Chapter One

DISCLAIMER: Own nothing, just a fan of The Inbetweeners

I was sitting in the common room, pretending to be interested in a boring music video that my friend Carli was showing me on her phone. When she was totally immersed in the music, I took the chance to look away from the video. I glanced around the room, my eyes widening when I caught sight of Mark Donovan, the school bully, staring directly at us. I quickly looked away, feeling unsettled. It was not the first time I had seen Mark staring at us. I assumed he had a crush on Carli, but it was still weird as he never approached her about it. Besides, Carli had a boyfriend, Tom. I didn't like Tom but it was better than Carli dating the psycho who had threatened to kill my twin. I was sure Mark was just exaggerating when he said it, but I felt bad for my brother. Will could be a bit smug at times, he was socially awkward and liked to show off his intelligence too much but he was a good person. He didn't deserve to have Mark bully him. Sadly, my brother always attracted bullies to him and he had not seemed to have friends when he was at boarding school. Fortunately he had made three new friends at our new school, Rudge Park Comprehensive.

Will walked into the common room with his friends, who were Simon, Neil and Jay. Simon was nice, and hopelessly crushing on Carli. Neil was kind but not very bright. Jay was a compulsive liar, and very rude to his friends – especially my brother who he did not get along with but there was something special about him. I'm sure Jay never really noticed me, I was just his annoying friend's twin sister but I had noticed him before I even met him officially. Like Simon with his hopeless crush on Carli, I also had a hopeless crush on Jay.

"Carli, I'm just going to go and say hello to my brother quickly, I'll be back soon alright?" I smiled at the pretty blonde, feeling nervous about her reply. Although I had been friends with Carli for a few weeks now, ever since I was transferred to Rudge Park, I always felt a little on edge with her. She was sweet when she wanted to be, but she could also be quite cutting and mean at times. She was a popular girl, and I was not used to being friends with someone like her.

"I guess so, but make it quick, yeah?" Carli replied, frowning at me as she paused the video. "Louise isn't here yet and I don't really want to be sat on my own like some kind of loner. It's just not...good." She smiled at me. "You understand, don't you, hun?"

"Of course, I won't be gone long," I hastily got up from the couch we were sitting on and went over to where my brother was sitting with his friends.

"Your mum is well fit," I heard Neil say to Will as I approached them. Jay and Simon were sitting opposite to them, so I couldn't see their faces. "Do you think she'd mind dating a younger bloke?"

"No, I'm sure my mum would love to date the underage friend of her teenage son, a guy who is also a complete moron," Will stated sarcastically, looking disgusted with Neil. "Stop thinking about my mother, and don't talk about her in my presence. I've told you a million times, Neil. Just stop it."

"It's a shame your mum didn't pass her fit genes on to your sister," Jay laughed, then quietened down when Neil and Will said nothing, both looking at me from where I stood just directly behind Jay and Simon. Neil looked uncomfortable, and my brother looked shocked. Then his expression changed to one of anger. I knew he was not angry at me, he was mad at Jay for insulting me. "What? Hey, it's the truth. Her name suits her, doesn't it? She really is a plain Jane."

I felt devastated by his words. I had always known Jay did not like me, he had not ever bothered to be pleasant to me like his friends was but to hear him put me down really hurt me.

Simon twisted in his seat and his eyebrows rose a little in surprise and dismay when he saw me. "Oh shit," He looked at Jay. "You're such a fucking twat, Jay. Jane's right behind you, she heard it all."

I could not stand to be there anymore, so I ran out of the common room. I was so upset I did not even think to watch my surroundings, and I bumped straight into a classroom door that was ajar. I felt the pain of the impact, it was a shock to me as I fell down. My glasses slipped off my face and onto the floor. I sat up on my knees from where I had fallen, bringing my hand to my head. I felt a little dizzy and my face ached. I looked for my glasses, my heart sinking when I saw they were broken. I knew it would take a while for me to get a new pair, and in the mean time I would have to use the contacts the optician had given me to try out. I had never worn contacts before and I did not like the idea of them. I felt bad as I picked up the glasses and studied them more closely. I knew my mum was on a tight budget and it was expensive to get new glasses.

All of a sudden I felt hot tears forming and trickling down my face even as I tried to wipe them away with my hands. I was miserable and at that moment I wished I had never come to Rudge Park. I wanted to be back at my boarding school, which had only been for girls. Before I met Jay I had only fancied actors and singers, guys I knew were unobtainable and that I would never meet. It was different with Jay, although he was just as unobtainable for me I knew him, I saw him every day. He was real, and his rejection stung me deeply.

