Just Between Us by Hayley Oakes Page B

not to notice.
                  “Last night was a mistake,” he whispered, so quietly that I only just heard the uttering.
                  I nodded but didn’t answer, looking down to my hands unable to make eye contact.
                  “Sophie,” he said whilst clearing his throat. “Look at me.”
                  I did and his blue eyes were searching mine to see if I heard. “Okay,” I whispered, extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed. I felt my cheeks redden, and he looked away.
                  “It’s just …” He began.
                  “You don’t have to explain anything, I wish it hadn’t happened, too.” I didn’t give him chance to respond as my face was on fire with embarrassment, I just stood and walked away from the most awkward conversation I had ever had.
     
    The journey home was uneventful, and after our holiday our lives returned to exactly what they were before. Our parents worked hard and enjoyed their social lives. I studied for my last two exams and spent my free time with my best friends, Ashley and Kathryn. My exams were almost over and then I would be free. I had had an offer from Newcastle University that I had accepted to study English Literature, and I couldn’t wait for a long summer before starting. It was already mid-May, and we were all eighteen so my friends and I were excited for nothing but parties and lazing around before real life started.
                  We had been home a week when Ashley came round, one Friday afternoon. Ashley was shorter than me, tiny in fact, and she had a very toned petite body. She was an athlete, ran long distance, swam, and had her own horse. She was blonde and blue-eyed; she wore her hair long and straight down her back. She was stunning, but she had a wicked side and was the most sarcastic person I knew.
                  “Come on Soph,” she sighed, leaning against the worktop in our kitchen whilst I poured us some orange juice. “Come to Tim’s party, it’ll be good.”
                  I sighed, “Really? It’ll just be full of idiots getting drunk and dick heads from school that we hate.”
                  “I doubt it,” she smiled, “Tim’s pretty cool.”
                  “But all Kyle’s crew will be there, and they’re idiots.”
                  “Oh they won’t bother us,” she said breezily. “Come on, I’m sick of us never going to the parties.”
                  “We go out enough, why do we have to mix with people that we have no connection with just because we go to the same school.”
                  “Because I want to go to the party.”
                  I rolled my eyes. “Fine.”
                  Yes!” she hissed and hugged me, “plus Vinnie Peterson is going, and I’ve lost five pounds because of these bloody exams, so I look hot.”
                  “Vinnie Peterson?” I whined, “you better not bog off kissing him and leave me with the sheep.” She just grinned at me.
                  Ashley and I had a totally different high school experience from Kyle and his gang. They were effortlessly popular and nothing they did seemed to change that. He was rude, obnoxious, and often ignored people, including teachers, but somehow people loved him for it, and girls fawned over him. The thing about Kyle was that he was so indifferent, that when he did turn on the charm, you felt it. He had a gang of six including his best friend David and Vinnie Peterson. They all hung off his every word and threw insults around the sixth form lounge like confetti.
                  Tim, the host, was an in-between-er; he fit into every social group at school, and his party would be the link for Kyle’s crew and the rest of the school population. Ashley, Kathryn, and I were together most of the