chapter two
snug

...

𝑪𝑶𝑹𝒀'𝑺 𝑷𝑶𝑽:

MY JAW CLENCHES AS PEYTON LEAVES. The door rattles behind her and I hear the hallway outside the hub go silent. I stand up, pulling my bag onto my shoulder before moving to follow after her.

"What's her problem?" Alya sniggers, "Has she got. . . issues?"

I whirl around on my heel, "Give her break, will ya? Just because she spoke the truth, don't try being her down."

Alya hesitates, almost surprised by my words, before she continues, "Seriously though, what is her problem?"

"You," I snap, pointing a rough finger in her direction, "You are her fucking problem."

She slowly smirks, her eyebrows slightly creased, "Are you and her. . . a thing?"

"No." I hiss, "And even if we were, it wouldn't matter to you." I pull the door open, marching out quickly, only for a hand to smack into my chest and I come to a quick halt.

"Cory," Mr Bell lowers his hand, "What happened with Peyton? She just left school. Do you know why?"

I shake my head, "She got frustrated with Alya. I could tell she wanted to kick off, but she held it in, y'know like we've been telling her to do for months. I'm just worried that she's gone to take it out on someone else, or herself. Sorry, sir, I have to go." I explain, shoving past him harshly.

"I'll excuse you from school, go find her." Mr Bell shouts after and I shout a simple thank you back at him before running through the school.

𝑷𝑬𝒀𝑻𝑶𝑵'𝑺 𝑷𝑶𝑽:

My hands are still shaking when I pull my vibrating out of school shirt pocket. I glance down at the notifications, taking in a deep breath while I read the words from my best friend.

DICKHEAD

Where are you?

Pey?

???

Where the fuck are you?

With a groan, I push back on the swing I've been sat on for the last hour and gently swing back and forth. I squeeze my eyes shut, still trying to calm my anger down. I take long and deep breaths, and tighten my grip on the chains at either side of my body.

"PEYTON!"

My eyes fly open at the loud call, and I look
over at Cory Wilson sprinting his way over to me, sweat dripping from his hairline and eyebrows.

He stops in front of me, hunching over and resting his hands on his knees while he attempts to regain his breath, "Thank god I found you. I thought I was gonna have to file a missing person's report." He pants, "Why— why did you leave school?"

I smirk, "Why did you leave school?"

"To come check on you." He mumbles, straightening up and wiping the sweat away with the back of his hand, "I don't want you hurting yourself. . . again."

I clench my jaw at the mention of it and I bit my lip anxiously, "No need to bring it up. I've stopped, okay? That's in the past."

"Well, to be honest, I can't always take your word for granted." He says quietly, not exactly knowing how I'm going to react.

I glare up at him but stay silent and he sits down on the swing next to me. He glances over at me, watching while I kick a stone  between my feet on the tarmac.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better I have beef with one of the Riz Nawaz." He says, "We had an argument in PE. He's a massive dickhead."

"Is that why you were in isolation?" I question, raising my head to look over at him.

"Yeah," He purses his lip, "I barely did anything. Just a single shove."

I smile, "You're starting to sound like me."

"You must be a bad influence on me, Evershed." He chuckles, reaching across the gap between them and judging her knee softly, "Which is why you're sleeping at mine tonight."

𖦹

"I'm not sharing a bed with you." I snap, staring down at Cory's double bed in astonishment.

"Why not?" He tilts his head, "We always used to. What's different now?"

"Oh, I don't know maybe the fact that you now fuck every girl in a five mile radius to you," I grumble, "Look, Cory, I'll share this bed with you, but if you do as much as touch me, I will rip your head off."

"Yes, ma'am," He salutes and jumps under the covers giddily, a bright smile spread across his cheeks. He holds it up with one arm, inviting me in. I roll my eyes and slowly climb in, pulling the duvet up to just under my chin.

"Throwback, eh?" He teases, nudging me with his elbow underneath the duvet.

"Be quiet, you." I smack his arm away, "I like to put my childhood behind me." I chuckle, rolling over onto my back.

I wake up to the shrill, irritating noise of my phone ringing. Before opening my eyes, I throw my hand up to reach for my phone. With a groan, I click the answer button and lower it to my ear.

"Peyton, come over right now. It's me mam." Missy rushes, sounding as if she's pacing back and forth.

My eyebrows furrow, "Okay, I'll be there in a second." I mumble in a tired voice before quickly hanging up.

Finally, opening my eyes, I glance to my side to see Cory since sleeping soundly on his side, one of his hands placed on my stomach. I roll my eyes and gently lift it off, being careful not to wake him before sliding out of bed.

