I walked into my usual classroom, sighing tiredly as I fell into my seat.
I'd barely gotten any sleep thanks to last night's drinking, and to make matters worse my head was aching. The pain-meds I'd taken about half an hour before I arrived had yet to kick in, along with the sickness I was waiting to pass. Apparently I'd drank a lot more than I thought, and just as I thought, I was feeling the effects. But I'd still managed to get my ass to school. Though it was only to get away from the annoyingly-pestering Camille, who I knew would question me the moment she woke up. Which is why I left the house as soon as I could.
"Hey bitch, how'd it go?" Jade greeted, settling down into the seat to my left. I groaned and shook my head. "Yikes. That bad, huh?"
"No, night was good. Morning-afters were bad." I replied, downing some more water and hoping the sickness would go away.
Jade smiled. "Yeah, alcohol will do that to yah."
"I think I'm gonna puke."
"Don't think about it, just tell me what happened over the weekend." She leaned forward in her seat, looking both excited and intrigued.
"I don't wanna talk." I sighed, folding my arms on the table before resting my head on top.
"Uh-uh, no way!" She exclaimed, earning the attention of a few classmates.
Despite my sickness feeling increasing as I did it, I continued to shoot up into a sitting position, glancing around with wide eyes.
"Jade, shut up." I hissed.
She raised her eyebrows in a challenging manner. "Tell me. Because if you don't, the whole class will get to know just how loud I can scream."
"I'm pretty sure most of the people in our school know how loud you scream." I giggled, feeling smug as her jaw dropped.
"I'm not that slutty, and for your information I do not scream. But c'mon Grace, just tell your BFF what happened."
I sighed and smiled in amusement, shuffling my chair closer to hers. "Fine. Okay, so Friday..."
"Good Morning class!"
The whole class groaned and Jade narrowed her eyes at our teacher, knowing that she wouldn't be finding anything out until the end of the class.
"I'll tell you later." I reassured her, moving my chair back to its original place.
"So, I hope you're all ready for the trip today."
Groans filled the room and my eyes widened. No one had told me anything about a trip.
"What the heck?" I whispered to Jade.
Her expression was also one of surprise. "Don't look at me, they stopped telling people about these trips years ago. My brother told me about 'em. Because we're in our last year, the teachers decided it would be good to take out the seniors to a few work places. Some good, some bad. Just to show us what work is out there, for those who do good in school and for those who don't. But they stopped telling people because they realised kids weren't showing up on trip days. Now they kind of just throw it at us, sucks but it's pretty smart."
I shrugged, and despite my annoyance I had to agree with her - it was pretty smart.
"Fair enough, so where are we going today anyway?"
She was about to reply when the teacher did it for her. "Today's visit will be the Boston Meat-Packing Plant, just to show you teenagers what happens when you don't study." As he said it, he chose to directly stare at a few students in the class.
"Great," Jade muttered sarcastically. "Just what we need, a boring trip to the Meat Factory."
I nodded in agreement, letting my head fall back onto the desk.
~...~...~...~...~...~
"And finally, do any of you faint at the sight of blood?"
I rolled my eyes, looking to my left to see Jade off in her own world - as usual.
After borrowing the school-bus, our teacher - Mr Lake - had drove us into town and straight to the Meat Plant. But apparently before we could actually enter the building, the guy in charge had to run through some routine questions; If we were vegetarian, if we were against animal slaughter, if we became nauseas or dizzy around certain smells, and of course if we fainted at the sight of blood. But if I was being completely honest, I wouldn't mind seeing someone in our class faint. It would certainly bright up the soon-to-be-boring day.
"I think that's it." Mr Lake told him, noticing that none of us spoke up at the question. But for sake of pride and dignity, I was sure no one would speak up even if they were dodgy around meat.
"Okay, well if you're all fine, just follow me inside. And try not to wonder off, it's a dangerous place if yah don't know what you're doing." The man told us, sounding quite bored. Not that I blamed him, I'd be pissed off too if I found out I had to show some teenagers around a dangerous work-place, where risks of fainting and puking were high.
Our small group started to wonder inside and Jade linked her right arm through my left, something we always did when out together. As we entered, a strong smell reached my nose, and while it wasn't enough to make me puke, it did give me an uncomfortable feeling.
"That smell would be the meat, just ignore it and keep following!" The man instructed, having to yell slightly with the sound of machinery getting closer.
Pushing passed the plastic door curtains, I immediately scanned the large room, seeing nothing but weird machines, people, and cut up meat.
"Calm down, class." Mr Lake sighed, hearing a lot of disgusted groans from many girls in the group - Me not included.
"Calm down? He does smell this stuff right?" Jade asked, shaking her head as she covered her mouth and nose.
"Probably. Look, the sooner we get through this, the sooner we get back on that bus and back to the school." I said, trying to ease her whining. It would only make the day slower, and as much as I loved her, I wasn't sure if I could take it.
