Page 44 of Tears of Glass

I can do this.

Pushing through the door, I hold my head up high. The lights are down, I’m late. I slip into a chair at the back where no one can see me and tune myself in to what Professor Wilks is saying. If he sees me, he doesn’t acknowledge me, which I’m eternally grateful for.

It’s break when the questions start coming. Mainly from Meg who wants to know all about Bowsley and if the rumours about Elijah Fairclough and I are true.

“You got a lucky break there, Faith.” She drops her head to one side, analysing me as she might a lump of clay, her blonde ponytail slipping over her shoulder. Someone give me a pair of scissors and I’ll cut the bloody thing off.

I know luck had nothing to do with it. Elijah Fairclough sought me out, but what’s the point of telling her that.

“Lucky, that’s me.”

“Is it true you smashed a giant glass heart at a grand ball?”

I shrug. “It wasn’t that giant.”

She whistles through her teeth.

“Okay, guys, come around,” Gerard calls to everyone. The afternoon session is my favourite. I love practical. I step forward grinning at my own excitement. And I wasn’t going to come back?

Elijah knew that, didn’t he? That this is where I’m happiest. Playing and messing with materials, seeing what I can create.

I keep breathing steadily. While I love learning in practical, I hate being around the other students. Meg is almost bouncing on the spot and I want to grab a hammer and beat her down with it. Lydia, another of the quieter students sends me an eye roll and I stifle a smile.

“Okay. Grab a welding mask and a burner. We are getting hot today.” Gerard points at the big tub full of safety equipment. I scrunch my face but follow the others over. I would have brought my own kit this morning if I’d known. I didn’t even have my reusable shopping bags with me for my unfulfilled trip to Tesco, let alone anything for class.

Once we are kitted out, our masks perched on our heads, Gerard flashes me a sly smile. “Faith is going to show us how to work with metal.”

I splutter everywhere. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Just like you did with that glass heart, can you show the others how to smelt the metal to encase and hold another object.”

Meg is glaring at me and beneath my ink my whole body is burning with a blush. “I’d rather not.”

“I’d rather you did.” As if to make the point Gerard steps back and folds his arms across his chest, leaning a hip against one of the workbenches.

He can’t be for real? Surely.

Everyone watches me. There isn’t much for me to do apart from step up and give a lame smile. “I’ve only done this once before.” This is the truth. Bowsley was my first time. I lock down the thought that Bowsley was a first for many things.

I centre myself and try to remember what it felt like those last couple of days at Bowsley, when I was scrambling for an idea for a centrepiece. Removing all logic, I grab a slender rod of steel and a polished stone the size of an egg. “The trick is,” I say. “To move quick once you are ready. The longer you wait, the more work you end up doing when you have to reheat it all again.”

I lose myself as the torch flames against the steel and we all wait for it to be on the verge of melting.

I’ve managed to get everyone to wrap their steel around a rock and suspend it in such a way each rock is interlocked together, when a phone rings.

I chuckle. That’s the lamest ring tone I’ve ever heard. Boyz II Men belt out ‘End of the Road’ so loud it’s as if it’s coming from a speaker.

“Anyone?” I grin as I look up. Most people, excluding Gerard and Lydia, look shocked by my display of white teeth. Jeez, am I that miserable? I mean I know I like to keep to myself, but I do smile—occasionally.

No one moves. This happened at Bowsley when Elijah had changed my ring tone to All Saints ‘Bootie Call’.

Shit.

I drop my equipment and march my way to where my bag is shoved in an unlocked locker at the back of the studio.

“What do you want?” I bark down the phone.

“I wanted to know if you fancied dinner?” Elijah is laughing. There is nothing funny at all. Why is he ringing me anyway? Why has he messed with my phone again?