On Knots and Unravelling - Chapter two
For author's notes and thank yous, see chapter one
Chapter Two
The tree foliage is just on the turn as Naomi rides her bike over to Katie’s. She hadn’t really been able to decide what she’d need on the first day, so had ended up emptying the contents of her old school bag into another that looked less school-kid. It swung uncomfortably at her side when she went around corners.
Katie and Emily are just locking up as Naomi dismounts. James, their hilariously mental kid brother, is already pelting down the path, clearly trying to avoid further interaction with his sisters. Naomi sticks out a hand for a high five, but James turns purple instead and runs in the opposite direction, leaving Katie laughing from the front door.
‘Don’t expect him to speak to you anymore Campbell. He’s become a right pervert over the holidays. You high fiving him may have caused spontaneous ejaculation.’
Naomi makes a face to explain what she thinks of that, and leans her bike on the wall. Katie approaches, and then looks at the bike as if Naomi was attempting to ride a sledge to college.
‘Babes. Seriously. We are adults now. You cannot cycle to college. That’s for losers and children under the age of thirteen.’
‘Whatever, Queen of the Universe, I like my bike. Anyway, look, I’d made an effort for you and managed to co-ordinate it with my shirt.’
Katie’s answer is lost when Emily makes a comment about the environment, and even though Naomi’s not really sure how riding a bike benefits the environment more than the other available option of walking, she nods her head firmly in agreement, happy to finally have a shared opinion with Emily.
The walk takes about thirty minutes, and ten minutes in Katie’s swearing that from now on she is using the bus. Naomi, now pushing the bike in the spirit of compromise, glances at Emily and smiles. Emily's answering eyeroll reminds Naomi of the point she decided she was going to make this morning.
‘Kate. I was thinking. We should do less pissing about this year. College teachers are bound to be more chilled out. Some of them may even be halfway decent.’
Katie glares at her for a moment before reaching down suddenly, trying to fish a stone out of the strappy heels she was wearing. ‘Whatever, we’ll see how it goes. I’d quite like to get some results too, yeah? Don’t want this to be a total waste of my time.’
There, that’s that settled, surely. Naomi smiles hopefully at Emily over the top of Katie’s head. Emily pantomimes a sarcastic clap in reply. Once, twice. Emily’s hair is almost too bright in the sunshine, and Naomi looks away, disappointed.
--
The opening assembly is bound to be awkward, and Katie immediately hauls them off to the far corner of the seats so as to look at as many people as possible without being stared at themselves. Katie is almost beside herself with the amount of new talent there is to categorise and rank, and happily falls into a rolling monologue of detailed analysis.
‘Ugly, ugly, bad hair, goth, bad clothes, not bad, bit short, I think he was at our school, geek, not bad, kind of cute, he’s fit, weird nose...’
Naomi zones out, ends up watching a group of lads to the left of them, a row of seats in front. The boy in the middle has hair that looks thick and curly enough to repel a hammer blow, and he is wittering on between two bigger lads, who are paying him as much attention as Naomi and Emily were paying Katie. Naomi finds herself keeping an eye on them as the form lists are announced, and smiles involuntarily when the middle boy instigates a high five after they’re all placed in the same form.
Katie leans past her, having finally realised Naomi’s paying very little attention. She taps the nearest boy on the head.
‘’Scuse me but shush, yeah? We need to hear where we’re going.’
The lad, who turns out to have the kind of floppy boy fringe Naomi usually can’t see without laughing, is apologising distractedly when the boy at the other end of the three leans back, takes one look at them, and laughs.
Pillock. He reaches far over and pats Naomi on the knee once, before addressing Katie.
‘Babe. You not got ears?’
Babe? Seriously? Naomi’s just gearing up for an argument, but Katie’s already there.
‘My ears are fine, babes, it’s your mouth that’s the problem.’
The boy continues to laugh, and it is all Naomi can do to not smack him around the head with her bag. The lad’s only got eyes for Katie though, his grin wider than Naomi thought possible.
‘I bet your ears are right fine, babe. You’ll have to show me some time.’
Katie, to Naomi’s horror, actually preens at this, despite the huffy little ‘ugh’ she musters. The laugh grows even louder, and the boy turns back in his chair, shaking his head in apparent mirth. Thankfully, the assembly is scraped to a close at that point, and Emily is leading them to the exit.
On their way down a suspiciously clean corridor, Katie leans into Naomi and whispers ‘He was fit, right?’
Naomi looks down, ready to talk sense, but she can tell that Katie’s already decided the answer.
‘Oh Jesus, no. He’s disgusting.’
Katie sniffs, and readjusts her handbag strap. ‘Well, that’s not a problem, because I’m having him. You can have the one with dark hair. You can swap hair care tips or something. Emily can have curly boy.’
