Free Falling

by Moseley, Kirsty

  I gritted my teeth. This torture would only last for a couple of days, by then he would know his way around and meet a couple of friends. Then I’d be free to pretend like I didn’t even know him. “Right well, I’ll show you where your class is and then you’re on your own until this afternoon when I’ll see you in gym,” I muttered, just wanting to be away from him. I scribbled my name and number at the top on a piece of scrap paper and then handed it to him along with the stack of paperwork Principal Bennett had given me the other day. “There’s a map of the school and a list of your classes. If you get lost or anything then that’s my number. Or you could just ask someone, I’m pretty sure the girls will help you,” I stated, turning my nose up at the thought of the girls that were going to be swooning over the new badass.

  Zach shoved my number in his pocket and followed along at my side as we walked through the deserted hallways. I made the most of the quiet because I knew that in a few minutes they would be teeming with people and everyone would stare at me, whispering about how Luke had cheated. I swallowed the lump in my throat. All I wanted to do was go home. During the night I’d actually considered finishing my senior year by correspondence. That idea was getting more appealing by the second.

  “The Principal said I’d be eating with you today,” Zach said casually at my shoulder.

  I frowned and shrugged. “You don’t have to. I have things to do so if you wouldn’t mind braving it on your own,” I suggested hopefully.

  He smiled that dimpled smile again. “What you gonna do at lunchtime? Cry in the bathrooms about the prick that thought with the little head at the party?” he joked.

  “Do you have to be such an ass?” I snapped, shoving on his shoulder.

  His smile faded instantly. “Sorry, I was just joking around.” An apologetic expression crossed his face before he frowned and looked at the door of his next class. “Thanks for showing me the way; I’ll see you at lunchtime. No crying over the dickwad, okay? He’s obviously stupid to have done that to a girl like you,” he stated, crossing his arms over his chest, clearly uncomfortable.

  I raised one eyebrow. That was the first nice thing he’d said to me. He looked like a fish out of water, like he wasn’t used to being nice or something. His eyes were looking anywhere but me, and I couldn’t help but smile a little.

  “Right, well, okay, yeah,” I muttered weakly, not knowing what else to say. “I’ll see you in the lunchroom then.” I turned and headed off towards my class, wanting to get there before the hallways filled with people. Today was going to be hard; thank goodness I didn’t have any classes with Luke though so I got out of that one. The same couldn’t be said for Sandy though; she was in my gym class, as was Zach. That class was going to be a nightmare no doubt.

  I stopped outside of my class and pulled out my textbook as the bell rang, pretending to be engrossed in it as people streamed out of the classroom. I gulped, my eyes filling with tears as people were already having whisper conversations about me. All I could hear were people telling the story over and over, how I had walked in on my long term boyfriend in bed with another girl.

  I just kept my head down and willed the tears not to fall. The worst part of all of this was: the one person that had caused me all of this pain and sadness, was the one I really wanted to hug me and comfort me. My body longed for Luke; I wanted to bury my face into the side of his neck and wrap my arms around his broad shoulders, clamping myself to him. I hated myself for wanting that, it made me feel like a worthless pushover. How was I supposed to make myself stop loving the guy? Could I? I wasn’t sure of the answer to that question at all.

  I kept my head down during class, not making eye contact with anyone, pretending to be engrossed in the lesson. The time passed, slowly, but it passed. As soon as the bell sounded I made a quick exit, not wanting to linger and talk to anyone. As I stepped out of the door I was engulfed in a hug by Charlotte who quite often met me from class so we could walk to third period together.

  “Okay?” she asked, pulling back, looking at me sympathetically. I sighed deeply and shook my head, willing myself not to cry again. “You know, I could hack the FBI and put a warrant out for Luke’s arrest if it’ll make you feel better,” she suggested, grinning at me hopefully.

  I laughed and rolled my eyes. She probably can too. “It’s fine, it’ll settle down.”

  A wicked smile crept onto her lips. “I already gave Sandy some payback this morning during my computer science class.”

  I chewed on my lip and giggled. “What did you do?”

