I opened my mouth to protest, but she rose up before I could speak.
“If you mess this up, you’ll be on the first train back to the city and because you’re only seventeen, you’ll be put away in a children’s home…”
I pushed my chair back abruptly, the sudden images of her as the Pen of her day making me want to put as much distance between the two of us as possible.
She bristled as I walked to the door, most probably realising she’d spoken too far out of turn, but it was too late, I saw her for who she really was now and even though I was sad that my dad had chosen a bully bitch over my mother, I had to accept that she wasn’t going anywhere. Especially not with my half sibling in her stomach.
I stopped by the kitchen door on my way out and turned to her. Her head was bent down towards the table and she shook her head.
“Challenge accepted,” I replied to her firmly and with that I left the house into the crisp sunny morning. I was more Hughes than she could ever hope to be, and little did she know, I never give up without a fight.
The driveway entrance to Atherton was already filled with students when I joined it and it was only when I was halfway to the school steps that I realised I’d left the house without my bag.
The thought of going back set me on edge. I couldn’t. Not yet. Not when Beth was still loitering around the place.
Just thinking her name made me frown. The way she looked down on my mum gave me a bad taste in my mouth. No. There was no way I would be able to concentrate at school without seeing her. Without knowing for myself that she was okay.
I thought of Harry and how excited I’d been to see him today, but that would have to wait. Family came first.
I turned on my heel and made my way back down the path, determination setting my hair off in all directions but none of that mattered. All I had to do was make it past our gatehouse without Beth or my dad seeing me and then head down the road until I hit the village.
If I could make it there, I’d be able to catch a bus to the train station.
Thinking everything through ignited something inside me. Passion. I had to see my mum. I was going to do it whether they liked it or not.
Did they really think that sending me three hours away would keep me at bay? Or, would turn me into a pompous Athertonian?
I put my head down and hurried past my dad’s house, making sure not to look towards the window in case I came face to face with Beth and I’d made it to the gate and turned down the road successfully before I heard someone call my name.
“Ally? Ally?”
I stopped to see Tre standing a few feet behind me, a confused expression on her face.
“Ah, hi!” I breathed walking back toward her.
Her eyes roamed over me briefly and I could tell she noticed my lack of coat or bag.
“Everything okay?” she asked suspiciously.
“Oh yes,” I tried to sound upbeat and happy, but I could tell I wasn’t fooling her. “Look,” I whispered. “I’ve had a really shit morning and I just want to catch a bus and see my mum…”
She nodded and her black curls bobbed on her head. I felt my body relax when she broke into a smile.
“I get it,” she said reaching out and squeezing my shoulder. “And just so you know, I don’t stand by what Pen did to you yesterday…”
I remembered the ice-cold water as it hit me, and I shuddered inwardly.
“No, it’s okay and thank you. It will take a lot more than an ice bath to deter me.”
Tre laughed.
“You’re officially my new spirit animal!” she looked at her phone. “Okay, I have to go and do some things before class. See you later?”
“Most definitely.”
She gave me a wave and I waited until she’d disappeared inside the school gates before I continued my journey, this time hurrying before anyone else saw and stopped me.
It was already nine thirty by the time I reached the village and I hoped that none of my teachers had collared my dad and asked him where I was.
It was one thing sneaking off and bunking class, but another entirely to get picked up by a parent and taken back in.
By the time I reached the scenic village hub of Atherton-on-Sea I was sweating like a pig and if it wasn’t for the need of seeing my mum I would have turned back. I pulled my blazer off and tucked it over my shoulder as I approached the bus stop.
A couple of older ladies stood there nattering away to each other and one gave me a look over as I stopped to look at the arrival times. The next one was in five minutes. Fine. Five minutes and I’d be on my way and I took the opportunity to look around me.
Since I’d arrived in Atherton, I hadn’t realty had the chance to explore the village. It was on my to-do list, but I’d prioritized ‘just surviving’ as number one and anything else wasn’t as important on the agenda.
The little shops opposite were starting to open, and the kind faced man who popped out of the bakers gave me a smile and a wave. He, amongst everyone else was probably wondering what the hell I was doing there and not in class. I’d started to wonder that myself and as my stomach rumbled, I realised that I was hungry and tired. Not really a great combination when I was facing a long journey.
The bus, a minute or so early, crept up alongside us and all contemplation of whether or not I should run across the road and grab a quick sausage roll evaporated as we queued to get on it.
I let everyone go first, lingering around on the pavement until it was my turn.
“Where to miss?” the driver asked as I approached him.
I pulled my phone out.
“The train station please…”
He ran the ticket through and printed it out.
“£2.40 when you’re ready.”
I held my phone up.
“I don’t suppose you take Apple Pay?”
The bus driver pulled his sunglasses down to give me a once over before he laughed.
“Not in these parts I’m afraid. Cash only.”
One of the old ladies, now seated, sighed impatiently.
