Chapter 3

It took Una longer than she thought it would get over the encounters of the day she had been stopped by the bullies. The day that happened just under a week ago and failed to leave her head and save her from the embarrassment she felt from the humiliation she had put herself in that day. She had barely left her room, playing it off as her knee healing but ultimately knowing it was nothing of the sort and she just wished to hide in the comfort of her own company when the only person she could embarrass herself in front of was herself.

She hadn't been to the tea shop since that day and she knew that she was very much missing it, which prompted her to finally get out of bed on the Saturday, taking away from her original plans to binge her favourite tv show once again and make her own tea for a change whilst waiting for Beck to bring her ice cream on his lunch break and instead got dressed to actually go out. Her mother had tried to get her to come along to a business meeting she had with a local shop but she simply said she couldn't, not exactly wanting to spend more time with her mother than necessary.

"Una?!" she heard her sister call, and a knock on the door to follow, "can I come in?!"

Una, on the other side of the door was struggling with grumbles of impatience and annoyance with the tights she was trying to get on over the bandage she still had wrapped around her leg, and when she finally had her skirt on too, she shouted a squeaky, "come in!" and collapsed on her bed.

"You alright there?" Kasey scoffed, falling onto her favourite chair in the house which just so happened to be in Una's room. she had tried countlessly to steal the chair for her own room but quickly gave up when Una managed to catch her in the act every single time.

"Define alright?" Una grumbled, still sporting the very oversized t-shirt that she wore to bed over the skirt she had chosen for the day ahead instead of the yellow knitted jumper she had picked out for her day's adventures.

"Not dying," Kasey teased, watching Una ponder for a moment.

"I think I'm alright then," the older of the two nodded, soon laughing with her sister, "where are you going today then?"

"Josh said he and a few friends had found this hidden beach somewhere about half an hour away from here so they're going to show us it," Kasey grinned, "supposed to be really cool actually and we're thinking of making a bonfire. You're always welcome to come if you want, I'm sure my friends won't mind at all."

"Your friends hate me, Kase," Una laughed, soon waving the girl off, "It's alright though, I'm going to the tea shop actually. I have half a book left and a craving for tea. Suppose the beach would've been alright but it's not really my thing."

"I know, I know," Kasey sighed, though the frown peeking through was very evident, "I just thought maybe you'd want a change from your bedroom...and the tea shop."

Una smiled, throwing her arms around the girl tightly, "I'm fine, Kase, really. Go have fun with your friends, you don't need to worry about me I'm perfectly happy going to the tea shop, it's my favourite place and I might even go to the bookstore, too!"

"So exciting!" Kasey teased, "I'll see you tonight though, have fun and maybe try and talk to your new friend, will you?"

"Friend?!" Una gasped overdramatically, "sorry Kasey but you're going to have to be the more specific...this word, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Oh, bloody hell, Una," Kasey shook her head, "see you later, talk to your not friend!"

"Suppose I might!" Una shouted after her, closing her door quickly so that she could change into her jumper that tumbled down to her skirt. She almost had another injury to her knee as she hopped about her room with her shoe half on her foot, trying to push her heel into the bottom of the converse whilst trying to tie them too, and when her hair was somewhat styled and her bag was slung over her back, she finally left her room for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Leaving her house wasn't something she felt necessary to enjoy herself, she was perfectly fine staying on her laptop until the early hours of the morning and - totally not - crying over fictional characters who she just loved so much. She enjoyed the sort of warmer weather that summer brought but she would be lying if she said autumn wasn't her favourite season.

The colours of the leaves that scattered the ground, the harsher waves and the rain that fell was all part of what she loved the most, not to mention that the tea shop during the colder months always seemed to smell simply amazing from the different teas and the more customers wanting pumpkin, cinnamon or anything similar with their tea.

Not to mention that they started serving hot chocolate too, and a change was always good for Una to pick between.

"Where are you going?" the voice of her mother boomed through the halls, the small archway into their kitchen showing Una just about to walk out of the door before her mother stopped her from where she sat at their island.

"Out." Una turned to stare at her mother, seeing her eyes glued to her work phone that she carried around with her, it was a wonder she even noticed Una was there, to begin with, "why?"

"I wanted you to come with me today," she spoke, texting someone unknown to Una who was leaning against the door, "it's this terrible place in town. Sticks out too. Another franchise here would be so lovely, I think!"

"You don't need that many, mum," Una rolled her eyes, "all the shops in town are family run and they're all great."

