by Dyble, S R
“You okay?” he asked me, just as we were about the head into class.
I nodded although really, I was dreading Maddison. I wasn’t sure how it was gonna go and Kit seemed to respect our privacy and he let go of my hand before we entered the classroom.
He must have known that I wanted to avoid the Chinese whispers that would have started, had Kit walked into the class with my hand in his.
Just before he did, we bumped into Chris, who was on his way to the classroom too and clearly noticed our hands separating. He looked at me and smiled.
“Well, well, well,” he said before waving us in to go first.
I frowned and looked at Kit who was throwing death stares at Chris, he really didn’t like him and I didn’t know why. Of course, Chris seemed to like me and Kit hated it, but it was more than that, I knew it was.
As I took a seat I glanced around for any sight of Maddison.
“She’s not here,” Kit said as he took the seat beside me.
I nodded and pulled out my notebook to busy myself, it was weird but nice having Kit sitting next to me. It was only us because Nick wasn’t here either. The girls in our class were looking and wondering why we’d not only arrived together but why we were sitting beside each other as well.
Chris continued to smile at me as if he was finding it funny that Kit and I were now together. It seemed he attempted to make it look like he wasn’t bothered, but it actually showed me that he was and as I made my way to the bathroom alone, it was confirmed.
I knew Kit wanted to come with me. As I left the classroom, I gave him a strange look, wondering why he was actually going to come with me. Then he seemed to realise how stupid it was and sat back down. I cursed him in my mind because it was another action that got the attention of the girls in our class. I’d become enemy number one and they didn’t even know if we were officially together.
“Funny how you’ve ended up with him despite what I said, isn’t it?” I rolled my eyes as I walked down the empty corridor and heard Chris behind me.
I turned to face him, “sorry?” I asked him, knowing full well what he’d said.
“How is it that you fall for a dick like Kit after what I told you about him?”
“You shouldn’t really be talking about this with me- “
“I warned you that he was trouble, that he’d just hurt you."
I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing there was more to what he was saying. “Is there something you know, Chris, that I don’t know?”
Rolling his eyes, he sighed and rubbed his head.
“Just be careful with him, Eve, he’s trouble."
Chris walked away without giving me any more information and I wanted to call him back but didn’t bother, he was walking too fast and I didn’t want other classes to hear us.
Part of me thought the reasoning behind Chris’s little warning was purely the fact that he didn’t like Kit or the fact that I was with him. Half of me wondered if there was more to Kit that I didn’t know, but Chris did.
In the girl’s toilet, I pressed myself up against the sink and thought about it, re-thinking everything that had happened. I couldn’t think of anything that would be a problem other than the fact that Kit was indeed a huge player. Being his first girlfriend was a victory for me but I’d allowed myself to believe that I was different from all the other girls Kit had been with, and perhaps I shouldn’t have been so easily pleased. As I stared at myself in the mirror, I gripped my hair up into a ponytail and undoing the bobble around my wrist I slid it around my hair and double tied it. It made my hair hang high and I brushed at my fringe with my hand so it would all come away from the rest.
“You okay?” Kit asked me as I sat back down in the classroom. I nodded, because there was no need to tell Kit about Chris approaching me, and honestly, I didn’t know what to say.
“You were a while,” he continued.
“I was doing my hair,” I answered casually, whilst shading a section of my drawing in, I didn’t want Kit to keep asking me questions.
I was hoping to carry on the day without any more hassle from anyone and at that point exactly, Maddison walked in, only with a black eye and the whole class seemed to gasp in sync.
“What happened to you?” one of the girls asked.
The question caught Maddison off guard and I wondered if she’d tell the truth.
“I fell down the stairs,” she eventually said before making her way into the classroom and sitting with the girls who were making a fuss over her.
I sat, completely gobsmacked that Maddison even had a black eye. Guilt washed over me and I wanted to get up and apologise straight away, even if I was still pissed at her about the other night.
When Kit gripped hold of my hand, I stared at him, just like the rest of the class seemed to.
“Looks like they are together,” one of the girls said louder than she’d meant to.
I looked Kit directly in the eyes and fled before he could say something.
I managed to find a spot alone in the Mac room where I worked on research and replayed over and over what had happened between me and Maddison.
The full morning seemed to pass by like that and at dinner time I was tempted to just stay put and work on the project but I felt his presence behind me.
“She’s got a black eye,” I said before he could speak. I wouldn’t have said it out loud if we weren’t alone and I glanced over at him as he took the seat beside me.
“Eve-”
“I shouldn’t have let it go so far, I’ve given her a frikkin’ black eye,” I went on and stared at my Mac screen.
“Eve, you never hit her,” he cut me off and I shot my head at him.
“What?”
“You didn’t hit her, I saw the full thing from across the room before I came over. You never hit her once and Nick said the same when I texted him."
“So, so- how does she have a black eye?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t think she wants to be asked about it. She won’t even talk to me,” he said.
“You tried to talk to her?” I asked before thinking, my jealousy had taken over before I had time to think about how stupid it was.
