"Where's the world that doesn't care?
Maybe I should meet you there"
Busted - Meet You There.
Meet You There:
Sephy:
There had always been something safe about my friendship with Callum, it was always there and nothing could ever come between us. We'd always stay together.
How naïve was I?
As we grew up, everything changed. The world started interrupting. And yet there was still a safety of being with Callum. I was always happiest and calmest when I was with Callum. After any problem; home, school even arguments with Callum, all I wanted to do was be with him because it was him. Because I love hi. And that was going to change because of the colour of his skin.
'Callum' I smiled as I saw him. As I reached hi I hugged him tightly.
When I pulled away he was looking at me sideways, but smiling slightly. 'What was that for?' He asked.
I shrugged 'For being you. For changing and yet being the same. For being Callum Ryan McGregor.'
Callum smiled, slightly bewildered. I guess I was acting strangely but I had come to realise how much I valued my friends with Callum, and how I wished we lived in a world were it was loved that mattered not the colour of our skin.
As we walked through the streets towards a coffee shop I felt Callum tense slightly and I knew why. If looks could kill me and Callum would be 6 feet under and at least 7 Crosses and 3 Noughts would be up for murder. Though in this corrupt excuse for a society the Crosses would probably get off scot-free and the Noughts would hang.
As we reached the coffee shop I noticed a Nought man go up to a Cross man who was sat reading a newspaper and just started talking, and it shocked me. No Nought just went up to a Cross. They didn't dare. They should be able to but they couldn't. I wondered if this man was from mars when I saw how shocked he looked when the Cross was cold towards him.
Me and Callum tool a seat and ordered two coffees. The Nought waitress looked at the fact that me and Callum were together with either shock or horror, I couldn't tell which, it may have been both. After she went off to make the drinks, the unusual Nought man pulled an extra chair to our table, looked from Callum to me and asked 'Is everyone unfriendly in this place?'
By "place" I wasn't sure if he meant the coffee shop, this city, or even this planet. My mind was so thrown by his behaviour that him not being from this planet seemed like a reasonable explanation. Luckily neither me nor Callum had to answer because as son as she asked the question he started rambling about how he'd tried speaking to five different people and they'd all ignored him or been rude. He was unsure where he was, but he didn't actually asked. Eventually he stopped rambling and said 'I'm the Doctor by the way'
'Doctor?' Callum scoffed 'yeah right'
The Doctor looked shocked and slightly offended 'What d'you mean?' He asked.
'There is no way a Nought like you could ever be a Doctor' Callum said.
Still looking shocked and confused the Doctor said 'I'm not a Doctor of medicine. The Doctor is just my name. What's a Nought?'
Callum raised an eyebrow 'Don't be stupid'
'I'm not from around here' said the Doctor.
'What, not from this planet?' Callum asked sarcastically.
'Something like that' said the Doctor, and for some reason I didn't think he was mad, I sort of believed him.
'Noughts are white people. Crosses are black people' I explained. 'This world is nothing but corrupt'
The Doctor looked blankly at us and Callum took over the explanation. 'Noughts are nothing' He said, and I tensed slightly at how true it was. 'And Crosses are everything. In charge of everything. Determined to keep us Noughts in our place. Miles below them'
I knew Callum wasn't talking about me, but still I felt like I had to defend myself, and softly whispered 'not all of us'
Callum smiled, only slightly and it faded quickly, '99.9% do' He said. I knew that this was true. I hated that it was true, it was all wrong that everyone born with white skin was instantly a lower class.
The Doctor voiced what I was thinking 'But that's just stupid'
'Where are you from?' Callum asked.
The Doctor didn't reply. I wondered if he even heard the question because he looked completely lost in thought. He looked slowly from me to Callum. 'But you two…'
'Look around' said Callum. 'Everyone fives us filthy looked, harsh comments. How date a lowly Nought be friends with a highly Cross'
I knew Callum was getting angry, not at the Doctor, not even at me really, but at society, at life, at being on the outside. I placed my hand on him, and entwined my fingers with his. I felt him relax slowly.
