Sighing, Nicki started to walk home however something soon caught her eye which made her stop dead in her tracks. A familiar figure had just skirted inside an alleyway. Nicki had an idea of who it was… but it couldn't have been.
Driven by instinct, Nicki trotted to the place where the shadow had disappeared. She was slow in peeking round the corner of the alleyway as she was slightly scared of what she might see. A boy was standing with his back to her, about ten metres away.
He seemed to have acknowledged her presence because, when she saw him, he smirked and murmured, 'well hello again sexy. Miss me?'
'Kyle Stack…' gasped Nicki, unable to believe her eyes, 'how can you be here? Get away from Waterloo Road.'
'You can't make me,' snarled Kyle before widening his grin as he turned around to face her, 'I scare you don't I?' Nicki failed to answer; she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of thinking that he could dominate her. The truth was that he only scared her because he reminded her forcefully of someone: her old abusive father. Just Kyle's presence brought back terrible memories of Nicki's childhood.
'Get away,' croaked Nicki. It was then that she noticed that Kyle was pulling something out of his pocket. She started slightly as she saw what it was: a knife. She was aware of what Kyle was capable of.
'What do you want?' Nicki asked in a resigned tone.
'I want to give this school a piece of my mind. Thanks to here, I was arrested and put through endless trials. This excuse for a school ruined my life.'
'That was you're fault you twisted freak!' Exclaimed Nicki however this seemed to trigger a darker side of Kyle for, at her words, he pinned her up to the wall and held the knife close to her throat.
She didn't dare say a thing. But as she looked into Kyle's eyes, she feared that they would be the last thing she'd ever see. A hot burning tear ran down her smooth cheek as she bad a silent farewell to Waterloo Road. To Michael. To Lorraine. To Sian. And mostly, to her best friend Tom. In that instant, Kyle was pulled away by someone stronger than him. Nicki fell to the floor gasping for breath and looked up to see Kyle knocked out on the floor, Tom standing over him.
'Are you okay?' Asked Tom in a soft tone as he crouched down and helped Nicki to her feet. Still unable to conjure up her thanks, she hugged Tom and kissed him on the cheek affectionately. Immediately she blushed.
'Did he hurt you?' Queried Tom, his hand brushing against Nicki's cheek as he spoke.
'No,' replied Nicki, smiling gratefully.
But then Tom noticed a large wound on her arm, 'what's that then?' He said in a startled tone.
'Kyle didn't do that,' Answered Nicki quickly, shielding it from view with her free hand.
'Then who did?' Challenged Tom.
Nicki stared at him for a second, unsure whether she should tell him the truth. It took all the courage that she possessed to look into his warm eyes and say softly.
'I did.'
To be continued