Open Your Eyes, page 4
Paul smirked. ‘Bit harsh, mate. You still sore about yesterday?’
‘Whatever. I haven’t got time for wee slappers like them.’
‘Oh aye, birds suddenly fallin’ over themselves to shag you, are they?’
Scott guffawed from the other side of the table and Liam shot him a look of pure hatred. ‘You can shut the fuck up, virgin.’
The smile slid from Scott’s face, he’d not been quite so clever at making up stories about who he was having sex with and had actually confessed to Paul and Liam he’d barely even kissed a girl. Liam felt bad for using it against him, but his temper was too near the surface for him to care. It was every man for himself as far as Liam was concerned.
The bell rang and Mrs Purves called for them all to be quiet, putting an end to the verbal sparring around the table.
Paul and Scott were already in the dining hall when Liam arrived at lunchtime. He made is way over to their usual table in the far corner, only noticing when he was halfway there that Kirsty and Helen were also sitting there. He groaned inwardly, hoping nothing of what he felt showed on his face.
Dumping his bag on the floor, Liam scanned the table, pretending to ignore what seemed like the ever-present smirk on Helen’s face. ‘I’m going to get something to eat, anybody want anything?’
After a chorus of ‘no’s and ‘no, I’m all right’s, Liam headed toward the queue for some hot food. He really fancied a scotch pie, chips and beans.
As he paid for his lunch, Liam became aware of people watching him. He pocketed his change and looked around the room. It seemed like everyone was sniggering at something and he was the only one not in on the joke.
Voices rang out across the room, loud and clear, punctuated by raucous laughter from the rest of the students.
How many times did you make her cum, Wallace?
Did you have to pick her tits up off the floor?
Did she take her teeth out when she sucked you off?
He tried to ignore them but when he arrived back at the table he was shaking slightly. As he sat down he caught a sympathetic look from Scott, and he could tell Paul was trying desperately not to laugh.
‘What the fuck’s going on?’ Liam hissed.
The girls, who were already giggling, started howling with laughter and even Paul had given up. Scott handed Liam a piece of paper with an image printed on it. Looking around, Liam could see similar pieces of paper spread across all the tables. He looked down at the A4 sheet in his hand and tried to make sense of what he was seeing.
The image was of an old flabby woman. She was on all fours with a lewd expression on her face, and wearing fire-engine red lingerie that would have looked tacky on the prettiest of girls. Behind her was a man clearly shagging her, doggy-style. Liam’s face burned as it dawned on him that someone had super-imposed his picture over the man’s face, making it look like he was the one banging the old crone.
Humiliated, he looked to his friends for help. Paul was laughing uncontrollably and Scott could only offer him a sympathetic shrug. The whole dining room was laughing having seen Liam’s entire range of emotions play out on his face.
‘You can all fuck off!’ he shouted, grabbing his bag. Burning with embarrassment and not caring about anything other than escaping the stares and laughter of half the school, Liam barged through the fire exit. Once he was out of sight of the dining room, and with the fire alarm blaring in his ears, he ran, aiming to put as much distance between himself and his humiliation as possible.
Liam refused to go to school for the rest of the week.
His mum had tried to find out what was wrong with him, but gave up quickly when she realised she wasn’t getting anywhere.
Paul and Scott had texted him when he didn’t turn up for school. Paul was typically unsympathetic, whereas Scott tried to be supportive.
Liam was pissed off with Paul. He was supposed to be his best mate, but all he’d done recently was laugh at his misery. What kind of mate did that? Even if he hadn’t publicly stood up for him, he didn’t expect him to be so cruel in private.
Scott’s message might’ve been supportive, but he didn’t want his pity. Scott was even further down the food chain than Liam. Mind you, that was before someone spread pictures of him shagging a toothless old granny.
The week after he refused to go to school was half-term, which meant there was even more time for Liam to recover from the social hand grenade that had been lobbed in his direction. He spent all his time in his room playing video games – where he set his status to ‘offline’ – and avoiding social media. He didn’t want to talk to anyone and ignored the messages he received.
After a few days, he grew bored of playing video games by himself and his curiosity as to whether anything had been said about him on social media. Tentatively, he logged back into Facebook and checked his notifications – he didn’t appear to have been tagged in anything at least.
He spent the next few hours scrolling through his timeline and checking the profiles of the people most likely to want to add to his mortification. He relaxed and relief flooded through him as he realised there was nothing to see. It occurred to him that even if someone had shared the picture, it was likely Facebook would have taken it down pretty quickly; nudes were a quick way to find yourself in Facebook jail too.
Feeling better, Liam shared a few memes and stopped hiding his presence online.
He was trying to decide if a particular meme would land him in trouble with his mum – she’d given him no choice but to add her as a friend – when he received a notification telling him he had a DM. The anxious feeling returned in his belly as he clicked on the icon to see who it was from.