"Mhmm. Well," her mother rolled her eyes, "if you're not coming with me, I can assume you're doing something important."

"To me, yes." She nodded, "I'm getting out the house after getting attacked, but of course you didn't care about that."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Una it wasn't that bad!" she exclaimed, giving her daughter a look who matched it with her own.

"Make sure to remind me of that when you get attacked by three bullies," she grumbled, "Goodbye mother. Hope your plans to ruin someone's life fails."

She slammed the front door behind her, quickly taking off down the garden until she made it onto the street. She couldn't say she didn't like her neighbours, the man beside her owned the small fish and chip shop near the ice cream parlour and made sure to give Una free chips if she ever entered, it was rather nice of him, but he was a very nice person.

Across from her was an older woman whose son took up the occasional shift at the bookstore and always seemed to greet her if he ever worked, both who lived in the house knew how difficult Una's mother was to deal with and tried to make her day a little better with a kind greeting, and the gesture didn't go unnoticed by her, she enjoyed their niceness.

She liked the walk on her way into the heart of her town, it was nice and calm and the small summer breeze floated through her hair as she walked. The waves of the beach could be heard even far up the large hill that the top of the town was situated on and if it was quiet enough then the teenagers and tourists that enjoyed the sun and the beach could be heard too.

Occasionally the town would host events and small festivals down at the beach in order to get everyone in the town together, and forcing Una to go was always a task for her brother who somehow always managed to persuade her into showing up only for an hour or so. She would hide in the shade reading her book but it was nice to know that the town cared enough to get together to enjoy each other's company once in a while.

"Good morning, Una!" the lady that lived across from her, Mrs Hopken spoke with a kind smile on her ageing face. She was carrying the shopping she had bought from the small supermarket their town had to offer but still made sure to greet the girl as she forced herself up the hill.

"Mrs Hopken," Una smiled brightly, eyeing the empty street before quickly crossing in order to help her with her shopping, "how are you today?"

"Oh, I'm quite alright, I was doing my weekly shopping but this hill is a killer!" she exclaimed, thanking her for her kindness of taking her bags, "I'm going straight out again, actually. I haven't been to that tea shop in a while - oh Una it's rather lovely, the owners are just the nicest!"

"Oh yes," Una nodded with a smile, walking with Mrs Hopken's arm on her own, "they make the best tea, I think."

"You're quite right, dear. They should be opening up shops all over the world with that sort of quality!" Mrs Hopken beamed, coming to a stop in front of her garden fence in order to take her bags from Una's grip, "that was so very nice of you, Una, always a kind one - take after your father, you do!"

"Thank you," Una smiled, patting Mrs Hopken's arm, "it was nice seeing you, are you sure you don't need any more help?"

"Oh no, oh no, you get going now," she grinned, "have a nice day, Una!"

Una waved as she bid the woman a goodbye, quickly speaking, "you too, Mrs Hopken's!" before rushing off down the hill. She knew that on a Saturday there were a lot more customers than usual that took up the tables at the tea shop and didn't want to be the one having to stand awkwardly and wait for a table to appear, it was something she hated very much.

She almost stopped when she saw the three boys who had hurt her terribly, her bullies that she couldn't seem to get away from. The fear creeping into her stomach in hopes that they wouldn't notice her, but luck was never on her side. They had turned around, maybe at the feeling of someone's eyes on them or drawn to Una's unluckiness but the eye contact made with one of them sent the feeling of fear all over her body.

She braced herself for their shouting, for them to come closer and to hurt her like before, shouting about not getting saved but it didn't come, and when she finally looked up after being frozen to the ground, they had hurried up the hill as though to get away from her.

She looked around, seeing if there was anything other than her that they could possibly be scared of, maybe a wasp that wished to terrorise them but it was only her. What Una was unaware of though, that the three boys had a little visit from a specific tea shop employee who - kindly - threatened the three boys that if they ever so much as looked at Una the wrong way, he would find them.

And he would hurt them worse than any of the hurt they had put Una through. It was rather satisfying for Gus to see the boys so scared of him, but it did the job. He didn't want his new friend - or rather, forced friend - to get hurt by idiotic boys who had nothing better to do when she was the last person to deserve it.

He was living up to his bodyguard duties, it seemed.

It took Una a few minutes to get over her initial shock of the boys running from her instead of hurting her, but she was at the tea shop just over five minutes later. She pushed open the door, allowing the small chime to ring and for Gus to look up from behind the counter, the smirk lifting his lips at the sight of the girl who seemed to have gone missing since just under a week ago.

