck is Claire? I’m getting seriously paranoid and feel like just answering the call, but instead, I take it off the table and follow the loud bang coming from the kitchen.

“Claire’s calling” I emphasize her name.

“Give it me” he snaps and snatches the phone off me. He doesn’t answer it, he just ends the call.

“I can’t be arsed with this”

I walk out of the kitchen, put my shoes on, grab my jacket and slam the front door when I walk out of it, just like I did earlier at my own house. I can’t be bothered with both their behaviour. I’d usually go on a walk at times like this but when the rain starts to heavily pour down, I decide to just run back to my own house.

I quickly open the front door and let out a huge breath when I get in. I hang up my coat and take off my shoes, and walk in the living room to find my Mum and Dad talking.

“I’m back” I mumble before walking back out of the door.

“Lucy, come here!” my Mum shouts. I roll my eyes and open the door.

“What?”

“Your Dad has something to say” she says, looking at him the whole time. This should be good. I walk further into the room and sit on the arm rest on the seat my Mum’s sat on opposite my Dad.

“Look, I understand that I was a little harsh earlier so I’m sorry. But you need to know where I’m coming from” he sighs. Here we go... “I find out that you’ve had a boyfriend for god-knows how long and you’ve been inviting him and his brother over without me knowing. It’s not exactly something I’m going to take easily”

“Doesn’t mean you can say I’m not normal”

“Well I didn’t say that did I Lucy?”

“Technically, you did” I remind him and he just sighs again.

“Well whatever I said, I’m sorry. You’re a teenager, you’re obviously going to go through these stages in life. I don’t care about these boys you’re friends with, I’m just a little angry that they’ve been round without me knowing, you know?”

“Yeah, I guess”

“Lucy” my Mum warns me but I just roll my eyes.

“So are we good?” he asks.

“Yeah” I shrug and he just nods.

“Uh, here” he hands me the glass Eiffel Tower and I start to smile. It really is perfect.

“Thank you, I love it” I laugh and he starts to show me a real smile.

“I’m glad” he nods.

I walk out of the room and go up to my room to sulk about Conor until Eleanor calls. You know, my best friend I sort of forgot about?

“Hey!” I say in a cheery voice. I appreciate her calling at times like this.

“Hey! We’ve not spoke in forever, I thought I’d check up on you” she says enthusiastically, but is really quiet. I hear people talking quietly in the background. Where is she?

“I know, I’ve been busy lately, I’m sorry”

“Sound really busy, going to London with two boys” she starts laughing.

“What? How do you know about that?”

“Your Mum was on the phone to mine earlier and she told them about your two friends” she explains. Oh I feel really bad for lying about being busy now.

“Oh”

“Stop worrying, I get that you’re making new friends” she laughs. “So are you going to tell me about them?”

“Well, Jack’s my best friend and Conor’s my boyfriend” I explain. I don’t know where she is but there's talking in the background.

“Ooo get you!”

“Shut up” I laugh.

“How did you meet them?”

“They stalked me around a shop, then I found out they went to my school, then I became friends with Lois, who got me friends with Jack, and Jack got me friends with Conor” I breathe.

“That’s too confusing. I’ll have to meet them!”

“Yeah definitely, come round soon”

“It’ll be sooner than you think” she laughs.

“What?”

“Nothing, I gotta go now. I’ll talk to you soon, bye!” and with that, she ends the call. Why is everybody being weird with me?

I lie down on my bed and throw my phone to the other side of the room but instantly run over to check it’s ok.

It’s fine...

I let out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding in and sit back down on the bed. About an hour spent thinking about life, my Mum walks in the room with her car keys in her hand.

“Where are you going?” I ask her before she can say anything.

“Are you coming to the train station?”

“What for?”

“To pick someone up”

“Who?” I ask, thinking of everyone I know who we could be picking up from the train station. Probably one of her old friends, or someone from her work. I could do with the fresh air though. I’m sick of staring at these four walls.

“Someone from work. Are you coming?”

“Okay” I flash a smile and get up off my bed.

I jump in the passenger seat when I realise my Dad isn’t coming, and Mum makes her way to the driver’s seat. The drive is silent seeing as I’m making no effort in making conversation. I’m just on my phone.

“I was on the phone to Eleanor earlier” I tell her, putting my phone back in my pocket.

“Really?” she sounded really shocked. “What was she saying?”

“Um, just talking about Jack and Conor”

“Is that all you spoke about?”

“Yeah pretty much. Why?”

“Just wondering” she smiles. Why is everyone acting so weird with me? I sigh and lean into the widow. “What’s up with you?”