"Hey, are you ok?"

I gasped when I looked up and saw Mark standing over me. "I, I'm fine. Don't worry about me," I stood up onto my feet but I felt dizzy again and I ended up holding onto his arms to keep myself steady. "Sorry," I tried to let go of him once the dizzy spell passed, but he put his hands on my shoulders. I had to tilt my face upwards a little to look at him as was so tall compared to me. Mark had a strange, oddly comforting scent, a mixture of smoke, laundry detergent and a musky cologne clung to his uniform. His usual brooding expression was replaced by one that looked like concern.

"I'm gonna take you to the nurse, you have to get this checked out," He raised a hand to my face, brushing his knuckles against my cheek. Even just the gentle pressure of his hand on my face made me wince. "Yeah, you're gonna have a nasty bruise, Jane."

I was surprised he knew my name. Mostly if people knew me at school, it was through Carli. I was not the type of girl that stood out among the other students. "All right..." I replied, as I could see he really did want to help me. "But you can leave once we get there."

Mark stayed silent as he walked me to the nurse's office with his hand resting gently on my lower back. Although it felt surreal to be walking alongside Mark, I was glad he was there. When we got to the nurse's office, she ushered me inside straight away and shot Mark a look like it was his fault as he left. I quickly explained what happened, not wanting her to think badly of him when he was only being kind to me. She examined me, and told me I would be fine with some rest. The nurse called my mother at work, although I asked her not to do so.

"What happened, petal?" My mother asked as she rushed into the nurse's office where I had been waiting for around an hour. "Your face looks awful, sweetheart."

"It was just an accident, mum. I wasn't looking where I was going, and so...I hit a door." I sighed. "I'm sorry, mum, I broke my glasses."

"I'm taking you home, Jane," My mother hugged me tightly, and then put her arm around me as we walked out of the nurse's office. "Don't worry about the glasses, darling. It was time you had a new pair anyway. Perhaps a more modern frame this time..."

I saw Mark leaning against a wall, his hands in his pockets. When he saw us he stood up straight, and smiled at my mother. It was odd for me, as I was not used to seeing him smile. He looked more relaxed, and it suited him more than the sullen or hard expressions he often had on his face. "Hello, Mrs McKenzie. It's nice to see you again."

"Hello...Mark, isn't it? Oh, I hope you and Will sorted out the little disagreement you seem to have. Will is a bit delicate, he can't withstand too much roughhousing -"

"Mum!" I exclaimed, interrupting her as I was embarrassed on my twin's behalf. "Let's go home."

Mark's smile turned into a smirk. "Oh yeah, we've sorted everything out. I was just waiting to make sure Jane was alright. I found her after she hit her head, you see."

"Jane, you didn't tell me about this," My mother gave me a mildly reproachful look then looked back to Mark. "Thank you for helping my daughter. Would you like to come to dinner tonight at, say, 7pm? You could...what's the phrase I'm looking for...ah, I know what it is. You could 'hang out' with Will afterwards. I'm so glad you and he are on good terms again. Will never used to have friends at his old school. Poor little love, he was always so lonely there."

I tugged on my mother's arm, horrified that she had invited Mark to our house and had just given him more ammunition to tease my brother about. "Mum, I don't feel well," I lied. "Can we go home, please?"

"Yeah, sounds good, Mrs McKenzie," Mark's gaze fell onto me, a dark intensity in his brown eyes that puzzled me as I was not scared, I was just curious. "I look forward to seeing you and Jane later." He walked away, turning back to wave at my mother before disappearing into a crowd of students.

I sighed as I looked out of the window of my mother's car, not really watching as the scenery swiftly changed around us. "Mum...Will's going to be really upset with you," I frowned at her, but she paid no notice as she was focused on her driving.

"Don't be silly, petal. I'm sure this is a good idea. Will may be a little...reluctant at first but I'm sure he and Mark could be great friends. I mean, I admit I wasn't too sure about Jay's influence on Will when I met him but now I see he helps Will to not be so serious, so...boring. Like you and Carli, she helps to bring you out of your shell."

"Will's not boring, mum. And I wasn't aware you thought I was an introvert." I crossed my arms. "Mum, I'm telling you it was a bad idea to invite Mark around."

