The Distraction Trilogy: Distraction Part 45

"You said you'd stay away from him."

"I have been staying away from him." Her phone jingles. She winces and I make a grab for it. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing?"

"I want to see!" She stuffs it in her bra before I can grab it. "Let me see!"

"No." She shakes her head and folds her arms over her chest. "I can't believe you don't trust me."

f.u.c.k. "I do trust you."

"Like h.e.l.l you do, a.r.s.ehole. I'm not showing you my phone. That's my private conversation."

"Why the h.e.l.l not? If you have nothing to hide then what's the big deal?"

Her face darkens and her voice lowers to a hiss. "You think I have something to hide?"

"Yes, because you're f.u.c.king hiding it! Now show me your G.o.d d.a.m.n phone!"

"Go f.u.c.k yourself. I'm leaving." She s.n.a.t.c.hes her bag from the ground, but I grab her arm before she can go anywhere. I know I'm probably being irrational, but I can't help it. There's too much of a green haze over my eyes and my chest is burning with pain and jealousy. "Isaac! I'm not showing you my phone!"

I release her and flop onto the couch. I can't be a.r.s.ed with this. "I hope he makes you happy!"

Eloise I gape at him. "You are such a b.l.o.o.d.y child."

"If you don't give me your phone and let me see for myself, don't bother coming back." And then he adds. "For two weeks." Relief floods through me.

"That's fine... you're taking up way too much of my Justin time anyway." This is ridiculous. This is insane. What the h.e.l.l are we doing?

I'm not doing anything wrong. The texts are genuinely platonic in every sense of the word. The problem is Isaac's att.i.tude; he's so b.l.o.o.d.y bossy and controlling sometimes. I get enough of that s.h.i.+t at home from my dad and even he doesn't look through my phone.

He grunts, still frowning at the TV as I collect my things. I think he genuinely thinks I won't leave.

He's wrong. "See you in two weeks." I make sure to slam the door behind me.

I'm not surprised when I hear it open not long later and I'm even less surprised when he pulls me back into his apartment, slams me against the wall, rips off my clothes and sinks inside.

He really, really doesn't like Justin. Not that I blame him. I'd be jealous if our situations were reversed, but I'd like to think I'd have faith in him.

I'm not sure why I felt the need to wind him up. He was grumpy with me all day yesterday.

I'm not looking forward to his lesson this morning. I hope we can make up during or afterwards.

I keep my head down when I walk into cla.s.s, hoping he'll see how miserable I am and take pity on me.

He doesn't. He only glares, clearly still very p.i.s.sed off.

Sighing, I take my seat and wait for cla.s.s to begin, ignoring Hayley as she calls me PMS Princess and laughs at herself.

This is not PMS; this is boyfriend blues. I hate it when we fight.

I should have just given him my phone, but I hate people looking through my phone. It's private. My conversations are private.

Isaac: Stop sulking. I forgive you.

Eloise: Really? You'll drop it? :-D Isaac: Of course.

"Eloise Blackburn," he suddenly yells. Everybody turns to look at me. I go wide eyed, feeling horrified. "Bring me your phone." Oh that clever b.a.s.t.a.r.d! I walked straight into that one. "You can have it back after cla.s.s and that goes for the next person who even thinks of answering their phone. You're here to learn. Text your friends in your own time, understand?"

I stay seated and in shock as Isaac s.n.a.t.c.hes my phone from me and tucks it into his pocket. Hayley leans into me and whispers, "Okay, I take that back. He's the PMS Princess."

I want to laugh but I'm far too p.i.s.sed off. What an a.r.s.ehole!

It's not until after lesson that he checks my phone and realises that he was wrong and I was right.

"I don't accept your apology and nope, I'm not coming for two weeks."

He pouts petulantly. "I've said sorry."

I flip him off and saunter from the room with my phone in hand. No way am I putting up with that.

No way in h.e.l.l.

"There's a rumour," Hayley whispers as we sit in the library catching up on our homework. "Do you want to hear it?"

I shrug. "Is it a good one?"

She glances around, looking for listeners before leaning in even closer. "Shannon's pregnant."

My stomach twists painfully and my eyes go wide. "No s.h.i.+t?"

Hayley nods, her face reflecting how I feel inside. "Yep. How bad is that?"

"Where did you hear this?"

"Apparently Gemma Allen was with her when she took the test."

"Holy s.h.i.+t. For real?"

Hayley nods again and sits back. "I feel really bad for her. I wonder who the father is. She never mentioned that she was seeing someone."

I only need one guess as to who it is. Holy f.u.c.k. This is so bad.

What do I do?

I don't even like Shannon, but this must be awful and I feel so badly for Diplock's wife.

I have no idea how I'm going to sit through his cla.s.ses, no idea whatsoever. I want to b.i.t.c.h slap the fool. He should know better!

I really hope she's not and I really hope it's just a rumour. Come to think of it though, she has missed a few days over the past couple of weeks.

It's not until I see her walking home looking extremely solemn that I realise that the rumours are true.

Eloise: Shannon's pregnant according to school gossip.

