Ten minutes later and Danny arrived. I left a note for my mother and headed out the door. I found Danny looking particularly good – he was wearing dark denim jeans, a black ‘Rolling Stones’ t-shirt and black Converse. When I got into the passenger side, he threw me that lopsided grin and, in spite of myself, I returned it with a genuine smile of my own.
“Looking good Gilmore.” He winked at me and I shook my head in disapproval.
“Do you ever turn off the charm?”
He chuckled at that. “Why, are you starting to give in to my charismatic ways?”
I smirked at him. “Wow, am I that transparent? I mean how could I ever resist your womanising ways?”
“I’m sensing some sarcasm.” Danny noted with a smirk as he started the car.
“Ooh, I guess you’re not just a pretty face after all …” I quipped back at him.
“Yeah, I figured I’d better have some brains to woo the ladies with when my looks start to fade and my ‘cute smile’ doesn’t work anymore.” He retorted back with a cocky smirk.
I shook my head exasperatedly and laughed. “You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”
He shook his head. “Nope! I wait in vain for the day that you can no longer resist my lopsided smile.”
“Ever the optimist, aren’t you?” I noted with a smirk.
He flashed me a cheeky grin. “Well I do try.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed that” was all I said in return – I was worried that this playful banter was starting to border on some serious flirting.
I shifted my gaze onto the road ahead and desperately thought of a subject change.
“So,” I began eventually, “what film do you wanna see?”
“What about the new horror one?” I watched Danny’s eyes flit to my face for a second, gauging my reaction.
I shrugged. “I don’t mind, I quite like scary films. I’m weird like that.”
Danny seemed surprised by this. “Really? Most girls freak out. You’re definitely one of a kind Gilmore.”
I laughed. “Yeah, you see why I don’t like to socialise much?”
Danny threw me a thoughtful look before he spoke again. “Well, the people back in Langley Falls didn’t know what they were missing out on.”
I didn’t know what to say to that so I remained silent – if only Danny knew the truth.
A short while later and we pulled up to the cinema. Danny parked the car as close to the entrance as possible since it had just started raining.
“So,” Danny began, turning in his seat to face me, “are you ready to make a run for it?”
I nodded and we both leapt out of the car and dashed through the glass doors.
We both looked up at the listings board. Danny glanced at me. “So what will it be?”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Anything but the romantic one. I don’t care, you choose.”
Danny threw me a funny look. “You seriously don’t want to see a chick flick?”
I raised my eyebrow at him. “Yeah. Why – do you?”
He shook his head. “No, I just find it kinda strange, that’s all.”
“Well I did warn you.” I chuckled at him.
He nodded. “Okay, well what about ‘Danger in the Dark’?”
I glanced at the poster – a psychological thriller – I couldn’t argue with that.
“Yeah,” I told Danny, “let’s go.”
Chapter Eight
The film was over by ten o’clock and we both decided to go for a coffee in a little café that was still open. We ordered our drinks and sat down at a table with squishy-looking chairs.
“So,” Danny began with an oddly serious look on his face, “did that feel like a date to you?”
I threw him a questioning look. “No. Why? What’re you getting at?”
He shrugged. “Just think … if it had’ve been, it would’ve been a good one.”
“Not this again.” I sighed heavily. “You specifically said that it wasn’t a date. I just want us to be friends and that’s it.”
I watched as Danny threw me a sly smirk and I shook my head in disbelief as everything clicked into place.
“You’re just screwing with me, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “Hell yeah! You’ve met your match Gilmore … be warned.”
“Ooh, I’m so scared! Do you really think that you’re gonna win me over?” I asked him, vaguely wondering if he was this smug all the time.
I watched him chuckle. “Oh come on Darcie … eventually, you will succumb to my impressive seducing techniques … and you’ll wish you’d dated me sooner.”
I decided to ignore his over-confident assumptions and address an issue that had bothered me since we had met.
“Danny, I want to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me.”
He looked at me, surprised, by my serious tone. “Okay, shoot.”
“The first day we met …why’d you write your number on the back of my receipt? What was your reason?” I didn’t know if he would answer my question truthfully or not but I still wanted some sort of response.
He was silent for a few minutes and then he eventually met my gaze. “As I told you before – you intrigued me Darcie. I can’t say much more than that but it’s the truth.”
I didn’t know what to say to that so I just took a big gulp of my cappuccino and tried to think of a subject change.
However, a second later, Danny broke the awkward silence by laughing. I threw him a quizzical look.
“You’ve got froth on your nose!” he explained while reaching to wipe it off.
“Oh, right … thanks.” I managed to mumble as he brushed my nose with a napkin.
Danny smiled at me but I found myself pulling away – this was bordering on dangerous territory so I decided to take the easy way out.
“Are you ready to go?” I enquired, praying that he would take the hint that I wanted to go home. I felt bad but it was a necessary evil.
Danny looked a little disappointed but he flashed me a small half smile nonetheless. “Yeah, sure – let’s go.”