I creep through the Wilson's messy household, making sure not to step on the creaking steps or the loud floorboards before finally reaching the door and stepping out onto the cold street. I sprint as quick as possible to Missy's. She explained the situation and we both worked together to deliver her to Nas' house.

Yawning, I sit on the wall outside Nas' house, and pull my phone out of my pocket, noticing a million text messages from Jacob. My eyes grow wide and I jump off the wall, waving a bye to my best friends before rushing home.

I open the door and move forward to step in, but immediately I'm pushed back out onto the street by Jacob and he follows after me, locking the door behind him, "Where were you?" He hisses.

I gawp at him, "I slept at Cory's."

"Without telling us?" His jaw clenches.

I nod, "I didn't think you needed to know! I've been sleeping at Cory's for years, I just thought that would be where you would presume I would be."

"I was worried." He snarls, "I may be your little brother but I still get worried." He begins to walk off and I trudge along beside him, my mind racing to find an acceptable way to apologise.

Before I have the chance to open my mouth, he blurts, "Mum got worse last night."

"What do you mean?" I raise an eyebrow.

"She had some of her friends over." He explains.

The school comes into view around the corner, students are already rushing in and a few teachers are guarding the gates like usual.

"What happened?" I raise my voice slightly, feeling anger bubble up in my stomach, "Jacob, tell me."

"Once they left, she got violent." He swallows as we cross the road and he wont meet my eyes, "She wouldn't let me go to sleep until she gave me what she thought I deserved."

Once we're at the other side, I stop dead in my tracks, my hand grabbing his wrist and dragging him to a halt as well. I stare at him for a few moments while he bites his lip. I pull him back into a hug, and he slowly relaxes into it, sighing heavily.

"I'm so fucking sorry," I whisper, pulling away, "I'm sorry."

His bottom lip quivers, but he waves his hand at me carelessly, "No, it's fine."

"No," I state angrily, "It's not. We have to do something about her. She'll only get worse and she's getting on my fucking nerves. I can't bare to come home any more and see you with any more bruises on you."

"What can we do? Without her, we'll be split up and put into care. She's basically our life line." Jacob shrugs, walking off.

"I'll figure something out." I shout over to him as he joins up with his mates, sending me a single nod before walking into the school.

I shut my eyes and pinch the bridge of my noise in frustration. I had let him get hurt. I had let our own Mum hurt him. I lean against a brick wall, running my hand through my hair while thoughts bash around in my head.

"Peyton!" Miss Carter calls out, "Nice to know you decided to come to school today."

I look up slowly, taking in a deep breath before glancing over at her. Almost instantly her face drops, clearly she can tell something is wrong. I push away from the wall and make my way over, fiddling with the rings on my fingers.

"What's up?" She asks as we walk into school together side by side, "Did something happen? Mr Bell told me about yesterday, and how you left."

"Nothing is wrong." I mumble, "I'm alright. Just family issues. You said yourself yesterday that things haven't been the best."

"Peyton, talk to me, please." She goes to her office, motioning for me to follow her, "Come on then."

I follow her in and slump down in the seat opposite her. She crosses her arms, leaning back in her chair and staring over the desk at me with her usual worried expression.

"Now, tell me what's wrong." She says.

I roll my jaw, my fingers fiddling on my lap, "Promise me you won't tell anyone, and I mean anyone."

She nods slowly, "I promise."

"It's Mum." I state slowly, my foot beginning to tap against her carpeted floor, "She got worse last night and lashed out on Jacob. I wasn't there because I was with Cory, so I feel like a shit sister." I ramble, not meeting her eyes.

Her face softens, "Peyton, I'm so sorry." She stands up and walks round her desk to in front of me. She holds out her arms and I stand as well, letting her hug me. I place my head on her shoulder and bite my lip, trying to prevent myself from crying.

"Thank you, Miss." I say quietly, pulling away.

"Peyton, you've been through a lot." She says gently, moving back around her desk, "My heart aches for you. Feel free to stay here for a few minutes before tutor."

I smile at her before leaning forward, and  resting my forehead on the cold desk in front of me. I hear her open drawers and pull paper out, and she begins to scribble on the sheets. So, we sit in silence while she does her work and I calm myself down.

The door is thrown open and Mr Nawaz steps through, "Mandy—" He is quick to stop when he sees my slumped body.

I keep my head on the desk, not bothering to look at him, "Hi, sir."

"Uh, hello," He says carefully, "Do you mind giving me and your headteacher a few minutes alone?"