  She shrugged casually. “Hacked her Facebook and changed all of her settings, sending out a status that said and I quote, ‘I’m a dirty whore who likes to watch midget porn instead of doing my school assignments’,” she said laughing to herself. “I might have also sent out a few hundred friend requests to some people who she wouldn’t really want to be friends with.”

  I wrapped my arm around her waist as we walked down the hallway. I felt ten times better now that I had someone with me; the looks that I got off of people weren’t as bad when I had someone distracting me. “What kind of people?” I asked, shifting my heavy bag on my shoulder.

  She grinned. “Freshman, nerds, faculty, strippers, everyone I could find.”

  I laughed. Sandy was going to be furious when she realised, but she’d never know it was Charlotte, she was too good at things like that. “Thanks, Char.” We stepped into class then and headed for the back, still talking back and forth about other computer things Charlotte could do to her as payback.

  When the lunch bell rang at the end of class I smiled at Charlotte and Beth. Half the day was done, I just needed to get through lunch and then three more lessons then I could go home and hide in my room, listening to Boyz II men. When I got to the lunchroom entrance I stopped as I saw Zach leaning casually against the wall. Girls and boys were milling around talking to him, looking at him, seeming to hang on his every word. I was right earlier, he was undoubtedly going to be popular with the girls here, they were already adjusting their shirts and skirts, trying to get his attention.

  I sighed and rolled my eyes. One good thing about him being accepted by the popular crowd was that I didn’t have to eat with him today. Charlotte nodded in his direction, cocking her head to the side looking at him curiously. “Is that the new guy, Zachary something or other?”

  I nodded. “He prefers Zach.”

  “You gotta eat with him?” she asked, pouting at me.

  I waved it off and shook my head. “He looks like he’s all set. Come on, I’m starving.” I nodded towards the canteen and got about three steps before someone shouted my name, making everyone stop talking and look at me.

  I groaned. As if I’m not centre of attention enough already! I turned and looked at him as he pushed himself off of the wall, smirking at me. “Yes, Zach?” I smiled politely.

  “I’ve been waiting for you. You ditching me? Now that’s not very nice is it?” he teased, narrowing his eyes at me.

  “I thought you were alright,” I replied, nodding at the fangirls he’d already accumulated that were waiting for his attention again. “Looks like you have people to sit with already.”

  He laughed and rolled his eyes. “So, how was your morning? I heard you told a guy to shove a note up his ass and then stormed out of class telling the teacher to eff off,” he said, looking at me with an almost hopeful expression on his face.

  I sighed dramatically. The rumour mill in this school were working overtime today! “Yeah, my day happened just like that. How was your day, Zachary?” I turned and walked towards the lunch line, not caring if he followed me or not. Charlotte looked at me with one eyebrow raised as her gaze flicked to Zach, raking down his body with an appreciative bite of her lip.

  He laughed and kept up with me easily. “My day’s going great. So far I’ve got four girls’ numbers.” His eyes flicked to Charlotte, a smirk on his face. “Care to make it five, sweetness?”

  She snorted, and I knew any thou
ghts she had about him, were now gone. She hated being called pet names. If she was crushing on him at all, that was now gone. “In your dreams,” she replied, waving a hand dismissively.

  He laughed and pulled a burger and fries onto his tray. “Probably actually.”

  I turned to him and looked him dead in the eye. “Zach, I don’t want to do this today, okay? I’ve had a really long day already and I’m only half way through. If you could just cut the annoying comments down slightly, otherwise please go find someone else to eat with.”

  He grinned and started munching on his fries. “The comebacks are definitely getting better.” He winked at me. “So, about this tutoring thing. We don’t really need to do that, do we? I’ll just say I’m meeting you at the library and stuff, you’ll get paid, and everyone’s a winner.”

  I scowled at him distastefully. “I’m not doing that. If you want an easy ride then you find another tutor,” I stated confidently. I smirked at him. At least now I’d get out of the whole tutoring thing.

  He cocked his head to the side, studying me, as if he were assessing how serious I was. After another minute he frowned and nodded. “Fine. But I don’t do libraries,” he grumbled.