Wanted to see if you were okay after what happened at school last week. I know you haven’t been in and I haven’t seen you online, that’s all. X
It was from Kirsty. She was probably the last person Liam expected to receive a message from. She’d made it clear on Valentine’s Day she wasn’t interested, and she’d been laughing just as much as everyone else in the dining hall.
Like you care, you were laughing along with the rest of them.
He owed her nothing, he definitely didn’t need to be nice to her.
I know and I’m sorry. I was just going along with everyone else, but I could see when you ran out the door how upset you were. X
I didn’t run. I stormed, there’s a difference.
Okay, but I wanted you to know I’m sorry and make sure you’re okay. x
Liam didn’t know how to reply. He was still pissed off with her, twice she’d been involved in his embarrassment, but she was hot and he couldn’t help but fancy her.
He was pondering over what to say when another message came through.
Listen, what are you up to tonight? Fancy meeting? I could make it up to you… x
Liam’s eyes widened. Was she really saying what he thought she was? Could this be his chance to finally stop making a liar out of himself?
What about Scott? I thought you were seeing him now.
There was no way Liam was putting himself out there without checking the facts. Mind you, what did he care if she was still seeing him? This was every man for himself and if Scott couldn’t keep his bird happy, how was that Liam’s fault?
Nah, he’s a shit kisser. x
He thought it over for no longer than a minute before he made a decision.
Okay, where? What time? X
Meet me in the park – half an hour? x
Liam looked at his watch. Half an hour meant he would be able to have a quick shower, change his clothes and get to the park in time.
I’ll meet you by the swings, see you in half an hour. X
Liam burst into action and twenty minutes later he was heading out the front door. Hearing his mum calling behind him he pinged her a text to say he was meeting his mates and not to worry.
The park was made up of a large grassy field and a play area off to one side. The only illumination came from street lights that ran along the path circumnavigating the whole field. It meant the majority of the play park, and particularly the swings, were in darkness. If he really was going to pop his cherry with Kirsty, there was no way he wanted there to be any chance of an audience.
In the distance he could hear the cars on the nearby roads, but he had yet to encounter anyone since he turned off the path and made his way over to the playground. Perching on the edge of one of the swings he stuffed his cold hands in his pocket and felt the serrated edge of the condom wrapper; he’d brought it along, just in case.
Nerves and the cold started to kick in as he waited for Kirsty to arrive. His thoughts slid to whether or not the plummeting temperature would affect his ‘performance’ and he wished he’d thought things through some more. It was too late though, if he chickened out it would be spread round the school that he’d turned down sex on a plate and that would be his reputation ruined irreparably.
Liam checked his watch, Kirsty was five minutes late. How long was he going to wait? What if it was all a joke and they were watching him from the bushes to see how long he hung around for a shag that wasn’t going to happen?
His spiralling thoughts only served to wind him up and he was on the brink of leaving when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He whirled round and peered into the darkness.
‘Liam?’ a voice whispered.
Liam huffed out a relieved breath, it was Kirsty. ‘I’m here, sat on the swings.’
He heard the footsteps coming closer and when she was a few metres away he could see her shadowed in the darkness.
‘Hi,’ she said, smiling shyly.
‘Hi,’ he replied, wishing he sounded more confident.
They smiled at each other, neither one of them knowing what to do next. Liam decided to take charge.
‘Shall we sit on that bench? Be easier to talk.’
‘Sure.’
Once they were both seated, Kirsty leaned into him a little, and taking it as a sign, Liam put his arm around her.
‘I’m really sorry about taking the piss out of you, by the way,’ she said, glancing up at him.
He pulled her in tighter as she looked away. ‘It’s okay.’ He wasn’t about to ruin his chances by telling her what a little cow she’d been over the last couple of weeks.
‘Really? You forgive me then?’ she said, looking up at him again.
Their faces were inches from each other.
‘Really,’ he murmured, lowering his face until his lips met hers.
The kiss was soft, tentative at first, he was nervous, but when he felt her respond positively his urgency grew. Before he knew it, she had her hand down his trousers and was encouraging his hard-on with firm strokes. He groaned and grabbed at her breasts with his free hand, not entirely sure of what he was doing, but knowing he felt good.
After a couple of minutes Kirsty pulled away; they were both panting heavily and Liam hoped to God she hadn’t changed her mind, not now they were getting to the good stuff. She stood up and gently pulled him to his feet.
‘What are—?’
She put her finger to her lips and shushed him silently. He obeyed and watched as she undid his belt and jeans. She slid slowly to her knees and yanked down his trousers and underwear, exposing him entirely from the waist down, his raging boner standing proud. Dear God, she’s going to suck me off!
Liam’s excitement was short-lived when he heard Kirsty shout, ‘Now!’
Before he knew what had happened, there were lights dazzling him.
Smile for the camera, Wallace!
