My Best Friend Simon
by Andrew Passey
Chapter 7
It had been a tough shitty week for me. Probably the worst of my life. Being dumped by Jane on the Monday in front of everyone was incredibly humiliating and upsetting. I still had no idea why she had done it. I thought I'd been a pretty good boyfriend. We got on well together. Even if she didn't like me anymore there was no fucking justification for dumping me in front of the whole school.
I was a bit of a mess all week. I was miserable and depressed. I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed a few tears in bed at night when I was at my lowest ebb. Simon had been a bit off all week as well. Well when I say a bit off it was more that he wasn't quite as sympathetic as I'd have liked. Yes he said he was sorry about it but he would change the subject every time I would try and complain about how Jane treated me.
"You'll get over it, these things never last," he said on Friday morning when I was moping around with him at break time.
"Easy for you to say Si! You weren't the one in love with her. Or the one who got publicly humiliated by that evil cow."
"She dumped you. It doesn't make her evil."
"She didn't just dump me! She did it in public! She did it front of the whole fucking school!" My voice started to rise in indignation as I warmed up to my subject. Simon wasn't having any of it though.
"I'm sure she didn't mean to Jamie. Anyway I don't think it's doing you any good talking or thinking about her. We should probably get ourselves back to the classroom ready for double maths. What fun!"
"She did it Si, it wasn't my imagination! She clearly meant to humiliate me! But maybe you're right. I am thinking about it too much. Let's catch up over the weekend. Hanging out with my best mate will sort me out," I said forcing a grin on my face as I looked at him.
Simon looked every so slightly....uneasy I thought. Which was a bit strange. He then smiled though and looked his usual self.
"I'm not sure if I can. The olds have got loads of shit planned for me apparently but I'll give you a call if I can get out of it!" He replied, still smiling at me. I smiled back and we headed off to double maths together.
It was Saturday afternoon and I was home alone. I ran down the stairs to answer the ringing phone as quickly as I could hoping it was Simon. I was a bit bored and really wanted to spend some time with him.
"Hello 263478" I said, giving our number out as I always did.
There wasn't silence exactly, but no one said anything, but then I could hear breathing and faint sobs.
"Who is it? Is everything ok?" I asked in concern. My first thought was that it was one of our friends playing a trick but the faint sobs made me think it was more serious.
"They've fucked us Jamie. Totally fucked us over," Andrea's voice came on the line, barely audible in between her sobbing.
"Who has? What's happened?" I asked in confusion.
"Simon and Jane. That bastard and that bitch. They've dumped us and got together," Andrea said.
I almost dropped the phone in shock. Had she lost her mind? Simon would never do that to me. She must have been confused, I decided. However it soon turned out I was completely and utterly wrong. In between Andrea's sobs I slowly pieced together what had happened.
Andrea had got the train into Birmingham that morning to go and do some shopping. Jane had also been supposed to go shopping with her but had postponed until next weekend. She'd suggested Andrea not bother going until she was there to help her which Andrea agreed to. Once she was off the phone though Andrea decided to head into Birmingham herself. After all she loved shopping (fuck knows why!) and going two weekends in a row was no hardship for her.
All was normal until she got off the train at Birmingham New Street station. As she walked up the platform towards the stairs she saw Simon and Jane in front of her. She saw them holding hands, laughing together and finally kissing each other on the platform. They were clearly more than just friends.
If it was me I might have bided my time and follow them or wait and see what happened. Not Andrea though. She saw the red mist and she had gone and confronted them. She said she'd shouted at them causing a bit of a scene. They'd calmed her down and then Simon very apologetically dumped her leaving her crying on the platform. She'd come straight home still in a terrible mess and phoned me as soon as she got home.
"So they're definitely a couple?" I asked knowing the answer but not wanting to believe it.
"Jamie, they had their tongues so far down each other's throats they probably came out of their arses!l " Andrea said bitterly
She always had an interesting turn of phrase and was no different on this occasion! We talked for a while longer. Well Andrea talked and I listened. She was plotting revenge, murder even! My mind was wandering though. Every word she had said was like a bullet through my heart. How could Simon betray me? How could he do this to me? How could he lie to me?!
Once I was off the phone to Andrea I sat on the floor by the phone dumbfounded. My mind was whirring with dark thoughts and I didn't know what to do. I decided I needed to hear it from Simon. I didn't think Andrea was making it up but maybe he'd dumped her and she wanted to poison his friendship with me? I know it was a massive stretch but I needed to know for sure.
I stood up and I phoned Simon's house. I nervously waited for it to be answered. I hoped it would be his voice coming on the phone but his Mum answered.
"No sorry he's out Jamie," she said when I asked where he was.
"Oh ok. Can you get him to call me urgently please?"
"Of course Jamie. Is everything ok?"
"Not really but I really need to speak to him," I replied. I was tempted to ask if she knew anything but that would be pouring fuel on an already volatile situation
She said she'd get him to phone me as soon as he got home. After that it was a waiting game. The phone stayed silent though all afternoon however much I willed it to ring. My parents came back and asked why I was waiting by the phone. I fobbed them off with an pretty lame excuse but they didn't dig anymore.
Eventually I ran out of patience and I rang again after l'd had dinner. I was getting annoyed now. He must have been back and I knew his Mum would have told him to ring me.
Again rather than Simon it was his mum who answered.
"I'm sorry Jamie. I don't know what is going on with him. He says he can't speak to you now. Do you know what is going on?" She asked. I considered lying but I was at the end of my tether.
"I'm not totally sure which is why I need to talk to him but I think he's stolen my girlfriend," I said. She sounded shocked and said she was sure that wasn't the case. She promised to talk to him and get him to call me as soon as he could. The phone remained silent for the rest of the evening though. As I went to bed that night I felt more miserable than ever. Not only did it seem I'd lost my girlfriend but worst of all it seemed that she'd shacked up with my best mate. I hoped there was some sort of logical explanation that meant my fears weren't confirmed but this seemed highly unlikely.
This was now definitely the worst week of my life.
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