"Well look who it is!" Gus teased, attracting some attention from the older couples and friends in the tea shop, "Una Reynolds in the flesh."

"You look more than excited to see me, Gus, I didn't know my presence was so wanted," she teased, though the dreadful blush had spread to her cheeks at her louder voice. She wasn't at all used to someone being excited to see her, or even knowing of her presence that talking to the boy in front of her was something terribly new for her. She hated to admit that she liked having someone to talk to, even if it was someone she barely knew, who was insisting that they were friends.

"Well it's quite odd that you don't show up here for a week," Gus trailed off, "I thought we had lost our best customer."

"Impossible," she waved him off, "when a better tea shop opens up, then you won't see me again."

"Too bad we're the best tea shop," he teased, wiggling his eyebrows whilst she rolled her eyes.

"Then it looks like you're not getting rid of me." She merely shrugged, pulling on her bag in order to get her purse from inside it. She knew the exact change she needed in order to pay for her tea, as well as some change in the tip jar that always seemed a little too empty.

"Doesn't sound all bad," Gus said, "you know you're actually rather interesting, Una."

"Interesting or embarrassing?" she scoffed, "think you've forgotten that I knocked down a perfectly placed pyramid of tea boxes just last week."

"They needed a new look anyway." Gus waved her off, "I'll bring your tea over to you."

She grinned at him, immediately regretting it as she walked away and wondered how odd it must've looked. She fell onto the chair that seemed to be conveniently empty, and let her bag fall to the side of her. Her eyebrows knitted together when her eyes trailed to the small chalkboard sign that wrote the table number and almost did a double take when the sign read, "this table is reserved for Una!" next to a small smiley face that was written in perfect handwriting.

"The usual," Gus spoke as he sat down the tea, watching her eyes turn to him before pointing to the sign.

"This table is reserved for Una...seriously?" she almost laughed, moving to wipe it off when he stopped her.

"Well it's basically your table and you're here all the time." He shrugged, "it basically is your seat, what's so bad?"

"Well, what if someone really needed a seat and then I just waltz right in and sit here!" she exclaimed quietly, moving her tea out of the way so she didn't spill it, "I just feel bad is all."

"Shocker." Gus nodded, "not really. Anyway, it was my mum that did it so you can't really argue with it. She always wins arguments actually, it's kind of annoying but I just get on with it, it's better to let her do what she likes than to stop her."

"Mhmm," she sighed, "well tell your mum thanks, then."

"Will do," he grinned the same as she did just minutes ago, "y'know it's weird hearing you actually talk."

"Weird is good, though," she said, quoting him from last week and seeing his grin widen as if it was possible. He looked delighted, as though he was more than ecstatic to have someone to talk to and he would be lying if he said he wasn't.

"You're definitely right," he nodded, tapping on the table before turning to round the counter again. Before Una could grab her bag, she heard him saying, "weird is definitely good."

It took Una just over three minutes until she finally decided to take a drink of her still boiling tea. She barely got the mug to her mouth because she was so invested in the book between her thumb, turning the page with her nose in order to read the next page quickly because her other hand was holding her mug. She was sitting crossed legged on the comfortable chair she had grown to love, her mind in another universe filled with different characters that she had grown attached too though she hadn't left her tea behind, taking the tiniest sips until the steam had finally fogged her glasses and she had to sit both her book and tea down.

She wasn't at all happy with the need of glasses but contact lenses freaked her out far too much, the thought of inserting anything into her eye was something she could never even think of, no matter how much Kasey told her it wasn't too bad. Her younger sister's eyesight was just as bad as hers was, but she only used her glasses at night when she had her pyjamas on and her contact lenses out. She didn't mind her glasses at all but when she was going out with her friends to the beach or doing much more exciting activities than Una, it was better for the girl to have contact lenses instead of glasses that always used to fall off.

She thoroughly wiped the steam off with the sleeve of her jumper, blowing her hair out of her face and ultimately tucking it behind her ear before placing the glasses back on her face and reaching for her tea to sip for her troubles. She was just about to grab her book when something outside caught her attention, something that was able to fill her with a mixture of dread and anger at the sight.

Her mother - on the phone, as usual - was getting out of her car that looked way too expensive to be in this town, her high heeled shoes clicking off the pavement that Una could hear from her seat in the tea shop. The same tea shop that her mother was walking into, hearing the chime of the bell and the dreaded sound of her mother's voice saying goodbye to her assistant on the other end.