“Sorry, I left my bag and purse at home. I don’t suppose…”
He opened the door behind me.
“Sorry, I’m afraid no ticket, no travel. The next bus is in ten minutes. If you can run home and get your purse, you’ll be in a better position…”
Crestfallen I stepped backwards down the stairs and back onto the pavement, not able to let the rest of his words sink in. The doors closed in front of me and I watched as he pulled away from the curb. The prissy old woman sitting at the front stared at me as they departed, the look in her eyes making me feel as though as I was nothing other than an inconveniencing trouble maker, but she had no idea of what I was or had been going through.
The bus wasn’t just a way out of Atherton, it was a way back to London to see my mother. It was the one thing that was connecting me to the life I’d had to leave behind.
Now I only had two options. Either go back to my dad’s house with my tail between my legs and get my bag or, I could walk to the station.
I looked at my phone. It was a forty-minute walk. I could do it. I’d be hot mess by the time I got there, but my mum was in a coma, she wouldn’t know the difference.
I set about on my way, shielding my face from the already hot sun and trying to imagine permanently living in a place where buses were infrequent and real civilizations was miles and miles away. It was incomprehensible.
Sure, they had the beach on their doorstep and beautiful scenery by the coast but was it worth it?
A car slowed to a crawl beside me and I ignored it at first, my head still muddled with anger and frustration that I hadn’t been allowed to drive on the bus, when I heard a voice calling my name.
“Hughes? Hey! Ally!”
I stopped and looked at it finally. The car was a large black Range Rover Sport. I knew it well because back in London one of the girls in our sixth form had been dropped off in one by a considerably older man who we later fo
und out was her millionaire sugar daddy.
All the boys had been staring at it as it rolled along beside us. Now, here one was again, only this time the occupant was solely interested in me.
The car came to a stop beside me and I walked up to the window, my mouth open in shock once I realised who was behind the wheel.
“Harry?”
He sat in the driver’s seat wearing only his shirt and uniform trousers. His sleeves were rolled up his sun-kissed firm arms and he raised his eyebrow at me.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “Skiving school?”
I felt myself blush at being caught.
“I….” no matter what I said it wouldn’t have been good. I was so far out from Atherton now that skiving was the only answer. “I had to get out.”
He nodded sympathetically.
“Get in,” he offered.
I hesitated. Yes, we’d had a brief moment yesterday in the Crest Club rooms, but was that really enough for me to jump into a car with him where no one else knew where the hell I was?
“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “I’m fine to walk, honestly. Thank you though.”
He laughed.
“Hughes, don’t be silly.” He reached over the passenger seat and unlocked the door, struggling slightly to push it open. “Get in. Come on, I’ll take you wherever you need to go.”
Reluctantly I opened the door fully and climbed in beside him. The car was just as luxurious on the inside as it was on the out and it smelt of new leather and his expensive aftershave. A far cry from my mum’s little Nissan that we’d crashed in.
She’d been so proud of it the day she had scraped enough money to buy it from the old man at number fourteen of our block of flats.
He’d become too ill to drive it and mum had beg borrowed and stole to get the money together to pay for it. Hell, even I’d be pleased about her new purchase because that meant that I could learn to drive it too at some point.
“Um, nice car,” I said strapping myself in.
He gave me a dazzling smile.
“It gets me from A to B.” He indicated and pulled away from the curb. “Now, where might a lovely Athertonian such as yourself be going to instead of English class?”
I blushed again.
“I… well, I have some business to see to…” I answered lamely resulting in a hearty laugh from him.
“Oh, oh, really? Is that so? Like what?”
I turned to face the window and look out at the small cottages as we drove past unsure of just how much I wanted to divulge. He had one of those personalities that made me want to curl up on his lap and tell him everything, but I couldn’t forget that most of the time I saw him, he was routed by Pen’s side and that girl was venom. If he could associate with her, then I couldn’t trust him fully.
He frowned sensing my hesitation.
“Okay, you don’t have to tell me just yet, but I have something I want to show you first.”
He turned down one of the streets and I glanced over at him as we drove, marvelling at how someone as handsome and charming as him had any desire to even want to be in my company. He caught me looking and gave me a soft smile.
“You’re going to love it,” he said quietly. “Look to your right…now!”
I looked past him and there, as the end of the houses came, the picture-perfect sea stretched into view and the crystal blue water framed the white sand.
“Wow…” I breathed as he drove along the beach. “I mean… wow.”
“I know,” he whispered, and he pulled the car up to a lookout spot that gave us the best view. He turned to me and fixed his stare on my eyes.
I shifted under his gaze, not quite sure what to do next.
“I can’t work you out,” he said, slightly amused by my discomfort. “I mean, you come into this place and turn us all on our heads…”
“I… I do?” It was the first I’d heard of it. All I knew was that Pen had become an enemy and all her followers had jumped on her bandwagon too.