“Sorry,” I said when Kit smiled.
“I like when you get jealous,” he admitted before shifting forward and running his lips into my hairline.
“You like me being pathetic?”
“No, you being jealous is sexy, even if you don’t have to be."
I shook my head, feeling embarrassed by his stare.
We both heard someone clearing their throat and as we glanced around quickly, we both saw Nick standing just inside the room.
“Don’t let me interrupt, I just wanted to make my presence known before you go at it on a desk, or something,” he smirked.
It made Kit chuckle but made me duck with embarrassment.
“My God, Eve, you’re cute,” Kit said as he got up and held out his hand for me to take.
I looked up at him, wondering what he wanted from me.
“Food, it’s lunchtime.”
“Oh, I was gonna stay here and carry on researching."
Kit glanced at my screen, “looks like you’ve got enough pictures of half-naked men, Blondie, come on."
“I’m offended I’m not on there, Eve,” Nick said as I got up.
“Since when do you give private photoshoots working out, Nick?” I asked as I gathered my bag and smiled at him.
“I don’t, but I’d be happy to oblige,” he grinned at me as both me and Kit headed for the door.
“Stop,” Kit said calmly to Nick, whilst placing his full palm over Nick’s grinning face.
“I was just talking-”
“Go talk to some other chick, you animal,” Kit replied before placing his arm around me and leading me out.
“I love how whipped you have him,” Nick said, following beside us.
I could see it riled Kit up more and Nick continued to grin as we headed down the steps and out of college.
After dinner with Kit and Nick, I returned to college feeling happy as hell, the pair of them were infectious to be around and I nearly choked on my sandwich a few times listening to them bickering and then talking about various things.
The afternoon consisted of me trying to watch Maddison’s every move whilst attempting to do my work too.
At one point she had to move into the Mac room, too, to complete some of her work but she made sure to sit as far away from me as possible and I heard the printer jam beside me, meaning it was out of paper again.
Glancing around I saw Maddison getting up and I knew she was heading for the supply room to get paper.
Now was my chance and I got up at the speed of lighting and rushed after her.
I caught up to her just outside of the supply room, hoping I didn’t have to go inside to speak to her.
“Maddison!” I said after her but she whipped around so quickly I thought she was going to smack me.
“Leave me alone,” she said harshly, she wasn’t looking to stay and chat and I had to follow her into the tiny supply room.
“Look, I’m sorry about Saturday, it should have never happened,” I blurted out, hoping she’d heard me.
She looked around after grabbing the paper and it was as if her face had softened.
She nodded and held the pack of paper to her chest.
“I know."
“I just wanted you to know I’m sorry, it was stupid."
She nodded, “I’m sorry too, I should have never said anything to Kit."
I snorted, “you didn’t really do anything wrong, you weren’t to know anything was going on between us. I didn’t even think anything was going on between us."
“I’m assuming that’s changed now?” She smiled and it eased any anxiety I may have had about her being bothered about it.
“I’m not interested in getting with Kit, Eve. He made it clear we weren’t going to be dating when y’know happened."
I nodded and looked away, not really wanting to think about what had happened between her and Kit.
“It’s only been confirmed over the weekend, we had the chance to talk. Well, Kit had a chance to tell me how things were and I guess I’m following along with no complaints."
We both laughed together and it felt good.
“So, the black eye?” I approached cautiously.
“It was a crazy night…” she trailed on, and I knew it was because Maddison didn’t want to talk about it.
“But I never hit you, Maddison."
She looked me directly in the eye.
“I know,” she nodded, “you didn’t hit me."
“So, who did?” I asked quickly, I was genuinely concerned and I knew I may have overstepped the mark. I wasn’t sure if Maddison even considered us as real friends, especially after our fight.
“A guy hit me."
She saw the shock in my face and I didn’t have to ask her any more for her to tell me.
“After our fight, Kit told me to take a taxi home, I was so pissed off that I didn’t listen to him and I went back inside and threw myself at the first guy who showed me some attention. I was being reckless and this guy was so interested in me. He was a big grizzly guy but seriously good looking. I somehow ended up back at his place, it was a strange sort of set up and the second I got there, I wanted to leave. He was having none of it and when I told him to stop touching me, he wouldn’t. I smacked him for touching me and he full on pelted me."
“Jesus, Maddison!” I pulled her into a hug without thinking twice about it.
“I’m okay now,” she hissed as my body pressed into hers.
“Did he hurt you elsewhere?”
Hearing her hiss in pain, I held her back at arms distance to look at her.
She shook her head and I knew she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
“I’m so sorry if we hadn’t have had that stupid fight you’d still be okay."
Maddison shook her head, “it’s not your fault, Eve. I was being stupid. I just wanna forget about the whole thing."
I nodded and gave her a small smile, I wanted to ask her how she had got away from the guy who had hit her but I knew she was eager to get back to class.
“Did you report it?” I asked as I followed her back, Maddison nodded, biting on her lip.
