Cassandra Behind Closed Doors. Linda Sorpreso

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      “I don’t know Sav,” I replied, sitting down. “To pass the time I guess.”

      “Why? Are we that boring?”

      “Yes, you are. Now shut up!” I said, half-seriously. I liked Sav, but sometimes, he annoyed me. When my grandfather died, Sav and I kind of went out with each other. It was really nothing. It was only for a day, which I wouldn’t really classify as boyfriend and girlfriend. It was really the first time I had ever received attention from a guy and being young, I said ‘yes’ to him. I felt rather stupid about it now, even though he was my fourth cousin and they said it didn’t matter. I still felt awkward and I hadn’t told anyone or intended to. Tessa and Sophie knew about it, only because they were there with me.

      He sat beside me on the wall and I nearly groaned aloud. His thigh was grazing mine. He ran his fingers in my hair, sending shivers down my back.

      I slapped his hand away. “Sav, what are you doing?”

      “Nothing!”

      “That’s nothing? Stop it! I hate people playing with my hair!”

      Especially him. Unfortunately, since our break up, he kept harassing me and every time I saw him, he asked me out. He made me feel uncomfortable. He always hugged me for too long and last night, I caught him smelling my hair. He always tried to kiss me on the lips and although I moved my head away just in time, his lips were still too close for comfort. The last time I was in Bendigo, he put his hand on my breast and even though I didn’t say anything to him because I was in shock, he must have known how uneasy I felt.

      Obviously not. On the night Vinnie and I got together, he hugged and flirted with me in front of everyone. I tried to stay away from him but he followed me around, making his feelings for me obvious. Even Brayden mentioned something, which pissed me off majorly. I had told Sav numerous times I wasn’t interested in him. However the declarations of affection wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t understand him though, I was with another guy right in front of his face and he still wouldn’t leave me alone.

      I quickly moved nearer to Tessa and watched the cars speed by. The lights changed to red and as the cars slowed down, I noticed a couple arguing in a green Holden. The windows were opened and all you could hear was the man screaming at her. He had one hand on the steering wheel and one hand raised towards her.

      I shivered, turning away and faced Tessa. It was too close to home and I couldn’t watch what was about to happen. Just watching them reminded me of my parents fighting.

      “Oh my God. What a bastard! He just smacked her across the face!” Sophie shrieked.

      “Sophie!” I scolded. “Lower your damn voice! He’ll hit us next!”

      “Sorry! He didn’t hear me anyway. The lights changed and he sped off!”

      “Still, just be careful. When things like that happen, it is better if we just keep our mouths shut!”

      “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say it that loud.”

      “Hey Sophie, did you get your uniform yet?” Tessa asked.

      I couldn’t keep the grin from creeping onto my face. It was so obvious Tessa wanted to change the subject. Sophie and I wouldn’t stop unless we were diverted.

      “Yeah, I got it last week. I can’t believe I’m starting high school next year!”

      “I know and I’m in Year Eight,” I said. “How do you feel? Excited? Nervous?” I asked.

      “A little bit of both, but at least I ’v e got some friends from primary school coming to Newton.”

      “You’re lucky,” I began. “When I started Year Seven, I just arrived from the States and it was three weeks into the term. Everyone was already in their groups and I was afraid I wouldn’t make any friends.”

      “Yeah, but you found friends straight away, didn’t you?”

      “Yes, thanks to Tess, she helped me.”

      “I remember that,” Tessa said. “You were so shy, I had to drag you into the locker bay and introduce you to Sharon.”

      “Well, I was nervous. It was a new experience for me and because I was late, it was hard. In the first week, everyone just kept staring at me as if I was some freak. It was definitely easier being in primary school, especially when you had your own cousin in the same class!”

      The good old days, when Tessa and I were put in the same composite grade. I remembered when we first found out. It was the last day of school, we were heading back to my place, reading our reports cards. I was telling her I had Ms. Hunny next year, and then she read hers and shrieked out, “I’ve got her too!” We just hugged each other, so excited. After the excitement dwindled down, the fears starting creeping into my head. Knowing that in primary school, fights were very common over the most childish things — one day you were friends with this person, and the next you befriended someone else. I was afraid I would lose her. I was scared we would fight all the time and stop being friends but it didn’t happen. In fact, it only strength-ened our friendship even more. It turned out to be the best year for the both of us. We formed a tight group with four other girls, and because we were together, we had enough courage to do things in public we would otherwise never do — sing, create dances and perform in plays.

      “Remember when Damien slipped on the table?”

      We both laughed. “How can I forget? We were all teasing him for a week!”

      “What happened?” Sophie asked. “How did he fall?”

      “We had asked Damien and Joshua to be our male background dancers, dancing on the school tables. Anyway, we were in the middle of rehearsing to Humpin’ Around, when we suddenly heard a huge thud on the carpet, over the music mind you, that’s how loud it was. We turned around and saw Damien lying on the ground.”

      “Did he hurt himself?” Sophie asked.

      “No, thank God. His head just missed the table though,” Tessa replied. “It was so funny. We all couldn’t stop laughing and had to stop practicing! What about when we thought the world was going to end?”

      “What happened?” Sav asked.

      I laughed again. “We were so scared. We had heard the rumours and thought we were going to die at three o’clock. We were sitting at opposite ends from one another, and we kept staring at our watches, just waiting, then at three o’clock, we looked at one another, mouthed ‘goodbye’ and waited. Nothing happened and we were so relieved.”

      “I can’t believe our mothers still sent us to school that day!” Tessa said.

      “I know, you would think that they would want us with them, instead they carted us off to school as if nothing was happening!”

      “I know,” Tessa said.

      “Really Soph, high school is a challenge at first but once you get used СКАЧАТЬ