“I went to Conor’s earlier and he was barely paying any attention with me so I went to Jack and he was acting weird too, so I left their house and haven’t heard a word from them since. Then Eleanor ended the phone call suspiciously and now you’re acting weird about this phone call. I don’t get what I’ve done”

“Well I don’t know what Conor and Jack’s problem is but I know why Eleanor might be acting suspicious” she tells me.

“Are you going to tell me why?”

“I can’t”

“God’s sake” I mumble and stay quiet for the next 5 minutes of the car journey. We arrive at the train station so I get out of the car with my Mum and walk over to the exit where the person we’re meeting will be coming out. “Who are we even meeting?”

“Someone from work!” she laughs.

“Why are you picking someone-“ I get interrupted by someone practically strangling me behind. Their arms are wrapped around my shoulders in a sort of friendly gesture. My eyes go wide as I turn around to see who it is. “ELEANOR!” I scream and give her a huge hug. “What are you doing here!?”

“Our Mum’s arranged my visit” she smiles. I turn to my Mum and give her a huge smile before hugging Eleanor again.

“I’ve missed you so much!” I gasp.

“Aw same!”

“Where’s your Mum?”

“She’s not coming. She still has to work this week” she rolls her eyes.

“Anyway, let’s get going” Mum interrupts us.

“Thank you so much Mum!”

“It’s fine” she laughs.

-

I wake up the next morning next to Eleanor who’s practically hanging out of the double bed. Freak...

“Get up!” I shake her, trying to be annoying.

“Mmm” she groans.

“Eleanor!” I shout. She slowly sits up and rubs her eyes, pushing her mid-length blonde hair out of her face.

“You’ve not changed one bit” she laughs. “Annoying little shit”

“Hey!” I gasp and she rolls her eyes.

“Are we meeting Conor and James today!?” she gasps.

“You mean Jack?”

“Um, yeah. Are we meeting them?”

“They’re being dicks” I sigh.

“Oh come on, I’ve come all this way and I’m not even going to meet your friends?”

“I have other friends!”

“Yeah but I want to meet your boy friends”

“I have other boy friends” I laugh.

“Bloody hell! Since when have you socialized with so many boys?”

“Shut up”

“Well can I meet everyone then? Including Conor and Jack”

“I’ll see what I can do” I sigh and she fist pumps the air. I just roll my eyes and get out of bed.

A few hours later, we walk to the park and meet up with Lois, Charlotte, Olivia, Leila, Alex, Ben, Jack and Conor. I’m surprised Conor and Jack even turned up after how off they were being will me.

I introduce Eleanor to everyone and she seems to be getting along well with them all. All Conor’s done is text someone this whole time and I’m fucking sick of it.

“Seriously, who are you texting?” I snap at him while everyone’s lost in their own conversation.

“No one!”

I can’t take it anymore. I snatch his phone out of his hand and run away with it while trying to read the texts.

From - Claire: am I still coming to yours? xxxxxx

To - Claire: i’m out at the moment, i’ll try and get out of it xxxxxx

“Mind your own fucking business” he snatches the phone off me when I stop running.

“Who’s Claire?” I snap. We’ve never sent each other that many kisses in my life.

“No one!”

“It clearly is. Just fucking tell me!” I shout.

“Fuck off” he spits and starts to walk off the park.

“What’s his problem?” Jack runs over to me.

“Nothing” I force a smile and walk over to everyone else.

“She’s a slut though...” Lois says, confused about something.

“Who is?” I ask.

“Claire” she says her name in a weird voice but covers her mouth after saying it, like she shouldn’t have said something.

“Right, who the hell is Claire?” I ask just as Eleanor starts to walk over with Jack. Everyone stays quiet and just stares at the floor. “Are you gonna talk to me?”

“She’s just some girl” Alex shrugs and I get a few people saying “yeah” and get a few nods.

“Bullshit. Is anyone going to tell me the truth?” I know what the truth is, I just need to hear it to believe it. Everyone stays silent. “Jack?” I look at him and he just bites his lip. “Right, if you’re not going to give me fucking answers, let’s see if Conor will”

I storm off the park and practically run to Conor’s house, tears rolling down my face. I hear loads of footsteps behind me and I’m surprised they’re keeping up. I feel like I’m running as fast as light.

I get to Conor’s front door and don’t hesitate to just walk in.

“Lucy wait” Jack says, out of breath from running. I completely ignore my so called ‘best friend’, storm up to Conor’s room and throw the door open.

I knew it...