Naomi laughs distractedly, before catching Katie’s elbow and pivoting her gently around the correct corner. ‘You’re joking, right? Cos otherwise you need to chill the fuck out, you couldn’t look any more keen if you peed a circle around them. Why the hell would I want fringe boy, anyway?’
Katie looks at her with the expression she usually reserves for the hopelessly stupid.
‘Well, me and fringe boy wouldn’t work, clearly. Think of the height difference.’
Naomi thinks about replying, but drops the conversation so as to concentrate on finding their way around.
The lockers look a bit battered when they do eventually find them, but Naomi’s pleased enough that the three of them are grouped together. Emily looks less thrilled, but Naomi hasn’t really got time to feel irritated because Katie’s off again.
‘Look, that’s the Stonem girl. Her brother went mental after he got hit by a bus.’
Before Naomi’s got time to question Katie’s facts, the dark haired girl is next to them, queuing up to get into form. They are carefully ignored. Naomi can feel Katie becoming increasingly agitated at the silence, so she leans over and introduces herself.
Turns out the girl is called Effy. Katie, mainly through nerves, (Naomi couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Katie nervous) over-introduces herself and throws Emily in as well for good measure. Thankfully she manages to describe Effy’s brother as ‘well lush’, rather than ‘well mental’.
Effy, to Naomi’s half amusement, is watching Emily instead of Katie, and speaks to her first.
‘Does she always introduce you as part of her?’
Emily, who has been standing slightly apart with her arms folded, laughs shortly.
‘Well, I thought we might have got past that, but clearly not.’
Effy raises her eyebrows at Katie, before following Emily into the form room. Which is lucky, Naomi decides, because it prevents Katie from committing double homicide.
‘Fucking...bitch’, she settles for, and Naomi’s inclined to agree.
--
To make matters worse, on entering the form room, laughing boy and fringe boy are both infinitely more interested in Effy than Katie. Cook and Freddie, as Naomi learns, hardly take their eyes from Effy, who spends every lesson that Naomi sees her in that day ignoring them, as well as the rest of the room.
At the end of the day Katie had frostily announced she was getting the bus, and that left Naomi stranded outside the college doors with only her bike for company. She’s not really surprised at Katie’s abandonment; over the years they’ve learnt when not to be around each other, and Naomi could do without the massive Katie snit that usually accompanies a dent in her pride.
Emily catches her just as Naomi’s unchaining her bike.
‘Hey, tell Katie I’m staying for a bit to sign in at the library.’
Naomi shrugs, tosses the chain in her bag. ‘She’s already gone. Probably considering her plan of action for tomorrow. You may want to steer clear tonight.’
Emily rolls her eyes. ‘Shared bedroom, remember?’
Naomi winces in sympathy. ‘Ouch. Rather you than me.’ A thought strikes her. ‘Hey, I’ll wait. We can walk back together.’
Emily looks a bit confused, before flapping her hand in Naomi’s direction. ‘You should go. I’ll be a while. There are some books I want to look up.’
‘I don’t mind waiting, though.’
Emily shakes her head firmly with a frown this time, and there’s no way to argue again without looking stupid. Naomi shrugs, and turns away, shuffling her bike around in the right direction.
‘Whatever Emily, excuse me for being friendly.’
Naomi half hears an apology as she cycles off, but sometimes she has no idea why she bothers.
--
It is about a month before any kind of rhythm is established. Katie recovers well enough, and throws all of her efforts into getting Cook to ask her out. The rumours about Effy are rife, but both Katie and Naomi are pretty certain Cook’s been shagging her.
‘Babes, I don’t care if they’ve fucked. Look at the state of her. I’m not spreading my legs like she does. Cook is going to date me. Whether he’s realised that yet is a different matter.’
Naomi still couldn’t see the attraction, but had to acknowledge that Katie was playing it well. From day to day she either showered Cook with attention, or ignored him. Cook seemed pretty entertained by the entire situation. He liked games, Naomi decided. Typical.
Naomi surprised herself by actually enjoying some of her lessons. Not all of them. English was still pretty shit, but Philosophy was decent and Politics passable. She even found herself taking notes from what the teacher was saying, rather than relying entirely on the textbook. Her long dormant enthusiasm for contradicting the teacher returned, and a couple of times Naomi caught Emily smiling to herself just after Naomi had finished speaking. Not bad for a total twat, she thought to herself.
Emily was fine, startlingly so. She was probably doing better at mingling with people than Katie and Naomi combined, but they had the significant disadvantage of recognising when people were pillocks from fifty paces, whilst Emily was certainly more forgiving of unfortunate personality quirks. She stayed behind after school nearly every day, apparently best buds with the librarian too. Naomi thought about offering to stay again, but was uncertain of Katie’s reaction or how to deal with another rebuff from Emily.