Isaac: f.u.c.k.

Eloise: Are you going to tell your dad?

Isaac: I don't think I'll have to.

Eloise: I'm still p.i.s.sed off at you.

Isaac: I'll make it up to you later.

Eloise: I can't come tonight. I'm working and Dad gets back from York today.

He doesn't respond and I don't text him again for the rest of the day.

Isaac It's a dark day for everybody when the truth comes out in the middle of April. My dad had to sack one of his favourite members of staff and the entire faculty have been questioned by the police, myself included.

I was so paranoid but, then again, so were the rest of the staff. n.o.body could believe it. The only reason they believe it now is because Shannon is definitely pregnant. Because of Diplock's lack of support, she told the school board herself, showing evidence of their affair.

Our school has been all over the newspapers and Eloise isn't herself. Neither am I.

This is awful.

The same thing will happen to us.

Shannon has been dubbed a home wrecking wh.o.r.e and Stuart has had his teaching license suspended as they finish their investigations. His wife has thrown him out and n.o.body will hire him in town because they're all appalled at his behaviour.

I can't stop running it through my mind as I eat my food in silence. It tastes like ashes. My dad and Elle do the same, all of us sat around the table. Mum is watching TV, having already eaten. It's all she does at the moment. She gets frustrated with everything else.

Elle and I share the occasional look, her eyes full of worry for me and my dad, who looks exhausted.

We've had to reduce our sneaking time. She has her A Level exams next month and then she finishes school. Our time together is limited. So f.u.c.king limited. I don't know what we're going to do when she actually leaves.

I have to spend more and more time at home due to my mother's fairly severe decline. I don't want to miss her good days, even though it's breaking my heart to see how much she's changing on a daily basis.

Elle finishes her food and quickly drops her plate into the sink.

"I've got parents calling me every second of every day," Dad says softly, his tone sad and tired. "They're scared for their kids."

I wince and look at Elle again. My dad doesn't notice how longingly I stare at her. We're going to have to really separate for a while. If the police continue investigating, they might look into the rest of us too. All it will take is one rumour and I'll be joining Diplock.

Fortunately I think Elle understands. She's as terrified as I am.

"I love you." I mouth these words to her when she catches my eye again. She smiles and mouths them back.

Her fingertips gently graze my shoulder as she pa.s.ses me and heads into the room to sit with my mum and Susanna, who she now hates but always acts pleasantly towards.

I'm not sure that Susanna is too fond of Elle either, but I'm not sure why.

"Are you well and truly prepared for your exams?" My mum asks Elle, who shakes her head. "Why not?"

"I'm studying and preparing. Most of my coursework is done, but..." Elle's eyes drift to me. "I'm really nervous."

"You'll be fine." My dad smiles softly at Elle. "I know you're under a lot of pressure to get the grades you want, but you're going to do absolutely fine. Have you started looking for accommodation?"

She nods. "There's a co-ed dorm about half a mile from campus. It's more of an apartment building." What the h.e.l.l? Why didn't she tell me she'd sorted out a place to live? Is she forgetting that I lived in Cambridge for five years? "It's lovely." And that's my good mood gone.

"Someone suddenly looks sour," Susanna comments, her brow quirking at me.

Now I wish she had quit.

"He's just jealous because he wanted to go to Cambridge." My dad laughs, clapping me on the shoulder.

No, I'm jealous because she's going to be in a freaking building full of guys and probably wild parties. I remember University.

I have the horrible feeling that I'm going through all of this and in the end I'm just going to lose her to some University twerp with a trust fund.

"I'll send post cards and pictures," Elle jokes, but I can see the worry in her eyes. "I'm going to go and do the dishes before I leave."

"I'll do them." I stand but she shakes her head.

"I got it."

I can't do anything now she's insisted, so I thank her instead. If I make a big deal out of it my dad will wonder why.

I want to join her so I can talk to her, but I'm worried that will look suspicious too. It's funny how, back before we first started this, I'd do stuff like that and wouldn't deem it suspicious because I felt totally platonic feelings for her. Now... well now everything I seem to do feels like it could be read wrong. What's worse is that the more I withdraw from her, the more paranoid I get that she'll find attention in other places.

Sometimes I forget how young she is.

I just don't want to lose her.

I'm not sure I'd ever recover.

I can't believe she finishes college in less than a month. How will I cope no longer seeing her walking around on site? It's going to be torture.

"Are you giving Eloise a ride home?" My dad asks quietly.

"I'm not stupid. I know how it'd look if the wrong person saw." I say, frowning. "It's ridiculous. She's a friend of the family. I'm not sure why it would matter."

"Yeah." My dad agrees. "It's one messed up situation."

"I don't think it's appropriate due to the fact she clearly has a crush on you," Susanna states and my father and I look her way. I'm glaring at her for opening her mouth and my dad is just looking, his expression blank. "That's just my opinion."

"Well keep that opinion to yourself," My dad snaps, shocking the h.e.l.l out of me.

Susanna's mouth falls open. "I didn't mean any offence by it."