A/N: Hello! First off, I just wanted to say that this is going to be a rewrite of Dirty Little Secret. The main reason why I decided to rewrite it was because I was unhappy with the way that the plot worked out to be in the first six chapters. I just felt that it got straight into the story too quickly for my liking and yeah. It was my first proper attempt at fanfiction, so that's probably why that happened. I've made a fair few changes with this one though. The main character's name and personality being one of them, and I thought it better to have it set in series five instead of six like the original.
Anyway, I just really hope I've managed to improve it this time around! I've also got myself the lovely Louise as a beta, and she's been fantastic with me so far.
As usual, any reviews/feedback in any form isn't compulsory or anything in order for me to put up new chapters like some other people on here, but anything I get would be greatly appreciated.
How dare you say that my behaviour is unacceptable,
So condescending, unnecessarily critical,
I have the tendency of getting very physical,
So watch your step cause if I do, you need a miracle.
On the first day of term, Spencer eventually opened her eyes at 8. She took one look at her alarm clock and instantly jumped out of bed. 'Shit,' she muttered to herself as she ran down the stairs. She was really late and her sister had already left without her. It took about ten minutes for her to drive to school at this time of the morning, give or take an extra ten for the amount of traffic on the road as well. Repeatedly swearing to herself under her breath, she grabbed the carton of orange juice out of the fridge and drinking the remains of it. She never really got hangovers, but her head was pounding from the night before. She was guaranteed to be late for school anyway, so she had no problem with digging around in the kitchen cupboards for some paracetamol and quickly gulping two of them down with a glass of water. Once that was done, she ran back up the stairs and into the bathroom. She could afford to miss assembly, as there was no chance of her wanting to sit and listen to Miss Mason drone on to them about the school rules again like she had every time they came back after the summer holidays, so Spencer quickly took off her pyjamas and hopped into the shower, turning the water on and happily singing to herself.
When she was out of the shower and had dried off, Spencer brushed her teeth and dried her hair. She then got dressed as fast as possible, grabbing the books she needed for the day and racing back down the stairs. She shoved her books into her bag and picked up her keys, then headed out the front door with her bag slung over one shoulder as she locked up.
Once she'd parked her car and got out her bag and the books she needed, Spencer headed inside school to find everyone walking out of the hall and down the corridors towards their first class of the day. She leaned against the wall a couple of metres away from the doors, unwrapping a piece of chewing gum she'd left over from last night and popping it into her mouth as she waited for Nat and Kate. Her eyes scanned through the stream of students as they wandered past her, searching for Kate's bright red hair.
After a couple of minutes, she spotted her two best friends heading straight towards her. A relieved smile appeared on her face, and she moved forwards slightly so that they'd be able to spot her.
'Good morning, sleepyhead!' Kate's thick Irish accent rang into Spencer's ear seconds later as she playfully ruffled her hair.
'How many times have I told you to stop doing that?' Spencer grumbled, fixing her hair. 'Have I missed much?'
'Nah, just some stupid peace lecture about the merger.' Nat pulled a face, beginning to lead the way towards their form room.
'If you ask me, they're all snobs who think they can run this place. Or at least, that new 'executive head' definitely is.' Kate rolled her eyes, falling into step with Spencer. 'You should've seen the look on his face when the John Foster's kids started clapping the moment he came in the door.'
'Let me guess, he pulled all that zero tolerance crap like they all do,' Spencer grinned. 'I give it a week tops before they go running back to where they came from.'
Twenty minutes later, the three of them emerged from their form room with their brand new timetables in their hands. After a bit of complaining from Spencer, they began to slowly amble down the corridor.
'Who've we got first?' Spencer asked, not bothering to look up as she furiously typed out a text on her BlackBerry.
'Chemistry with Mead, apparently,' Kate replied, examining the timetable that Spencer had shoved under her nose with her free hand.
'Who's that?' Spencer looked up for a moment, peering at the sheet of paper in front of her.
'New Deputy Head. He's from that posh school we've merged with.' Spencer heard Nat say as she diverted her attention back to her phone.