Katie seemed a bit put out by Emily’s continued emergence as a social butterfly, but handled it with reasonable grace, to Naomi’s approval. She was finding any sniping between the twins increasingly irritating, for some reason. There was a time, early on, when she’d have automatically been on Katie’s side in any given situation. Things were trickier, these days.
It was just at the end of a Thursday, when they were retrieving stuff out of their lockers, that Effy decided to speak to Katie for the first time.
‘So, you hate me.’ She leans pointedly against the locker next to Katie’s, and is now staring at Katie with the most curious expression Naomi has ever seen on her. ‘That’s interesting.’
Katie does look a little spooked, but recovers magnificently. ‘Makes a change from being loved from every possible angle, I’d imagine.’
Effy gives a half smile, but doesn’t move beyond that. Naomi hasn’t ever really looked at Effy properly before, and the blue of her eyes is quite surprising. Up to that point Effy seemed to only live in monochrome.
Katie didn’t stand a chance, against a silence that well practiced. She manages ten seconds, before slamming her locker door, inches from Effy’s face, who doesn't flinch at all.
‘Whatever. Nutjob.’
Naomi watches Katie stalk off down the corridor, heels tapping out a sharp rhythm to the exit. She looks back at Effy, who hasn’t moved, but now quirks an eyebrow at Naomi.
Her locker is a right state. Naomi busies herself with clearing out some of the dross at the bottom, stalling for as long as possible in order to avoid having to walk away first. Effy stays, totally still. Watching.
Eventually, ‘But you don’t hate me, I don’t think.’
Naomi allows a half smile, whilst still gazing intently at the bottom of her locker. ‘I don’t think about you at all, to be honest. Sorry to disappoint.’
Effy turns slightly, twists her head in the direction of Katie’s exit.
‘Odd, really. That someone like you gets on with someone like her.’
Naomi closes her locker carefully, before turning to face Effy, who smiles at her like she’s figured everything out. Naomi ploughs on regardless.
‘Why? Also, none of your business.’
Effy levers herself off the lockers abruptly, apparently bored with the whole conversation. She smiles distractedly.
‘Must be one of those shared history friendships. I’m sure it makes perfect sense to you.’
Technically Effy hasn’t said anything offensive, but Naomi’s had enough. ‘Again, none of your business. You don’t see me psycho-analysing the dynamic between you and Pandora. So, if you’ll excuse me...’
Effy tosses a casual ‘bye’ at her, and Naomi can feel her heart racing all the way to the bike stall. Katie’s already left, and by now will have no doubt decided Naomi stayed behind to bond with the judgemental...cow.
--
Naomi’s so busy trying to decide how to explain what Effy said without hurting Katie’s feelings, that she’s nearly home before she remembers the coursework folder she’s left in her locker.
‘Oh, for fucks sake.’
She’s angry enough to almost entirely forget how to stay alive on a bike, and almost cycles into a car as she performs a sudden u-turn. She receives a blast from the wanker’s horn that almost deafens her.
‘Fucking...fuck off!’
When she gets back to the college, Naomi doesn’t bother locking up her bike, instead throws it into some shrubbery just inside the entrance gates. On inspection, her locker now seems worryingly empty, and Naomi wonders what she threw out in her sudden drive for organisation.
Thankfully the folder is still there, and on the way out Naomi tries to calm down, tries to concentrate on which assignment she has to complete for tomorrow.
She almost misses them. The folder contains a lot of random papers she’s collected from various lessons, and she has to focus on not losing any of them to the autumn winds. She’s practically at the gates before a sudden shout of laughter alerts her.
There’s a group of students sitting on the wall that circles the staff car-park, just to the right of the main building. There’s Effy, and Pandora, who seems to be laughing at something that either Freddie or JJ has just said. And there’s Emily, who’s just leaning over to pass a lit cigarette to Effy, before looking in Naomi’s direction and freezing.
What the fuck? Naomi’s rooted for a few moments, until Effy realises what Emily’s staring at, and half raises a hand in a wave, before turning away, suddenly chatting animatedly with JJ.
Naomi’s got her bike on its wheels by the time Emily catches up to her.
‘Naomi...wait. It’s not...’
‘A big deal? Whatever Emily. Is this the library then? That you spend every afternoon at?’
Emily frowns, wrong-footed. ‘Not always. But they’re nice. Effy’s nice. She’s not what you think she is.’
Naomi sighs, exasperated that Emily seems to be missing the point.
‘Em. What I think about Effy isn’t the issue here. It is what Effy thinks about Katie. Your sister? You’re hanging around with someone who thinks your sister is an airhead moron.’
Emily doesn’t look convinced, and Naomi herself cannot remember the exchange she had with Effy earlier with any clarity, but the point remains that Emily’s actions count, in some vague manner, as betrayal. Naomi’s not sure how, but seeing Emily smoke with Effy had felt like a kick in the guts. The anger flares up again, and Naomi cuts across whatever explanation Emily is in the middle of churning out.