"I guess." She sighed, shrugging. Though her eyes widened at something behind me. "Oh shit."
"What?" I looked back in time to see Trix - one of Jade's cheerleaders - hit the deck.
She'd been one of the few stood pretty close to one of the machines that transported the meat on hooks, so her fainting wasn't very surprising to me. Though it was very amusing.
"Oh great," The man leading our group mumbled, rubbing his forehead stressfully.
I giggled as Mr Lake rushed down towards Trix, lifting her into his arms.
"What do we do?" He questioned, glancing at us as though we had the answers.
"Take her outside, get some fresh air in her. I'll carry on with the rest of your class." The man instructed. Mr Lake nodded, immediately heading out of the Plant with Trix. "Now, are any of you positive that you don't faint at the sight of blood?"
"Trix doesn't faint at the sight of blood, sir. She's a cheerleader, she's seen her fair share of blood splatters. But apparently she does faint at the sight of uncooked cow meat dangling from a hook. That should've been one of the questions." Jade spoke up, earning a glare from him and a giggle from me.
"Anyway," He stressed. "Moving on. Just follow me, and please no more faints."
The class nodded and grunted in response, and we carried on through the plant. But I could tell a lot of people were trying to resist puking.
"And this is where the meat is cut. We have to chop off bits and pieces for packaging, but it's pretty simple." He announced, once again stopping as we reached another part of the plant.
The machines all seemed to be looking the same to me, and it didn't help that the meat and people dressed in coats looked exactly the same either. But when I scanned the room, my heart-beat sped up as I recognized two of the many people in the building. But it wasn't the good kind of fast-speed, it was the kind that made you think you'd have a heart-attack if you didn't leave the room.
"Oh shit Jade." I muttered.
"What? What did you see?" She asked, trying to figure out what was freaking me out.
My eyes widened at the very clear appearances of Connor and Murphy. Thankfully neither man had seen me yet, but with the way we were headed, I knew they soon would.
"That's them." I replied, nervously gesturing to the two.
Jade's eyes narrowed in confusion, however they soon widened to one of realisation. "Them as in the two Irish guys you're supposed to screw over?" I nodded in confirmation and she smiled. "Fuck, where?!"
My eyes widened in disbelief. "Jade!"
"What?!" She exclaimed, shaking her head. "I wanna see if this plan is really worth it or not."
"Jade, Jade what the heck are you doing?" I panicked, watching as she weaved her way through the workers, attempting to get closer to the two. "Jade get the fuck back here!" I silently exclaimed, repeatedly apologising to the workers as I followed her.
"Fuck me." She muttered once I finally reached her, both of us hidden behind a large machine.
"What?" I asked, the irritation clear in my voice.
"They are fricking gorgeous." She stated, leaning the top half of her body out to peer around the machine.
"Yeah well I did tell you." I sighed, doing the same.
She shook her head, a small smile on her face. "No, that was an understatement. These guys are...oh my gosh. How did it take so long for him to bed your sister? Which one did she fuck anyway?"
I looked up at her, my eyes narrowed in disbelief and annoyance. "Jade! But Camille slept with the dark-haired one, the one that keeps poking the guy in the side of the head."
"Holy fuck," She muttered. "So which one are you supposed to be going for?"
I sighed. "The one getting poked in the head."
"That's the guy you're supposed to get to?" She asked, leaning back so that she was fully hidden behind the machine. I did the same, nodding in confirmation. "Okay Grace, you cannot complain about this anymore, okay? You're not just doing this for Camille anymore, if you don't go out with that guy I think I'll kill you."
"You don't get it Jade! I should be doing this because I want to, not because Camille banged his brother. Look I was having doubts before but now this proves it, nothing good will come from this plan. I have to end it - tonight."
"Tonight? Why tonight? Are we looking at the same guys here?!" She exclaimed.
I rolled my eyes at her. "Yes, we're looking at the same guys. Which is exactly why I'm doing this! If I hadn't seen him first he would've seen me, and then what? Camille's plan would go straight down the drain. And I just realised that now I have to worry about running into him during school hours. It's bad enough I have to worry about Finals and studying, I can't be worrying about this too."
She nodded in understanding. "I guess. So, if you don't want him, can I have him?"
"Dude!" I exclaimed, laughing as I lightly slapped her arm.
"What?!"
"You have a boyfriend!" I re-capped, though I was smiling with amusement.
"Look whether I love Tommy or not. If that leprechaun offered me gold in exchange for sex, I wouldn't turn him down." She shrugged, leaving me both amused and in disbelief as she headed back to the group.
"You're unbelievable." I muttered, speeding after her.
Author's Note:
Sorry there wasn't much of Connor or Murphy in this one, but I felt the need to write this chapter. But one of the Boys will definitely be in the next Chapter. Until then, review if you can, and thanks for the reviews so far. :)