Ruby by Heather Burnside (carter reed txt) 📗

‘Thanks, it’s lovely,’ she said.

‘That’s alright,’ said Zac, sitting back down next to her on the bed.

He didn’t waste time in getting back down to business. Trina was about to protest again but then she thought about the lovely present he’d bought her and felt bad about pushing him away. He must have thought a lot of her to buy such an expensive-looking bottle of perfume. And, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t had sex before, so, although Trina still didn’t feel comfortable, she went along with his wishes. It didn’t last long, Zac plunging straight into her while they were still half-dressed. He had almost finished when there was a knock on the bedroom door.

‘Shit!’ said Trina, pushing him away and scrambling for her underwear and jeans.

‘What?’ yelled Zac.

‘Time’s up,’ came Matt’s voice from the other side of the door. ‘You said fifteen minutes.’

‘For fuck’s sake! Wait a minute,’ said Zac, pulling his trousers up then pulling the bedroom door open. ‘Why couldn’t you fuckin’ wait till I got downstairs?’

‘Because I want my money now,’ said Matt, holding out his hand.

Trina stared at Zac and Matt, feeling shocked and demeaned when she realised that Zac had bribed his brother to stay out of the room. Not only that, but Matt had been timing them, which was why Zac wanted to get it over and done with as soon as possible. Suddenly the whole situation felt degrading.

‘You bastard!’ she yelled, getting up from the bed. She stopped at the bedroom door and glared at Zac. She was consumed by anger and wanted to tell him exactly what she thought. But when she caught sight of his brother grinning at her, words failed her. Instead she spat at Zac, not stopping to witness his anger when it hit him in the face. Then she stormed out of the house.

*

Despite Trina’s wounded pride at what Zac had done, she didn’t want to see the end of the relationship. She enjoyed being seen as part of his crowd and he was good fun to be with most of the time. But there was no way she was going to make up with him without getting an apology first.

What irked her even more was that she’d been in such a rush to get out of his house that she’d left her precious bottle of perfume behind. She’d been so chuffed to receive such a fancy bottle of perfume and couldn’t wait to impress her friends. But if she and Zac didn’t make up, she could say goodbye to the present as well as him.

For days she sought him out at school, hoping he’d come over and apologise. Then she’d play hard to get for a while before accepting his apology and agreeing to see him again. But she didn’t see him for three days. On the fourth day, she was walking along the corridor when Nicole spotted him.

‘Don’t look now but Zac’s on his way towards us,’ said Nicole.

Trina couldn’t help but take a look. She saw him in the distance and decided she would make eye contact briefly as he drew nearer then play it cool. He was a few metres away when their eyes met and she quickly looked away. For a few seconds she could feel herself stiffen on seeing some of his friends in her peripheral vision as they passed by, Alex stopping to pat Nicole on the shoulder and whisper something.

Trina knew Zac was with him and she could feel her skin prickle as she became aware of his close proximity, expecting him to speak to her at any moment. But he didn’t. And Nicole turned to her, affronted on her friend’s behalf.

‘The cheeky bastard!’ she said. ‘Did you see that? He just walked straight past.’

‘It’s alright. I’m not speaking to him anyway,’ said Trina, trying to put on a brave face.

Word soon got around that Zac had snubbed her, then other rumours started. Zac was supposedly interested in a really pretty girl in his year and was going to ask her out. Her name was Rebecca Statton and Trina knew of her. While she was very attractive, Trina doubted she would go out with Zac. Rebecca was too studious and well-behaved to waste time with a bad boy, but there was a chance that Zac would put pressure on her until he’d won her round.

Trina’s next move was to play off some of her admirers against each other in the hope of getting Zac jealous and perhaps making him see what he was missing. She had already met one of them after school and embarked on a pointless date where they spent time walking round the shops and chatting before he bought her chips and she went back home.

Her second date was with a boy called Ryan in her year who took her to the cinema to see Golden Eye. Ryan was a tall, blond boy, good looking but the quiet type and not cool like Zac. Still, it would be good to be seen with him and maybe it would bring Zac to his senses.

When they arrived in the cinema foyer, she was thrilled to spot two of Zac’s friends in the crowd with two girls. Trina was pleased that they had seen her too and hoped news of her date would soon get back to Zac.

While watching the film, Trina noticed Zac’s friends a few rows in front. One of them kept glancing curiously behind so she started kissing Ryan to give him something to look at. It was when she casually gazed ahead, to see if Zac’s friend was still looking, that she spotted Zac. He had arrived late and was joining his friends while chatting and laughing with Rebecca Statton whose hand he was clutching.

Trina was livid, not only because Zac had moved on, but also because he appeared so happy. And he’d taken Rebecca to the cinema, which was something he’d never done with her. Deciding she