Chapter 18: Just How Things Worked

Clarissa greeted me at my locker on Monday morning with a kiss that knocked me for six. Hell, we even received a few muted cheers from some of the people in the Common Room.

She stepped back from me, and I stared at her, feeling a bit goofy as I said, “Whatever I did to deserve that, remind me to keep doing it.”

With a flash of that killer smile, she said, “Just keep being you. And keep being my boyfriend.”

And just like that, everyone accepted us as boyfriend and girlfriend. Of course, Clarissa didn’t leave them much choice; she was the Head Villager, after all. She could do pretty much as she pleased, and everyone accepted it without question. That was just how things worked at Micester High.

We’d been walking to our shared classes together since the start of term, so that didn’t change. What changed was that she held my hand instead of simply walking beside me. We spent morning breaks together, as well as the free periods when our timetables coincided. And even when our timetables kept us apart, we’d exchange text messages.

We spoke on the phone every night after school, in addition to sending even more text messages back and forth. I seriously considered calling my mobile operator to find out how much it would cost to add unlimited messages to my plan, fearing I might go over my limit and end up with a massive bill.

But for me, the biggest surprise was lunchtime. For as long as I could remember, Clarissa had eaten with Emily and Grace, and no one else had ever dared sit with them—it was one of the reasons they had earned the nickname The High Princesses. So when Clarissa insisted I go and sit with the three of them on Monday, saying I was shocked was something of an understatement.

“You sure?”

“Of course.”

“But ... I mean ... I usually sit with Kevin and Billy.”

“And the Simms twins and that other boy, Lisa’s new boyfriend. Lee, isn’t it? I don’t know him very well. He’s always been ... Quiet. In the background.” On seeing my look, she said, “What, you think I don’t notice these things? Look, I’ll tell you what, sit with us today, and I’ll sit with you guys tomorrow. Deal?”

We alternated our lunchtime routines over the next few days until, in the middle of the second week, Emily and Grace grew tired of sitting alone every other day and joined me and Clarissa with Billy, Ellie, Kevin, Lauren, Lisa, and Lee. We ended up having to push two tables together, which annoyed the dinner ladies no end.

After her attitude at the Halloween Ball, I was surprised at how quickly Emily warmed to me. By the end of that first lunchtime together, we were chatting like old friends, much to Clarissa’s obvious delight.

“Êtes-vous prêts? C’est bientôt l’heure du cours. On y va!” she said to me after lunch on Tuesday, before the French class we shared. It was a couple of weeks after Clarissa and I became ‘official.’

I rolled my eyes and replied, “D’accord, si nous devons le faire. Allons-y.”

Clarissa was grinning at us. “You know how annoying that is, right?”

Emily and I had been speaking French to each other regularly since we started sitting next to each other in French class.

Emily looked at her and said, “Nous devons nous entraîner car nous avons bientôt un examen.”

Clarissa stared blankly at her best friend, then looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

I sighed. “We need to practice because we have an exam coming up.”

Clarissa broke into a big smile, clearly delighted that her best friend and boyfriend were getting along so well. But, the thing is, I think the reason Emily and I were getting along was that Emily was happy I was making Clarissa happy.

And Clarissa was obviously happy. No one smiles like that, or that often, unless they are. Did I ever mention Clarissa had a killer smile? I think I might have.

Grace, however, was more difficult to read.

During those first few weeks in November, she would be as chatty with me as Emily one day, and then completely ignore me the next. Some days, she was even downright rude! I wasn’t sure what her issue was, but she clearly had one.

But I wasn’t going to worry about it. It was Grace’s problem, not mine. She could get over it, or not. That was up to her.

I was delighted to see my friends welcome Clarissa, and to a lesser extent, Grace and Emily. Indeed, Emily, who’d always been the most studious of the three, quickly became close friends with Lisa, and they were often found studying together in the library during shared free periods or after school.

The only person who seemed less than pleased with the new social arrangements, aside from Grace’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ attitude towards me, was Lauren. She completely ignored Clarissa during conversations, focusing instead on her boyfriend and sister. And although she tried to put on a mask in front of me, whenever she thought I wasn’t looking, I noticed her scowling at Clarissa when she joined in a conversation. Perhaps I should have said something to her, but I decided she would come around eventually and let it slide.

That was probably a mistake. I should have dealt with it early—spoken to her about it—but why would I do that when I could let it fester until it got out of hand?

I still worked at Micester Hall but had cut down my shifts to just Saturday evenings. Since Clarissa’s mum wouldn’t let her go out if she had school the next day, the only time we could spend together—apart from at school—was on Friday nights and Saturday days. Fridays became our date night. We’d do something together in Westmouth, grab something to eat, and then I’d take her home and get one of those nuclear-fuelled kisses she had a habit of laying on me. We also saw each other during the day on Saturdays, but there was no guarantee we’d be alone. Emily and Grace came shopping with us in Westmouth one weekend, and we hopped on the train to London from Westmouth station with a large group of friends another time.

On the last weekend in November—just before my eighteenth birthday—we found ourselves at Westmouth ice rink. The Simms twins had promised to take their younger brother and two cousins, so the rest of us tagged along. I was improving, but I still wasn’t as good a skater as Clarissa, by any stretch of the imagination.

The whole group took turns holding hands with the three younger kids since it seemed fair that way. While Clarissa and I were gliding slowly along, arms around each other’s waists, Lauren and one of her cousins passed us by, but as they did, the little girl—her name was Candy, if you can believe that, some parents are just cruel—lost her balance and fell. Clarissa saw what was happening in a flash and reacted instantly, catching Candy before she hit the ice.

“Thank you!” Candy said, with huge eyes and a wide grin.

“No problem,” Clarissa replied. “Couldn’t have you falling on your little bottom and getting it all cold and wet, now could we?”

Candy grinned and giggled. Then she said, “You’re really, really pretty, you know. Everyone says so.”

Clarissa blushed and looked at me. I shrugged and said, “Out of the mouths of babes.”

“Hmph!” That was Lauren. She skated off to the side of the rink, bumping Clarissa’s shoulder as she did.

I stared after her, open-mouthed.

“What is her problem?” Clarissa said. “I was only trying to help.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But this has to stop. It’s gone on long enough. She’s being stupid.”

Clarissa smiled. “You noticed?”

“Noticed the way she’s been treating you? Damn right, I did. I kept saying she’d get over it, but this is the last straw.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Just talk to her.”

Clarissa nodded. “Okay. But don’t lose your temper and say something you’ll regret. You know how frustrated you can get. Come on, Candy, let’s see how fast we can go.”

I pushed over to Lauren, who’d left the ice and sat on one of the benches watching everyone else. I leaned on the wall around the ice and looked directly at her.