Because of Her

by KE Payne

  “As mud,” I muttered under my breath. I turned to Greg.

  “So I come at you with this thing”—I wobbled my foil—“and you fight me off, right?”

  “No offence, Tabs,” Greg said, looking behind him, “but I’m fighting with Tim. Sorry.”

  “Hang on, Greg.” I put my hands on my hips. “You dragged me here. The least you can do is practise with me! I’ve never used one of these things before.” I held the foil up, narrowly missing Greg’s nose.

  “My point exactly,” Greg replied, wandering off to join Tim.

  I glowered at him, absolutely fuming as he crossed the gym. While my eyes bored into his retreating back, I was aware of Eden watching me. She smiled when she caught my eye and came over.

  “I think I’ve just been dumped.” I laughed.

  “Want to practise with me?” Eden asked. “I can’t say I’m as good as Greg but I’m okay.”

  “I’ve never done this before, you did get that bit, didn’t you?” I said. “If I take the tip of your ear off or something with this thing, you won’t hunt me down, will you?”

  “You’ll be fine! Quit worrying.”

  Eden jogged to a mat and stood, waiting for me.

  “And I’ll be gentle with you, I promise.” She winked, making a small part of me crumble inside.

  I took up my place opposite her and tried to look like I knew what I was doing.

  “Okay, so I’m gonna aim for your torso and it’s up to you to stop me, yeah?” Eden said.

  “Go for it.”

  Eden lunged at me, making me say a very loud shit! which echoed embarrassingly around the gym. So that’s how she was going to play it, huh? Hard? I could play hard, too. I lifted my foil and parried her attack, forcing her backward on the mat.

  “Ooh, you’re good!” she called. “Again.”

  I moved closer to her, aiming for her white jacket, but each time she’d move herself a certain way and immediately block my attack, then lunge at me harder than before.

  “Again!”

  She lunged at me, making me stumble three or four steps back, our foils clashing before I managed to fend her off and take control again. I stepped into her, jabbing my foil closer and closer to the target, getting frustrated when it kept missing by inches. She was fast, her right arm bringing her foil up quicker and more accurately each time.

  Finally, after around twenty minutes of constant stabbing, she stepped back and waved her arm at me. Chucking her foil onto the mat and placing her hands on her knees, she bent over, breathing hard. She looked up at me, a light sheen of sweat on her face, her hair a little plastered across her forehead.

  “You’re awesome!” she breathed. “Are you sure you’ve never done this before?”

  “Never,” I said, my sides heaving with the effort. “Good fun, though.”

  “I said, didn’t I?” She grinned, looking up at me for a good few seconds.

  We carried on like that for the rest of the two-hour lesson: fighting hard, stopping to rest while Rob tried to instill some basic technique in me, then fighting on again. It was great. I loved it, and despite being pissed off with Greg for initially abandoning me, by the time we’d all finished I could have kissed him for buggering off and leaving me with Eden. She’d surely want to practise with me each week now, wouldn’t she?

  “So you think you’ll come again next week?” Eden asked me after we’d changed out of our gear. She was leaning against the wall of the changing room, watching me stuff my fencing clothes untidily into my kit bag after Greg had told me to keep them for next week, too.

  “Sure.” I bent over my bag. “It was great fun!”

  “Not nerdy?” Eden’s lips twitched.

  “Definitely not nerdy,” I said, straightening up and lifting the strap of my bag over my head.

  “So, phone number?” Eden pulled her phone from her pocket.

  “Mine?” I asked stupidly.

  “Well, not Greg’s,” Eden replied, tilting her head to one side and making big eyes at me. “I wanna text you later in the week, remind you to get your arse here next Tuesday for another whupping.”

  “Another whupping, hey?” I said, pulling my phone from my pocket and removing the alert on the screen about my two missed calls from Amy. I gave my number to Eden, who was still leaning against the wall, one hand in her pocket. How stoked was I right now?