We left the café and made our way back to the car in silence. It was an incredibly uncomfortable journey home and I was extremely relieved when Danny pulled up outside my house.
I reluctantly turned to face him. “Well, I guess I’ll see you Monday …” I trailed off, not knowing what else to say to him.
Danny smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, thanks for the company.”
I nodded and got out; waving him off before I made my way up to the front door. The house was in darkness so it was safe to assume that my mother was in bed and for that I was grateful – I didn’t want to be interrogated about where I had been. I sighed heavily as I climbed the stairs to my room – I had a feeling that I wouldn’t get much sleep tonight …
My lungs felt like they were on fire. I could taste the salty water but there was nothing I could do to stop it from rushing into my lungs. I was choking while I screamed out for help and I could feel myself slipping in and out of consciousness. Suddenly, I could feel strong arms around me and hear someone comforting me.
“Darcie, you’re going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise …”
The dream then changed, Danny appeared to help me out of the water but I refused to reach out to him. He called out to me desperately but I stubbornly resisted his attempt to rescue me. I was drowning but I didn’t care.
“Why won’t you let me help you?” He suddenly yelled with a furious look on his face.
I stared into his kind, hazel eyes and sighed. “Because I don’t deserve to be saved.”
I then sank below the surface.
I woke up gasping for air and feeling slightly disorientated. I took a quick glance at my alarm clock – 5.56am. Great, so much for my Sunday lie-in …
I sat up, swung my legs over the side of my bed and rubbed my face wearily. I couldn’t forget the look on Danny’s face in my dream – the determination in his eyes
was quite haunting. I sighed heavily and decided to push those thoughts away – I didn’t want to dwell on it any further.
After seeking out some much-needed caffeine, I sprawled across the couch and flicked on the TV. I channel-surfed until I found a cheesy made-for-TV film which I then forced myself to watch – I figured if I got lost in the ridiculous plot-line, I would be able to forget all about my dream.
An hour and a half later and the film had ended (with a sickly sweet happily ever after) and I was now looking at other ways to occupy my mind from dwelling on things it shouldn’t be. It was then that my mother decided to appear and I found myself surprised – instead of dreading making conversation with her, I welcomed it as a distraction.
“So, where’d you disappear to yesterday?” My mother enquired, stifling back a yawn.
“Well I got called into work and then I went to the cinema with a friend.” I told her truthfully but deciding not to elaborate on who exactly the friend had been.
She smiled at me with a knowing look. “A male friend?”
I shook my head but my face must have betrayed me since my mother threw me the look – the one she used when she knew I was lying. I sighed heavily and gave in.
“Yes, but we’re just friends and nothing more.”
She pursed her lips and didn’t say anything but I could tell that her brain was already concocting up various fantasies about me finally having a friend of the male variety.
I didn’t feel the need to tell her anything else so I changed the subject. “What are your plans for today?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know about you but I could do with a lazy day. How about we watch some cheesy films and stuff our faces with junk food?”
I laughed. “Yeah, that sounds good.” I told her, genuinely looking forward to spending the day doing nothing.
My mother quickly showered and dressed before driving off to the shop, leaving me with the task of making the living room extra cosy. I showered, changed into something comfy and rooted around in some cupboards until I found some fluffy pillows and fleece blankets.
I set them in the living room, grabbed some cans of Diet Coke from the kitchen and flopped down on the sofa again. I was just getting super comfy when my mother arrived back, armed with what looked like the entire sweet shop. She had three bags full of crisps, chocolate, various sweets and even a frozen pizza for dinner later.
“You do realise we’re not suffering from a food shortage, right?”
She laughed. “I know but I figured we should make the most of it – besides, a girl can never eat too much chocolate.”
I had to laugh at that. “True. Now, what do you wanna watch first?”
My mother laid out all of the snacks on the floor, took the seat beside me and then shrugged. “Anything, I don’t mind.”
I flicked through the channels until I found an 80’s classic – ‘Pretty in Pink’.
My mother grabbed a handful of popcorn and nodded her approval. “Good choice – I just love Duckie!”
I smiled at her, feeling quite happy that we were actually spending some time together and that she wasn’t worrying about how I was feeling.
The rest of the day passed with us watching more classic films and eating so much junk food that we felt sick. I, however, didn’t care because it meant that I wasn’t thinking about school, Danny or anything else. Instead, it was a simple case of spending some quality time with my mum and it had been long overdue.
Chapter Nine
Monday morning arrived with my alarm clock bleeping loudly. I groaned, rubbed my eyes and forced myself to get up from my cosy bed. After showering and changing, I glanced at my phone and noticed that I had a text message from Harriet.
‘Nd ride or ru goin wif Danny-boy? ;)’
‘NO! Meet u in 10.’ I replied back, shaking my head at Harriet’s assumption that Danny and I were dating.
I quickly gathered up my bag and phone, locked the front door and met Harriet who was just getting into her car.
“Well,” she began as I got into the passenger seat. “How’re things between you and Mr Fletcher? You two make it official yet?” she asked with a cheeky wink.
