Studying her profile, I watch as her face reddens again and she gives that bastard Murray a smile. “That would be lovely, thank you.”
Ellie turns back to the front of the room and focuses on our teacher, bringing another soft gust of vanilla my way. She’s so focused in fact, that she doesn’t notice when Callum’s prick of a best mate, Ryan Mason, gives him a knowing look and smirks. It’s the kind of look that lets me know Ellie Palmer is in way over her head.
2
Ellie
My new school hasn’t been as all together awful as I expected. Moving suddenly from our nice flat in Shepherd’s Bush to our shabby council flat in the East End was traumatic, but when dad lost his job in construction management and our money ran out, well… we had no choice. Hackney is scary, full of crime, graffiti, and abandoned buildings that are rife with shadowy figures. I spent the entire summer hiding in our dismal new home for fear of getting jumped.
A nice boy in first period, Callum, showed me around the school and introduced me to his mates at lunch and I met a girl named Kate in one of my classes who seems okay. The only embarrassing thing that’s happened to me so far is when I found someone sitting in my seat and complimented his drawing. He acted like I was mental and couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
I noticed him in several of my other classes as well, and how could I not? It seems all the other girls were noticing him too. They’re always surrounding him and vying for his attention, practically begging
him to choose them. Not that he pays them any bother. I’m sure he gets his pick of them. He’s tall and gorgeous, with inky black hair and hazel eyes, and he makes my pulse race just from being in his vicinity. The gossip I accidentally overheard lets me know that he gets around, and never with the same girl twice. Figures.
Oddly, it seemed as if every time I glanced in his direction, it felt as though he had just been staring at me, even though I never once caught him doing it. I’m sure I’m just imagining things. The hot guy that can’t be tamed sneaking looks at me… yeah, right.
The last bell finally rings, and I got through the day in one piece. Tired, I gather my books, sling my bag on my shoulder, and head into the hall.
“Ellie, I can walk you home.” Surprised, I whip around and see Callum leaning against the wall outside my final class, eyeing me thoughtfully.
How did he know where I’d be?
Intimidated by his presence, I feel the familiar rush of blood in my neck and cheeks and focus on my winter boots so he won’t notice how red I am. “Okay,” I mutter, just loud enough for him to hear. Callum begins to walk, so I follow, and we head out into the bright January sun.
“So, where’s your place?” He taps a pack of cigarettes and pulls one out, lighting it by cupping his hand around the flame to deter the cold wind.
I squint in the bright sun, wrinkling my nose at the smell of the smoke, and zip up my overcoat when another blast of icy air hits me. “Off Well Street.”
When Callum raises his eyebrows at the location of my crappy flat, I have to look away. It’s just about the worst part of town, littered with drugs and prostitution. “What?” My defenses are up, I’m angry and embarrassed by his reaction. I want to chew on my thumbnail, a nervous habit that I can’t seem to ditch, and end up with the fabric of my winter glove in my mouth. Shoot. I lower my arm uselessly.
“I’m surprised you live down there, that’s all.” His eyes rove slowly up and down my body, giving me chills, and not the good kind. “You’re too good for this place.” Callum turns away and sucks on his cigarette, letting the smoke trail back out of his pursed lips slowly as we trudge along.
“Yeah, well, all of us are too good for this, aren’t we?” I reply with a huff, waving my arm in the direction of a blighted building that’s covered in graffiti.
“No, not really.” He lets another wisp of smoke out deliberately and meets my gaze. “Some of us belong here.”
Something about the way Callum speaks, calm, cold, accepting, makes my heart stutter. Suddenly, I’m afraid to be alone with him. I study his face and a frigid chill goes down my back, one that I’m not sure is caused by the temperature.
How did I not notice how empty his eyes are?
I have no response to his comment, so I hike my bag further up on my shoulder and cling to it as we continue to walk past a bunch of run down, detached houses.
“Where are you going?” Callum reaches out and grabs my coat, pulling me back toward a broken chain link fence that circles an abandoned property. He gestures for me to duck through the small gap and tosses his spent cigarette on the ground.
“Home, which is this way.” I point down the road in the direction I had been going, away from the creepy lot he’s pointing towards. Callum is good looking; big and muscled, with sandy hair and full lips, but his eyes are creepy, dull, and lacking life, which makes him quite unattractive. I realize much too late that he makes me very, very uncomfortable.
“Nah, this is a shortcut.” He smirks and uses his chin to motion towards the empty semi-detached houses in the derelict yard.
Even though I’m wearing a thick parka, I shiver and wrap my arms around my chest, holding myself together. That yard isn’t somewhere I want to go. It’s not somewhere most people want to go, and with my newfound revelation about Callum, there is nowhere else I’d rather not be than in that yard with him.
“I don’t mind taking the long way, Callum, really. It’s no bother.” My voice wavers as I attempt to convey indifference to his short cut, wispy puffs of steam hitting the icy air with each rapid breath I exhale.
“C’mon. It’s not as scary as it looks. I cut through here all the time.” He grins like a Cheshire cat as he walks backwards toward the hole in the fence, his empty eyes not leaving mine until the last second when he spins and ducks through the fence and into the yard.
I hesitate, looking up and down the street to see if I can run away and not be caught by Callum before I get home. Even if I do get away, if I don’t follow him I have no doubt that tomorrow at school won’t be as pleasant as it was today, so I inhale and press my cold lips together, forcing my feet forward by sheer will.
The sound of footsteps approaching from a nearby corner jolts my already pounding heart and I leap headfirst through the gap in the fence without thinking.