'Fantastic, another posh bastard who probably can't even do his job properly,' she replied sarcastically, looking back up again for a moment to find knowing smirks plastered across her two best mates' faces.
'Believe me when I say I bet he's hardly gonna be like that, judging by what we saw in assembly this morning!' Kate grinned, winking at Spencer. 'Just you wait and see.'
Eventually the three of them reached the same science classroom that they'd had lessons in for the past three years, casually strolling through the door five minutes into the lesson. All the rest of their class were already seated in the same places as they had been last year, leaving the three of them their usual ones at the very back of the room.
'Would the three of you care to give me a reason as to why you're so late?' A thick Mancunian accent called from the front as they dumped their bags on their desks. Spencer rolled her eyes and without looking up, she instantly replied 'not really, no.' A few whispers went around the class and she smirked, pulling out a pen and a scrap of lined paper. 'Besides, we clearly haven't missed out on much.' Tucking her hair behind her ears, she looked up to find a tallish, black-haired guy stood at the front with his hands on his hips, looking at her with raised eyebrows. Examining what she could see of his top half and his face, she felt a flush creeping up her neck. My God, he's hot, she thought to herself, turning her head to shoot Kate a grin that said she knew exactly what she'd meant just a few minutes ago.
'Ah, so you must be Spencer,' she heard Mead say and she looked back towards the front of the classroom. 'Yeah. Problem?' She replied smoothly, raising an eyebrow.
'You seem to have a bit of a reputation here,' Mr Mead said. Spencer smirked again, fighting back the urge to laugh. 'I just wanted to let you know that I won't tolerate you, or anybody else, misbehaving in this class.'
Spencer snorted indignantly. 'I'd like to see you try.'
'And the same goes for an attitude like that.'
The class had lapsed into silence, and the two of them exchanged a heated glance. After an extended pause, Mr Mead walked back to the whiteboard and looked around at the class. 'Anyway, as I was saying.. Welcome to A2 Chemistry. My name's Mr Mead, and I'm going to be your teacher this year. I've not had the chance to look at each of your individual grades just yet but I'll be doing that within the next couple of days. All I know is that every single one of you managed to pass the AS course last year, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting in front of me right now.'
Spencer stifled a yawn, resting her head against the desk in front of her and making Nat and Kate giggle. 'Spencer,' Mead called. 'First warning. Two more and you're going straight to the Cooler.'
'What? 'S not my fault I've got a hangover!' Spencer shot back, not bothering to move. 'And so have you, by the look of you.'
'Right, second warning. I was going to hand the exercise books out myself, but I'm sure you're perfectly capable.'
Spencer just glared at him, shifting slightly in her chair. Nat nudged her in the ribs and she examined Mead's face. He still looked fairly calm, but she could see irritation beginning to etch at his features. 'Ugh, fine.' She groaned, pushing her chair back and standing up. She walked as slowly as she possibly could towards him, dragging her feet.
'Anytime today would be nice.'
Okay, now he was getting a bit pissed off, she noted smugly. She bit her tongue to stop herself from talking back to him and purposely walked even more slowly.
'Up here, now. Otherwise I'll have to come and drag you up here.'
'Well, I certainly wouldn't mind.' She grinned, allowing a touch of flirtation to make its' way into her voice. 'Alright, I'm coming,' she sighed, trying and failing to stop herself from laughing at the look on his face. She sped up to the normal pace, standing directly in front of him when she reached the front. She didn't say anything, just allowed her eyes to scan his face. Her gaze swept over the dimples in his cheeks; his dark, raised eyebrows and lingered on his lips. Christ, he's absolutely gorgeous, she thought to herself.
'Over there, just on top of my desk.' He said plainly, snapping her out of her reverie.
'Sorry?' A grin tugged at the corners of her mouth as she instantly thought of a completely different meaning to what he'd just said.
'Exercise books. And hurry up, you're holding the class up here.' She could hear the irritation in his voice, but she couldn't resist quickly looking him up and down before turning around and picking the new exercise books up from his desk beside her.
