Disclaimer; All literature quotes made in this chapter belong entirely to the mastermind that was Shakespeare (that's right it's one of those chapters!) I'm simply borrowing them. Characters are also (sadly) not mine.

This Is Love

(Andrea)

I felt bad. Like extreme gut wrenching, mind numbing bad. Like the guilt of having said what I did was shutting me down. I hadn't felt this way in years, the emo side of me had always closed me off from the emotions and kept me safe. But now it was collapsing in on itself, leaving me bare to the feelings. Why had I said that?! Why didn't I tell her what was really running through my head? I should have told her how brilliantly perfect that hug she'd held me in in the closet was, how her voice made me go weak and how it nearly had me trembling when she said we needed to talk. How much I very nearly turned around and kissed her. I'd snapped her out of the corridor like she'd done me, all set on telling her this but instead I'd gone into heartless cow mode. She looked so hurt and let down. I might as well have stabbed her.

I'd spent days and days now thinking it through. Sleepless nights tattooed my eyes from where I'd been kept up by the tormenting thoughts. I couldn't leave it hanging like that. I couldn't leave her looking so upset by my rejection. It was killing me watching the once so gobby and defensive chav slowly die inside while everyone around us carried on, unknowing and uncaring. I'd tried talking to her, finding an excuse to follow her out of the dorm and catch her on her own away from everyone else. But every time my steps echoed behind hers it was like a bomb going off in my head. Every slap of her trainer on the floor created another reason for me to not go through with it. I was a coward. And I hated myself, and her, for it.

Taylor seemed to carry on like nothing happened, still showing little subtle signs of being two short steps away from an emotional breakdown, but other than that it was like the whole cupboard thing never happened. Like she was trying to help us both get over it by pretending it was something meaningless. Something she probably did more for my benefit than hers. But I wasn't stupid. I knew what was really going on. She was planning something. I could tell from the way she sometimes smiled a little to herself when she glanced over at me from across the room. And the way she'd started entering in more poker games with the other girls. Like she had something pricey to buy. I didn't bother worrying myself with what she was after though. It was Taylor after all. She could be trying to buy a stupid flashy pair of trainers for all I cared.

I was trying my hardest not to linger on thoughts of her for too long though. Busying myself with tribe life instead. I guess I had to thank Taylor's relentless stupidity for one thing then, it'd made me a much better leader to my girls. Because I was so determined to forget my stupid twisted feelings for Taylor I'd poured all my effort into perfecting the pranks my girls would pull on her tribe, using it as a subtle comeback for the head if morons herself. The chavs hadn't retaliated at first, too unsure of what their leader would do to them. I had to laugh. The whole paint idea had backfired on them to the extreme. Not only had they had a complete punishment from Taylor for going behind her back like they did, they got an even more impressively severe punishment from an enraged Kelly. And then to top it off annabelle had enlisted the twins help in setting paint traps around everyone's beds except Taylor's. I guess she thought the head chav had suffered enough or maybe she had spared her because she'd been grateful for her help finding me the other day. But I was worried about that. Annabelle usually pulled stunts with Kelly, not separately with other people. I had a horrible feeling something bad was happening with them.

I found myself hanging out with The Banned the longer all this stupid tension dragged out. I found I could easily forget about my problems when I lost myself in their catchy tunes. They'd even asked me to join the band after they caught me singing along during one of their jam sessions, something that both surprised and flattered me. It wasn't just anybody who got into the famous Banned of st trinians after all. But I'd declined. As much as I loved them all I just couldn't see myself getting along in something like that. Besides I had my hands full with being a tribe leader, which was not as easy as everyone else thought it was. They'd accepted my refusal well enough, maybe a teeny bit disappointed but happy with whatever I thought was best for me.