“As far as everyone knows, I fell down the stairs, okay?”
I nodded before following her back into the classroom where I felt Kit’s eyes instantly landing on me.
“So, are you both bezzies again now?” Nick asked, following Maddison and me down the corridor. He placed his arm around Maddison’s shoulder and grinned at her, only to hear a hiss sounding from Maddison who then shrugged his arm off.
Nick lifted his hands up in surrender and looked at her.
“Sorry,” Maddison said quickly, “I’m a bit sore."
Maddison was definitely not herself and rightly so after the ordeal but I watched as she walked off and left me and Nick alone in the corridor and Nick stared at me as Kit came up behind us.
“I’ll be a minute,” I said whilst shooting after Maddison.
Just as I neared the corner of the corridor, I saw Maddison heading into the bathroom with her hand to her face.
“Maddison?” I entered the bathroom cautiously and heard Maddison sniffling. She was most likely the only girl in the toilets and I rounded down the toilet cubicles to the one that was locked.
“Are you okay?” I asked at the door.
“Yeah, I’m just having a moment, probably because my period is due."
I rolled my eyes. “I think it’s more than an influx of hormones, Maddison, what’s going on?”
“Nothing, it’s just me being a girl, I swear."
“More happened the other night, didn’t it?” I was done beating around the bush.
“Nick barely touched you and you hissed at him like he’d hurt you."
Silence lingered for a bit until I heard the cubicle door open and Maddison grabbed my arm and pulled me in with her before I could object.
“If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay? I’m afraid."
My eyes widened and I gulped as I nodded, then even more to my shock Maddison lifted her top.
I was about to ask her what she was doing when I saw the clear bruises around her ribs and over her shoulder.
I did think it was weird for Maddison to be wearing a turtleneck on a hot day, but after being abused, I figured she needed to feel protected by her clothing.
“What the hell happened?” I asked, looking her in the eyes.
“It’s over now, I’ve learnt my lesson."
“Maddison,” I urged for her to tell me.
“He didn’t just hit me,” that much was obvious. “He did try it on with me and I refused, I tried to go home but he held me there. I was so scared Eve.”
I saw tears forming in her eyes just talking about it and I reached out to comfort her.
“He started asking me weird questions, asking who my parents were and where they were now. It was really messed up and because I wouldn’t tell him, he got mad. When I tried to leave, he threw me about…” Maddison stopped and closed her eyes, and I knew the memories were painful for her.
“He threw me against the wall, kicked me a few times and when I fought some more to get away from him, he eventually punched me.” She pointed to her black eye.
“He knocked me out."
“Oh my God!” The thought of what Maddison was going to tell me next, scared the hell out of me more than what she’d told me already.
“Did he?” I looked down at her body, not wanting to say the words out loud.
“That’s what the police can’t understand, he didn’t rape me. I woke up fully clothed, you saw the getup I had on that night, if he’d undressed me, I’d have known. I woke up alone in the flat that clearly wasn’t his and the only thing I found was my I.D and purse scattered open on the floor."
“Jesus, Maddison,” I took a de
ep breath.
“Now he knows who I am, Eve. Something is going on and he wanted to know my name desperately."
I tried to calm Maddison down as she started crying.
“It’s over now, he was just a freak, no doubt."
She nodded and wiped at her face. “My parents didn’t want me to come to college today, the police are still holding an investigation but I couldn’t not come in. I was going crazy at home."
I nodded and kept my hand on her shoulder.
“If we’d have never had that stupid argument…”
“Then the creep would have got someone else, no doubt. Our argument didn’t make it happen, Eve, please don’t think any of it was your fault."
I nodded again and gave her a weak smile.
Eventually, we left the toilet cubicle and after Maddison had cleaned herself up of dripping mascara, we left the bathroom only to be greeted by Kit.
“I wondered where the hell you’d gone,” he said, actually looking worried.
“Is everything okay?” He caught sight of Maddison’s face and looked back and forth between us.
I could see Maddison had no idea what to say, she was still trying to compose herself properly.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” I answered casually.
“You look upset,” Kit said to Maddison.
“Hormones, girl stuff, y’know.” Maddison sniffled and then smiled.
“Oh!” Realisation hit Kit. “I don’t wanna know."
Maddison smiled and shook her head, knowing full well that the mention of periods would shut Kit right up.
For the rest of the afternoon I felt Kit studying me every time I wasn’t looking, and each time I caught him looking, he’d look away and then smile at me as if it was me looking at him the whole afternoon and not him at me. I wanted to ask what was bothering him because I could see him deep in thought from the corner of my eye.
Even on the car journey home, I couldn’t confront him about it because Nick and him were having a deep discussion about a boxing match they’d recently seen. I played over and over the scenes which Maddison had described to me. I couldn’t take my mind off of it and I couldn’t comprehend just how scared Maddison must have been. No matter what she’d said, I still felt responsible. There was no way she could deny it, if we hadn’t had that argument, she wouldn’t have been so reckless and fallen into the wrong hands.