  I sighed and grabbed a sandwich, not even hungry in the slightest, but I needed to get something otherwise Charlotte and Beth would be looking at me worriedly and fussing over me. I didn’t say anything, just ignored him for the rest of the line, watching Charlotte’s back as she chatted with a girl in front of her about fundraising for the IT department. I was dimly aware of Zach following behind me as we walked to the table where a couple of our other friends were already sitting. He plopped himself down right next to me.

  I looked up just as Ricky and Luke walked into the canteen. My back stiffened automatically. Was Luke going to approach me? I always ate lunch with him, every day for the last nineteen months. I shifted on my seat awkwardly.

  Zach elbowed me in the side as Luke’s eyes flicked up and met mine. I saw hurt and sadness on his face that just broke my heart all over again. “Who’s that? Please tell me you weren’t dating a jock! The nerd with the jock, how cliché,” Zach mocked sarcastically from beside me.

  My mouth dropped open. I wanted to make an angry retort, but nothing was coming out. I felt my eyes prickling with tears and I willed them not to fall. Luke raised one hand slightly in acknowledgement and mouthed the word hi to me.

  “Wow, you sure can pick ’em, huh? Let me guess, quarterback? Maybe the running back? Hmm, this is probably going to hurt,” Zach muttered, nudging me again to get my attention. I dragged my eyes away from Luke and looked at Zach, still not seeming to remember how to speak. What’s going to hurt? What is this guy even talking about? He smirked at me and slipped his arm around my shoulder. I frowned and shifted so it would drop off, but he just adjusted his position and moved it back there again.

  Before I knew what happened, something slammed down onto my table making me jump and yelp as I glanced up to see a furious looking Luke had slammed his fist on the table. He was glaring, not at me, but at Zach.

  He leant over, his eyes fixed on Zach. “Don’t touch her!” he growled, knocking Zach’s hand off of my shoulder.

  I frowned at Luke. I hated it when he got all possessive, and it wasn’t even as if he had a right to anymore anyway. Zach just laughed. “Luke, don’t start,” I warned, looking at him sternly.

  Zach stood up next to me, smirking at Luke. “So, you’re the one I need to thank? I’ve been trying to catch you all day just to say thanks for screwing up with Maisie. If you hadn’t fucked that little cheerleader on Friday night then I wouldn’t have had the most amazing rebound sex with your girl,” he said, running his hand up my back again to grip my shoulder tightly.

  I gasped and jumped out of my seat, but before I could even open my mouth and tell Luke it wasn’t true, Luke lunged for him. Zach shoved me backwards at the same time as he stepped forward in front of me protectively. I stumbled but managed to catch myself before I fell on my ass. I watched with wide eyes as the two of them started fighting in the middle of the lunchroom. Both reining blow after blow on each other as people gasped and started heckling and clapping along, just like in a bad teen movie.

  Chapter 8

  I could see Luke’s lip bleeding, as was Zach’s nose. I screamed at them to stop, and stepped forward, grabbing Zach’s arm because he was closer to me, but before I could do anything I was immediately pulled back again. Two strong arms wrapped around my waist and literally lifted me off of my feet, turning me and carrying me a couple of feet away.

  When the arms disappeared I glanced up to see a furious looking Alex. He stepped in front of me protectively as he watched the two boys fight it out. Zach launched himself at Luke, throwing them both onto the table, knocking peoples’ lunches everywhere; he straddled Luke and punched him over and over in the face and chest. He was a serious badass, and I was pretty sure that Luke hadn’t landed more than a couple of punches on Zach, and one of those was probably because he’d taken the time to shove me out of the way.

  I dug my fingers into Alex’s side as my tears started to fall. “Alex, stop them for goodness sake. Please?” I hated seeing Luke get hurt.

  “Let the new guy kill him, it’ll save me doing it,” he growled, shaking his head.

  “Alex, please?” I begged, pressing my face into his shoulder blades, trying to block out the sight of it, but the sounds of the fight were rebounding off of the walls, making each crash and blow echo and seem even more horrifying.

  Alex sighed and nodded. “Fine, but just stay out of the way. You don’t ever step into the middle of a fight, have I taught you nothing?” he scolded, shaking his head at me in disapproval.