Taylor was still dragging my thoughts around with her though. I'd hoped getting away from her for a couple of weeks would help but half term had just been painful. I'd had nothing to do and nowhere to go. So of course I'd been thinking it all over again. I even found myself searching for her when I got back to st trinians. And it terrified me. I should be hating her like I normally did. Instead I seemed happier when she was in the same room, I smiled when I saw her helping her younger girls out, I even sighed when she walked past me singing to herself one day. I was all over the place with Taylor and it was getting worse the longer we went without interacting. Even a full blown fight would work out for me right now. At least then I could get some of this bloody anger out.

I was sat in class one rainy Monday, ignoring the real world in favour of slipping away into my own one. Nobody bothered me while I stared down into space. They knew better. Taylor was watching me. I could feel it in the way the air sparked with electric tension. She wasn't paying attention to class, nobody was. She kept her eyes fixed solely on me, adding a smile anytime I glanced up at her. I wish she'd stop. I wish she wouldn't stop. I hated this dumb indecision running through me when she was around. It tied me up in her and it wasn't fair.

"You ever written your own songs before?"

I looked up from taylor and the book i was failing to read and smiled at The Banned's lead singer as she took a seat beside me. I shook my head and went back to my book, smirking a little at the dark world singing from the pages beneath my fingers.

"Maybe you should write some"

I rolled my eyes and flicked the page over. She hadn't stopped asking me for lyrics since I refused her offer to join her band.

"Why? Running out of material for your band Natalie?"

She sighed and knocked the book out of my hands. I scowled at her and went to pick it back up but she got there first. Natalie held the book behind her out of my reach and smiled at my furious expression.

"It's not my band it's our band. Everyone in it owns it" I sighed and reached for my book again, "What are your plans after school?"

That stumped me. I hadn't really thought about it. And now I was it was kinda scaring me. What could i do without st trinians? It was easier for me to tell her what everyone else would leave for. She smiled at the lost expression I could feel on my face and she tapped my arm.

"I really think you should go into music Andrea," I stared at her and she smirked again before handing me my book, "just think about it"

Natalie scraped her chair back and walked out of class, giving miss Dickinson some excuse about band practice. Poor teacher looked about ready to tear her hair out. You had to feel sorry for her. Across the room annabelle caught my eye and gave me a smirk, waving me over. I raised my book and shook my head. I'd rather read than be interrogated by her. She looked a little upset and I felt a little bad but I just couldn't stand the questions right now. Belle nodded in understanding and looked sadly down at her folder of notes. I swallowed down the guilt and turned back to my own book with an irritated sigh when a paper aeroplane landed by my hand. When was I gonna catch a break?

'Dnt u no twilight iz shit?'

I looked up at Taylor and glared. She smirked back at me. I screwed the aeroplane up and threw it aside, pretending she hadn't affected me at all. I could tell she was laughing to herself. Taylor gave it another couple of minutes before throwing another over. I sighed and unfolded it, reading her offer of ditching class. She was smirking again when I looked up at her, fidgeting with indecisiveness. It was way too tempting. I wrote a reply and threw the screwed up piece of paper back before sinking back in my chair. I watched her unscrew it and smirked to myself while she read my reply.

'No way'

Just drop it chav...Another aeroplane hit the front cover of my book. I was really starting to lose my patience now.

'Y not goth gurl?'

I caught myself smiling as I read it but quickly snapped out of it, throwing away the memory of the last time she'd called me that. I shivered a little in my seat just remembering her arms wrapped around me, low voice slipping around me welcomingly. I felt myself zone out again while she stared back at me.

"Andrea?"

I snapped out of it and dragged my eyes away from the chav's hypnotic smile to look up at miss Dickinson waiting for an answer to a question on the board. The class sniggered but I ignored them and glanced back at the board while I asked her to repeat the question. She smiled at me, probably happy I'd been polite enough to ask.

"Opinions on Romeo and Julliet. Go"

The class groaned and I smiled to myself. Too easy. I sank back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling thoughtful for a moment. The rest of the class were gearing up for one of my usual dark rambles. I didn't quite feel like that today. I gave belle a quick smile before glancing back at Taylor, knowing there was a reason why she was suddenly paying attention to the lesson

"Romeo and Julliet...five acts of pretentious bullshit" Some of the girls exchanged confused looks, some looked like they were waiting for me to carry on. Miss Dickinson was frowning at my answer.

