Chapter Two of Strange Fate
-This chapter is a little boring. But NEXT CHAPTER SOMETHING INTERESTING WILL HAPPEN SO PLEASE READ!-
I fell asleep in English. Our teacher, Mrs Pierce, has a tendency to drone on and on about pointless crap that will in no way help us in our lives; yet if we zone out, she treats it as if we’ve just murdered someone, and sends us outside to reflect on what we’ve done. That’s exactly what happened when, while she was telling us about the importance of punctuation, I rested my head on the desk and closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, the room was silent apart from a few whispers, and the corner of my mouth was wet with drool. I looked up to find Mrs Pierce glaring down at me, anger blazing in her grey eyes.
“Jasmine Parker, outside – I will talk to you in a minute.” She ordered, pointing to the door. I shrugged and slumped out of the room.
I wasn’t usually a trouble maker. Infact, I was almost always being a good girl and abiding the rules. But today wasn’t a usual day. This morning, a strange, mysterious boy had walked into our classroom, after not even signing up as a student. Then, he’d been taken out by Miss Lavender; and he hadn’t returned at all during the rest of registration. So, naturally, I wanted to think things through, make guesses at why he was so different, and I couldn’t do that if I was concentrating on commas and exclamation points. And besides, I’d had a late night last night. Everything had caught up on me now, and I guess I’d fallen asleep.
I stood outside E6, which happened to be just down the corridor from the headmaster’s office. The hall was silent, and I leaned against the wall, glad I finally had space to think. The words Louis said about Harry had stuck into my mind; “He acts so strange... And I’m going to find out why.”
As I stood there in the empty corridor, I realised that I wanted to find out why, too.
In the distance, I could hear the familiar click-clacking of high heels on the polished floor. I craned my next to look down the corridor, and saw Miss Lavender walking down the hallway, towards Mr Miller’s office, Harry Styles trailing along behind her.
“Now that you’re all registered, I need to talk to the headmaster about your outfit.” She stopped walking and looked Harry up and down, her eyes moving from his tatty trainers to his messy hair and back. “You do realise that what you’re wearing is completely not allowed?”
“I realise.” Harry muttered, his green eyes glued to the floor.
“Wait here, then. I’ll be back in a minute.” Miss Lavender said, knocking on the head’s office twice. There was a pause, and the door creaked open. The teacher disappeared inside, leaving me and Harry alone in the corridor.
There was an awkward silence. I didn’t want to talk to Harry, or even look at him. I hated him.
“Funny how purple hair is allowed, but converse shoes aren’t.” He said suddenly, and I was surprised by how confidently he spoke. I looked up at him, to make sure that it was actually this weird, mysterious boy who had said those words. He was smiling at me. I noticed that his white teeth were straight, and he had a dimple on either corner of his mouth. It was cute.
His smile vanished instantly and he went back to staring at the floor. I chewed my lip, confused.
“I’m not weird, you know.” Harry said, his voice echoing down the silent corridor. He let the words hang in the air for a few seconds, then continued, his head still bent over. He seemed to be extremely interested in the floor. “I know you think I am. I heard you and your friend talking.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I was thankful when at that moment, Miss Lavender emerged from Mr Miller’s office and said to Harry, “You’re not in luck. He’s in a bitter mood right now. I’ve got to go, so have fun.”
She went off down the corridor, heels click-clacking away, and Harry shrugged.
“Wish me luck.” He said grimly, putting a large hand on the silver door handle. After a deep breath he pushed it down and went into the room, leaving me alone again. Ten seconds later, Mr Miller’s shouts, despite being slightly muffled by the door, echoed down the hallway.
Mrs Pierce came out of the classroom then, her eyebrows knitted together in frustration and her lips formed into a thin line.
“Jasmine, I wasn’t expecting this of you. It’s very unlike you.”
“I know, Miss. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I guess I’d just had a late night last night...”
Well, that was true, at least. Last night, Louis had come round, and we’d sat on my bed, shoving popcorn into our mouths and discussing what we’d be doing for my birthday next month.
“We need to do something MASSIVE! It is your sweet sixteen, after all.” Louis had said, taking a swig of coke straight from the bottle. “What about a party?”
I considered this. “A party would be amazing.” I sighed. “But I don’t know if I can afford it. Mum’s strict, and I doubt she’d pay for a venue.”
“Have it here, then! A house party!”
“Mum wouldn’t let me-”
“My house, then! Come on, it would be so cool!”
“I’ll think about it.” I said, but Louis took that as a yes.
“Great! Okay, so what day? Your birthday’s on the Saturday, right? Ooh, what food are we gonna have? And we’ve got to get a killer band.”
I laughed. “Louis, you’re such an idiot. I haven’t even decided whether I want one or not.”
The truth was, though, I was craving for a party. I hadn’t ever been to a proper one, unless you count lame family do’s where your Granddad takes to the dance floor and embarrasses the hell out of you. A party, especially a party organised by Louis, who was the most fun, crazy guy you could meet, would be perfect.
I looked at him, and he gazed at me with puppy dog eyes, his bottom lip curled over in a pout.
“Oh, fine.” I said, exasperated. “We’ll have a party.”
“Yessssss!” Louis cheered, jumping up and down on his knees on the bed, which resulted in the bowl of popcorn being knocked over.
“You twat!” I yelled as the salty snacks rolled down the bed covers and onto the floor. I slapped Louis playfully, which was usually my favourite thing to do, and he pushed me onto my back, staring intently into my eyes. He was sitting with his knees on either side of my hips, his head right above mine so I could almost taste his sugary breath, his fingernails digging into my wrists as he forced my hands against the duvet.
This wasn’t in any way a romantic moment, but to most people it would look like he was about to bend down and press his lips against mine. As for Louis and I, we knew there was nothing passionate between us whatsoever. For when I was there lying on my back on my bed, and he was on top of me, I used one swift movement to kick him in the shin, then pushed him off me and threw him a cheeky grin.
“Ouch, that hurt!” He protested, rubbing his leg.
“Well, it hurt my feelings when you spilt my popcorn everywhere.” I teased. “Clear it up.”
“Oh, shut up.” He laughed, but obediently started scooping up popcorn and tossing it back into the bowl.
*
“Anyway, miss.” I said now, Mrs Pierce’s eyes still burning into mine. “I’m sorry.”
“Good. Now come back inside, and if it happens again, you’ll be straight to Mr Miller.”
I gulped. I could still clearly hear the headmaster yelling at Harry, and thought back to what Louis said. “Mr Miller will slaughter him.” By the tone and volume of Mr Miller’s voice, I knew now that Louis was probably right. Harry was indeed getting slaughtered.
