She smiled as she spoke softly
“ Well my mum recently started her own business as she didn’t like her boss and unfortunately we can't afford to pay for the tuition so as we lived nearby I was lucky enough to get into this school.”
She looked down as she finished this sentence, almost unsure if being here was really what she wanted. I looked at her and tried to convey a friendly smile as I said.
“ it must have been hard for you to leave your friends behind and come here, but don’t worry
we are more than happy to be your new friends”
As I said this the other member of our group smiled, laughed and gave a resounding yeah in response. She smiled clearly at the fact that we were all so willing to accept her.
“it was but i'm glad I have all of you, especially since my old friends won't talk to me now I go to a public school”
She again looked down as she spoke these words. I couldn’t help myself. I reached out and took her hand in a comforting motion. It wasn’t my smartest move but most likely due to how she was feeling she didn’t pull away from it. I felt my heart flutter again for a second as our hands touched. I looked at her face and saw she was smiling at me. Clearly this comforting movie had the desired effect and she seemed much happier. We spent the rest of the lunch break discussing how her old friends weren’t proper friends and finding reasons that were good for her not to be talking to them anymore. We shared a few laughs as I explained how the school clique system worked and even took her round to see the different areas where the groups would congregate. Not long after the bell went signalling the end of lunch period. I slowly went and collected my bags and waved goodbye to Abbey and everyone else.
The end of the day could not come quick enough and their was only one lesson left, my most hated subject. Religious studies, now don’t get me wrong I have nothing against people who wish to believe in gods or a god or whatever it is they want to believe in. and that’s not to say that I don’t believe there would be a god, I have just never experienced anything to conclusively show god exists and I also don’t agree with people fighting over religion either. Either way I did not enjoy the subject and my teacher Mr watts knew this and we would often lock horns over religious debates. Today was different when I walked in I saw Abbey was sat at my desk. We normally sat two to a desk however I had always been sat on my own so as not to distract the other students. I sat myself down and immediately said hello to abbey. I had arrived a couple of minutes late and everyone was doing a worksheet about the original sin and how adam had been seduced by eve and the snake. As Mr Watts spoke about the original sin he placed emphasis on the fact that if eve had not been their then adam would not have sinned. Abbey raised her hand as he was talking and he took her question
“If Eve hadn’t been there surely Adam would have still eaten the apple ? if god knows all and sees all then he must have known Adam would eat the apple ? Also Adam must have on some level wanted to eat the apple anyway as otherwise he would have just said no to Eve and let her eat it without eating any himself ?”
Mr watts looked stunned. He was used to this kind of behaviour from me but not from another student. I couldn’t help myself. I chuckled a little as I saw his reaction. He had no clue what to say to this and the look on his face reflected this even more so. He paused before responding
“ If God had not created Eve then there would have been no one to tempt Adam into eating the apple as the serpent wouldn’t have been able to convince Eve to eat and share the apple.”
Abbey looked at him almost as intently as I did as he squirmed abbey again raised her hand ready to ask yet another question when mr watts waved his hand and spoke
“ no more questions please finish your worksheets and pages 4 through to 10”
The class went silent as everyone got on with the work that had been set for them. Both me and Abbey talked In hush tones to each other about our reasons as to why we thought r.e was pointless. It turned out we had a lot in common especially when it came to religious views. Once the lesson had ended and everyone had got their stuff together we started leaving. I normally walked home with mick as he lived in a block of flats at the top of my road. Mick and I walked home with Abbey and when we reached the flats I asked if either of them would like to come round later to play some games or read some comics. Mick said he would be up for doing that for an hour or two but nothing more as he had a lot of homework. Abbey on the other hand said she was unable to do so as she had to get home to let her mum know how school went and help her unpack her things. That’s when I realised. I haven’t seen her around before because she had only just moved in.