  “So, see you tomorrow at school, I guess.” Eden shoved herself away from the wall and sauntered from the changing rooms, slowing slightly as my phone rang. “That’s me, by the way. Now you have my number, too.” She looked back over her shoulder and flashed me a smile before pulling the door open and leaving the room.

  *

  I’d just returned home from fencing and had gone into the lounge, looking for my iPad, when my father collared me.

  “So?” He put down the paper he was reading and studied me.

  I’d been riddled with guilt by the time I arrived home. I felt guilty for having had such an awesome evening with Eden, and even guiltier at the casual way I’d dismissed Amy’s missed calls to me with barely a thought back at school. By the time I stepped in through the door, I was ready for a fight. My father would do for starters. I sighed, wishing I’d just gone straight up to my room. At least that would have saved me from the third degree which I knew was now coming.

  “So…?” I repeated.

  “How was your first class?” he asked.

  “Are you interested?” I spotted my iPad on the coffee table, just in front of my father. If I timed it just right, I could grab it now and make my escape up to my room where I could Skype Amy without having to answer too many questions.

  “Of course I am.” He stretched his legs out and crossed them at the ankle. “I’m always interested.”

  “It was okay, I suppose,” I said, reaching over and picking up my iPad.

  “What did you learn tonight?” my father persisted.

  “Jack-all,” I lied. “We were given some lovely white clothes to wear, and then I spent the rest of the evening trying not to go mad and stab everyone in a fit of excitement.”

  “Why do you have to be so sarcastic all the time?” He glowered.

  “Years of practice.”

  Ed came into the room behind me, cuffing me gently around the back of the head as he passed me. “So?” he asked. “Stab anyone tonight?”

  “Just the boys,” I joked, catching Ed’s eye and grinning.

  “I’ve got tickets for the theatre, by the way.” My father reached onto the windowsill behind him and picked them up. “This Saturday. Are either of you interested?”

  “Freebies?” I asked. “Perk of the job?”

  “A valued customer kindly gave them to me, yes,” he said piously. “If that’s what you mean by freebies.”

  “I’ve already got plans,” Ed said. “Sorry. Football night out.”

  “Tabitha?” My father held the tickets up again.

  “No, thanks.” I brooded. “Not really my thing.”

  Exasperation rose in his voice. “We live a Tube ride away from the West End, with any play or musical you could wish for, and what? It’s not your thing?”

  “Nope.”

  “So, what is your thing?”

  “Cragthorne’s my thing,” I said simply. “London sucks.”

  “Not this again.” He chucked the tickets down on the table in front of him. “I don’t know how clear I have to make it, Tabitha. London’s our home now, and that’s all there is to it.”

  “And my feelings don’t count?” I swung around. “You know how much change freaks me out. You know I can’t cope with any upheaval but you still just went ahead and moved us all here, didn’t you?”

  “Tab.” Ed’s voice was warning.

  “No,” I said, trying desperately to block thoughts of Eden. “I’m sick of it. I miss home, I miss my old school.” I hesitated. “I miss Amy.”

  “How can you miss your old school when you were never there?” my father asked dro
lly, completely ignoring my reference to Amy.

  “I hate London,” I said. “I hate everything about it.”

  “Perhaps if you broadened your horizons,” he said, getting up from his chair, “and met different people, you’d see what both London and your school have to offer.”

  Eden. I’ve met Eden.

  “I joined the fencing team,” I said savagely. “What more do you want?”

  “A peaceful life, Tabitha.” He sighed and walked to the door. “Just a peaceful life.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Apparently, if you put Mentos into a bottle of Coke, you can make it explode.” Libby leant over her chemistry textbook and looked up at me, excited.

  “You didn’t know that?” I looked at her in disbelief. “We were doing that in, like, year five, Lib!”

  We were in the canteen, having just come from a spectacularly boring chemistry lesson, where we’d learned about particles. Or something. While Libby had been enlightening me on Mentos and Coke, I’d been aware of Eden, my eyes magically drawn to her as she arrived in the canteen and made her way through the maze of chairs and other people. I looked around, expecting to see either Gabby or Beth with her, but she was alone.