  I flicked my eyes to the fighting pair in time to see Luke throw Zach off of him, both of them crashing to the floor, Luke now on top. “Can we leave the safety lecture until later?” I cried, pointing at them, shaking my head at my twin who was more concerned about me getting hurt than breaking up the fight.

  He sighed and nodded again, turning on his heel. He wrapped his arms around Luke from behind and pulled him up to his feet. He was still thrashing, trying to kick Zach as he was dragged away a few steps. I could see Alex talking into Luke’s ear, his face hard and angry, I had no idea what he was saying but by the distasteful look on Alex’s face he didn’t like touching Luke at all.

  Zach pushed himself up off of the floor; he smirked at Luke who immediately started thrashing in my brother’s arms again. Zach brushed off his clothes. He didn’t look too bad at all; judging by the way he acted, he was probably used to getting in fights. “Thanks again for screwing up, Luke. She’s the best lay I’ve had in ages,” he teased, grinning and winking at me.

  I scowled at him and Luke threw off my brother’s hold, jumping for Zach again, but Alex grabbed him in time and stopped it, putting his body between the two boys. “Back off, Hannigan!” Alex shouted, shoving on Luke’s chest hard, making him stumble back a couple of steps.

  Zach smirked again over Alex’s shoulder. “Yeah, back off, Hannigan,” he teased, winking at Luke.

  “Son of a bitch!” Luke shouted.

  Before I knew what happened, Luke was on the floor and my brother was shaking out his hand so he’d obviously punched him. “Calm down, fucktard!” Alex growled, sneering at Luke who was looking a little dazed as he sat on the floor.

  Zach smiled and patted Alex on the back. “Nice punch,” he congratulated.

  Alex turned and punched Zach in the face too, making him crash back into the table. My mouth dropped open in shock as Alex stepped closer to him. “Don’t make up shit about sleeping with my sister!” he shouted angrily.

  Zach smiled and rubbed his jaw, looking at Alex appreciatively. “Ouch, dude. You seriously fight great. You train?” he asked, not seeming to be bothered about the fact that my brother had just punched him in the face.

  Alex frowned, looking a little taken aback by Zach’s comment too. “Yeah, amateur kickboxing league,” h
e muttered, shaking his head.

  “Break it up! What on earth is going on in here? Hannigan, Preston!” a male voice bellowed. I looked up to see a couple of teachers running over to us. Mr O’Conner, the gym teacher, was at the front, looking murderously angry as his eyes took in the situation. Food was all over the floor, there were broken plates everywhere, students all in a crowd looking at the three boys in the centre.

  Zach held out his hand to Alex, smiling happily as if this whole scene hadn’t just happened. Alex frowned but took his hand anyway, pulling him to his feet, his body still tense as if waiting for a sly attack or something.

  “And who are you?” Mr O’Conner growled, looking at Zach when he was on his feet again.

  Zach did a little bow. “Zach Anderson, new pain in your ass.” The watching crowd laughed at his comment.

  “Principal, all three of you!” Mr O’Conner barked, pointing at the door.

  Alex frowned but didn’t protest; Luke winced as he rubbed his hand over his bruising cheek but headed out without another word. Zach just laughed.

  I watched the three boys go, hoping that Alex didn’t get into too much trouble. I would owe him for that, I asked him to break it up and get involved, so if he got detention then it’d be my fault. The crowd dispersed quickly now that the teachers were here. I saw a blonde head step in front of me. I gulped when I looked up at Sandy’s smug face.

  “You’re not worth all that,” she stated, sneering at me.

  I wanted nothing more than to push her to the floor and rub the spilt spaghetti over every inch of her face, making her look like an Oompa-Loompa. “And you think you are?” I asked, shaking my head at her.

  She grinned at me, flashing her straight white teeth. “Luke thinks I am. He told me that I was the best night of his life,” she stated, picking at her manicured nails.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her comment. That couldn’t be true, they didn’t even get to finish, he was throwing up all night and spent the night in hospital. That was clearly not the best night of his life! She was obviously lying, trying to upset me. I knew she wanted Luke; she had done for a long time. It wouldn’t surprise me if I find out that she was the one that drugged him just so she could have her way with him.