"Oh my god! RIVVY!" A scream pierced my ears, and I physically flinched at the pure volume and pitch of the noise.
"What?" I shouted back, my ears ringing and buzzing in response to the abnormal sound.
"You're not going to believe this!" I finally recognised her voice as she jumped onto my back, wrapping her arms and legs tightly around my neck and torso while squealing.
"Woah-" I stumbled forwards from the impact, struggling to steady my balance. "Well? Tell me then." I sassed, getting a hold of her legs and beginning shuffling over in the general direction of Harry.
"You see, there's apparently a new kid joining today and you know what that means." I could sense her wiggling her eyebrows after that last statement, however, I honestly had no clue what she was getting at.
After staying silent for a few moments, she whacked me across the back of my head before wrapping her arms securely around my neck once again. "Dumb ass hoe." She muttered and I rolled my eyes, not bothering to try and fight my way out of this one as I knew she would manage to outdo me somehow.
"That means we get a new kid to terrify and flirt with because they've gotta find at least one of us attractive, surely."
"What if they're asexual and aromatic?" I sniggered, earning another smack to the back of my head, and I whined in discomfort.
"Oh do shut up." She hopped off my back as soon as we reached the school gate, Harry giving each of us a quick smile before turning to walk through the entrance of hell.
"Everyone's going to be waiting by the principles office, so come on!"
Lila I swear to gOD-
With that, she grabbed both of our sleeves and ran in the direction of the room where she presumed everyone would be. Turns out she was correct as almost every person in our year was stood outside, eagerly awaiting to see the new person and bombard them with kind remarks.
Or most of them would.
I felt a tap to my shoulder which caused me to turn around, almost hitting them in the process.
"Mind your arm!" Cole whisper-shouted after managing to dodge the offending obstacle, and I let out a small snigger.
"Anyway, James and Ash are going to show up any minute now and most likely cause a scene so just don't-"
Cole was cut off with squeals and gasps as the door to the office was pushed open, revealing a dark haired male with piercing chocolate eyes. His hair fell down in curls, and his lips, which were pulled into a smirk-like smile, were lush and soft looking.
"Why do I always get interrupted?" Cole grumbled, causing a small chuckle to escape my lips.
"Hey there hun! Welcome to this wonderful school of ours. My names Lila and I will be your personal guide." She bounded forward, instantly linking arms with the new kid, and dragged him forward.
Feeling my instincts kick in, I lunged for them and pulled her back by the collar of her sweatshirt, sending the pair falling back onto me.
As the crowd stared directly at us, Harry jumped to catch Lila while the new kid came toppling down on top of me with a shout of panic.
I closed my eyes, awaiting the impact, however it never arrived. Yet when I owned my eyes, I was stood upright with one pair of arms around my waist and another around my neck.
"What the fuchsia?" I exclaimed after realising that the person wrapped in my arms with his head tucked into my chest was non other than the new kid, who really needed an actual name to be referred by, and that Ash was stood behind me, hands digging into the little bits of fat on my hips.
Everyone was stood, wide eyed at the scene that was taking place before their eyes at this very moment.
No one dared to make a noise, until an extremely unfamiliar and muffled voice spoke.
"You smell really good."
And that was the start of whatever the hell you would call this relationship-to-be.
âââââ â â
"Wait so... you're a transfer student? Why'd you have to move?" I asked, curiosity dripping from every word I spoke.
"That... doesn't matter right now. So, what's up with that Ash guy, huh? He had his hands all over you."
I blushed violently as my two besties sniggered at Thorn Chesters, the new kids, words, and I felt like sinking into the floor from embarrassment.
"You see, the two of them may have shared a few intense moments in the past," Lila began, taking a pause to think out her next words.
"Ash is homophobic though, and a complete dickhead." Harry finished the sentence for her, and I honestly felt like dying from sheer awkwardness.
This conversation lasted another ten minutes as they proceeded to fill Thorn In in every single, and very unnecessary, detail.
"Woah woah woah, hold up a second. So Ash kissed Riv before making up a rumour saying that Rivvy tried to force himself on him and made some picture of it or some shit, then you all played laser tag where the two of you then made out down a sketchy alleyway yet again before he became really bitchy? And then after that some random girls gave you a manicure and you were suddenly besties, but besides that, Ash now hates you but continues to touch you constantly?" Thorn questioned, not taking a break and saying it all in one go.
I didn't miss how he was unbelievably not out of breath.
"Don't miss out the parts where James almost put him in a coma like twice, as well as Alec trying to help us and Cole going to try and tell Riv that he was gonna start being all asshatish." Lila reminded him, to which he replied with a firm nod.
You also missed out one vital detail, but how could I expect you to know that when I never told you.
"Now you say it like that, it sounds like some shitty plot from a terrible, trying-to-be-humorous-yet-horribly-failing book," Harry deadpanned, eyes lidded yet his lips were turned into a smile.
"Also, why are we telling you all this? We hardly know you." Harry finished, suddenly realising that we had just told a random stranger our whole dramatic experience of year 12.