“Yeah, of course. You’re from this other way of life, but I find it intriguing. I can’t explain it…”
He got a call on his phone and he picked it up to look at before turning it over and putting it back down.
I stared at it.
“Pen wondering where you are?”
He smirked.
“Pen doesn’t own me, Hughes,” he answered. “Our families have done business together for years and there was a time before that he had…something, but now we’re just friends.”
I rested my head back on the rest.
“Well perhaps you need to tell her that.”
“And perhaps you need to stop worrying about what other people think…”
I looked up at him sharply and even though bis face was serious, his eyes were smiling.
“You don’t know me,” I said quietly. “You don’t know what I’ve been through. You guys have just existed here in this leafy perfect village with your fancy cars and big houses and mega expensive schools. I mean you have this amazing beach on your doorstep. Everything has just been handed to you. You have no idea what struggles go on in the real world.”
I stopped talking and took a breath, realising that my grumpy poor girl rant was probably wasted on him.
What would he care anyway? What seventeen or eighteen-year-old drove around in an expensive Range Rover anyway? It was ridiculous.
He watched me intently, not put off by my salty side.
“So, tell me,” he said eventually. “Go on. I’m not here to judge.”
I sighed and looked back out of the window at the clear waves as they rolled over each other.
No, he wouldn’t understand. He wouldn’t ever get what it was like to purposefully stay at your friend’s house because you knew they had food in their cupboards, and you didn’t. He wouldn’t fully understand what it was like to have a mother with mental health issues and how some days I had to skip school to care for her or stay by her side because I didn’t know if I’d come home and find her dead.
No, all of that was too heavy to say. He lived in a money filled bubble. His biggest problem was probably what house they would stay in for the summer.
I didn’t want to be his charity case.
He remained silent as I opened the door and he watched me step out into the sunshine. Our proximity to the sea blew a cool breeze across my face and through my hair making me inhale deeply and close my eyes.
It was only when I’d opened them again that I saw Harry had come out too. He reached out for my shoes and without another word I slipped them off, handed them to him and in silence we descended down the coastal path and across the dunes to the sand.
There was something heavenly about being beside the sea when no one else was. Something comforting and even though in my normal life it was a rarity, it was something I had come to treasure.
I tilted my face up towards the sun, catching the rays on cheeks and when I noticed Harry was watching me with a smile on his face.
“You’re different,” he said once we reached the water’s edge. “Different and I like that. I like how you’re so sure of who you are. It’s refreshing. You’re a diamond in the rough here at Atherton.”
It was the nicest thing anyone had said to me since I’d arrived, and I felt part of the wall I had up crumble slightly as I picked up a couple of shells and threw them into the frothy waves.
“I just wish everyone else saw me that way.”
“I know. And they’ll come around soon enough.” He copied me picking up a few rocks and hurling them further than I did. “This place is based on Hierarchy. It always has been and after a while you realise there is more to life than forced legacies.”
“Did your parents go to Atherton?”
Harry stopped throwing and looked down at the shoes in his other hand. Almost as though he was embarrassed of the answer.
“Yes,” he said eventually. “Well, my father did and so did his brothers. He too was leader of the Crest
Club and I took the mantel as soon as I came of age.”
I shook my head and he raised an eyebrow at me.
“What?”
“How can you want to lead a club that spit roasts a student during lunch break? Is that what you guys do? Is that what makes you so secret?”
He tensed at my words and I saw him exhale deeply.
“You weren’t supposed to see that, Hughes…”
“Except I did,” I answered suddenly feeling defensive of Geri. I pictured her body bristling when Rupert had called her from class. I hadn’t pictured her to be the kind of girl to get mixed up with that kind of stuff so all I could think about was the fact that it had to have been against her will. “It’s not right.”
Harry dropped the stones and rested a firm hand on my arm.
“Forget what you saw there, okay? She’s old enough to make her own decisions and that’s what she wanted.”
“With two guys?”
His eyebrows furrowed.
“I think the less you know, the better. It’s completely the opposite to what you’re thinking, but I’d be going against years of tradition if I opened the Club up for scrutiny. All you need to know is that whatever you saw Geri doing was fully legal. It’s what she wanted. She’s in a relationship.”
Silence descended between us and I suddenly got the impression that the little moment we’d had earlier was gone and, in its place, I’d managed to offend him and put his back up.
He turned away from me, back towards the road.
“Come on, I’ll take you back,” he said simply and without another word he made his way over the beach and up the sand dunes. I watched him for a moment before following along, scalding myself for being so heavy handed with my accusations and at the same time proud that I’d stood up for Geri. If it was worth losing a friend for standing by what I believed in, then I had to let it go.
Things had really been looking up with Harry but knowing the ethics and morals of his club had been something playing on my mind since I’d stumbled in there yesterday. It was important for me to know that what she was doing was fully consensual because I might have been the only one who could have stopped it.
Diamond - A British Academy Rich Boy Bully Romance (Atherton School Crest Club Book 1) Page 6