As she placed a book on each of her classmates' desks, Spencer tuned out and allowed Mr Mead's voice to wash over her. She distracted herself by thinking of her plans for the weekend and attempting to remember what her next lesson was until she reached the back where she should've been sat beside Nat and Kate. She placed the remaining three new books in a pile next to Kate and walked back around their desk, sitting down again. Some kind of equation had been scribbled onto the board and everyone seemed to be frantically writing it down. Spencer knew that she should be doing the same, but decided to pull her phone out of her pocket and continue to text one of her friends who attended the local college.
The next thing she knew, the classroom had fallen completely silent again. Spencer cautiously looked up, wincing when she saw Mr Mead stood opposite her, his hands on his hips.
'Phone, please.' He said firmly, taking a hand away and sticking it out in front of her.
'No.'
She heard him sigh, the same look that read 'I'm going to lose my patience with you any second now' as earlier on appearing on his face again.
'Can't I at least finish my text first?' She asked innocently, grinning at him. Her smile widened when she noticed something inside him snap.
'Alright, that's it. Go to the Cooler. I'll deal with you in a minute.'
'I'm sure you will.' Spencer stood up, winking playfully at him. She made a point of packing her things into her bag at the slowest pace possible, purposely leaving her empty exercise book on the desk. 'You can keep the book,' she smiled. 'I'm hardly going to be using it for the rest of the year.' Not bothering to give Mr Mead the chance to reply, she slung her bag back over her shoulder and walked out of the classroom.
She felt a part of herself completely relax as soon as she'd begun to walk down the corridor. She'd always hated Chemistry, despite coming top in Year 10 and 11 and ending up with an A at GCSE. She'd only done the subject last and this year just to shut her parents up, plus it was another subject to have for applying to uni. Sighing to herself, she hitched her bag up her shoulder a little. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling out her name and she turned around, smiling.
'Spence? Where are you going?' Tom - Mr Clarkson - asked her.
'Cooler, sir. Mr Mead sent me.' Spencer couldn't help feeling slightly ashamed when she saw the look on his face. He was one of the only teachers who she actually got on with and she hated letting him down like this.
'Why? What's happened?' He frowned, concerned.
'Oh, nothing. Ask him yourself.' She couldn't help sounding pissed off, seeing as she felt that he'd barely given her a chance before deciding to kick her out of the lesson. 'It's not like I didn't do anything I wouldn't normally do. Even though he doesn't really know that. He's just judging me on my fucking 'reputation', I swear!'
'Hey, come on.. I'm sure he's not doing that.' Mr Clarkson put a hand on Spencer's shoulder, steering her forwards slightly. 'Look, let's just go to the Cooler and get you calmed down a bit, okay? I'll come sit with you for a while and have a word with him when he gets there.'
'Alright..' Spencer sighed, folding her arms and starting to lead the way down the next corridor.
'So.. How're you finding the merger?' Mr Clarkson asked, walking alongside her.
'I dunno, really.. Haven't met many of the John Foster's lot. I, um.. I was late this morning.'
'Of course you were.' Mr Clarkson laughed. 'Don't tell anyone I said this, but let's just say that some of the staff aren't entirely pleasant.'
'Well, that makes me feel a bit better..' Spencer giggled, feeling her anger beginning to ebb away slightly. 'Apparently the kids are just as bad.'
The pair of them chatted for the rest of the way down to the Cooler. Spencer knew that Mr Clarkson was trying to make her feel calmer about what had just happened in Chemistry, but it was still bugging her. Just because the John Foster's kids were little swots and were too scared to say anything to their teachers, that didn't mean that Mead had to treat her the way he did. Who did he think he was?
A small tap on her shoulder reminded her where they were and Mr Clarkson opened the Cooler door, allowing her to pass through first. She gave him a small smile and sat down in the nearest chair, feeling her anger beginning to boil up inside her again.
'Did Mr Mead give you anything to do in here?'