Her perfume that she had drenched herself in was able to fill Una's nose and the look of disgust evident on her features as she looked at the woman didn't go unnoticed by Gus behind the counter.

"Can I help you...Ma'am?" asked Gus, a rather forced polite smile on his face as the smell of the far too strong perfume filled his own nostrils and he was trying his best to keep himself together.

"Yes," she nodded, looking around the place but ultimately missing Una who had scrambled to hide her face behind her book, only peeking her eye up in order to see what her mother was doing, hoping that she was only stopping for a to-go cup of tea before going to another business, "I'm looking for the owners of this...lovely place."

Una's eyes widened drastically, trying to signal to Gus to stop her, waving her hand furiously to desperately catch his attention. She almost dived under the table when her mother looked in her direction, the book she was reading hiding her face as best as it could in order for her mother not to know that this was her very important plans but the tea shop was more important to her than her mother's business.

"One second." Gus nodded, quickly going into the part of the tea shop hidden from customers until a moment later Gus emerged with his mother behind him.

Una was trying her hardest to listen to what her mother was saying, and despite knowing it was probably insulting, the smile on Cassia's face never once left, it just became more forced in the woman's presence. She watched with narrowed eyes as Cassia guided her mother behind the tea shop and as soon as she was out of view she pushed herself up from her seat, hurrying over to the counter.

"What the hell!" she exclaimed, pushing Gus' arm who looked completely offended, "why did you get your mum?!"

"She asked me too!" Gus exclaimed, his voice quieter. He watched as Una moved her head in order to see behind the door but she was having no luck whatsoever, instead, she was entirely frustrated by the whole ordeal, "what's the big deal, she looked fancy!"

Una merely scoffed, grumbling curse words under her breath whilst Gus watched her completely confused. She moved out of the way of a customer waiting to be served, eyes narrowed to a glare and thankfully not knocking anything over this time.

"Una-"

"She's going to do something bad I just know it, I'm freaking out, I can't believe this-"

"Una-"

She was pacing the tea shop, almost ending up in everyone's way whilst Gus watched her, leaned over the counter in order to look at her, though she was completely freaking out. From the ten minutes ago that her mother had entered with Cassia, her worry had drastically heightened. She was sure it was a good sign that she hadn't heard any screaming just yet but she wasn't sure what was to follow, and she knew how merciless her mother could be.

"You could've kicked her out!" she exclaimed, her head in her hands and her fingers running through her hair frustratedly. Gus rolled his eyes, rounding the counter and guiding her back to her seat whilst her mouth ran a mile a minute, cursing the world as she done so.

"I can't just kick people out, Una. Unfortunately, it's not part of my job," he chuckled. He was entirely curious about her mood, and her worry and why she wasn't even touching her tea that was right in front of her. Instead, she was watching the closed door behind the counter and waiting for the woman to come out with her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip and her hands fidgeting on her lap.

"Una what the hell is up?" asked Gus, attracting her attention as he sat on the seat across from her. There were no new customers to tend to, and as much as he would deny it he was sure he would try and ignore them for as long as he could in order to talk to Una. But of course, he would definitely deny it.

"Noth-"

"Agnes?!"

"Oh my god," Una groaned, her head falling onto the table when the door opened and her mother's voice was heard booming around the tea shop. Gus turned at the sound of the voice, though he was rather surprised to see the woman looking straight at Una who wished to be ten feet underground right about now.

"What are you doing here?!" she exclaimed, looking at the exterior of the cosy tea shop, "I thought you had...important plans to do today."

"To me," Una spoke, eyes narrowed to a glare, "what are you doing here...mother?"

Gus' eyes widened when he realised the relationship between the two, though it looked like there were some very evident issues between them, and he wondered most of all why Una's mother had called her Agnes.

"Nothing that concerns you," she spoke with a slight anger to her tone, one towards her daughter who was in the shop she wished to buy, and without so much as a goodbye, her mother turned in her spot and walked out of the tea shop, allowing the small chime on the door to ring after her.

It was silent between the two teenagers for more than a few minutes, Una was livid from seeing her mother in her favourite place and Gus was still trying to figure out what had just happened, but before Una could speak another word, Gus said, "so, Agnes."

"Don't you dare, Angus." She glared, seeing his hands raised in defence and the grin fall onto his lips at her distaste for the name. Her mother had a way of ruining her day with just seeing her in two minutes, and it seemed as though Gus realised that when he patted her arm.

