Ten.
Cullen jumps up onto the brick wall running along the footpath that crosses over the train line, then holds out his hand to me.
"I'd rather not fall to my death today," I say, and he laughs and shoves his hand back into his hoodie.
"Suit yourself."
He walks and talks his way alongside a thirty foot drop. I feel like I'm at risk of falling over just from watching him. The 2:15 to Staveley rumbles under us, a grating hulk of metal and grime that's not much better on the inside.
"Where did you come from?" I ask as he reaches the tallest point of the bridge, his trainers level with my nose. The skies are heavy and grey and at risk of splitting into a storm.
"Everywhere." He crouches down and kicks his legs out from under him, sitting on the edge. "And nowhere."
"Right, well that's helpful." I cross my arms, irritation fizzing under my scalp. I try to stop myself from needing to know everything, wanting to unearth secrets and lies and the rare truths, but I can't help it. It's a disease. I want to play it cool with him, but digging is part of my nature. I'm not used to boys playing it cool with me.
He laughs and pats the orange stones beside him. "I'll tell you if you come up."
There's another train rumbling in the distance and the hum of the nearby motorway. We've walked a fair way from school and are treading on the edge of my home turf. We should turn around.
"How come you didn't start in September?" I bat back.
"I won't let you fall." He says that like it's a joke, and considering he's a stranger—and you should never talk to strangers, never mind balance over railway lines with them—I shouldn't listen. I climb up to sit beside him as if I've trusted him all my life.
I leave a little less than arm's-length between us, enough to allow me to grab onto him if I need to, not enough to give him any other ideas.
We pass time with our legs dangling over the railway. Not another soul around, other than those crammed like sardines passing under our feet every fifteen minutes. "They'll call home," I say.
"Who will?"
"Cope probably … the school."
Not that my Mum cares about my attendance, but someone might care about Cullen's.
He doesn't seem worried. "I'll handle it."
Overgrown weeds sprouting tiny star-white flowers edge the tracks, and huge purple headed bushes flank either side of the embankment. Pretty until you see the rubbish tangled in their roots, plastic bag skeletons twisted around their branches. I wouldn't dare look deeper to see what other unwanted things are hidden.
"So go on then, now I'm here. You were going to tell me why you've ended up at Elmwood."
He bangs his heel into the wall, mortar crumbling into the air, dusting the ground. "It's a long story."
"Give me the headline."
"Impatient?"
"Nosey."
He nods, a smile twisting off into something else as he focuses on the hazy outline of the town in the distance. "I've moved around a lot since I was little. There was a delay on our last move … it took longer than we thought, so I missed the start of the year."
"Oh … so you didn't get released from juvie, or chucked out of your last school for fighting or something as terrible then?"
His laugh catches in his nose as he shakes his head, hands disappearing in the pockets of his hoodie. He pulls out a lighter, flicks it on and off, but doesn't produce any cigarettes. "Nah. It's a lot more boring than that. I'm not interesting at all."
I disagree, watching the flame kiss his fingers before he shuts it down over and over. "They'll all be so disappointed."
He twists to look at me side-on, whatever he wants to say hovering on his tongue while his eyes dance over my face like a spark's escaped. "Are you?"
"What? … Disappointed?"
He dips his head once, then turns his attention back to the incoming train, the first drops of rain falling.
"Not yet."
He waits until the last carriage has disappeared under the bridge to speak, its clamour filling the space between us. It doesn't drown out the way he looked at me. That was deafening in itself. But then he blows it all to pieces. "Well, there's still time."
AN: I'm away for the next few days so won't be updating (I should have A Case of You chapter soon though). I'll see you at the weekend.
Some more definitions:
trainers: sneakers
motorway: freeway
juvie: juvenile detention
Anything else, just drop me a line x
I owe the world to Kim & Choc for dropping everything for me to read this over xx ILY