“Could you just hold that down for me, Coral?” Hayley asked, adjusting her fabric on the sewing machine.

“Sure,” I smiled, securing the polka dot silk for her.

Hayley was one of the very few people who I would consider a friend. We weren’t close, but she was someone who was openly friendly to me without caring what people thought. Most people didn’t want to know me and that didn’t bother me really. They thought I was just a quiet senior girl, not pretty or funny enough to be worth getting to be familiar with.

“Thanks,” Hayley beamed after fixing up some of the seams of the dress she was making.

I quite liked my Textiles class. Only a handful of students took it and so the ambience was generally calming and not too stressful. I got to make nice outfits and accessories that I never actually wore. I let the teacher keep them to use as examples for the younger years, nothing that beautiful would suit me anyway.

The both of us stood aside so that another girl could use the sewing machine that was now free.

“How’s that handbag coming along?” Hayley asked.

“Just need to work on the inner lining,” I replied, tucking a strand of my blonde hair behind my ear. “It’s actually almost finished.”

“You’re so good at bags, you know,” Hayley told me. “They always end up great.”

“Thanks. I think Miss might like this one a lot more than the previous ones I’ve done,” I said with a small smile, grateful for the compliment. “I used a slightly different technique with the stitching.”

“Oh that’s nice Coral...” the tone of Hayley’s voice had changed, she sounded wary.

There was a communal gasp and the other students started to shuffle back, away from me. I tensed up, feeling a needle of fear shoot up my spine. Hayley’s chocolate brown eyes were staring wide above my head and she bit into her bottom lip. I knew I had to turn around, and I held my breath as I did so.

“Hey,” Walter scratched the back of his head.

My heart jolted, not really believing what was right before me. Walter, here, in the classroom and talking to me? I felt like I was dreaming. It was too soon to see him again just after last night, and not to mention completely unexpected.

“Hi,” I croaked back, my breath caught up in my throat.

He stood in the doorway, towering over me. His black leather jacket was unzipped to reveal a fitted white v-neck over his sculpted body. Walter wasn’t smiling, but he looked a little uncertain, maybe of my reaction. After all, he wasn’t even acknowledging the presence of anyone else.

I was physically shaking and the fear of my fellow classmates made me even more frightened. What did he want? How did he even find me? I didn’t want to hang around to find out.

“Excuse me,” I said quietly and slid past him and out of the door.

I didn’t look back to see what happened behind me and rushed to the toilets to try and calm myself down. I knew I was blushing, rather violently, and I hoped that Walter hadn’t noticed before I’d escaped. I couldn’t help it, his gaze had been so fixed on me...and his eyes were lovely.

But, I knew not to be swayed. Just because the guy was attractive didn’t take away how dangerous he was. He was part of a gang who had no respect for the law, they weren’t supposed to be friendly people. That didn’t explain what Walter was doing here in the first place though.

I splashed cold water on my face to try and lessen the flush before going back out. I was half expecting for Walter to show up out of nowhere again, but I didn’t see him.

***

I spent most of my day keeping my eyes peeled for any sight of him. Walter had only been in school for a few hours and already the rumours had been circulating. It was common knowledge that out of the Simpson gang, Walter was the most easily angered. Apparently he’d already snapped multiple times at students and teachers, shouting and swearing, nothing out of the blue.

He and his brothers actually used to come to school regularly. Now, it was a much rarer occasion, apart from today. It had actually been almost a year since any of the Simpsons had attended school and it had been a lot calmer whilst they’d been absent. I supposed that the Santiagos had been to, and some probably still went to, a school in their own territory. As for my home and my school, they were both in the Simpson’s territory.

I was able to go through the rest of the day only seeing Walter once more from a distance, sitting disengaged in one of his classes as I walked by. I kept my head down, hoping not to make eye contact.

***

Having an hour break between after school and work today meant that I could quickly eat something to keep me going. I got back to my flat and made myself a bowl of pasta with a handful of salad on the side. After eating, I freshened myself up and got dressed in my uniform of neat black attire. Locking my apartment behind me I tucked my keys into my bag and started my walk to the pub which was in the centre of the London borough.

As I drew closer to the shopping complex, the streets became busier with people strolling about from restaurants and diners, to pubs and the parks. I stayed away from the darker, shaded areas. On my way, I spotted a group of boys near the wall of a building. I immediately recognised the Simpson triplets, three blond fifteen year olds. Rumours had it that they’d been to the youth detention centre plenty of times each, all three clearly following in their older brothers’ footsteps.

One triplet was eating a double cheeseburger quite successfully and another was leaning against a wall, his head bowed. He was so still, he could have been asleep. The last triplet was mingling amongst the people, never straying too far from his two brothers who were leaning against the wall. He seemed suspicious, maybe it was because his hood that was drawn up and obscuring his head, not that it stopped his blond fringe sticking out from underneath. I knew their names were Gomez, Giovanni and Severn, but I couldn’t tell who was who, not that I stayed around long enough to try and work it out.

I arrived at work five minutes early and decided to get a head start wiping down tables that had already been used. I found myself thinking about Walter and what exactly he had wanted to say. It kept coming back and I knew the only way to find out was to actually let him confront me.

I scoffed at the thought, easier said than done.