by CJ Bridgeman
When Hollie had finished with Felicity’s makeup she set to work on her hair. She used her own clips, slides and bands to fashion the red locks on top of her head, and then she pulled a few down to hang either side of her face. Felicity didn’t own hair straighteners or curling tongs, but they made do with a bunch of pencils and a hairdryer. When Hollie finally allowed Felicity to look in the mirror, what she saw caused her breath to catch in her throat.
“What do you think?” Hollie asked eagerly.
Felicity was speechless. She had never considered herself an attractive girl, but then, she had never considered her looks at all. She simply accepted what was. But now that she stared at the image of herself in the mirror, with bright, shining eyes and deep, red lips, she felt something that she didn’t think she had ever felt before. She felt beautiful, and before she even had time to think about it, she found herself smiling.
“You look nothing short of gorgeous,” Hollie said. “Don’t you think? I’ve never seen you with makeup on. Did you, uh, leave it at your old house?”
Felicity stared at her reflection as her smile left her coloured lips.
“I, uh...” She paused. A part of her, deep inside, wanted to open up to Hollie, this girl who called herself her friend and who had made her look like a goddess. But another part of her wanted to run as far as way as possible, to retreat and hide somewhere she would never be found. In the end, there could be only one winner.
She averted her eyes. “Yes,” she lied. “I left it at my old house.”
Hollie looked at Felicity and it was clear that she didn’t believe her. She was, after all, an inexperienced and ineffective liar. After a moment or two of silence, she fished a few items out of her makeup case.
“Here,” she said. “Take these.”
Felicity did so, and then looked up at Hollie with a frown.
Hollie smiled. “Do I need an excuse to give a gift to my BFF?” she asked. “Now come on, get changed or we’re gonna be late!”
After she found something suitable to wear, Felicity followed Hollie out of the bedroom but stopped at the door, turning back to look at the gifts Hollie had given her. They were only a few items of secondhand makeup, but to Felicity they meant as much as if they were made of gold.
Felicity was not so separated from the world that she didn’t know what a club was - she had always had access to television - but actually being in one was vastly different. To begin with there was the sheer noise of the place. When characters in films and television shows spoke to one another in clubs they always managed to hear exactly what they were saying, even if they were speaking at a normal volume. That certainly wasn’t the case at the Talk. Several times Hollie had shouted something in her direction but Felicity had been unable to hear her.
Secondly, there was the lighting. It was always easy to see people in clubs - or so the television had led her to believe. Felicity was starting to understand why everyone she had spoken to at Greenfields expected her old boarding school to have been like Hogwarts or St Trinian’s. The strobe lighting, the flashes, the colours - all of it impaired Felicity’s ability to see, and so she found herself squinting. The smoke machine did nothing to help matters, either.
Hollie led her directly to the bar, where she ordered the two of them a coke. “No alcohol I’m afraid,” she said apologetically as she passed the drink to Felicity. “Not on a Snap Night, anyway.”
Felicity wondered briefly if Hollie was used to drinking alcohol, but by then they had moved away from the bar and the bass line of the music was once again making verbal communication difficult. Thankfully, Hollie led her to a seated area rather than the dance floor, and although the place was crowded with people, it was much easier to talk there.
“I wonder if Oliver is here yet,” Hollie said to her as they found a seat and sat down.
“He’s here.”
The two girls looked up to see Jamie standing in front of them.
Hollie rolled her eyes. “Has anyone ever told you that it’s rude to sneak up on people and interrupt their conversations in that weird way that you do? Seriously, Jamie, that’s twice in one day.”
“Sorry,” Jamie apologised with mock sincerity, and then he sat down beside them. “But I did learn from the best, after all.” He gestured towards his sister.
“Ugh, what do you want?” Hollie asked. “Do you get off on annoying me?”
“Oh, then I suppose you won’t be interested in any news of, say... Oliver?” He smiled and then tilted his head to look past his sister and wave to Felicity. “Hi, Fliss.”
