The Skin I'm In by Steph Tisdell

Author:Steph Tisdell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2024-07-16T00:35:48+00:00

I’M A REBEL NOW

After the party, things were strange because at first Tim avoided me big time. He looked at me a lot but he seemed shy to talk. I was too. Plus, Angie and I mostly just walked around during lunchtime; occasionally we’d sit on the outskirts of the oval and she’d smoke, but I wasn’t keen on doing that on school grounds. I mean, I was a rebel now, obviously, but I have my limits . . . though I did keep lookout for her when she smoked in the toilets. Angie and I had officially moved away from sitting with ‘those girls’.

When Tim and I properly ran into each other (when Angie forced me to go talk to him at lunch), he made an excuse to leave quickly. It was quite hilarious actually.

‘Hey, Tim!’ said Angie, elbowing me in the guts. I scowled at her and she widened her eyes like she was screaming a message to me. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.

It was maybe a week after the party and Tim’s shyness coupled with mine had seen us avoid any conversation about what happened. There was so much tension, expectation, respect – so much that I didn’t know where to start or when/if to bring it up.

Tim was midway through a story with his mates when he looked up and saw me coming. He cast his eyes downwards and then blurted out, ‘I have to go . . . umm . . . yeah, Mum made this curry last night and I’ve got . . . diarrhoea. Gotta go!’ And then he ran off, leaving a Tim-shaped outline of dust behind, like a cartoon. He winced as he spoke, but I could feel that it was because he was struggling to think on the spot, not the curry paste he claimed he was creating.

I looked at Angie and rolled my eyes, and then led her away at only a slightly slower pace than Tim. I probably left a cartoon dust-cloud behind too, but I wasn’t fast enough so it was probably a little blobby dust-cloud.

She and I theorised about why he ran away for the rest of the break. Angie decided he was ‘like, super into me’. I decided he was repulsed by me and didn’t want to see me.

That night he texted me.

Hey. Sorry about today. I didn’t have the shits. Mum doesn’t even cook. Lol. I wasn’t ready to talk to you yet.

Me: Sorry bro. (Bro, what the hell?! I don’t text like this, ugh. Just read on.) Sorry if I made you uncomfortable? Sorry about the other night btw . . . I guess we haven’t really talked about that yet. Thank you for sticking up for me though. It meant a lot. I was going to ask Ange for your number so I could text you but I didn’t want to be creepy haha.

(Should I finish with an ‘x’ . . . that way I can pretend that’s just how I am if he doesn’t return it? No.

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