School Days - Chapter 9

And now, the chapter you've all been waiting for! Enjoy!
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Amy was perched uncomfortably on the edge of a huge cream sofa in the biggest conservatory she had ever seen. She was incredibly uncomfortable and afraid to touch anything in case she damaged it or got it dirty. The little she had seen of the house whilst she traipsed through to the room in which she now sat was pristine and perfect. The interior design was sumptuous, but not overstated.

Glancing around behind her, she could see what must have been acres of gardens stretching into the distance. She even thought she could see three horses munching away happily a few fields back. Amy couldn’t believe she hadn’t even known this house was here. Before she got out of the car, but after she had finally managed to close her mouth, Pierce had told her that it was a couple of hundred of years old, and had many owners through the past 50 years. All of them were filthy rich with most only using it as a holiday home. The Stanford’s were the first to live in it full-time for nearly 40 years.

A throat was cleared behind her, and Amy jerked around, nervous of who was stood there. Amy saw a woman in her mid-50s standing just inside the room wearing a floral pinny. She had a warm smile which relaxed Amy a little. This was matched by her tone of voice. "You alright there, love? Can I get you anything to drink?"
Amy hesitated for a second, "If it’s not too much trouble, could I possibly have a glass of lemonade?" she inquired tentatively, her voice barely above a whisper.
The woman laughed, but Amy didn’t feel embarrassed to be laughed at. A laugh so joyful couldn’t be at all vindictive. "It’s not trouble at all, love. I’ll be right back." She turned to go back out of the door, before pausing and looking back at Amy. "I’m Nancy, by the way. And don’t worry, young Jake’ll be back in no time." At this she scurried out of sight.

Her words confused Amy slightly. Where was Jake getting back from? Surely he was here somewhere – that’s what Pierce had implied. She was getting more confused by the second. Sighing, she forgot where she was and flopped back onto the sofa.
Waiting for Nancy to get back, Amy decided it would be safest to read. She had barely read a page when there was a clatter of glass on glass. Glancing up, Amy saw that Nancy had returned with a huge pitcher of lemonade which she had placed on the glass table next to Amy’s chair.

"I…I…" she began to stammer. This caused Nancy to laugh again.
"Oh, don’t worry about it dear. As I said, Jake’ll be back in no time, and he’s sure to be thirsty. Just you sit right there and I’ll send ‘im in here as soon as I see ‘im." And with that she turned around and left again. Amy was beginning to wish she had taken Pierce up on his offer to keep her company, but she had insisted that she would be fine without him. So, after escorting her to the conservatory he had left to park the car ‘properly’. She assumed this meant in a garage somewhere rather than leaving it abandoned as it had been on the drive.

Placing her book on the seat beside her, Amy decided to pour herself a glass of lemonade. This turned out to be more of a task than she had first imagined, and it took her a couple of minutes of battling with the huge pitcher to achieve it.
When she was done, she flopped back onto the sofa before starting as she saw Jake leaning casually against the door frame kitted out in full riding gear. Apparently, it was horses that she had seen in the distance.

"Well, I have to admit that that was rather amusing." Jake said as he ambled into the room and casually pouring himself a glass of lemonade. He downed this instantly, before pouring another and sipping it much more slowly.
"You mean you just stood there, watching me struggle and laughing at me," said Amy indignantly, scowling slightly.
"Yes," he said as he moved her book out of the way and sat down next to her. "As I said, it was very entertaining."

"Well, aren’t we quite the gentleman," grumbled Amy more than a little sarcastically.
Jake grinned at her, and her mood couldn’t help but lighten a little as she remembered the way his fingers had caressed her cheek earlier that day. Though it was only the slightest of touches, it held the promise of so much more.
"…okay, then?"
Amy resurfaced from her thoughts and realized that Jake had asked her a question. "Huh, what was that sorry?"
"I said, I assume Pierce got you here okay, then?"

"Yes!" replied Amy. "He was a little late, but that’s fine. And he’s really lovely. And we have a surprisingly similar taste in music." She smiled a little at the thought. She wished she knew more people like Pierce - none of her friends listen to anything other than what was in the charts.

They sat awkwardly for a little while after this, both sipping their drinks. Amy kept sneaking sidelong glances at Jake, until they made eye contact as he was doing the same. They both blushed bright red and instantly looked in the other direction.
"So," began Amy. "You wanted to talk to me about…stuff. That’s why I’m here, right?"
Jake hesitated for a second, clearly wondering how to start. "Yes," he said before abruptly stopping. Amy gave him a few seconds and was about to prompt him when he started talking again. "As you can probably tell, my family, we’re quite well off."
Amy nodded, thinking that that was possibly the understatement of the century. It was like saying Tina was kind of interested in cars. "Yeah," she cleared her throat. "I got that from the ridiculously huge house, fancy car and the small country you seem to have out back." Jake grinned at her.

