Amy

It was safe to say I was dreading going back to school on Monday. I'd managed to basically do nothing the rest of the weekend, going back home on Sunday and pretty much sleeping/doom scrolling for the rest of the day. I could tell my dad knew something was up, asking more questions than normal when we made dinner together but I didn't have the heart to tell him what had happened. He would almost definitely get the school involved, and I really didn't want that at all right now.

It just felt so embarrassing; the whole point of the last few years had been proving to myself that I wasn't completely helpless with my disability but it was like Saturday had just unraveled all of that. I needed someone to rescue me because I had a whole breakdown instead of sorting it out myself. In hindsight, it was obvious - I could have just used my phone's GPS to orientate and then go from there. What hurt the most about the whole thing is that I'd basically proved Henrietta right about what she'd told me about my own independence. It made me feel like shit.

I knew what she was like as well - I'd seen just how much effort she'd put into making Verity miserable at school. Was she going to do the same to me? Would she tell everybody what had happened to make me look like the helpless personal project she saw me as? Would everyone laugh at me? I tried my hardest not to feel too sick as I ate my breakfast, attempting to diminish all the anxiety I was feeling. It reminded me of all the bullying and teasing I'd experienced when I was younger in school, times I'd made such an effort to forget.

"I think Verity's here." My dad told me, snapping me out of all the negative thoughts. Sure enough, a few seconds later I heard her knock on the front door.

"Oh yeah, I think she said she was going to bus with me today." I responded, giving a smile. Verity had pretty much been the one keeping me going this weekend. Even when I'd gone home, we'd been texting and she'd offered to pick me up this morning so we could go to school together. I think she'd sensed that right now I wanted to avoid being alone at all costs.

"That's nice of her. It sounds like you're becoming good friends." He replied, with a tone that said he wanted me to elaborate. I would tell him soon, that was inevitable, I just didn't want to tell him anything right now. It was wrong I know - he was most likely the most supportive person I had in my life right now, I just wasn't ready. I heard him walk over and open the door for Verity, while I got my cane unfolded and bag on my back.

"Hi Mr Rivers," I heard her say and then after a few seconds "Hey Amy." I could easily detect the smile in her voice and it immediately made me feel less anxious, even by just a little. School could be the worst, I recognised that, but at least I had someone next to me the whole time.

XXX

And next to me the whole time, she really was. I think she could tell that I was holding onto her arm a little more tightly than usual, and never really let go for most of the day, but she didn't say anything or tell me stop. In some ways, the closeness felt more natural than before. It was like we just... I don't know, clicked I guess.

"Don't leave me!" I said in a joking tone when she dropped me off in class. She didn't do History so she wasn't in the same class unfortunately.

"You'll be fine! It's just dates and stuff, the hour will fly by!" She responded and I laughed

"Dates and stuff?"

"I don't know, I haven't done History since like year 9." She laughed "I've got physics so I'm pretty sure I've got the short straw."

"Yeah, fair enough actually; physics does sound like hell. All that... maths and rockets and energy." She burst out laughing at that point in and I joined in.

"Is that what you think physics is?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I mean that's pretty much what Brian Cox talks about on TV."

"Brian Cox" She repeated and I could tell she was shaking her head.

"Excuse me, I'm pretty sure the lesson is about to start if you don't mind Verity." It was unmistakably Henrietta's voice, and a strained one at that. It was pretty clear she was still pissed off about the weekend.

"Okay thanks for that Henrietta, well I'm going to enjoy my rockets and energy with Brian Cox, enjoy your dates and stuff guys!" I smiled at where I thought she was, imagining what Henrietta's face looked like right now.

I assumed that once Verity had left, Henrietta would sit in her normal place next to me, but she chose to sit behind me instead with her friend Esther. It wasn't really a problem for me to be honest, since I didn't really want to speak to the two of them anyway.

"Hey is this seat taken?" It took me a few seconds to realise that the question was directed at me. It was a male voice, which felt unusual since so few boys went to this school. It was something Dylan simultaneously praised and complained about, mostly depending on whether the girls in his classes liked him or not.

"No, go ahead." I replied. I hadn't expected anyone to sit next to me after Henrietta moved; I just assumed everyone would be content with the seats they were already in before. It was a nice surprise.

"Thanks, sorry I just find it easier to be closer to the front most of the time." He sounded slightly breathless, as if he'd just escaped some nasty situation. "You're Amy right?"

"That's right, yeah I'm Amy." I smiled.

The majority of the lesson went through pretty smoothly, the teacher going through the material at a nice pace and James being patient with me as we worked through some essay paragraphs. He seemed like a genuinely nice person, which was refreshing.