Thorn chuckled softly, eyes crinkling as a wide grin spread across his face. "Never fear, you can trust me. But I do have one final question." His voice was smug and suspicious, and in response to that I inhaled deeply, preparing for the worst.
"Do you have a crush on Ash?"
I choked out the breath before covering my mouth, eyes wide.
The other two let out sniggers as I did so, and I felt like punching the pair in the face with such harshness, their bones splintered.
"I'll take that as a yes." He smirked, winking in my direction with his dark cinnamon orbs.
Laughing awkwardly, I stood and began edging towards the door, thinking I was being conspicuous when I probably looked like a spy dressed in bright pink with neon lights sticking out reading, 'HE'S HERE AND GUILTY AS EVER'.
"I'm going to get some pasta... and lemonade, would you like anything?" I asked, trying to sound relatively normal.
"Pizza for me, and for Harry as well as another two lemonades. You want anything Thorn?" Lila commanded and I rolled my eyes, telling myself I would convince her to pay me back later.
"I'll have the same as you, Riv."
With that, I bolted out of the room and blushed furiously as I went skipping down the stairs, unaware of what was about to happen.
"Gah!" I exclaimed as I suddenly tripped over something, sending me flying forward and plummeting towards the bottom of the stairs which was at least two meters down.
SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHI-
Just as I was about to hit the ground, my body collided with something that wasn't the floor, yet was still as hard as a rock.
"OW!" I yelled as whatever I happened to hit went tumbling down with me, shouting out in pain at the impact of my falling as well as hitting the floor.
Dazed from the fall and the adrenaline, I stayed unmoving for a long moment before the person under me let out a groan. "Well that was a bad fucking idea." They said, and instantly I could tell who it was.
"Oh!" I hurried in my actions, scrabbling to stand up before mentally debating whether to hold out my hand for them or not. "S-sorry James. I, er, didn't see you coming."
I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, cringing at myself.
"It's, ouch, fine. To be honest, this one was my fault." He stood up slowly, brushing himself down and shaking his head.
I forgot how to breathe for a second after those fairly kind words left his lips, so I stood, absentmindedly staring off at nothing in particular and not noticing how he clicked his fingers in front of my face.
"Hey twinky, pay attention." He snapped, and I was swiftly pulled back into reality.
"O-oh, sorry." I muttered, looking down at the ground after the intimidating look he gave me.
"Stop apologising so much, it's annoying." And with that, he left. Turning on his heels and setting off in the direction from which he came.
I took a double take, checking that it was actually James Witner who just passed and didn't try to beat me up, before continuing on my path to the canteen.
âââââ â â
"Erm... you good?" Scars voice rung through my ears, and I spun around out of shock from her unexpected talking.
Just as I was about to start speaking, she gestured to my arms, and I looked down before remembering I was holding about the entire contents of the canteen in my arms. "Oh, that." I replied, laughing at my own idiocy.
"Yeah I'm fine, and I'm not a glutton by the way. This is for four people." She sighed from relief after my assurance, before joining in my laughing.
"Good. I was about to question how you have such a good figure if you eat that much. Who's the fourth person though?" She asked inquisitively, smiling in the process.
"Thorn Chester. We're getting to know him a bit and I got sent on food duty."
"Ahh nice." She replied, eyes creased from her smile.
We continued to spend over five minutes talking and laughing before I decided that I should probably get back to the others since the food was getting cold, so we parted ways after agreeing to pair up in PE.
I hurried back to the art room, waving at Alicia on the way, and entered to find the three of them all huddled together around one phone.
"What are you all looking at?" I asked suspiciously, edging forward with the food wrapped tightly in my arms.
"IM STARVING!" Lila yelled as she stood up and ran to me, so I quickly placed the items on a table before she began attacking me to get to them.
I proceeded to pick up a lemonade and a pot of pasta before walking over and handing them to Thorn who thanked me, and then doing the same for Harry. Finally, I sat down and began nibbling at my own.
"So? What were you looking at?" I pressed again now we were all sat in a circle, and the three of them nearly choked on their various foods.
Giving each other wary glances, Thorn sighed before beginning to talk. "They showed me the real and edited picture, and we may have come up with something you will find interesting."
His voice turned from guilty to smug in a matter of seconds and I blinked a few times, trying to guess what they might have thought of.
"Yeah? I'm all ears." I said softly after deciding that they could tell me as I couldn't be bothered to think.
"We're going to work together to make him pay, and we won't stop until he's kneeling at your feet, begging for mercy."
âââââ â â
Things are about to get very interesting, and I hope you brought your popcorn with you. Don't forget the tissues for both tears of laughter and sadness!
It probably annoys you all that I say thank you at the end of every chapter, but I honestly mean it so much. Every single view, vote or comment gives me a boost of happiness and confidence that one, people actually like my writing, and two, can actually find me from all over the world.
Anyway, sappy talk over, see you next chapter.
- Storm ð¹