"Yeah, okay, no need to mock me."
"Oh, but there is," replied Amy, a cheeky smile on her lips. "But right now, I want to know what’s going on. Why have you been so secretive about all this, getting the bus to school and stuff?"
Jake sighed, shrugged, and got up to look out of one of the windows at the vast garden. Amy was debating whether to join him when he came and sat back down again. He looked her dead in the eye and began talking.
"You have to understand what my life’s been like. We’ve always been well off. Neither of my parents had a lot growing up, so they wanted me to experience all the things they didn’t, but this has been kinda difficult.

"My dad… His work takes him all over the country. We used to go months at a time without seeing him. Eventually it got too much, so when I was about 7 we started moving around with him. We would never be in the same house for more than 12 months, which has made friendships very difficult. When I was younger, I used to not care, and would make as many friends as I could." He smiled gently before locking his focus on a beautiful tree just outside of the window. "My mum used to call me her little jack-in-the-box ‘cos I was always in and out of the house doing stuff. I couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes.

"But every time, we would have to move away again. I would cry every time at having to leave all the friends I had made behind, yet again. When I got older, I could see that it was killing my mother how much this was hurting me.
"One time, I was 10 at the time, we were just about to move again and I heard her talking to my dad about maybe settling down where we were, going back to how it used to be. I knew how much they loved each other, and how much they would hate not seeing each other every day again. I couldn’t let this happen, so I stopped. I deliberately fell out with all of my friends, so my mum wouldn’t feel as guilty about uprooting us yet again. After this, I kept my distance from people at school. I wouldn’t be anti-social or anything but I wouldn’t get really close to anyone. It was just easier that way."

Amy’s mouth was dry. She couldn’t believe he was finally opening up to her in this way. He trusted her enough to tell her all this, about everything he’d been through. She was about to say something, console him in some way, when he started talking again.
"Because I was always a little distant, when people found out where I lived, what car we had - stuff that showed how much money we had - they started bullying me, assuming that I just thought they were beneath me." He sighed, and Amy could feel the beginnings of tears in the back of her eyes.
"Oh, Jake," she whispered.

Glancing up at her, "Can I just finish, please?" he implored her. Amy nodded her acquiescence and he began again after taking a drink to moisten his throat.
"After this happened at a couple of schools, I decided the best thing to do would be to just do everything I could to stop people from finding out. It just seemed like the easiest solution. That’s why I have Pierce give me a lift to a bus stop, that’s why I avoid using my phone when at all possible, and that’s why I insist on schools with uniforms." He shook his head. "I’ve lied to everyone I’ve met in the past 5 years to save myself. Then you came along." He looked at her with the biggest, truest smile she had ever seen him give. Her legs would have buckled had she not been sat down.
Amy tried to speak, but found her mouth was completely devoid of moisture. Taking a drink, she tried again. "Me?" Jake nodded. "But why!" she exclaimed.

"Who knows. I felt a connection with you that very first day on the bus, and I couldn’t help but want to get to know you better. But at the same time, I’ve wanted to stay away from you because it’ll just hurt all the more when I leave if I do. I’ve been warring with myself over what to do ever since I saw you that first day."
Amy was speechless. She couldn’t believe that someone felt this about her. She was stunned. Jake put his index finger on her wrist, sliding it down the back of her hand, carefully avoiding eye-contact. Amy had jumped a little at the contact, but her hand was as sensitive to Jake as her cheek had been that afternoon. It was a conscious effort to keep her breathing even, and not show how much it affected her.

Amy realized how much courage this must have taken him after distancing himself to avoid any kind of relationship for years. She screwed up her courage, and Jake looked at her when she began talking. "I felt the same. I mean, I felt the same kind of connection, on the bus, that first day." It was now her turn to look away, a little embarrassed. "At first, I thought it was just because we had so much in common and I found it easy to talk to you, but," she hesitated at this point, hoping she wasn’t going to scare him away. "But I’ve realized it’s more than that." She blushed a little as she looked back towards Jake to see him staring at her intently.

"But now," she began again, "with all this," she gestured around her to indicate the house, "I feel like I’m going to have get to know you all over again." Jake looked heartbroken all over again before Amy placed her right hand over his. "But I’m quite willing to do that." Jake’s grin matched hers.