I groan, looking up and receiving a sympathetic look from Miss Carter before I stand up slowly and leave, shoving my shoulder into Mr Nawaz's on the way past. Once the door shuts, I press my back against the wall beside the door, listening to their conversation.

"She has a bad reputation that girl." He grumbles lowly.

"Trust me, I know." Miss Carter smiles gently, "But she's a sweetheart. You'll get to see that at some point."

"She ran out of school yesterday, halfway through the day." He snaps, "Did you know that?"

"Yes. Steve told me."

"She can't be doing that anymore." He shakes his head, "If a parent sees her outside of school in uniform when she's supposed to be here. Then they will think badly of us."

"Sadiq," Miss Carter sighs, "Sometimes she needs alone time. It's the best thing for her." She clears her throat, "Look, what did you come in here to speak to me about? Because I know for damn sure that it wasn't about Peyton."

I smile to myself before leaving. Miss Carter is a better Mum than mine has ever been. Just like how Mr Bell is like a father. I begin to walk up the stairs until a high pitch squeal catches my attention from outside. I'm quick to turn on my heel and make my way outside.

"Nasreen!" It's Simone, Missy's mum.

I place myself beside Missy, nudging her side and her head pops up, her eyes netting my urgent ones.

"Oh, hey." She smiles.

"Hey," I point over at Nas, who's pushing Simone off her roughly, "Missy, you're mum."

"Nasreen?" Simone exclaims.

Missy follows my finger, her eyebrows furrowed and a second layer she's running over to her stumbling parent, "Mum?"

"Mum? That's her Mum." Alya scoffs, shaking her head and making her friends giggle, "I'm not surprised."

"Alya," I snap my head in her direction, "Shut your mouth."

"Here she goes again," She rolls her eyes, laughing, "Have you ever thought about anger management, Peyton?"

I tilt my head, pointing a finger at her sharply, "If you ever fucking—"

"Peyton, don't bother!" Missy shouts, wrapping her arms around her mum, "She's a waste of time."

I roll my shoulders back and take a deep breath, shoving my fists into my blazer pockets before walking towards school, barging my arm against Alya's, who gasps in shock but I continue to make my way to class.

I slide down into my form seat beside Cory, ignore how he's staring at my face with furrowed eyebrows.

"Hello, Ackley!" Jordan is talking on the intercom, "What do we all think of Ackley Bridge College, then? Are we going to roll over? 'Yes, sir, no, sir, thank you, sir?' They think they can keep us quiet with a lick of paint and some crap about learning to live together. We all know that Ackley is a left-for-dead town with food banks, smack heads and pram faces."

Riz turns and sniggers at Cory. Clearly, making fun of the fact that it's  his brother.

"What are you all looking at?" Cory snaps, before storming out.

I stand up after him, "Quit fucking staring, Riz. You are just like your sister."

I huff and go to find Missy, who is shouting at Nas in the quad. I run down, shoving my way through the group of people and standing the side, watching carefully.

"What?" Missy snaps, "You just going to stand there and not say owt?"

"Missy, I'm sorry." Nas shrugs.

"You what? While them lot call her every name going. Slag, nasty, junkie. My mum! Treated her like she was scum!" Missy steps closer, "And all that before. You act like you barely know me. Two days in this school, you're so worried what the girls in hijab think."

Cory stands behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders while he smirks menacingly. I throw my head back, meeting his eyes, "Did you sort Jordan out?" I question.

He nods, before flicking his eyes back up to the main event and I follow his gaze.

"Look, Missy, they're me mates." Nas sighs, "You don't know them like I don't know your mates. It's not my fault that you got held back a year, is it?"

Missy's eyes widened and she shoves Nas' shoulders. The students watching start cheering, one of which is Cory. I punch his leg and he hisses, rubbing the sore part on his leg.

Nas pounces on Missy, grabbing her messy bun. The crowd begin to cheer and take videos of their fight. My jaw sets, and I'm quick to step forward and separate the two girls, standing in the middle of them with my arms outstretched.

"Right, you two both know that I love fighting." I grumble, "But you guys are my best fucking friends. You shouldn't be fighting each other."

"I don't care, Peyton," Missy spits, pushing against my hands but I shove her back, "She trash-talked my mum!"

"I didn't!" Nas screeches.

"WILL YOU BOTH SHUT UP!" I yell, causing everyone to fall silent.

Miss Sheane shoves through the crowd, grabbing ahold of Missy's arm and pulling her away, "Peyton, I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you." She smiles and I nod, smirking.

Cory puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me away, "You handled that great." He smirks, "You've got a loud voice."

I wink up at him before and leaning into his side and he ruffles my hair as we make our way back to lessons.