"Explain"

"Oh come on, a random guy bumps into a random girl and instantly falls in love? When the hell does that happen in real life?" I was avoiding Taylor as much as possible, knowing from the charge in the air that she was staring at me again.

"Whoever loved that not loved at first sight?"

Everybody turned to Kelly leant in the doorway and Miss Dickinson smiled at the head girl. I rolled my eyes. Trust her to know and quote bloody Shakespeare. The teacher looked like she'd hug Kelly. Guess she'd never had this good a lesson before. She looked like she was about to make a comment but Annabelle cut over her with a quick reply for Kelly

"Love is begun by time. And time qualifies the fire and spark of it"

Kelly eyes flashed and we all watched her think of a reply to belles challenging smirk. Miss Dickinson sat back against her desk with a wide smile herself, obviously having a whale of a time with this little impromptu debate. I couldn't help but think this must be the most normalist lesson any of us had ever sat through.

"Lovers ever run before the clock" Kelly countered with a hitched smile. I smiled with her, point to kel.

Annabelle narrowed her eyes at the head girl and stood up with a sigh. I glanced back at Taylor and frowned at the entirely focused gaze she had fixed on the couple. Why was she so interested?

"Love goes by haps. Some killed by Cupid's arrows, some with traps" Annabelle replied pulling my attention away from Taylor's smile back to the couple now standing close together, silent argument rushing back and forth between them. Their body language screamed this was more than a class debate or a competition to see who knew the most Shakespeare. It was personal.

The rest of weren't all that sure what to do. It was too intimate to interrupt and too private to sit and watch. Even miss Dickinson was lost. It was like watching a play unfold with the hero trying to win back the heroine. Good luck kel. Kelly smiled down at belle and raised her hand to Annabelle's cheek, gently stroking it before she took a deep breath. I tried not thinking about how a few weeks ago that was me and Taylor on the roof.

"Love sought is good. Love given unsought better. And here my soul speak, for the very instant I saw you did my heart fly to your service. I love you more than words can wield the matter, dearer than eyesight, space and liberty. I would not wish any companion in the world but you, belle, for where thou art the world is. And where thou aren't desolation. I know no ways to mince it in love but directly to say, 'I love you'. And I humbly beseech your pardon, for too much loving you"

How the hell did she remember all that?! That was just beyond impressive! The entire class was silently waiting for Annabelle's reply but I wasn't all that sure she had one. She looked like she was going into shock or something. Was that the first time kelly had said it?

Tell her you love her too idiot! I wanted to scream it at belle. After all these weeks of them fighting i was more than eager to see their gooey affection for each other again. It was pure hell when they fought. I didn't even know what it was over! I heard Taylor laugh gently under her breath before she threw a paper ball at the pair

"Ge' on with it already!" I threw a pencil at her and gave her a glare to shut her up. She rolled her eyes and we both looked back at Kelly and belle. Both glared a little at Taylor's input and that had me wondering whether Taylor had anything to do with it.

"We need to talk," Kelly said looking around at the rest of us like she'd just realised we were here,

"In private?" She added after catching our growing smiles. The others all 'oohed' darkly and laughed

"Shut up" belle told them before inching around the head girl and walking out. Kelly gave us all a stern look before following her.

I watched them go and couldn't help but compare Kelly's slow walk out after belle to that of a girl about to be executed. She shouldn't bother worrying. We all knew belle was a romantic. And after that little performance Kelly would be downright unlucky if she ever lost belle again. It took all of three seconds for the head girls silent threat to break out of her presence.

"Oh god stay away from empty classroom girls!" one girl said with a laugh

"Yeah there's gonna be disgusting shit going on in them today" the class laughed again and I glared around at them, angry they had the nerve to take the piss.