"Do you want to go a walk?" he finally asked, his eyes lifting to her to see hers widen, head titled and soon after her eyebrows furrow.

"But you're working?"

"I get a break," he grinned, "which I can take now. Come on, I think you need to clear your head."

She thought about it for a moment, taking a deep breath before nodding her head and grabbing her bag, "alright then."

"I'm taking my break now!" Gus spoke to his mother as Una trailed behind him, smiling at Cassia who was quick to return it, happy to see the young girl back in the shop.

"Why don't you just take the rest of the day off?" Cassia asked. It was very clear that she wasn't too happy, terribly upset actually but she didn't let it show, she wasn't going to let her son see her so unhappy.

"What, really?" asked Gus.

"Yeah, you've deserved it," she grinned, patting his shoulder, "go have fun."

That was how the two teenagers who barely knew each other ended up on the pier, at the end of the wall with their legs dangling over the side and the sun faded into the horizon. They didn't mean to spend the full day with each other but neither of the two wished to be the one to leave the other, it seemed as though Gus' words were correct and that the two seemed to have clicked enough to call each other a friend, as sudden as it was, they enjoyed each other's company enough that eating ice cream as they looked over the water on the concrete wall seemed terribly natural.

"So, are you going to tell me where Agnes came from?" asked Gus, dusting his hands off when he had finally finished his ice cream, "or am I going to have to let this curiosity eat away at me."

She laughed softly, he was trying his best to clear her mind of her encounter with her mother and making her laugh seemed to be the best option. As much as her mother had ruined her day previous to spending time with Gus, her good day had been restored and she was enjoying it a great deal actually.

Having some company other than her sister and brother would always be odd to her but she was happy that she was spending time with Gus instead of anyone else, he had a way of cheering her up without even realising it. She didn't feel like she barely knew him, rather the opposite actually and as much as it was weird, well, weird is good.

"It's my birth name, Agnes. My brother and sister and my dad used to call me Nessie when I was younger but it kind of died down because my mum hated it so much. I was never too keen on the name Agnes, I didn't think it suited me and I still don't so I wanted something different. I looked on the internet for a while on what I could have, so many "nicknames for Agnes" sights that just didn't seem to have what I was looking for. I saw that there were a few names that had the same meaning as Agnes and found Una and I liked it more. When I was sixteen I was allowed to change my name legally and went to some big fancy city and changed my name without my mum's permission, I didn't need her permission anyway but she was furious, I thought she was going to kick me out but she kept screaming, "I named you Agnes and that's what I will call you!" so I started screaming back at her, it wasn't pretty but at least that's not really my name anymore." She turned to grin at him, seeing the shock on his features it was hilarious if she was honest.

"I swear you are full of surprises," he whispered, shaking his head, "so why didn't you want your mum in the shop today."

"She's merciless," Una murmured, her legs swinging in front of her as she dusted her hands, finally finishing her ice cream after talking, "she looks for small business that earns less than hers does and she gets lawyers involved and tries to buy them for more money than they can afford to pay in order to keep their business. I knew she was trying to buy today but I didn't know what."

"Oh." Gus frowned, seeing the pained look on the girl's face, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, catching her slightly off guard, "looked a bit sad."

"I am sad," she nodded, "I don't want her to buy the tea shop but if I said that to her it would probably encourage her to buy it sooner. She knows how I feel about her."

He moved his arm once more, reaching for her hand instead and soon squeezing it, "It'll be fine, Una. I'm sure my mum will do something about it, she has worked too hard to keep that tea shop going for someone to come along and take it away from her. She'll do something about it."

Una merely nodded, trying to ignore the fact of how close they were, or the fact that he was holding her hand, or the fact that she liked it, "let's talk about something else," she mumbled, seeing the sleeve of his jacket move up his arm to reveal a small tattoo on his wrist, "like maybe your tattoo, for example?"

He laughed softly, "it's for my friends."

"Really?" she asked, rather surprised, "you must really love your friends a lot to get a tattoo for them."

"I really do." he nodded, gesturing to the small outline of a heart on his wrist, "the heart squad," he couldn't help but laugh at the name, shaking his head at the memory of his friends that he missed, "that's what we called ourselves when we all came together. All of the tattoos are just normal tattoos but we all represent a colour."

Una couldn't help but smile at the happiness Gus had as he talked about his friends, very evidently missing them as she knew they must've been from where he lived previously, "what colour do you represent?"

"Black. Suits me, doesn't it?" he turned to look at her.

"Clothes? Yes." She nodded, "Personality? Definitely not."