i like this chapter
4th of July, Armvale Highschool, Room 17
The soft whirring of the ancient gas heater next to me lulls me to sleep.
Maybe it's not the noise that's making me sleepy though, it's probably just the litres of gas leaking out of the heater and into my lungs.
Either way, I'm pretty sure i'm about to drop dead onto the table.
I look around the decrepit old classroom and see my peers in a similar state. Bored and fatigued teenagers collapsed over their desks, suffering in the stagnant moist air of a classroom.
Except for the year nine girls though, they still manage to giggle on snapchat despite the miserable scene around them.
Rain is absolutely belting down outside, saturating the oval and turning it into a swampland. There's a constant tapping on the tin roof of the portable classroom, jagged and uneven and adding to my migraine. It hasn't stopped for the past three days. It adds to the overall gloom.
Alice is absent because of this, stating "I can't go outside in this weather, my hair will get frizzy.".
Miss Haine is looking off into the distance, probably longing for Abe and his blue windbreaker.
I'm not sure if I should hate or thank the rain right now though, as it got me out of Monday mandated misery. Apparently the lawn was too wet at ABC, so the grounds are unusable.
I can picture the image of Abe shaking his fist in anger at the sky perfectly.
This leaves us stuck in one of the demountable classrooms for two hours, with no further instruction but to, "do your homework."
My mind isn't made up on what the better of the two options are.
I should really be following the instruction and cramming down on the three assessment tasks I have due. Free periods are hard to come by at this school.
But the simple thought of schoolwork makes me physically ill right now, so instead I choose to wallow in monotony and stare lethargically out of the window.
"Psst" I hear from my right. I startle out of my depressing reverie and turn towards the noise.
"You're in modern history right?" Edward asks me.
"Uh yeah, why?
"What time period are you doing for your major work?"
My brain then decides to snap back into the present and reminds me of the 1500 word essay I haven't even started that's due next week.
"The enlightenment, why?"
"Oh sick, that's me too." Edward has now moved into the seat next to me and my mood increases dramatically.
"How much have you done?" I ask, genuinely curious on how far behind I am compared to my other peers.
"I just need to do my conclusion and source analysis." He's clearly much more organised and hardworking than me. "What about you?"
"Haven't started." I suppose it's better to be blunt.
Edward looks at me with raised eyebrows and comments, "It's due next wednesday," He looks baffled, "you're aware of that right?"
I nod in fake assurance.
He sighs and chuckles, looking back to his laptop. This is when my cogs begin to turn.
"You wouldn't mind um, helping me?" I'm practically begging, "If, um, that's ok."
He agrees, and boy does he help.
For the next hour or so, Edward talks me through almost every aspect of this assessment task. From the actual material, to the structuring, to the formatting. Towards the end of the afternoon, I have two thirds completed.
I'm pretty much convinced that he can part the red sea. And fly.
"Edward, what the fuck, thankyou." I praised him, "I think you just saved my mark in this course."
Like the humble and selfless motherfucker he is, he just shrugs and smiles at me.
Not wanting to be in any debt, I conjure up an idea to repay him.
"Can I, like, buy you a McFlurry or something after school?"
"Bella, you don't need to-"
"Please, you've pretty much just done half of my assessment."
"It's really fine, I-"
I cut him off before he speaks anymore of his magnanimous behaviour, "No. You can't refuse this. You're coming with me to Macca's after school. You have no choice."
"Are you sure? Um, the weather is kind of shit."
He's right of course, the weather is fucking awful, the rain has continued to fall in buckets for the past hour. But I'm stubborn.
"I don't care. We'll run through the rain."
And that is exactly what we do.
After the final bell freeing us from school sounds, I and Edward sprint across the oval and out the back gate to the bus stop. He tries to protect me from the downpour by holding his jacket above my head, but the effort is pretty futile.
Doesn't stop me from admiring him and his chivalry though.
We eventually make it on the bus, looking like rats that just crawled out of a 10 year hibernation in a sewer.
That's wrong actually, I look like a rat that just crawled out of a 10 year hibernation in a sewer, Edward looks like fucking supermodel. His hair is darker from being wet, and the leftover droplets on his face look like swarovski crystals.
We clamber towards the back of the bus, and to my surprise Edward takes a seat next to me. It's in this close proximity that I notice his leg against mine, just like all the shitty romantic novels I indulge in.
"What kind of Mcflurry am I getting you?" I ask.
"Um.. m and m's?"
I look at Edward in complete disgust, unable to fathom how someone can stomach something other than oreo in their ice cream.
"What?" Edward asks in amusement.
"How can you say that?"
Edward merely shrugs and I curse the crooked smirk that emerges on his face.
He then starts to wrangle his earbuds out of his bag, plugging them into his phone and holding the right side one out to me.
I take it, but not before adding, "I get to pick a song this time. Punishment for your poor Mcflurry choices."
Edward only rolls his eyes and smirks, handing me his phone.
We arrived at the aforementioned Mcdonalds not long after, braving the line of other starved school kids.
We obtain the ice cream, oreo mcflurry for me, and although I protested, an m and m mcflurry for Edward. I sit across from him on one of the covered tables outside, listening to the monsoon currently terrorizing our suburb.
The comfortable silence, (not counting the rain) is broken by Edward asking a question.
"Have you always been in Armvale?"
"Pretty much born and bred in this shithole. I've lived here with Dad for as long as I can remember really."
Edward doesn't inquire further, seemingly at ease with the pocket of peace and quiet we have going on right now.
But there's a definite urge in me that wants to spill out my entire uneventful life story to him. I want to ramble to him about every inconsequential happening, from the past and into the future.
But for now, I'm okay with the tranquillity of Mcdonalds at 3:37pm, aggressive rainfall and just Edward's mere presence.
notes: hope you like this chapter! for context - because i don't know if portable classrooms are a thing outside of australia - portable classrooms are just like singular rooms that aren't connected to any other buildings and are usually built because schools can't afford proper building extensions. they're pretty dinky, look them up if you're still confused.
thankyou for reading and reviewing! i love you!