It’s like a dick, only smaller!
And the laughter; the mocking laughter drilled into the centre of his brain.
He didn’t know how many people were there, but they all appeared to have the torches on their phones pointing at him and he could hear the clicks of the cameras as they took picture after picture.
Liam wrenched up his underwear and trousers and ran, holding them up with one hand. He didn’t stop to fasten them until the laughter had faded in his ears and all he could hear above the noise of the traffic were his own sobs as tears coursed down his cheeks.
International Women’s Day: A History
Frankie Currington
By now, most of you will probably have heard of International Women’s Day, and you may even know a bit about what it’s for – HINT: The clue is in the title! – but do you know how it all got started?
International Women’s Day (IWD) as we know it started in 1975 when it was celebrated for the first time by the United Nations. Two years later the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by each of the member states. The date of 8th March actually originates from a strike by Russian Women in 1914.
But the history of IWD goes back to 1910, when the idea was proposed by Clara Zetkin at the annual International Conference of Working Women. Unsurprisingly, the idea was met with much enthusiasm.
Clara was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany for a number of years. She was the editor of their newspaper for women, ‘Die Gleichheit’ (Equality) for 25 years and became leader of their women’s office in 1907. Her idea for International Women’s Day was first recognised on 19th March 1911 by over a million women in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.
Since 1996 International Women’s Day has had an annual theme. The first was ‘Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future’, with the most recent being, ‘Choose to Challenge’. IWD also has its own colours which pay homage to the women’s suffrage movement from the early 20th century. Purple stands for justice and dignity; green stands for hope; and white stands for purity. The latter has attracted some controversy due to its associations with virginity.
Many people will question the relevance of IWD in the 21st century, but according to the World Economic Forum none of us will see gender parity in our lifetime, and neither will our children. They estimate it could take 100 years.
Oh… and if you’re reading this and asking, ‘But when is International Men’s Day?’, the answer is 19th November.
Chapter Seven
Frankie turned round and pushed her way through the crowds of people trying to get to the bar. They were in The Albanach on the Royal Mile, one of her and Amy’s favourite pubs. The carved wooden bar ran most of the length of one side of the space and the walls behind, from the counter up, were crammed full of bottles; whisky everywhere. It was Friday night and pub-goers stood shoulder to shoulder.
She spotted Amy waving at her frantically from the other side of the pub, having found them a table. Thank God. Frankie’s feet were killing her and standing up all evening would have put a downer on her good mood.
After sliding sideways around a group of teenagers who had no intention of making room to let her past, Frankie placed the wine cooler on the table.
Amy plucked the champagne flutes from the bucket. ‘Oo! Moët, we really are celebrating.’
‘Why not? Sid’s promised to give me similar assignments in the future and I say that calls for celebration.’
‘That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.’ Amy offered Frankie the bottle. ‘You want to do the honours?’
Frankie beamed and took the bottle from her friend, raising it into the air she pressed her thumbs against the cork. It released with a crack and soared through the air and into the crowd. A cheer went up from the throng of people crammed into the bar, and Frankie and Amy giggled as they watched a young boy’s eyes open wide in shock as the cork shot passed his ear.
Frankie poured two glasses and passed one over to Amy, who raised it aloft and proposed a toast.
‘To you, Frankie. You’re going to change the world with your writing.’
‘I don’t know about the world, but I’ll settle for Edinburgh. Cheers!’
‘Cheers!’
Frankie took a mouthful of the delicious apple-tasting champagne and closed her eyes while she savoured the sensation of the bubbles fizzing on her tongue. She opened her eyes and gave the glass full of deliciousness an appraising look. ‘Now that is some good stuff.’
‘It really is. So, is Sid going to let you choose your assignments, or make suggestions?’
Frankie shook her head. ‘I’m really not sure. I have these ideas swirling around and I want to do them all now. I’m supposed to have a meeting with him on Monday, so I guess I’ll find out then. I do know I’m not going to be railroaded into being their go-to reporter for all things feminism.’
‘God no. The last thing you want is to be stuck with that tag.’
‘Exactly!’
Frankie dug out her phone to check if she had any messages from Todd. She’d rung him earlier, but he hadn’t answered, so she’d left him a message letting him know she was going out to celebrate and asking if he wanted to come along.
‘Have you heard from him?’ asked Amy.
‘No, but then he has been working this afternoon. I’m sure his shift should’ve finished by now though.’
Amy lifted an eyebrow. ‘You don’t know when his shift finishes?’
‘Not exactly. It’s hard to keep track, they keep changing all the time.’ Frankie ought to know when her boyfriend’s shifts were, but they’d never really been that sort of couple. They did their own thing a lot of the time and if Todd wasn’t in when she got home from work, it was never a problem.
‘You have had a lot on your mind recently.’ Amy poured them each another glass of champagne, letting Frankie off the hook.