The Doctor smiled at us. 'And you just ignore it and stay friends anyway?'
'It's not that simple' said Callum.
'Of course it isn't' said the Doctor. 'You have the whole world against you. But here you are, together, despite it all'
I couldn't help by smile. 'Here we are' I repeated.
'You're both your, and you've got your lives ahead of you' said the Doctor, but not patronisingly. 'You're going to have a lot of hell come flying at you. I know a place where no one will care that you're white, and you're black. You'd just be another two people. I can take you there. A world parallel to this one without the skin colour separations.' He paused and added 'There used to be. Black people were treated worse than animals…'
'Crosses were treated bad?' Callum asked with the shock I felt.
'People aren't known as Noughts and Crosses, in my world, they're just people. But yes, black people were slaves for a long time, but then they started to get equal rights. Don't get me wrong it's not perfect, but it's a million times better than this. Most people look at black and white people just as a couple of people. Some people are still racist, but they're the minority' He replied. 'What's your names anyway? Here I am babbling on, offering you a place in another world, and I don't even know what you're called'
'Sephy' I said.
'Callum' said Callum.
'Nice to meet you' said the Doctor. 'So what d'you say?'
I looked at Callum. I wanted to scream yes lets us but I didn't in case it wasn't what he wanted. My face asked the unspoken question What do you want?
Callum smiled at me, then turned to the Doctor. 'When can we leave?'
'How about right now?' the Doctor suggested, and lead us out of the coffee shop. He led us along a few streets, and stopped outside a blue box that said "Police Public Call Box". Both me and Callum eyed is sceptically, and the Doctor laughed slightly. He opened the door 'Go on'
So we did. Only to run back out again.
'Impossible' Callum muttered.
'It's…bigger on the inside' I said. 'Callum's right this is impossible'
'And yet here it is, real as ever' said the Doctor. 'Come on'.
He walked in and me and Callum followed him, both of us looking around in shock. The Doctor walked to the controls in the middle and started pressing buttons and pulling levers. 'Hold on' He warned, and just in time me and Callum grabbed hold of the control panel and we started moving.
'Bit bumpy' Callum commented.
'It'll steady up in a minute' the Doctor said, and it did.
When me and Callum felt it was safe to stand without falling, we let go of the controls.
'Right' The Doctor said. 'Welcome to the TARDIS, that's T-A-R-D-I-S. Time And Relative Dimension In Space.'
Neither me nor Callum said anything, we were both too lost in thought and shock to say anything.
'She travels in Time and Space, and goes anyway' continued the Doctor. 'Including, London, England, Earth, present day' and with that the TARDIS came to a bumpy stop.
'We're here?' I asked slightly warily.
'We're here' the Doctor confirmed. 'Ready to go out?'
'Can't be any stranger than this ship' said Callum. 'Lets go'
The Doctor led us out. The city was bustling with people, there was Noughts and Crosses. No, I had to remember, it's not Noughts and Crosses, it's just people. So to rephrase; the city was bustling with people both black and white. The odd person was looking at us strangely but I realised that was most problem because we'd just stepped out of a blue box rather than the fact that Callum was white and I was black.
I turned to Callum and smiled, without warning I kissed him properly on the lips.
'Oi, none of that while I'm around' the Doctor joked.
We turned to the Doctor. 'Thank you so much' I said sincerely, speaking for both of us.
'Good luck' The Doctor said, and stepped back into the TARDIS.
'A whole new world' Callum said.
'Just want we needed' I said. 'Come on, lets explore.'
A few weeks later:
Callum:
It took us a while to get used to it, and to get ourselves together, because we had absolutely nothing. We went to live in a care-home as we were both under 18, the provided clothes and things for us, and I got a job and started to save. Sephy plans to get a job as soon as she's 16, and we've both started to got school to earn some qualifications.
Everything was all right now. Me and Sephy were together and nothing was going to come between us. We'd found the world that didn't care.