Lessons By Anna Hadland

The 15 year old, blond haired boy turned round after hearing his name being called. He looked down the busy corridor of his school. His new school. He had just moved from Dublin, Ireland to London, England and this was only his first day here. It was lunchtime. His first impression of the school was grim. A huge four-storey building with two long one storey buildings sticking out both ends. People wouldn’t talk to him in class. Everyone had already made their friends and were in their little groups for a few years before he came here. All he could see now was a mass of heads as they were entering the hall for lunch. He got knocked a couple of times as people went past. He couldn’t see anyone looking for him so he turned back round and started walking again. “Nicky!” The voice called again. This time he turned around to see a pretty dark haired girl staring back at him with hazel eyes. He recognised her from his class. He was surprised to hear anyone calling him let alone speak to him. “Hi!” he said with a friendly smile. “Hi. I’m Samantha. Everyone calls me Sam. Do you want to have lunch with me?” “Sure!” They sat down for lunch. Nicky found out that their birthday’s were on the same day. Sam was into sports, especially football. The only downside was that Sam liked Liverpool FC and Nicky liked Man United. That didn’t matter to Nicky. Sam told Nicky that she didn’t have many friends. “Everyone hates me for some reason and I don’t know why. But that’s their problem. I’m not fussed, I just get on with it.” “It must be boring for you.” “Yeah, well I learnt to live with it. I did feel a bit left out when other people talked during boring lessons and I was sat on my own. It made the time go more slow.” “Well you’ve got me now so lessons won’t be boring anymore.” They both laughed when Nicky said that last bit in a very masculine tone. After they stopped laughing they looked each other in the eyes. A spark flew between them but neither noticed. Soon their lunch hour was up and they made their way back to class.

That afternoon they had Maths. Nicky and Sam were last in the room and the only seats left were right at the front in the middle. This didn’t seem to matter to either of them as long as they were sat together. “Hey tubby!” called a boy from the back of the class. He was a tall, skinny boy with longish ginger hair just past his ears. Sam wasn’t fat but she wasn’t skinny either. She was just about right. “You got a boyfriend now?” He asked. Sam ignored him. Then he turned to Nicky. “Hey blondie, you can do better than that piece of crap. She’s nothing but trouble.” Nicky turned around with an angry look on his face. “What the hell have you got against her?” he asked the boy. “I don’t like her. Nobody does. She’s fat and ugly and looks like a bloke.” “At least she’s not a skinny little runt!” “Nicky, don’t-” Started Sam but he wasn’t listening. The boy got out of his chair and started walking towards Nicky. At that minute the teacher walked in. “Alex, please sit down.” Alex sat back down and he forgot all about Sam and Nicky as the class got started. Sam sent Nicky a note: Just ignore them. I tried standing up to one of them once and it made everything worse. I’d rather just let them get on with it. Thanks for sticking up for me.
Nicky sent her one back: It’s not right for them to bully you like that. You haven’t done anything to them and it’s not fair you against all of them. You’re not fat or ugly and they are not going to get away with calling you that. Sam looked up to see Nicky looking at her. They smiled at each other. “Is there something you two would like to share with the class?” the teacher said. “No, M’am,” Nicky replied in his strong Irish accent. “Then save it for home time please.”

A few weeks later, in Maths Nicky was sent out to do his assignment with a girl called Heather. Sam had to work with Kai. Out in the school play ground they had to count how many of what colour car went past for their probability assignment. The both sat down near the gates to watch. Both of them was silent. Heather was the first to speak after ten minutes. “So, are you going out with Sam?” she asked. “No. We’re just friends. Why do you lot give her such a hard time? She’s really very nice.” “She dobbed in a girl last year who skived off all the time.” “She told me that was an accident,” Nicky said in Sam’s defence. “You would believe her.” “I have no reason not to.” “Have you got a girlfriend?” Heather asked putting a hand on his knee. Nicky started to feel uncomfortable. “No,” he replied. “You have lovely blue eyes,” Heather’s hand started running up and down his thigh. “Blue? Gee, who would have thought?” Heather seemed oblivious to his sarcasm. Heather leaned in to kiss Nicky and he quickly stood up. He turned away from her. “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to,” said Heather. “Not with you!” he said sternly and walked back across the playground, into school. Sam saw the whole thing from the classroom window and felt a pang of jealousy rush through her. She turned away from the window. She began to realise that she felt something for him. Something she never knew had existed. She was too young for this kind of thing but she knew she couldn’t ignore it. Nicky walked into the room and her heart began to do overtime. She wasn’t sure whether to tell him or not. She didn’t want to ruin their friendship. She kept this secret for four months.

In February, two days before Valentine’s Day Nicky was at home looking through some pictures of the New Years Eve party both he and Sam went to. In one picture they were both dancing together, their eyes locked. Nicky had fallen in love with the girl in the picture ever since he set his eyes on her. He wanted to tell her but knew he couldn’t. She didn’t know and in some ways he didn’t ever want her to know. He was too shy to do anything about it anyway.

The class was doing a card post box. Cards would be posted into the box and given out on the morning of Valentine’s Day. The morning came around. Nicky and Sam were sitting on opposite sides of the classroom. They got one each. Neither of them recognised the handwriting on their cards. Inside them both were simple questionmarks. Sam forgot all about her card. She was more concerned about telling Nicky how she felt about him. She was going to do it at lunch. “Nicky?” “Yup?” “I need to tell you something,” she looked round the field. They sat in the far corner. A big group of kids were playing baseball in the middle of the field. Other groups were huddled in little circles around the rest of the field. The sun was shining bright and there were no clouds in the sky. It was an unusual day for February. “What’s that?” Nicky asked. “I…I…” she paused for a minute. “I really like you…I like you so much that I…love you.” Nicky looked at her with a shocked expression. Sam just stood up and walked away. “Sam!” he called after her. There was no response so he called again. “Leave me alone!” she called back to him without turning round. “I love you too,” he said but Sam never heard him.

Sam wasn’t in school on Friday. Nicky didn’t get to she her Thursday afternoon either because they were in different classes. First thing Monday morning Nicky went to stand by Sam’s locker. He waited for ten minutes before the bell rang then he went to class. Sam was sat in the middle of the back row with her head down. Nicky was about to go and talk to her when the teacher came in so he took his seat at the front of the class. All morning Nicky kept looking back at Sam but she never took any notice. At break he managed to get hold of her by the edge of the playground. “Sam, I need to talk to you.” “Why would you want to talk to me?” “Because you’re my friend. Why did you walk away?” “Because I never should have told you. It’s ruined everything.” “No it hasn’t. It’s made things easier on me.” “How?” she asked. “It would make it easier for me to say I love you.” “What?” “Just what I said.” He put his arms round her just as the bell rang for the next class. “What would I do without you?” he said as he put his lips to hers. They quickly ran into class just in time for the late bell to ring.

So here they are now, seven years later and still together. Learning more everyday.