“I’m creative. And I’m not the one who’ll be dealing with a bully for the rest of the school year. Do something to show her you mean business, and she’ll back off. That’s the way things work with those types of people.”
Pulling out a chair, I sat down and thought about it. Perhaps I should do something to scare Sally. Then again, knowing my luck I’d probably get caught and expelled for it.
“Did you get bullied at school, too?”
Noah’s gaze darkened. “Someone tried.”
“What happened?” I asked, leaning forward, strangely eager to know.
He sat on the tabletop, lifted his feet up onto a chair and looked down at me. There was a wild, untamed quality to his eyes I was captivated by. “This one boy tried spreading it around school I was in the business of sucking cock for money,” he said, and my mouth fell open.
I blinked, my cheeks heating at what he said. “Were you?”
He stared me blandly, completely unoffended by the question. “No.”
“So, what did you do?”
“You know the Bath Estate where they have all those ginnels behind the houses?”
I nodded. “They’re like a maze.”
Noah almost smiled. “So, this boy, he used to walk through the ginnels to get home. One night I followed him, got him in the dark and saw to it he wouldn’t be spreading his lies ever again.”
“How?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. It took a long time for Noah to answer, and I thought maybe he was censoring his reply, like the truth was too explicit for me to hear. But then, he didn’t censor a thing.
“I threatened to sodomise him with the handle of a spear point machete.”
I gasped, my hand going to my mouth in shock. My stomach twisted as I recoiled. “That’s horrific!”
“It worked,” Noah said, and I saw something in his expression that made my gut twist. I wondered if he’d actually done that instead of only threatening it. I instantly rejected the idea, because only a psychopath could do such a thing, and I didn’t want to think I was sleeping in the same house as a psychopath.
When I spoke again, I wasn’t sure why I said what I did, only that the need to be honest gripped me tight and wouldn’t let go. “I wanted to stab Sally in the eye with my pencil,” I confessed, guilt trickling in.
One dark eyebrow arched slightly, like I’d surprised him. “Why didn’t you?”
I exhaled a harsh breath, repeating his earlier statement. “Because I’m a coward.”
We locked eyes, and the moment seemed to last forever. “I don’t think that’s it,” Noah said finally.
“You don’t?”
“No. I think you didn’t hurt your bully because it’s not in your nature to be violent, no matter how you might fantasise about it.”
I was a little bothered that he thought he could read me so easily. “You don’t know my nature. You barely know me at all.”
“I see you, though,” he said, and something about the sincerity in eyes made my breath catch. Thick silence hung between us. What did he mean he saw me? A swarm of bees filled my stomach for no apparent reason at all.
I was so consumed by Noah’s statement I barely noticed when Vee entered the room. She wore a flower print house coat over her pyjamas, sheepskin slippers adorning her feet. Glancing between Noah and me, she took her time narrowing her gaze. “I hope you’re not bothering my brother, Estella.”
I frowned and tensed, defending myself. “I’m not.”
“I was entertaining her with a story from my school days. Do you remember Adam Fowler?” Noah said.
Vee wrinkled her brow at his question, tightening the belt around her house coat as she went to turn on the kettle. “Should I?” she asked, disinterested.
Noah blew out a breath. “Probably not. You weren’t around much then.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve always been around.”
Noah eyed her meaningfully, his voice surprisingly softer. “Have you though?”
Vee looked perturbed, turning away from him and fussing with the teacups. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A quiet pause fell over the room before Noah stated blandly, “Estella’s being bullied by a girl at her school.”
I stared at him, aghast. I’d thought our conversation was confidential. More fool me.
Vee turned to glance at me, her ginger eyebrows drawing together. “Are you?”
I nodded but didn’t speak.
“By whom?”
I didn’t see the point in refusing to answer. It wasn’t like Vee was going to march down to the school in my defence and demand Principal Hawkins punish Sally for how she treated me. In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if Vee sought her out and congratulated her for a job well done. After all, her third greatest pleasure in life was making me suffer. Her second greatest was making Sylvia suffer and her first was drinking herself into a stupor night after night.