Chapter Three: Don't need your sympathy

Maybe you're not seeing the side of me you should

The funeral was scheduled three days after Bridget's body was found. For Declan those three days were hell, there were lots filled with sympathetic glances and questions like "are you okay?" and "do you know what happened to her?"

It was all anybody could talk about. He'd often walk past groups of people who'd stop talking and stare at him when they spotted him. They'd obviously been talking about Bridget "yeah that's him!" he heard one year seven girl say to her friend "the guy that was friends with the dead girl"

...

"Look Donna we need to talk" Ringo said dragging his girlfriend into an empty classroom. Donna's went into high alert mode, nothing good ever came out of 'we need to talk'.

"I...I think we need to break up" he blurted out "after everything that's happened lately, I think it's best if I just had some time alone"

"Is this because your still in love with Rachel?" Donna snapped tears welling in her eyes. She loved Ringo, she didn't want to lose him.

"No it's not Rachel" he was quick to assure

"But there is someone isn't there?" she asked stepping closer to him. He didn't deny it. She knew it. He was dumping her for some other girl, wasn't he?

"I've got to go" she said and ran from the room. This had been one of the worst weeks of her life.

...

"I'm just so sick of people talking about her, you know?" Ringo complained when he joined Declan at Harold's for lunch. Declan nodded in agreement. He knew what he was talking about.

"It will die down soon enough" Declan said "it's just big news right now, it's not like people get murdered in Erinsborough everyday"

"Yeah, but she was our friend" Ringo snapped slamming his hand down on the table "everyone's acting like they knew her so well, they didn't, nobody knew her like we did"

Declan let him have his little angry moment. It was better for him to let it out now then let him bottle it up and explode later and hurt someone or himself.

"Shouldn't Donna be here by now?" Declan asked changing the subject and scanning the cafe for the blonde girl.

"Oh she's not coming, she said something about talking to Rach" he lied. His phone beeped with news of a new text message.

Liar, liar. Why not just tell your best friend you just broke your girlfriend's heart? What are you hiding Brown?

B x

Ringo looked around for someone he knew that could have sent the text message but the only person he knew in the store was Elle who was working behind the counter and Declan and he knew neither had sent the message.

"B?" Declan asked noticing his scared expression. Ringo nodded and closed his phone "I thought she was gone, I haven't got a message from B since the one we all got last time I was here"

"Well, lucky you" Ringo retorted sarcastically rising from the table and grabbing his bag "look I've got to go"

"I thought we were having lunch?" Declan asked surprised. Ringo wasn't one to make plans and ditch a few minutes in.

"We'll talk later okay, I've got things to do" Ringo called as he left the store.

...

"So he just broke up with you, out of the blue?" Zeke asked as he and Donna ate lunch together. Donna shrugged biting into her sandwich.

"I should have probably have seen it coming" she said swallowing her food "he's been distant for months now"

"Sometimes things don't work out the way we want Donna" he said "doesn't mean it was your fault"

"You're right Zeke" she nodded shuffling closer to him "and I know just the way to get over him" she grinned, leaned forward and kissed him.

...

"So what's this I hear about you and Donna breaking up?" Rachel asked catching up to Ringo in the hall.

"How did you know?" he asked. He hadn't told her and he doubted Donna would have told her either. She rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"You said 'we need to talk' and Donna ran out crying, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together" she said teasingly, she suddenly turned serious "so if you don't mind me asking, why did you break up with her?"

"I told her I wanted alone time, but I think I'm in love with someone else"

...

"Hey!" Haylee called spotting Declan as he walked back into Erinsborough High "Declan, right?'

"Right and you're Haylee?" he asked, she nodded grinning widely. She seemed to be in a good mood today which was infectious; he saw her grin and grinned too.

"It's so nice to see a friendly face, people around here are really odd" she said laughingly flicking her blonde fringe out of her face "so how's things?"

"Good and you?" he asked as they paused in the middle of the hallway facing each other. Declan was glad that most people were still at lunch for some reason he didn't feel like talking in front of anyone else "I mean with the whole dead body in your back yard thing?"

"We're staying at Lassiters until things die down" she told him dropping her grin, he dropped his too "things are crazy, if it's not the police hanging around it's reporters, you had me thinking this Bridget girl moved or something, I had no idea she just disappeared into thin air"

"Well it's not really you tell people you just met" she nodded in agreement as they started walking again

"No it's not" she said "but someone should have told us, I just can't get the image out of my head, my little sister's having nightmares and my mum's freaking out about everything"

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. He'd only know her two days but it felt natural. Like he'd known her his whole life. It was the same way he felt around Bridget.

"Thanks" she muttered when they parted wiping a tear from her cheek.

...