I shook my head exasperatedly. “You’ve an overactive imagination – we’re just friends.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“What? It’s the truth! I’ve only known the guy a few weeks. Anyway, what about you and Samuel – you guys make up?”
Harriet sighed heavily. “Yeah, he was just being an ass – he gets like that when he’s had too much to drink. He phoned to apologise on Saturday night and then we spent the whole day together yesterday so all is forgiven.”
“That’s good, how long have you guys been going out anyway?”
“Just over a year … but if you ask Samuel he’ll tell you it’s longer.” I watched as Harriet smirked to herself.
“Why would he say that?” I asked, intrigued.
“We were friends first but the timing wasn’t right until last year – I was dating someone else until I realised that I liked Samuel more than I liked my boyfriend! Samuel likes to say that we were dating for years but I just didn’t know it.” She smiled to herself and I wondered if everyone got to be as happy as she was.
I pulled myself out of my negative thoughts as Harriet parked her car into one of the few spaces left and got out. I followed suit and made my way into the school, idly wondering if my timetable was finally ready.
Once inside the school, I left Harriet with Samuel and made my way to Tutorial Class to ask about my timetable. Mr Fennell was going through some papers when I knocked on the door. He glanced up and recognition flickered in his eyes.
“Darcie Gilmore, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I was just wondering about my timetable …”
I trailed off at the look of recollection on his face.
“Ah, yes, right.” He mumbled distractedly as he rifled through the various piles of sheets on his desk. A few minutes later and he still hadn’t produced a timetable. He frowned and then glanced up at me.
“I can’t seem to find the copy – in fact, I don’t remember them giving me a copy – but you can go to the Main Office and they’ll print you out another one.”
I nodded and set out in search of the office, slightly irritated at the fact that this wasn’t exactly the best start to my first full day at Dover High.
Ten minutes passed and I eventually found a door marked ‘Main Office’. I knocked once and then entered the room to find a pleasant-looking lady seated behind a rather large desk. She was a small, thin woman in her early fifties with short grey hair and little round glasses. She glanced up as I approached her desk.
“Hi, Mr Fennell sent me here. He couldn’t find a copy of my timetable but he said you’d be able to print off another one.” I explained to the woman whose name I now learned was Valerie – there was a tiny little plaque on her desk informing me of this fact.
She shook her head. “Typical … that Fennell one is always misplacing things! Don’t you worry dear, I’ll get you another one. Now, what’s the name?” she asked, smiling kindly while she waited for me to reply.
“Darcie Gilmore – I just enrolled this year.”
Valerie typed something into her computer and nodded. “Ah yes, found it. I’ll just print it off and you can be on your way.”
She got up and scooted over to the massive printer that was sitting in the far corner of the room. A few seconds later and a sheet came spitting out with a loud noise.
She inspected the sheet of paper and nodded to herself before sitting back down behind her desk. She typed something else into the computer and then handed me the sheet.
“Take a wee look at that dear and tell me if everything’s right.”
I quickly scanned the list of subjects to check that it had all of the choices I had opted for – English Literature, Psychology, Sociology and Business Studies – yes, they were all there. It was then that my gaze flickered down the pa
ge to the last subject listed – P.E. – what? I hadn’t signed up for that!
I lowered the page and addressed Valerie. “Yeah, everything’s correct apart from P.E. – I didn’t sign up for that.” I explained to her, wondering if my day could get any worse – I loathed nearly all forms of exercise.
She shook her head. “No, that’s right. P.E. is mandatory here ever since Ms Greenly caught pupils sneaking out to go up town instead of going to their study periods.”
She allowed herself a small laugh at my bewildered expression before she continued. “Anyway, to cut a long story short, there was a debate about how to keep them in school. Eventually the Education Board decided on making it mandatory that they participated in P.E. for three hours each week. In exchange for that they were allowed to go home early one day a week but if they didn’t co-operate, they had to stay in Study or face suspension.”
I let out a low whistle. “Ms Greenly sure doesn’t mess about.”
Valerie chuckled. “Indeed. Now, I’ve checked what classes are left for P.E. but I’m afraid the only one with a space available is Ms Mahon’s swimming class.”
I literally felt faint as she uttered the word ‘swimming’. I couldn’t believe how much bad luck I had endured since moving – I had thought that it was all behind me. I found it hard to breathe and I dimly noticed that Valerie was looking at me in concern.
“Darcie dear, are you okay? You look rather pale.”
I began to gasp for air and quickly flopped down in an empty chair opposite Valerie’s desk. She threw me a worried look and went to get a cup of water from the water dispenser near the door. After filling a cup, she handed it to me and I gulped down the cold liquid to try to calm myself down.
“Thanks.” I told her a few minutes later when I thought I could manage to speak again.
She nodded. “It’s no problem dear. Now, tell me what that was all about?”
I took a few deep breaths and glanced up at her. “I – I can’t swim.”
Learning to Breathe Page 6