It was forecasted to be a hot one today.
Suddenly the message tone on my phone startled me and woke me up from my sleep. It was from Cee Cee. 'Bring ur costume, we're goin 2 beach afta skool'. Rolling over, I checked the time on my alarm clock. 7.05am and it already felt like I was baking in an oven. I moaned and got dressed in my black mini skirt and a cute pink tee.
Amazingly for once, Sleepy actually got us to school on time. I quickly gathered my English books from my locker and closed the door with a loud bang.
"No need to take it out on your locker, Suze" Came an all too familiar voice.
I let out a short scream as I stared up into the face of Paul Slater.
"Nice to see you too, babe" He grinned, looking me up and down.
"I, ah… Really need to go to the bathroom. Excuse me" I said as I quickly began to walk away.
"Suze!" He called after me, but I ignored him and kind of broke out into a run.
When will I learn that running around blind corners is dangerous, as I accidently bumped into the back of someone.
"Oh, I'm so sorry" I breathed heavily as I finally looked up and realised it was Jesse De Silva.
"Susannah? Are you alright?"
Without thinking, I took hold of his arm and guided him into the classroom. I didn't have Cee Cee or Adam in this class, and there was no way I was letting Paul Slater sit next to me.
"Please sit next to me" I said, releasing his arm and pushing some of my long brown hair away from my face.
"Ok…" He looked at me strangely as if I had asked him to jump off a cliff or something. I sat down and pulled his chair out for him. Luckily he accepted my offer and took the seat next to me. I sighed in relief and placed my books on the desk. Suddenly I noticed that my mini skirt had risen up a little too high, so I quickly smoothed it down.
"Is something wrong?" Jesse asked, glancing sideways at me.
"Hmm, nah I'm fine. It's just this skirt is a little annoying when I sit down… It keeps riding up"
Oh my god! Why on earth did I just say that to a guy? I felt rather embarrassed and totally regretted it as I noticed his eyes flickering down to my hem line. He cleared his throat, and focused back at his books instead. I mentally kicked myself for being such an idiot. Until all of a sudden I noticed my bag was missing.
"Hold on… Where's my bag?" I frantically glanced around the floor. "Oh shoot! I must of left back at my locker"
"Looking for this?" Paul smirked, as he suddenly appeared in front of my desk.
I frowned and grabbed my bag from his large hand "What are you doing here?" I managed to choke out.
"Um, I kind of go to school here… and I'm in your English class"
"I know that" I spoke a little more confidently, knowing that Jesse was beside me. "But I thought you weren't going to be back from your holiday for at least another week"
"Change of plans… Did you miss me?"
"Hardly" I mumbled under my breath.
Paul smoothly placed his ray bans upon his head and casually gazed down at me before finally turning his attention to Jesse. "Who are you?"
"This is Jesse" I said, a little too high pitched. "He's new here"
"Jesse De Silva" He said, raising his hand to shake Paul's.
But Paul didn't return the hand shake. Instead he narrowed his eyes and growled. "How about you move! You're sitting in my seat"
Before Jesse got the chance to say or do anything, I quickly chimed in. "Sorry Paul, but Jesse got here first. Oh look, Mrs. Campbell has arrived. Better hurry and find a seat somewhere else… Unless you want to stand there for the next hour and a half"
"Real funny. I'll talk to you later, Suze" He snarled down at us before walking to the other side of the room.
"I don't think so" I muttered, low enough for only Jesse to hear.
"Who was that? I've never known someone to be so rude…" Jesse asked, narrowing his eyes in disgust.
I scoffed. "You mean besides Kelly"
He ignored my comment and opened his novel to chapter 8 as Mrs. Campbell had instructed.
"Is he a friend of yours?" Jesse continued probing information out of me.
"Paul Slater? You've got to be joking" I casually said, opening my book as well.
"He's not causing you any trouble is he?" Jesse whispered, pretending to read the book.