Felicity nodded an acknowledgement to Jamie.
Hollie’s attitude suddenly changed. “You’ve seen Oliver?” she asked excitedly, her show of contempt for her brother dissolving. “Where is he?”
“He’ll be along in a minute,” Jamie replied, helping himself to a sip of Hollie’s drink. “So tell me, what’s with the outfit? Going for an emo theme?”
“As if,” replied Hollie, her eyes flitting across the club as she tried to locate Oliver.
Jamie drew in a breath between his teeth. “Then it must be...” He paused, and then clicked his fingers triumphantly. “Dennis the Menace! Am I right?”
Hollie curled the left side of her upper lip. “Who?”
Jamie chuckled to himself, shaking his head at his sister’s ignorance. “No, you’re right,” he continued. “Your red dress... don’t tell me you’re trying to warn Oliver that you’re dangerous before he gets to know you? That’s an improvement.” He looked at Felicity. “Usually they don’t find that out until later.”
Hollie glared at him. “If you’re not gonna go away, maybe we ought to tell Fliss all about your last girlfriend,” she snapped. “You know, the one who dumped you because all you wanted to do was play online games with her?”
The smile faded from Jamie’s face and he shifted uncomfortably. “Right, well, uh...” He stood up. “I’ll just be leaving you two ladies alone then.” He shuffled away.
Once he had gone, Hollie giggled. “I’m glad I’ve been able to use that one against him again. He hates that. At least it made him go away. Oh em gee, Fliss!” Her attitude suddenly changed to one of almost paralysing excitement as something caught her attention. “There he is!”
Felicity looked. Surely enough, amongst the crowd of teenage revellers was Oliver, and he was heading towards them.
Hollie grabbed Felicity’s arm, forcing her to turn back to her. “Do I look all right?” she asked desperately. “I mean, how’s my hair? My makeup? It’s not smudged at all? Oh em gee, do you think I should have worn a different outfit? Ah! Quiet, here he is...”
Oliver nodded towards Hollie as he arrived, and then he folded his arms and leant to one side in a way that clearly impressed her.
She smiled. “Hi,” she said coolly, in complete contrast to how she had just been behaving.
Oliver looked at Felicity, but he didn’t say anything. Hollie followed his gaze. “Oh, um, Fliss,” she said somewhat nervously. “I think, uh, Chloe was waiting for you. Yeah, Chloe. By the bar?”
“Oh, uh...” Felicity stood up, looking at Hollie, then Oliver, then Hollie again, then she began to shuffle away hesitantly. She turned back in time to see her friend mouth ‘thank you’ at her, and then her attention was given solely to Oliver.
Left alone yet surrounded by people, Felicity wandered to the bar. It took her several minutes to get there as the place was very busy and it was not in her nature to push and shove her way through a crowd; that kind of behaviour was likely to get her noticed, and she didn’t want that. Once she got to the bar she pulled herself up onto one of the high stools and looked around.
The dance floor was packed. The DJ was playing upbeat and current tunes, interrupting them every so often to mention names or declare the apparent awesomeness of his tracks. A group of girls were hovering by his booth, evidently trying to get their names called out, or perhaps they felt that hanging out with the DJ was cool? Felicity couldn’t tell.
She watched her peers as they danced, drank and flirted with one another. She, on the other hand, felt content with her own little bubble from which she could observe. She squinted in an attempt to see in the dim yet occasionally flashing light of the club, searching unsuccessfully for Hollie and Oliver.
She glanced at her watch: 9:39pm. The club would close in an hour or so. Felicity wondered what she would do with that time. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with being at the club, yet she was managing to remain unnoticed so far. Eventually Hollie would return and the two of them would head back, so she didn’t mind sitting and waiting for her until then.
As she peered out into the crowds, scanning the dance floor absentmindedly, she caught sight of a face she knew looking back at her. He raised his hand in a wave - it was Jamie. She felt obligated to wave back and, apparently taking this as an invitation, he swam through the sea of people and joined her at the bar.
