Chapter 3
Squid lay in his cot staring up at the tents dull ceiling. A chorus of snores and mumbling in their sleep surrounded him. Judging by this, the rest of D tent weren't having any trouble getting to sleep but Squid was. He had too much on his mind.
Of course, the guys were shocked when he told them. He would have been very surprised if they weren't. The awkward silence seemed to go on for ages before they eventually spoke. Squid dreaded every single minute of it. After the awkward silence came the all of the supportive attitude, where the guys were being all sympathetic and everything. It was seriously freaking Squid out. He didn't really like it when they were like that. And finally, came the worst part.
The Questions.
It was hard to answer them all. Most of Squid's responses were mumbles or nods. He didn't want to talk about it. He was still getting used to the fact that he was actually a dad, himself. It was too hard to believe. When Yasmin had told him she was pregnant, he was sure there was some mistake, he kept thinking, this isn't happening to me, it's all a dream, I'll wake up and everything will be back to normal.
Thinking back now, he was glad it had happened, in a way. He loved Alex to bits.
It was just awkward telling people about it.
He wasn't ashamed… it was just weird saying those words.
I'm a Dad
I have a son
I am the father of a child
I got a girl pregnant at the age of fifteen.
Squid sighed and rolled over in his cot. Trust me, to get her pregnant he thought, It was only one time as well, our first time.
He closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep but it just seemed impossible. He found himself thinking about Yasmin, and the first time he saw her…
Flashback
Squid, aged 13, was sitting on the dull half pipe in his local park. He was crying because he had come home from school to find his mum passed out of the bathroom floor… again.
He couldn't stand it when this happened, he just had to get out. He had gone to the park. Not many people came to the Park. It was normally completely empty. That was because there was practically nothing at the Park. Just a rubbish half pipe and a swing.
Squid looked up and through his blurred, tear- filled vision he could see three girls walking towards the swing.
He hoped they wouldn't notice him.
They looked over towards him. The one with long black hair began walking over. Squid covered his face in his hands hoping she'd go away.
He heard a soft voice above him.
"What's wrong?" He looked up at the girl. She seemed about his age. Her heart shaped face was really pale and long black hair tumbled past her shoulders.
Squid didn't want to tell her what was wrong, after all, he didn't even know who she was.
"Nothing," Squid mumbled a reply.
"Obviously something is," the girl continued. Her bright blue eyes were wide with concern.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you, I don't even know who you are," Squid said. He thought this girl was pretty weird just coming over to him and talking to him.
"My name's Yasmin," she said, smiling slightly, "Now you know who I am," Squid sighed and rolled his eyes, he knew this girl wasn't going to give up. All he really wanted was to be left alone. To drown himself in his self- pity. He didn't want this girl to stand there feeling sorry for him too.
He was sort of shocked as well, seeing as girls don't normally pay much attention to him. Maybe it was because of his old worn- out clothes or the fact he had a very bad reputation but girls just didn't talk to him.
"So do you often come up to complete strangers and start chatting to them?" Squid asked.
"No not really," Yasmin said, "But you looked so sad," Squid didn't know what to say to this. Sad? Sad was an understatement.
"So, what's your name?" Yasmin asked trying to carry on the non- existent conversation.
"Alan," Squid muttered.
"Why were you crying, Alan?" Yasmin asked.
Squid gave in, "Let's just say, my mums an alcoholic and my dad left me when I was three," he tried to make it sound as though it weren't a big deal.
Yasmin looked at Squid sadly. "Oh," was her reply.
There was an awkward silence. "Well, I'm not going to let you just sit here and feel sorry for yourself, c'mon, I'll introduce you to my friends," Yasmin said, finally breaking the silence.
Squid felt quite taken aback. No one had ever been this friendly to him before. He just sat there dumbstruck.
"C'mon then," Yasmin said again, she grabbed his hand and pulled him across the park towards the swing.
Squid felt so relieved that she just didn't bugger off when she found about his mum and that. Most other girls did.
"I know you don't know me properly yet," Yasmin said, as they approached the two other girls, "But do you want to be friends?" Squid had never had a friend before… this would be his first and only friend.
He wondered why a confident pretty girl like her wanted to be friends with him.
"Yeah, sure," he said, trying not to sound over- excited and put her off…
End of Flashback
Opening his eyes, Squid found that tears were running onto his pillow. He'd give anything to be with Yasmin now. And Alex...