'No. He said 'I'll deal with you in a minute.' I can't really do anything anyway, seeing as I left my book back in the classroom.' She sighed, putting her feet up on the desk.
'Alright. Well, like I said, I'll have a word when he gets down here.'
'Thanks.'
They spent the next couple of minutes in an awkward silence, until Spencer saw Mr Mead coming down the corridor.
'Oh, for God's sake..' She muttered, folding her arms again. Mr Clarkson just gave her a look that told her that she needed to give it a chance but she just rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair.
Moments later, Mr Mead walked through the door. Spencer sighed again, trying to avoid his eyes.
'Tom? What're you doing here?' She heard him ask, surprised.
'Just bumped into Spence on her way down here. Thought I could help calm her down a bit, that's all. Before you speak to her, d'you mind if I have a word with you? Outside?'
'Uh.. Right. Spencer, I'll be right back, okay?'
She just grunted in response, keeping her eyes on the desk in front of her. She heard the scrape of Mr Clarkson's chair on the floor and the two teachers stepped outside into the corridor. She was interested in what he had to say but she knew that she didn't need to get up and press her ear to the door, seeing as the school corridors were known for echoing whatever was being said.
'Look, before you go back in there and start having a go at her, I just wanted to say that deep down, she's really a good kid. She had a really hard time last year. She's already angry enough, and I don't think that yelling at her for whatever she's done will make that any better.'
'She was disrupting my class, Tom, what else am I supposed to do?'
'I don't know! Just calmly talk to her about it.'
'I can try, but I don't think she'll take any notice of what I say to her.'
'And what exactly makes you think that?' Spencer could hear the anger edging into Mr Clarkson's voice now and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. 'Have you given her the chance to speak to you properly?'
'Well, no, but-'
'Then what's the problem? Yeah, sometimes she can be a bit disruptive, but that doesn't mean she never listens to anybody.'
There was a pause, and Spencer peeked between the blinds to see that Mead looked as though he was lost for words. She couldn't help smiling smugly to herself, mentally thanking Mr Clarkson. She knew that she'd still be getting a lecture, but at least it wasn't going to be as bad as she'd thought it was going to be. After a short pause, she heard him sigh.
'Alright, fine. I need to make it quick anyway, seeing as I've left a class of Sixth Formers unattended..'
'Good. I'll check on her later to see how she is.'
'Thanks for staying with her, Tom..'
'No problem.' Mr Clarkson gave a small smile, looking towards the window as if he knew that Spencer was eavesdropping, before turning around and walking back down the corridor.
By the time Mr Mead came back into the Cooler a minute later, she was typing out a text to Kate on her phone with one hand, the other absentmindedly twirling a lock of her dark hair around her finger. She heard his footsteps approaching the desk she was sat at, pulling out the chair that Mr Clarkson had previously been sat on.
'I thought I told you to give me your phone.'
'And I thought you heard me say no,' she replied bluntly, moving so that her back was right up against the wall the moment that Mead sat down beside her.
'Come on, Spencer.'
'What?' She put her phone down on the desk, looking up to find that his face was inches away from hers, close enough for her to see the flecks of grey in his bright blue eyes. She sucked in a deep breath, having to force herself to look away. 'I'm not giving you my phone, if that's all you came back in here for.'
'No, that's not it at all! All I wanted to say to you was that I made a mistake. I'm sorry for judging you, alright? I've clearly upset you, and I feel really bad about it.'
She blinked, her mouth hanging open in surprise. Is he apologising to me? 'I.. What?'
'I understand now that first impressions aren't everything. I promise you I'll try to keep that in mind in the future.' She looked at him again, convinced that this was some kind of joke, only to find him glancing back at her with a completely serious expression on his face.
'Uh, right.. Okay?'
There was an awkward pause, until Mr Mead got up.
'So are you expecting me to stay here or what?' Spencer asked, frowning.
'No, you can come back with me now. We've reached an understanding and I think you've learnt your lesson, right?'
No, she thought to herself. 'Um. Yeah. I guess so.' She shrugged, standing up too.
'Come on, then. We'd best get back.'