“Hey!” he said happily. “What are you doing here by yourself? Don’t tell me Hollie has abandoned you.”
Felicity shook her head. “No, she just wanted some time with Oliver.”
“So she did abandon you.” Jamie shrugged. “Well, I’ll keep you company if you like. Oh God, you didn’t see my dancing, did you?”
“No, not really.”
“Thank God!” he exclaimed with a laugh, clearly relieved. “I have to say, Fliss, that although I am a man of many talents, dancing certainly isn’t one of them.”
Unsure of what to say, Felicity just smiled and took a sip of her coke.
“You know, Fliss, you’re going to get along fine at Greenfields,” Jamie said. “Especially with Hollie as your friend. She’s a pain but she’s a good person. She’ll look out for you. Oh!” He suddenly thrust his drink into Felicity’s hand. “Hold that, will you? I’ll be right back.”
Without giving Felicity time to reply, he waded his way back into the crowds and disappeared from view. Felicity placed his drink on the bar and continued looking for Hollie and Oliver, but still she couldn’t see them.
And then another familiar face appeared from within a nearby group of boys. One of them caught her eye and smiled. Felicity recognised him but couldn’t remember where she had seen him before. He nudged his friends, pointed at Felicity, and then the five of them began heading her way. As soon as they got close she realised where she had seen him - it was yesterday, as she had arrived at Greenfields. The boy had been reprimanded for sitting on the old piano at reception.
“Hey... Fliss, isn’t it?” he said with a wide grin.
Felicity nodded.
“Ah, you don’t remember me, do you?” He put both of his hands to his chest. “I’m hurt, Fliss, I really am.” His friends laughed, and then the boy continued: “I’m Callum Johnson. We have History together.”
Felicity hadn’t noticed Callum in History, but she nodded slightly anyway.
“You don’t know my friends, though,” Callum stated. “They’re from out of town. Go to a different school. This is Dan, Jack, Mikey and Liam. You don’t mind if we hang out here, do you?”
Felicity did mind. She minded quite a lot. But somehow, when faced with a group of teenage boys who were all taller and bigger than her, she didn’t feel as though she could say so. Not that it mattered, for Callum gave her no time to answer. He simply took up the stool next to her whilst his friends attended the bar.
“You know, Fliss,” Callum said to her once he had sat down. “I heard something very interesting at school today.” Felicity looked at Callum politely but didn’t respond. “I heard that you used to go to boarding school,” he said, smiling that wide smile again.
“Um, yes. I did,” Felicity replied.
“So? Tell me what it was like there.”
Felicity shifted uncomfortably. She didn’t like questions that required such open, seemingly endless answers and she didn’t like talking about her past. “It was... it was all right.”
“That’s it?” Callum laughed, and his friends joined in. “Come on, Fliss, we’re friends, right? Remember, we have History together.” For some reason, that remark prompted even more laughter from his companions, with one of them even slapping the bar with his palm in amusement. Felicity had already been feeling quite anxious, and this feeling suddenly got worse. Her eyes flicked behind Callum, trying to locate Hollie or Jamie, but it was too difficult to see in the dim light.
“So come on, tell me more,” Callum said. “Was it an all girls’ school?”
Felicity glanced over to Callum’s friends, who she suddenly noticed looked an awful lot older than him, certainly above the upper age limit of that night’s club night.
“Y-yes,” she replied nervously.
“Oh yeah!” Callum exclaimed, punching the air triumphantly with his fist, and his friends joined him in his revelry, whooping and cheering and laughing. And then Callum turned back to Felicity. “Did anyone ever tell you how pretty you are, Fliss? No, I really mean it.” He looked her up and down. “You look really nice tonight.”
There was a burst of badly stifled sniggers behind Callum, who ignored them and continued to stare intensely at Felicity. She avoided his eyes and swallowed uneasily. There was something about Callum’s behaviour that she didn’t like, something in his grin that made her want to run a mile.
