"Where are we going, sir?" Asked Cloda, looking up from her phone. After having been on the bus for 3 hours.
"France; we'll be at the euro tunnel in less than an hour and we should be in France by about 2." Replied Martin,
"When's our first gig?" Asked Lucy, who was in the back seat beside Ryan.
"Tomorrow evening in Paris."
"Paris?!" They exclaimed,
"Yes; I hope you've brought nice outfits." Laughed Martin, looking over at Zoe.
"What do we do? While they're up playing in Paris?" Asked Zoë,
"Well, they're playing in a restaurant so I guess we can just have a fancy dinner." Said Martin.
"How fancy is this dinner?" Asked Zoë, taking a bite of chocolate herself.
"Fancy enough for me to do my hair for once." Said Martin, smiling as Zoë gave him another square of chocolate.
"Aww first date in Paris!" Squeaked Jemma, mocking the couple:
"Ey watch it or we'll tell everyone what we saw at lunchtime yesterday." Responded Martin, looking at Ollie's worried face in the wing mirror. Lucy, Cloda and Ryan turned at Ollie and Jemma.
"Wait a second..." said Ryan,
"Why weren't you two at lunch yesterday?" Asked Lucy, smiling at Ollie and Jemma who were blushing.
"Oh mate!" Laughed Ryan, patting Ollie's shoulders from the seat behind. "You pulled her!"
Ollie put his head in his hands trying to hide from reality.
"Oh Martin you're such a prick, they didn't actually kiss." Laughed Zoe,
"Language Zoë!" Repelled Martin; by this time all the students were laughing.
"I hate you so much, Martin." Growled Ollie,
"Now don't call me Martin that's just weird you're my student." Replied Mr McCafferson, taking a gulp of water out of his water bottle.
"But your full name is so long!"
"Are six syllables too long for you?" He asked, pulling out his sun glasses and pushing them up against his eyes.
"Raybands? Look at you rich kid!" Remarked Zoë, pulling out her phone.
Martin raised his eyebrows, a little embarrassed.
"Right; I'm going to make this band a Twitter account- we need a name." Said Zoe,
"The Brassy Asses."
"The Bella Fellas."
"The Beatles 2.0."
"The Rolling Pebbles."
"The Oxymorons."
"I like the Oxymorons."
"I don't."
"The seven seas."
"There's five of us."
"Well we can include the teachers."
"The Rattlers."
"I like the rattlers."
"-that's already a 70s rock band." Intruded Martin, half-listening.
"Oh you big music nerd." Mocked Ryan,
"Well I have got a degree." Replied Martin,
"Oh you big show off." Mocked Zoe,
"So have you!" He repelled,
"I bet you spent all those four years in university, not going to parties, staying inside and studying." She joked.
"I'll have you know I went to the pub on several occasions." He told her, "and I even went to the nightclub after my graduation."
"Oh yeah? Did you ask for them to play Johann Bach?" Asked Zoë as the kids giggled.
"Nope! I was up there with this pretty blonde lady and we owned the place! Bohemian Rhapsody all the way!" He laughed, trying to remember the blonde lady's face.
Zoe's smile faded slightly, "wait- what year was that graduation party?" She asked,
"2010. Great year." He reminisced.
Zoe's mouth dropped, "Do you remember the girls name?" She asked, remembering a time.
Martin paused for a second before giving a mere smile. He remembered.
"No..." he began, his smile widening as he covered his mouth with one hand.
"What was her name, Martin?" Laughed Zoe, the others seemed to know what was going on and were laughing too.
"I knew I recognised you!" Exclaimed Martin, "oh my god! I've snogged you!"
By this time the band were killing themselves laughing, Zoë hadn't blushed this much in years.
"You were the pretty blonde lady!"
"Why'd you delete my number?" Asked Zoë,
"My parents found out! They completely deleted it and I couldn't get it back!"
"You were twenty-two! Why were your parents checking your phone?"
"Its a long story: my parents were bastards. I can't believe that was you!"
"Wait did you two have a one night stand?" Asked Ryan,
"No! No I didn't take you home or anything did I?" Asked Martin, still laughing with the shock.
"No- you told me you had a fiancée and I sort of backed away." Said Zoe.
"Oh you cheater!" Yelled Cloda,
"I wasn't a cheater!" Martin repelled, "we weren't happy together, we said we'd give each other a night off being 'loyal' and we both went wild."
"If you weren't happy together why'd you get married?" Asked Lucy. But Martin wasn't sure if he was prepared to answer that; he remembered at the funeral, Emily's father saying to him, "You killed them, Martin."
Those four words rang in his head like a drone, constantly reminding him that it was all his fault.
"Eh... stuff..." Replied Martin, feeling weird again.
"Come on, Marty. We're gonna be living together for a couple weeks, we may as well open up." Said Zoe, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"It's just so stupid.." Sighed Martin, "it was an arranged wedding; my parents and Emily's parents were best friends and.. basically they planned to get pregnant at the same time so that their children would grow up together and get married.. and that's just exactly what happened..   it was just horrible. They said they'd take my home away from me if I didn't propose to her: and they forced us to try for a baby and..." Martin took a breath, "and now I'm left in this mess.."
Zoe put her hand on Martin's back in support.
"And.. what now?" She asked him,
"Well.. my family's gone; mum and dad died just before Martha was born, then four years later Martha and Emily are dead and according to Emily's parents this is my fault." He ranted,
"H-how did Martha die...? if you don't mind me asking." Asked Cloda, everyone else was silent in respect and anticipation.
"I- eh..." Martin didn't want to tell them how she died, he knew that if he did he would feel sick again, just thinking about it.
"Hey it's alright." Soothed Zoë, noticing Martin's flush and putting a hand on his shoulder and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Sorry..." he replied, feeling that he failed, "it wasn't in a nice way.. I hope you can understand that."
"Do you want me to drive?" Asked Zoe,
"No it's alright." He replied, trying to cheer himself up, "I still can't believe that was you from eight years ago."
Zoe smiled, "maybe we should get back together." She laughed,
"You two would be cute." Said Cloda, "give Mr McCafferson a chance to fall in love for once."
"Oh the cheesiness is killing me." Laughed Martin, pulling into the car park outside the channel tunnel.
"We're here, anyway. Come outside and stretch your legs, get something to eat." Said Martin, grabbing his wallet and climbing out of the bus.
The weather was warm, and the blazing bright sun illuminated the sky.
"Hey Cloda." Said Martin, walking over to her,
"Buy me a bottle of water will you? I'm just getting the tickets." He said, handing her £3.
"Sure, where'll we meet you?"
Martin looked around the large hall and pointed to the piano in the middle.
"Fitting right?" He laughed,
"Alright." Replied Cloda, taking his money and walking off with the others.