‘She’s a judgemental bitch, Emily. She’s another one who thinks Katie’s not worth being friends with. We see her in the corridors, and she’s always smirking, like we’re some kind of hilarious joke...’
Emily yells this time, and it stuns Naomi into silence.
‘Jesus Christ, will you listen to yourself? You are the most self-centred pair of twats I’ve ever known. Effy couldn’t give a shit about either of you. Fuck. I thought you’d gotten over yourselves, but clearly not.’
It hurts Naomi, that time. Something digs into her chest and contracts. She makes a show of readjusting her bag and getting on the bike in order to buy herself some time. When Naomi looks back at Emily she’s startled to see that her eyes are full of tears. Emily sniffs suddenly and waves a hand down the street.
‘Go on then. Go and report what a terrible sister I am.’
Naomi wants to think of a snappy retort, but she’s tired suddenly, too tired. The bike creaks underneath her when she pushes off. Two streets later she can hardly see and has to pull over at a bus stop and glare at the floor until her eyes stop watering.
--
It takes her nearly the whole evening to decide. When she does finally press the send button, it is with the trepidation probably more appropriate for firing a nuclear weapon.
She hasn’t got a choice. She’s Katie’s friend. If Effy said something tomorrow, if Katie found out that Naomi was keeping secrets too....
She would expect Katie to tell her. That was the bottom line. So she had to send it, despite the possible consequences.
Things never used to be this difficult. Naomi can’t figure out what’s changed.
--
Naomi almost doesn’t stop at the Fitch house on the way to college, but at the last minute decides she’s not that much of a coward. Karma rewards her with Emily waiting for her at the gate, arms folded tightly. Naomi can’t really meet her eye, instead tries for a comment about the weather on pulling up.
Emily chooses to ignore that. ‘Just to let you know, I will be continuing to hang around with Effy and the others. If you can do anything to point out to Katie this isn’t the same as hanging around with HItler, that would be appreciated.’
Emily stares across the road as she talks, seemingly intensely interested in the lamp post opposite.
‘You and Katie spent most of high school giving me the impression I was not really welcome. So I’m fucking off. They’re nice, Naomi. Nicer than some. They don’t try and give me orders, for example.’
God, why was she incapable of doing anything other than staring at her shoes? Emily probably takes her silence as agreement, as she pushes on. ‘She is still my sister. So I’ll still be speaking to you both, when Katie gets over this latest one. Just don’t expect me to fall in line anymore.’
With that, Emily walks away. At the end of the street Naomi can just make out a boy who looks an awful lot like JJ, waiting for Emily to reach him. They’ve just disappeared when Katie exits the house, slamming the door shut behind her. Naomi notes with abstract curiosity that her hands actually appear to be shaking, before turning to Katie with an entire world full of anger suddenly on her tongue.
Katie anticipates it though, waves a hand wearily in defeat. ‘Don’t Nae. I already know I say stupid things when I’m angry. I’ll say sorry when I’ve figured out how to make it sound like Emily wasn’t right all along about Effy.’
She looks so small that Naomi makes a big effort to squash the anger down, store it somewhere else for someone else. She settles instead for a curt nod of the head, before jerking her bike upright.
They walk to college in almost silence, wind numbing Naomi’s gloveless hands. Only at the gates does Naomi concede, and she hauls Katie into a rare hug.
‘You’re a fucking idiot sometimes, Fitch.’
Katie snorts weakly, and pushes Naomi off her after a moment. ‘I think you’ll find popular opinion is that we both are.’
Naomi glances around at the other latecomers filing through the college doors, before rolling her eyes and shrugging. ‘Same old, really.’
Katie grins half heartedly. ‘Too right. Come on, then.’
--
It’s not as bad as either of them had anticipated. Emily is a little cool with both of them for some time, and attaches herself wholeheartedly to Effy and Pandora. That turns out to hurt the most, the days in which Emily would enter the common room and not even glance in their direction, head right over to where Pandora would be golly-goshing over some fabbo new stationary, or something.
But Effy doesn’t use it like Naomi had expected her to. Katie’s braced for a fight, but it never comes, and eventually Katie’s back to pursuing Cook as a retort.
Gradually, millimetre by millimetre, Naomi lessens hostilities. She’s not even sure if Effy notices, but this is as close as she can manage to saying that maybe Emily was right, maybe they had misjudged the situation.
Near the end of term, Naomi risks a smile in the face of Effy’s never-ending gaze. Effy floats a hand in the air in reply, before turning back to her magazine. The apocalypse doesn’t occur. Naomi catches Emily’s eye unwillingly, and finds she’s already smiling.
It’s a surprisingly good moment.
--
Chapter three