“So what do you say?” Callum asked. “You uh, want to be my girlfriend?”
The warmth of Callum’s hand on her thigh took her by surprise. She froze, her entire body tensing up before she even realised, and then, without wasting another moment, she practically fell from the stool and made a stumbling dash for the nearest exit, ignoring the jeers and jibes that erupted behind her. She pushed and shoved her way through the stifling crowds of teenagers, forgetting how much attention such actions caused. People exclaimed their annoyance but she paid them no heed; she had to get out of there as fast as she possibly could.
From the other side of the club, Jamie exited the men’s toilets and just caught sight of a redheaded girl causing a stir as she made for the door. He knew instantly who it was, and glanced back at where she had been sitting at the bar. Callum Johnson, surrounded by his gang, was laughing uncontrollably at the retreating Felicity.
She didn’t stop, not even when she reached the fresh, open air of the outdoors. The urge to run was overpowering. Her legs moved faster than she ever thought they could. Her pumps thudded against the pavement. She didn’t know where she was running to and she didn’t care, not as long as she was putting distance between herself and that boy.
And then she could run no more. She slowed to a halt and leaned against a nearby wall, her chest heaving and her head pounding. Some strands of hair had come loose from their grips and were hanging in disarray either side of her face. Her cheeks were flushed, a stark contrast to her usually pale complexion.
The sense of relief that washed over her was invigorating. Just as she had little experience with friendship, Felicity also knew very little about boys and romance. But she hadn't enjoyed the way in which Callum had looked at her, and his touch on her skin felt like a violation.
She leaned her head back on the wall and gulped in the cool night air, trying to forget what had happened. She rubbed the sweat from her palms onto her skirt and looked around. She didn't recognise this part of the city; she appeared to be in an alleyway several streets from the main road where the Talk was located, but she had no idea which was the way back to her father’s flat. With a quick glance from right to left, she continued further into the alley, where her thoughts began to wander.
The incident with Callum kept coming back as if to haunt her. The laughter of his friends seemed to echo in her ears although its owners were back at the club. She could almost still feel his hand. With a shudder, she tried once again to shake the memories. As she tried to think of something else, she wondered whether or not Hollie would be worried about her when she found out she was no longer in the club. No, she told herself. She was probably having the time of her life with Oliver. But then
, how could she be when Oliver was standing there in the alleyway?
Felicity stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw him, visibly surprised but also relieved; although she and Oliver had never actually spoken, he was a friend of Hollie and Jamie, and that was reassuring. She was about to approach him when she caught a glimpse of his expression in the dim lamplight and realised that he was staring that same stare that had filled her with anxiety during Science that day. It made her hesitate.
She swallowed nervously. “Where’s Hollie?” she asked.
Oliver took a few steps towards her, ignoring her question and remaining unnervingly silent.
She frowned. “It’s me, Felicity,” she said, thinking that perhaps he didn’t recognise her. “You know, Hollie’s friend. From Greenfields.”
Still he didn’t reply.
Confused, Felicity stared, and as she did so Oliver did something that she did not expect - he smiled. She was quickly learning that there were many different smiles in the world. Some were kind, like the type that Hollie used when she looked at her friends. Others were suspicious and deceptive, like Callum’s. But Oliver’s was different still. It wasn’t kind but it wasn’t deceptive, either; his intentions were bad, and he wasn’t trying to hide it.
He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he slowly lifted his hands up towards his chest, his fingers outstretched. He closed his eyes and his face suddenly became shrouded in darkness, even in the shadows of the alley. Confused and somewhat fascinated, Felicity found herself rooted to the spot, watching him intently in spite of the fear niggling at her mind. He began to mutter something but she couldn’t quite hear the words; they certainly didn’t sound like English. His voice was deep, strangely deep. Felicity’s head began to ache as she looked at him. She suddenly felt sick.