"Shut up" I told them. They ignored me and laughed some more. They managed to share a couple more jokes before a fist slammed into a tabletop on the opposite side to the room to me.

"Oi you 'eard her. Shu'up" The girls quietened down then, too scared of Taylor's sudden change in mood to say anything else.

I smiled to myself and started to read my book again, glancing up over it when miss Dickinson let out a long sigh

"The sight of lovers feedeth those in love" she said dreamily to herself. She sighed again before picking her copy of Romeo and Julliet up and asking Celia a question on it.

I looked away when the Eco started yammering on about the world back then and how today's society could benefit from being that green again, completely bypassing Miss' question of what 'To be or not to be' meant and why Shakespeare never used it in Romeo and Julliet.. My eyes found Taylor again while the Eco babbled on, and i was thinking over what miss Dickinson had said, knowing Taylor was too.

The class steadily returned to their pre Kelly confessional attitude and miss Dickinson tried once again to get them to focus on the class work, failing even more miserably now she didn't have belle sat in the corner like a stoney reminder for us all to behave in her favourite class. She tried looking at me for help but there was no way in hell I was going to involve myself. That was Kelly and belles job. Instead I spent the next ten minutes submerged in my book, trying to block out Taylor's obvious stares so I could focus on pulling the stupid emotions back. I didn't want to feel guilty. I didn't want to feel bad. I didn't want to feel at all. I just wanted to lose myself in the pages.

"Think Frittons gonna get kel to spout that crap more often?" I glared down at my page while the emo's behind me sniggered

"I hope not that was disgusting" I smiled in a agreement despite myself. It had been a little over the top. Especially for Kelly. Just showed what belle did to her.

"Yeah man, why da 'eck did we 'ave to sit through dat anyhows?" I rolled my eyes. Typical. The one time the two tribes could get on had to be when they were bitching about something.

"If you know what's good for you you'll shut up and get back to work" I told them darkly as I flicked another page.

They ignored me and carried on with their banter, laughing loudly when one of them suggested Kelly was only saying all that because she missed having annabelle in her bed. I slammed the book down on the table and turned around to them furious

"That's my best mate you're chatting shit about. So please carry on, I'd love to make you bleed for it" They all considered me a moment, the emo's backed down immediately for their leader but the chav's eyes rolled behind me to their own matriarch for permission to carry on.

I'm gonna kill Taylor if she- my thoughts were cut off by the chav herself, finally speaking up after a few minutes silence.

"You 'eard Andrea. Back off" They grumbled to themselves and went back to insulting their anger out on my girls. I twisted back in my seat and frowned to myself.

My eyes tacked Taylor's, silently questioning why she'd backed me up. She shrugged and threw me another note before she plugged her earphones in and walked out of the classroom too. I unfolded the note and read it, feeling angry and confused the second i finished running my eyes over the creased ink.

Gt smn of urs. Cme gt it. I dare ya.

It could be a trick but I was too tempted to find out what she was up to. I frowned down at her ridiculous handwriting again before tucking it into my pocket and walking out after her.

She was leant against the wall waiting for me when I exited the room, cool smirk shining at me while she bounced a paperball in her palm. I glared at her and she grinned.

"Well?" I snapped already fed up with her stupid games. Taylor threw the ball at me and walked off again. I sighed and hated myself more while I watched her walk up the corridor before i read the new note

'Knw u cldnt rsist. Folow me goth gurl' I rolled my eyes. Christ she was annoying!

Im gonna kill her! Why did she have to make me so damn predictable?! I looked up and realised she'd vanished, leaving behind a trail of her stupid music echoing in the hall. I tucked the note next to the other one in my pocket and quickly rushed after her.

"Hang on moron!"

Super sorry for the uber late update ppl! I've had an evil bout of writer's block so this may be a little iffy. Just bear with me guys! Also thanks for all the reviews ppl! Especial thanks to Dark Devices for your sweet email- it kicked ma butt back into gear so ta muchly buddy! Next chap will be up ASAP promise!