  As I sat down, I saw her settle at a table over in the far corner. She got out a magazine from her bag and opened it, then unscrewed the top of a bottle of water, and took a long drink. I skimmed my eyes over her long slender neck, freckled nose, and lovely jawline, my stomach melting as she gently wiped her lips after she’d finished drinking.

  “Greg not coming today?” Libby’s voice stirred me, and I drew my eyes away from Eden.

  “No,” I said, twisting my apple round and round until the stalk came off. I placed it on my plate. “He’s gone to the physics lab to speak to Mr. Giles about something, so he said.”

  “Right. Okay.”

  Focus, Tab. Look at Libby, not Eden.

  “Ew! Radishes!” Libby pulled two radishes from her salad and placed them on the table. “Who would think to put radishes in a salad? Evil.”

  “And what did they ever do to you?” I asked. “Hmm?”

  “God, I am so tired,” Libby said, ignoring my question. “Do you think I could concentrate in chemistry just now? How am I supposed to learn about fundamental sodding particles when it’s all I can do to stay awake?” She yawned loudly, not bothering to cover her mouth.

  “Never mind,” I said. “It’ll soon be half-term and then we can all have a rest.”

  “That’s another thing.” Libby forked up a slice of tomato and waved it at me. “How can it be the end of October already? Where did all those weeks go?”

  “Sucked up into a swirling eddy created by Dr. Thompson and his fundamental particles, no doubt,” I said, grinning.

  Libby turned over a piece of lettuce and screwed up her nose when she found yet another radish. “See? They even try and hide them under the lettuce leaves, hoping I won’t notice.”

  “Hmm?” I slid my gaze back over to Eden. She was still alone, eating her lunch and still reading her magazine. I watched her, elbows on the table while she read, face cradled in her hands. I looked back to Libby and, seeing her still fussing about with her radishes, allowed myself the luxury of glancing back over to Eden. She was staring right back at me.

  I spun away, heat spreading up my neck. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I slid my eyes back towards her, curious. She was still looking at me but, like I’d just done, immediately pulled her eyes away when our eyes met.

  “Radishes.”

  “What?”

  “Radishes in my salad.”

  “Will you stop going on about your bloody salad?”

  “Who’s bitten your arse?”

  “No one.”

  Was Eden looking at me again?

  Don’t look over. Concentrate.

  “You’re distracted.” Libby put a piece of cheese into her mouth and chewed. “I can always tell.”

  “I’m not.”

  “So are.”

  “Not.” I took a bite of my apple. While Libby fussed with another piece of cheese, my eyes unthinkingly strayed back to Eden.

  So much for concentrating, then.

  This time Libby turned around to see what—or rather who—I was looking at.

  “Why do you keep looking over there?” she asked as she faced me again.

  “I don’t.”

  “You do.”

  Putting another piece of cheese into her mouth, she twisted around in her chair and gazed out across the canteen. I saw her chewing slow as her searching settled on Eden. She turned slowly to face me again, both eyebrows raised so high they were practically touching the top of her head. She frowned. Turned one more time towards Eden. The little hamster wheel of thought eventually kicked in, a realization-dawning look spreading across her face.

  “Her?” She tossed a look over her shoulder and grinned.

  “Who?” I played dumb.

  “Eden Palmer.”

  Just the sound of her name said out loud made me swallow involuntarily, like a hungry dog having a sausage waved in front of its face. I coughed, embarrassed.

  “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Libby leant towards me. “You’ve been staring at Eden Palmer since the moment we came in here,” she whispered.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Yes, you have.”

  I sighed impatiently.

  “You can’t take your eyes off her.” Libby turned in her chair and looked over at Eden.

  “Stop staring!” I reached over and flicked her hand.

  “Why? That’s all you’ve been doing for the last ten minutes.”

