“Honestly, no I have no idea,” I say, as I run my hand down my face, no makeup today and I’m liking it.
“Do you want to know?”
“If you want to tell me then I’m happy to listen but if not… then I have to get ready.” He sighs in frustration before sitting down on my sofa and with an answering sigh I sit on the chair opposite him.
“I come from South Africa same as my dad, both my parents are doctors and aside from their private practices they have over here they also travel to countries that don’t have a strong health system.” Pity is entirely lacking in his voice, I guess he’s become desensitised. “I guess they thought if I was born whilst they were there working, I could grow up that way.” He sounds so mocking, I guess he doesn’t agree. “Whenever we were in England, they would enrol me in school and then when they travelled, they would take me out, hire a private tutor and drag me with them. I saw the third world countries, the slums and the dark sides that the travel agents don’t want you to see.” His voice matches the darkness he’s describing and I’m getting a better understanding of the darkness that lives in his eyes.
He looks ragged and I never noticed it before, but it’s like he hasn’t slept in days.
“It was a lot to grow up with and then I started hanging around with the kids, bare knuckle fighting, stealing food, they needed to and I didn’t. I got into some other trouble too. My parents claimed to be concerned about the person I was turning into, so we came back here.” He laughs mirthlessly as he shakes his head in a deprecating way. “They lasted two months before they decided to go back out and sent me here. I’ve spent one Christmas with them since I was enrolled, and our relationship is built around voicemail and emails. When they are back it’s always conveniently during term time so I don’t get to see them.” His fists are clenched, and his jaw and shoulders are tight.
“I’m an angry bastard who does whatever I can to get back at them, I’ve had tons of girls that I’ve ‘seen’, always refused to put a label to it, and I got rid of them the moment they started to get clingy. You were like a dream come true because you wanted the same thing.” His stare is so intense, and he sounds as though he’s annoyed with himself. “The only issue is, you’re so damn perfectly imperfect that you’ve got me wanting to change my own rules. You don’t want that and it’s messing with my head, you don’t just like me but my mates as well and I want to keep you to myself without losing them or you in the process. Two weeks of fun was a terrible idea, because I’ve realised two weeks isn’t enough for me and it was easier to act like a dick and ignore you than have you turn me away instead.” He’s getting worked up and frustrated and I don’t know how to fix it.
He stands up, looking down at me before heading to my door, but he puts something on my chest of drawers on his way out.
We’ve all converged in the hall waiting for the film to start. Declan has collected all the presents addressed to us from under the tree and we’ve gathered a nice little pile between the six of us. Mattias hasn’t joined us yet and I don’t know if Amias will either, we have their presents amongst ours but if they don’t show I’ll leave them outside their doors later.
“Can we get to opening them now?” asks Mikaela, who has actually put her book down for the event – we all had fun teasing her about that.
“Ten more minutes and if the spoilsports don’t show, then they can go screw themselves or each other,” says Roxie with a smirk and we all moan at her crassness.
“Finley is on his own,” says Declan, looking over to where he’s sitting.
I almost tell him to invite him over, until a group of girls drop down beside him and he’s definitely not alone now.
“Problem solved,” comes from Leah looking relieved and I won’t pretend that I’m not relieved as well.
Ten minutes turns into twenty and I call it a day, they’re not going to show up so we may as well get on with it.
I pass Leah hers and she shakes the box trying to figure out what it is.
“Just open it already,” I say on a laugh and she needs no more encouragement as she rips the paper off.
She squeals before throwing her arms around me, and I pat her awkwardly on her back.
“What did you get.”
“It’s a freaking charm bracelet, it’s got a bass, electric and acoustic guitar on it as well as musical notes, it’s beautiful,” she says as tears fill her eyes and she hugs me again.
“It’s nothing really, now ladies please don’t hug me when you get yours, I’m not good with all that touchy-feely crap.” I feel myself blush as I say it and they start snickering.
Bella goes next and it’s a silver necklace with a drumsticks pendant on it, and Roxie got a pair of earrings in the shape of microphones. Oh yeah, they really want to hug me but I move out of the way and hide behind Mikaela, who has yet to open her gift.
I know it all seems a little over the top, but I didn’t care how expensive or cheap they were, as long as they suited the girls, and I know I got it right. Besides, they were all bought from my father’s guilt money for sending me down here without a fight. Why shouldn’t I spend it on people who seem to actually give a damn about me.
I pass Declan his and he is shocked that I even thought to get him anything. He opens it timidly and roars with laughter, as Roxie steals it from his hands and has a look. There are two books in his parcel one called 100 ways to dump a girl over text and another that says How to poo at school very immature, and clearly, I called it right.
“Come on girl, your turn.” Mikaela looks at me as I say this and slowly opens the bag. Hers is heavier than the others and there’s more to it.
She pulls out the complete collection of J.K Rowling, which have all been signed, as well as a few paperbacks including Blaze by Amelia K Oliver and Vengeance by Crystal North.
“Thank you,” she says quietly, and I know she really wants to start reading them. Everyone shouts out a chorus of no’s until she reluctantly puts them away.
“Okay, your turn,” they say, turning to me and I return to my stack of presents and grab the first one.
I’m just about to tear my way into it when two people sit down on either side of me. I look over to Mattias first who looks really uncomfortable as he stares down at his hands and won’t stop fidgeting.
And then there’s Amias, and even though I’m not looking at him I can feel his eyes burning into me.
“I didn’t think you were coming,” I say as I finally look at him.
“Neither did I, but someone said there was something waiting under the tree for me.”
“Well, seeing as you’re both late you’ll have to wait for Henleigh here to open hers first.” Roxie stares pinning them both with her glare and Mattias shrinks back even further.
I open the present from the girls, and I don’t know what to say.
“Roxie said you hadn’t really had many friends before you came here so we thought we’d make up for it,” says Bella as she takes the bracelet out of the box and puts it around my wrist. There’s a disk with a hen on it which makes me laugh and a letter for each of their names.