"Nonsense, everything will work out fine. And I didn't mean to say Will was boring. I meant, he's sensible. And I'm not accusing you of being an introvert, darling, but you always used to stay in your room at boarding school, you never joined any social clubs and you only had two friends who were frankly quite peculiar. That's one of the reasons we moved here, I had to take you out of that school."

I fell silent, feeling guilty. My mother always made excuses as to why we moved, when my brother and I knew it was because my father left her for his ditzy receptionist.

When we got home, I went upstairs to my room and found the contact lenses box. I was not keen on wearing contacts, but I needed them to help my vision be clearer until I got my new glasses. So I went into the bathroom and after a little cursing, mild irritation and watery eyes I managed to put them in. I studied myself in the mirror, noticing that the contacts really did make a difference. My frames usually hid much of my face, but now my face was bare. I was not sure if I liked it. I was so used to wearing my glasses; I felt a little lost without them. I had big brown eyes, a nose that was a little too sharp, ears that stuck out slightly and long dark brown hair that was a mass of wild curls. I was thin, with barely any curves and a small chest. I did not consider myself as pretty, but I did not think I was ugly either. I was just – average. I wondered if Jay thought I was ugly. I knew I should not let it get me down, but it did. It was true I did not look like my mother much; I only had her nose and hair colour.

I spent most of the day writing an essay that was due in a month. It was interesting to me, and also kept me busy so I would not think about Jay so much. When mum reminded me it would be dinner soon I decided to change out of my uniform. I looked into my wardrobe, my hand automatically reaching for a plain navy blue, modest blouse when I hesitated. My eyes landed on the little purple dress with spaghetti straps Carli had forgotten after a sleepover at my house. I had tried to give it back to her, but she told me she was not keen on it and wanted me to have the dress. I had never dared to wear it before as I preferred to wear loose clothes that hid my figure and covered my body. I took the dress off the hanger and threw it on my bed, taking a deep breath before I stripped down to my underwear. Just as I had slipped the purple dress on, my bedroom door burst open. It was Will, and his face was a mixture of annoyance and fear.

"I just heard that Mark Donovan is coming to our house for dinner!" Will exclaimed angrily. "What's going on, Jane? Why did you willingly interact with a demon in human form?"

"Ever heard of knocking?" I snapped. "I was in the middle of changing just before you rudely barged into my room."

"Right. Well, I'm sorry about that. However, I will repeat myself, what the hell is going on? How could you even talk to Mark at school after what he did to me? Do you and mum want me to die?" My brother frowned as he looked at me more closely. "What are you wearing?"

I took a baggy black cardigan from my wardrobe and hurriedly put it on. "It's just a dress that Carli gave me. I just...felt like a change tonight."

"Oh...I see. This is about what Jay said," Will shook his head slowly. "Don't listen to him; he can be such a tosser sometimes. I swear, if it wasn't for Simon I wouldn't even be Jay's mate. I get so tired of all the fantastical phony bullshit that spews out of him like garbage. I think he knows you're just too good for someone like him. We almost fought after you left and I said he was a stupid, crude chav. Which isn't true, except for the fact he is crude...I knew it would upset him."

"Will..." I knew my twin was just trying to make me feel better, and I appreciated it but I did not want him to fall out with his friend because of me. "Don't talk to him like that. Insulting him will just make things worse. I don't want you to lose a friend just because he made a rude remark about me."

Will moved closer and hugged me. I reciprocated his hug, glad I had a brother who cared about me. When Will released me from the hug, he gave me an earnest look. "You always look beautiful to me, Jane."

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Will."

"Will! Jane!" My mother called to us from the foot of the stairs. "Come down here, Mark has just arrived!"

"Why does mum do these terrible things to me?" Will complained, and then started to mutter angrily under his breath as he left my room. I caught something about 'Donovan' and 'psychopath' but that was all.

I put on a touch of tinted lipgloss, which again had belonged to Carli. She had been horrified when she found out I never wore any make-up, and had given it to me saying it suited my complexion. I twisted my hair into a low bun, allowing a few curls to hang free around my face. Before I left my room, I took off the cardigan. I felt a little self-conscious, but I did like the way the dress fit me so snugly. I texted Carli, asking her to give me a makeover. She was the best person to give me advice on fashion, style and makeup. As I walked down the stairs, I vowed I was going to make Jay regret what he said about me.

Thanks for reading :)