  “Because I don’t want her to see.”

  Libby straightened herself in her chair again and grinned. “You’ve got the hots for her, haven’t you?”

  “No.” Then, “Yes.”

  “Sweet!”

  “No, not sweet,” I said. “Pointless.”

  “Now it all makes sense,” Libby said. “Why you were asking me questions about her before.”

  “Go figure.”

  “Well, I’m sorry to tell you,” Libby said, squashing another square of cheese into her mouth, “that you’re fighting a losing battle there.”

  “With Eden?”

  “Yuh-huh. Last I heard, she was dating some guy called William.”

  “Story of my life,” I said, sighing.

  “So, what is it about Eden that’s caught your eye?” Libby asked.

  Apart from her gorgeous eyes, her fantastic figure, her lovely hair, and her infectious laugh?

  “She’s just nice,” I said.

  “Is that it?” Libby leant back in her chair.

  “Well, I dunno,” I said. “It goes like that when you like someone, doesn’t it? You just see them and think, ooh, nice.”

  “Well she’s nicer than Dumb and Dumber who she hangs out with, anyway,” Libby said. She looked at me. “And I really hate to burst your bubble twice in as many minutes,” she said. “But you have a girlfriend, remember?”

  “I know, I know,” I said. “So it’s just as well Eden’s straight, isn’t it?”

  “Because you couldn’t possibly lust after Eden when you have a girlfriend so far away.” Libby made big eyes, making me laugh. “Imagine the guilt!”

  “Couldn’t I lust just a little bit?” I asked, making big eyes back at Libby. “Nah, I love Amy. Eden’s straight. It’s a non-starter all around.” Well, I thought I sounded pretty convincing.

  “Because you have a girlfriend.” Libby stressed each word.

  “Because I have a…yeah, yeah.” I grinned, sliding my eyes back over towards Eden. “Oh, but you should see Eden in her fencing gear,” I said dreamily, still looking at her. “Did I tell you she was there?”

  “She fences?”

  “Yeah.” I laughed. “I couldn’t believe my luck when I turned up for the first class, and there she was.”

  “Yeah, like you didn’t know!”


  “Seriously.”

  “With Beth and Gobby, too?”

  “No, just her.”

  “Well, thank God for that.” Libby shuddered. “I wouldn’t trust the pair of them with a pair of scissors, let alone a sword.”

  “It’s a foil, but I see your point.” I paused. “She was very keen to tell me that she didn’t want the other two knowing anything about her fencing,” I said. “She said they thought it was nerdy and they’d take the piss out of her for evermore if they found out.”

  “Sounds about right.”

  “So don’t mention it to them, yeah?” I said. “Just having her to myself for two hours a week is fab. I’d be gutted if she left.”

  “My lips are sealed,” said Libby with a grin.

  Chapter Eight

  It was Tuesday again. Strangely, though, since I’d signed up for fencing, each Tuesday now took forever to come around. I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas. That’s how it was for me now. I’d spend each one going through the motions: learning about disaccharides and Dickens, eating lunch with Libby and Greg, constantly looking out for Eden, and getting the familiar tingle of anticipation the closer four o’clock came.

  The fencing, at least, was a pleasant way to take my mind off my relationship with Amy. It was ironic, I thought, as yet another day passed with us only sending one another a couple of texts, that just a while ago, both of us were convinced we could never live without the other.

  I didn’t read anything into it, of course. Just like I didn’t read anything into our shorter nightly Skype calls, or that she was often out when I wanted to talk to her. What did I expect? That she’d be staying at home pining for me? It wasn’t as if I was doing that, was I? Regardless of our guarantees to one another to be in constant contact, the simple truth of it was we both had things going on in our lives that prevented that.

  Life went on. And my life went on with the help of Eden.

  She was rapidly becoming my distraction, and the more I got to know her, the more I realized how nice she really was. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say throwing off the shackles of Gabby and Beth made Eden far more light-hearted than she usually was during school hours.