Chapter 2: First Day of School

The first day back at school was exactly as it had been for the last six years. The new Year Seven kids looked scared, nervous, and this year in particular, really, really small. Although I suppose I was just bigger than I used to be. During the first two periods, we were given a pile of forms to complete, and we had to figure out our timetables.

As it turned out, my first classes of the week should have been periods one and two, but, obviously, they weren’t because we were too busy filling in the forms and shit. I had free time during periods three and four—sorry, I mean, I had ‘self-directed study time’ during periods three and four, which meant my first proper class wasn’t until after lunch. English Lit with Miss Pattison.

My friends weren’t quite so lucky, and they all had lessons while I faced the prospect of sitting in the library alone for two hours with nothing to do. It wouldn’t be too bad once we got into the swing of things. I was taking four A-levels, each one occupying six of the thirty weekly timetabled periods. That left me with six frees—sorry, ‘self-directed study periods’—and having two of them together like this, when none of my friends would be about, would mean I wouldn’t get distracted and would get more studying done. But on that first day, there wasn’t yet anything for me to study.

I had to find something to do while waiting for lunch on that first day, so I decided to look through some of the university prospectuses in the library. They were last year’s, but that wouldn’t make much difference at this point. I was already fairly certain about what I wanted to do at university—Law. I suppose the lawyer who sorted things out for Vicky and me after the accident inspired me. He helped people in their most difficult times. That’s what I wanted to do.

Help people.

But I didn’t know where I wanted to go. Vicky kept telling me about how convenient Westmouth would be, and she was right; it would be convenient. Besides, it wasn’t as if it were a bad university. It had a good reputation but...

A delicate cough interrupted my thoughts. I looked up from the Westmouth prospectus to see the most beautiful girl in the world standing at the end of the table.

Her loose golden curls perfectly framed an impossibly pretty face. A stray strand of hair had fallen out of place and brushed her high cheekbone. She pushed the stand behind her ear and blinked, which drew my attention to her piercing sapphire eyes, the same colour as the sky of a sunny summer’s day.

Despite her immaculate appearance—white blouse, black, knee-length skirt, and matching heels—and her air of effortless elegance, she looked nervous, demure even, as she held her hands in front of her.

“Hi,” she said with a shy half-smile. “Mind if I sit with you?” There was something about her tone, though I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Fear? Hope? Or perhaps I was reading too much into it. Maybe she was simply nervous. I certainly knew how that felt.

I shook my head and waved towards the empty seats, too dumbfounded to speak. In all the time we had been at the same school, I couldn’t recall ever having a single conversation with Clarissa Liddington. It wasn’t done. I was a Townie, after all.

So, Clarissa Liddington, the Head Villager, asking to sit at the same table as me?

I’ll admit, it threw me. It just wasn’t done.

She pulled out a chair and sat with a straight back, her hands clasped together on the table in front of her. It wasn’t that she looked uncomfortable, but she didn’t appear at ease either. As I said, it was probably just nerves. Perhaps she was pondering what to say. Or how to say it.

“Paul, I...” She paused and looked down at her hands. I’m ashamed to admit I was surprised she even knew my name. I shouldn’t have been; we were in the same year after all, but I was. That’s ‘The Great Divide’ for you.

She looked up at me and seemed to steel herself, taking a brief breath before she said, “I never got to thank you.”

“Thank me?”

“For what you did at the wedding.”

“Oh. That’s okay. I was just—”

“You weren’t just anything.” Her eyes went wide as she interrupted me. “It took a lot of guts to stand up to Jake like that.”

I shrugged. Perhaps it did, but he backed off much easier than I had anticipated. Maybe his reputation was undeserved.

“I mean it.” She reached out to touch my hand, but only for a second before pulling away swiftly, as if she’d just stuck her hand in a fire. “I don’t know anyone else who would have done that. Then afterwards...” She held her hands in front of her once more, staring at them while shaking her head. Then she looked up at me, held my gaze, and said, “How did you know?”

“Know what?”

The intensity of her stare was almost frightening. She meant what she was saying; that much was obvious. It was evident in those penetrating blue eyes. “That all I needed was a hug. How did you know that? Most people would have kept asking if I was okay or tried to get me to talk about it or...” She looked away and shuddered before meeting my gaze again. “I can name more than a few guys who’d have tried to cop a feel. But you...”

A shrug. A tilt of her head. A softening of her eyes. Damn, she looked beautiful at that moment. Beautiful and vulnerable. I wanted to hug her again. To protect her. From what, I wasn’t sure, but from something. But instead, I sat still.

“I just wanted to say, thank you, that’s all.”

I nodded and said, “You’re welcome.”

She smiled.

I said she looked beautiful before, but it was nothing compared to when she smiled. It was a big, infectious, luminous smile. So bright and beautiful that it felt like staring at the sun.