"And that's what happens when you mix hydrochloric acid with Magnesium." Mr Mead explained, just as the bell rang for lunch. The whole class stood up, some shoving their books into their bags and others standing around talking to one another.

"Finn and Josh can you stay behind please?" asked Mr Mead.

Lauren looked at Josh. "I'll meet you on the yard in ten minutes," he said, smiling at her.

"Okay," she said, smiling back. Then turned to Sam, and they walked off arm in arm.

"Josh and Finn," said Mr Mead.

"Yes Sir?" asked Finn. "Anything in particular that you wanted?"

"Well, for you to stop being so disruptive in my class would be a nice place to start," said Mr Mead. "Josh you're constantly messing around with Lauren, it needs to stop. And Finn, you talk over me all the time. How do you expect to learn if you don't pay attention? Either of you?"

"Sorry Sir," said Josh. All he could really think about was Lauren, and how much he wanted to be with her now, to make sure that she was okay. He wasn't really paying much attention at all to what Mr Mead was saying.

"Yeah, sorry Sir," said Finn. "It won't happen again."

"It had better not," said Mr Mead. "You can go for lunch now boys."

Josh and Finn walked out of the classroom. "See, even Mead noticed you flirting with Lauren, don't even try to deny it Josh," said Finn.

"Fine. I like Lauren," said Josh, looking down at his feet. "But it's kind of obvious that I'd have no chance with her. So what's the point?"

"I have no idea what you're on about," said Finn. "Lauren likes you too; I can't believe that you don't see that."

Josh pushed open the door, and he and Finn stepped outside, and saw the two girls sitting over on a fence in the corner, and so started walking towards them. "Are you coming down the village with me and Sam?" asked Finn.

"Nah," said Josh, looking down at his feet. He couldn't believe that his secret was out, how did Finn guess? He hadn't made it that obvious... had he? He decided that he was going to have to try harder to hide it from Lauren. He didn't want her knowing.

"Come on," said Finn. "I bet Lauren will be coming."

"Fine," said Josh, sighing. Finn was just going to tease him about it now, and he had no way out of it.

Just as they reached where the two girls were standing, Lauren ran off in the opposite direction, looking really upset. Josh wondered if she was crying.

"What's up with Lauren?" Josh asked Sam.

"She's really upset about her grandpa I think," replied Sam. "This isn't normal for her."

"What's wrong with her grandpa?" asked Finn.

"He's just gone into hospital," explained Sam. "He had a heart attack last night."

"Oh," replied Finn. He grabbed his phone from his pocket with a sneaky grin on his face and started texting.

"I'm going to see if Lauren's okay," said Josh, running off and not taking any notice of what Finn was texting...

Josh ran over to the building that Lauren had disappeared into. He looked around... It was silent. He heard the 'THUD' of the door as it closed behind him and the light 'tap' of his feet on the floor, but nothing else.

He looked inside every classroom, looking for Lauren. He didn't have any idea where she might be, or where to find her.

'Maybe if I text her she'll tell me where she is? Nah doubt it," he thought to himself. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. She had looked quite upset when she ran off.

Finally he came across an art room that he heard faint noises in. He opened the door and surely enough Lauren was sat at the table with her artwork in front of her, crying quietly to herself as she painted. She looked up when she heard him come in.

"Lauren, are you okay?" asked Josh, sitting in the seat beside her.

"Yeah..." lied Lauren.

"You sure?" asked Josh. "You don't look okay; remember I'm always here if you want to talk about anything."

"Well, I'm not fine, I'm just worrying about everything," admitted Lauren. "What if my grandpa dies? Heart attacks can kill." She sighed and looked back down at her painting. A teardrop fell down from her face, and landed on the painting.

"Lauren," sighed Josh. He didn't know what to say, but he was really worried about her. He wanted her to be happy again. He put his arm around her and she rested her head on his chest and started crying. "Lauren," Josh repeated, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah," mumbled Lauren, between sobs.

"I..." he sighed. "Do you want to go somewhere else? To take your mind off things?" he asked. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. But he didn't know how to say it, and he didn't know what her reaction would be. He didn't want to tell her if she didn't love him back...

"Okay," said Lauren, looking up at him. He wiped a tear from her face and half-smiled.

"Cheer up," he told her. "It's not the end of the world, I'm sure that he'll be fine."

"Thanks Josh," Lauren said, smiling at him. Josh stood up and grabbed her hand. She looked up and smiled at him. He was trying to figure out if she liked him as a friend, or possibly any more...

Josh led her out of the art room and onto the yard. They walked over to the fence where Finn and Sam had been standing. But they had obviously gone down to the village now.

The bell suddenly rang for afternoon school, and everyone started to walk inside. Josh caught Lauren's hand as she was about to walk inside. "Cheer up," he mouthed at her, before letting her walk off.