"Honestly I can't believe she chose Verity over you, what a loser." I heard Esther say from behind me. Her voice was louder than it needed to be, no doubt so she could be sure I heard it.

"Seriously, her loss. She was a burden on me anyway, having to help her in school and everything. I mean, I've gained something just so that I don't have her so dependent on me." Henrietta replied. I felt my skin heating up at the insult, again triggering some insecurities that I already had about myself. "She'll see soon how incompetent Verity is and then she'll just come running back."

"Amy?" James said in a low voice next to me "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, no I'm err... I'm okay." I knew it was convincing, especially as it felt like part of me was fighting off tears but I was determined not to cry in front of the two girls.

"Okay," He sounded tentative, as if he wanted to say more but didn't know if he should. "I umm... this is kind of complicated to explain. But I... well me and my friend Nick, we were going on a... cycle ride on Saturday on Cleveland Hill, and we saw what happened. I really don't mean it in a creepy way at all and I'm not going to tell anyone about it, it's more just that if you wanted to tell the school about it, we can both corroborate your story."

"Oh." Again, my first emotion was embarrassment but after a few seconds I realised the whole sentiment of him telling me this was quite sweet actually. "How much did you see?"

"We basically got there when Verity did so we decided to leave the two of you alone, but we also saw Henrietta storming away later when we cycled up more of the hill. The two things kind of added up I guess. But yeah as I said I'm really not going to tell anyone about it, I just wanted to let you know."

I nodded "Yeah that makes sense. Thanks, that's actually really nice of you."

"No worries," He replied and class resumed as it had before. I realised that part of what James had been doing as well was distracting me from the talking behind me that had luckily ceased now.

"Lunch time!" I heard Verity say at the end of the lesson. I assumed most people had filtered out by now, allowing her to come in to pick me up.

"Yay!" To be fair to me, I was very happy that it was finally time for lunch. I was hungry and it meant that I could stick with Verity for the rest of the day. "How was physics?"

"Oh, you know, the usual." She responded as we made our way out of the classroom to the canteen. "No rockets or Brian Cox so I was slightly disappointed."

I laughed "What do you actually do in physics then if not that?"

"Well, right now we doing materials which is just basically looking at different types of strength and strain of different stuff. It's pretty boring honestly but it's mostly maths so it's fine."

"Okay wow yeah that doesn't sound like the most entertaining subject of all time."

"Nah, it's really not. How was History?"

"Yeah, no it was okay." We sat down at our usual table and I started to get my lunch out of my bag. "Henrietta wasn't exactly... amazing."

"Shit. I'm really sorry - I didn't mean to bring you into this issue she has with me. I hate that you're being affected by something that's basically all my fault."

"It's not your fault! Henrietta's a bitch, it was inevitable that we'd fall out eventually."

"Yeah I know but-" She suddenly stopped talking, indicating that there was something visual going on, that I obviously wouldn't have picked up on.

"Hi, sorry I was just wondering if we could sit here?" It was the same voice as before - James'. I assumed the 'we' he was referencing included the same friend from before, Nick.

"Err-" I suddenly realised that Verity would have no idea who these people were, so it was understandable that she didn't know how to answer the question.

"Yeah sure!" I replied "Verity, this is James - he sat next to me in History after Henrietta moved."

"Ah okay, nice to meet you." I could tell she was still a bit flustered, but not in an anxious way. Probably more because from what I could tell, she seemed to think that every person she met would instantly hate her for some unknown reason. I don't know how anyone could hate Verity.

"You too!" James said with a smile in his voice, as him and the other person sat down. Verity  "And this is my friend Nick." 

"Hey, I think you're in my physics right?" Nick added, pointing the question at Verity. 

"Yeah I am, sadly." They started talking about certain parts of the materials topic they were covering right now, all the terms and equations going right over my head. I chose not to do it for a reason; GCSE was bad enough. 

"God, I'm so glad I didn't choose to do STEM subjects." James said from next to me and I laughed. 

"Yeah, I feel that - I am definitely not smart enough for that." I admitted. It was true - Verity was a lot more intelligent than me on the maths side for sure. It annoyed me that our teachers seemed obsessed with proving that she wasn't. 

"Yeah I definitely feel  -" He was cut off by the college tannoy.

"Can the following students please go to Mrs Allwood's Office: Henrietta Robertson, Amy Rivers and Verity Winters. Thank you." 

Hey guys, sorry I know my upload schedule is kind of all over the place, but I hope you're enjoying the story so far!! Feel free to give any feedback you want to; I'm effectively writing this as escapism from uni work so I know it's not the best haha. And yeah, don't forget to vote and comment if you liked this part :))))

Mouseymouse144 xxx