"Nothing that I can't handle" I said out the corner of my mouth as I noticed the teacher was looking my way.
I heard Jesse sigh. "Susannah…"
"Be quiet and read the book, you have a lot to catch up on" I said, trying to change the subject.
"I've read this one before" He muttered, flicking through the pages.
"Oh. Does it get interesting further on?"
"Nope"
"Damn English novels" I moaned.
"Is there a problem Miss Simon?" Mrs. Campbell asked, lowering her glasses to peer out at me.
"No Mrs. Campbell, everything is fine" I said, looking down at the book.
We remained silent for most of the lesson, until another teacher came in to speak to Mrs. Campbell about something. Jesse immediately took to opportunity to speak to me again.
"I felt bad for you having to walk home from the coffee clutch yesterday" He said softly.
I continued staring at the book in front of me. "Don't worry about it"
But for some reason it was worrying him. "To be honest, I wasn't sure if you would speak to me again" He continued.
"Why would you think that?"
Jesse was silent for a moment before saying. "Well, I didn't say anything when those girls said those cruel comments to you…"
"So? Why would I care what you do or do not say?"
"Susannah I'd like to be your friend, and friends stick up for one another"
"Thanks Jesse" I smiled genuinely.
His smile seemed to outdo mine though. He had a lovely set of white, perfect looking teeth, and his chocolate coloured eyes lit up.
"You know, that's the first time you've said my name" He said while looking over at me.
I suddenly felt my cheeks slightly begin to heat up. "Yeah, I suppose you're right… Jesse"
He quietly laughed under his breath and checked to make sure the teacher was still occupied.
"So, can I make it up to you?" He asked, waiting for my response.
Just then, the bell rang and everyone made a racket as they exited the room. I looked up and noticed Paul gave me a warning glare as he left the room.
"Um, ok… How about you walk me to my next class" I said as I picked up my books.
Jesse stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's not exactly what I meant…"
"Then what do you have in mind? I've got to get going. I can't afford to be late to any more classes"
"I don't know. Maybe we could… do something this afternoon?"
"I'm going to the beach with Cee Cee and Adam" I said as we left the room and stepped out into the corridor. "You can meet us down there if you like"
"Ok. Yeah, that sounds great. I'll see you down there" He said as that lovely smile appeared on his face once again.
Everything seemed to be going my way for once, i thought to myself as i happily walked off.
But knowing my luck, that was all about to change...
I didn't manage to make it through the day without bumping into Paul Slater again. It was the end of the day, and I was making my way to the front gates to meet Cee Cee and Adam. When suddenly Paul came out of nowhere and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were avoiding me" He said, watching me squirm under his arm.
Other students eyed us curiously as they passed by.
"Let me go Paul, I'm really getting tired of your stupid mind games" I dug my nails into his skin, forcing him to move his arm.
"Suze, if you'd just give me another chance -"
I looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear what I was about to say. "Another chance to do what? To have your way with me? No thanks!"
"Look I'm sorry I acted like a jerk that time up in my bedroom… But we had fun while it lasted, right?" He asked before averting his gaze onto something behind me.
A huge cheeky grin appeared on Paul's face, and I glanced quickly over my shoulder to see what could be so fascinating.
It was Jesse. He stood there with an expression on his face that I found a little difficult to read. It was like anger, pain, confusion and sadness all rolled into one look, and I wasn't sure which one was more dominant.
"Jesse…" I started to speak but he walked right passed us.
I stood there, stunned for words. Until Paul's ugly smirk came back into view.
"Was it something I said?" He had the hide to ask.
I set my jaw and clenched my fists around the collar of his shirt. "I despise you Paul Slater, and you have my word that I will never, ever get back with you. Do you understand that?"
He remained silent but continued to give me that cheeky, smug grin. So I slapped him hard across the cheek and stormed off.
Hey guys. I hope i'm doing alright so far. Please let me know what you think. Cheers!