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anon: Hey, you're English! (According to time, unless you worked out what it would be in my little corner of the world…) I'm sorry. Forgive me; I've just started sixth form so the workload is quite a bit bigger than it was last year, and I was watching Avengers Assembled. You're lucky I chose this over staring at pictures of Captain America…

I don't own Night World.

Chapter 15

"Where have you been?"

Mum's voice is low and dangerous. I close the door slowly before turning to face her. "I–"

"Why didn't you call me, Jez? I give you a lot of freedom, on the condition that you come home before dark!" she interrupts. I duck my head and hope that I look suitably ashamed, though I'm actually thinking about Morgead, and what a good idea it would've been to get him drunk too last night... "Are you listening to me, Jezebel?" I flinch when she uses my full name.

"Yes. Of course I am," I say, meeting her eyes. "I can explain."

"Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?" she shouts, ignoring me. I bite my tongue in an attempt to not shout back at her. She's perfectly allowed to be angry with me, after all.

"Yes mother," I say.

"Then why did you do it?"

"It's one time–"

"One time too many! I always thought that you had enough sense not to get into the rock and roll lifestyle, but apparently you don't! I've half a mind to prevent you from being with that band ever again!"

"What?!"

"You heard me, Jezebel."

"Mum, listen to me, will you?!" She's finally silent. "It was one time. Yes, I did get a bit drunk, but don't you think that's understandable? Especially since I saw dad yesterday and he ran as soon as he saw me! This is the only time something like this will happen. I've learnt my lesson, okay?"

She's watching me uncertainly, still breathing heavily. "You saw your father yesterday?" she says, suddenly much quieter and calmer. I don't answer, but it's still enough. "Oh, Jez. I'm sorry." She pushes her hair back.

"It's pretty messed up at the moment," I say, crossing my arms.

"Where were you last night, then?"

I shrug. "Some bench in the park. I don't remember much. I'm sorry."

She sighs. "Just don't let it happen again. You're grounded. For today."

I would have stayed in my room the entire time anyway, so being grounded didn't change anything for me. I spent most of the time on my guitar, toying with a few chord progressions to try to write a song, but I kept on being distracted by what Morgead had said to me, 'Just imagining what it would be like to wake up to you every morning.' Every time I remembered it, there was a squeezing in my stomach like excitement.

Well, this was it. I'd fallen in love, for the first time. And everyone said that the first time was something really special, that you would never forget it. And in my case, I was positive he was my soulmate, though I'd never believed in those things before. So I wouldn't ever have to remember, because it would always be there. How could petty rules stand in the way of us?

The next morning, I had English first thing, and it was much as I'd expected. Morgead would look at me sometimes, with eyes that would at first glance seem expressionless, but I could see the happiness in them, because I knew him. More than anyone else.

I was floating in a happy bubble for the rest of the day, until I got home and realised that I had to face Hugh at band practice, and there was no way I could skip as we had a gig that Saturday.

And, whether by luck or design, Hugh was alone in the garage when I got him. "Jez!" he cried as I came in, and he ran up. "Haven't you been checking your phone? I've been leaving tonnes of messages on it; I thought you'd died after you ran out of the club."

I accepted his hug, snickering slightly at his panicked expression. "I'm sorry. Haven't checked my phone in a while."

"I was really worried, Jez. And... I'm not sure whether you remember what happened..."

"I remember."

He smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have done that."

"Don't worry about it. I forgave you a long time ago. But we are never doing that again."

He smiles in agreement. Val comes in then, and we go on with the practice, including finishing off the song I'd started writing the day before.

The only difficult thing the next day is music. We've moved on from the short classical music section and now onto World music, which I hate. More than anything. I stay behind in one of the practice rooms throughout break, my free period and lunch to practice the set by myself (I have a couple of piano solos this time), and don't come out until the bell starts ringing for afternoon registration.

It's as chaotic as ever, and when it's finally over I feel the usual, strange mixture of calm and trepidation in going to English. Morgead is already there when I arrive, but so are several other people so there's no way we can talk to each other without arousing suspicion.

Once the lesson starts (I'm not really paying attention that much, just staring at him and thinking, crap, that's my boyfriend as I usually do), I'm distracted by the new books he's handing out as we've finished our Of Mice and Men segment. Our eyes meet for a second as he gives me the book with a small smile, and it's then that I look down to see the cursive lettering on the cover, 'Wuthering Heights'. I knew then that it was his way of saying he loved me, by helping me enjoy English for the first time in seven years. The next time our eyes met I incline my head slightly by way of thanks.

The rest of the week passes almost in a blur, up to the Friday, which I now look forward to more than any other moment of the week. There's a slight blip as mum drives me to Morgead's house, when I remember that it used to be dad that drove me, but it fades into nothing when I finally get into his house and kiss him, which I have been dying to do for the past week.

"Thank you," I murmur as he pulls me to the library.

"For what?" he asks, pushing my hair back behind my shoulder, his other arm still tight around my waist.

"For choosing Wuthering Heights."

He gives a small smile. "It was between that or Pride and Prejudice, and there's more to say about Wuthering Heights."

"I probably won't need any extra lessons for it."

"Well, we're not cancelling Fridays. It's the only time I can talk to you."

"I'm not saying we should cancel the Fridays, it's just that I won't need lessons," I glance up at him through my eyelashes and smile as he kisses me again.

We stay there for the entire time, just talking and kissing, and though I wish the evening would never end I receive a text from mum saying that she's outside.

"I'm coming to the gig tomorrow by the way," he says as I get up from where we were sprawled across the floor. He follows me to the door.

"Meet me backstage afterwards?"

He grins at the comment and kisses me before letting me leave. "Can't wait," he murmurs, almost making me shiver. I shoot him a flirtatious glance over my shoulder and walk (okay, more like saunter) to the car.