The next morning Ace woke up to a banging at the door. Rubbing his eyes he grabbed at a pair of pants before making his way to answer it.
"You sure are a sound sleeper," Reg grinned, exposing his yellow teeth.
"What do you want?" Ace asked shortly, not pleased about being woken up.
"I have something you can do for me," Reg explained, "I have a few things I need to store for a while. I'll be back for them in about a week or so."
"So you just want me to keep them in my room?" Ace clarified.
"Sure," Reg said, "There's a few dollars in it for you."
"Where are they?" Ace muttered through his morning cigarette that he was now lighting.
"Haven't got 'em yet boy, but when I do, I need to hide 'em here sharpish."
"Do you need me to pick it up or anything?" Ace asked, hoping the answer would be no.
"No I have that sorted, just need to store 'em here. You don't even have to be here I'll just drop 'em by when I need to."
"Sounds good," Ace said, trying to wrap up the conversation.
Reg finally left and Ace went to take a shower to help him wake up a little. Finding it had the reverse effect he went back to bed for a while. By the time he woke up again school was nearly out.
He redressed and drove over but he must have been too early because the campus looked totally still. Yawning he decided to lay on a brick retaining wall at the enterance of the school. He was soon asleep again.
When he next opened his eyes the campus was as bare as it was before. The sky had turned darker and the air colder. He felt a weight in his hand and looked across at the grassy area beside him to see Laura laying down beside him her hand in his. When he had looked at her she had opened her big blue eyes and smiled at him.
"Why are you so tired?" she asked him.
He dropped her hand so he could sit up and stretch out his back, yawning as he did so.
He then moved down to the grass where she still lay.
"No idea," he said moving his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head.
"Do you want to get up?" she asked, starting to stand.
"Not yet," he yawned as he pulled her back down on top of him with her head now resting on his chest. They stayed that way until the evening chill began to creep under their warm clothes and make them shiver.
"I better go home, I don't know when Mrs Morris expects me back," Laura mumbled sleepily.
"Who cares," Ace said sitting up. He ran his fingers through her hair brushing away the dried grass and leaves.
"I don't want to keep her waiting," she said, rising to her feet.
"It's so cold," she said, hugging herself, teeth chattering as she lost the warmth of their shared body heat. She stepped over to where Ace now stood and slid her arms under his jacket. Ace decided to press his advantage. He pushed her arms away and started to walk towards the car.
She ran after him, catching him before he opened to door. She huddled against him once again.
"Don't be mean," she said.
"I thought you wanted to go?" he said, smirking.
"In a second," she said, grateful that his arms pushed her closer against him.
Ace opened the car to where it was warmer and stretched out on the backseat. They lay down again and felt their eyes droop and for the fourth time that day Ace fell asleep.
By the time Laura had successfully persuaded Ace to drive her home the sky was dark and the night air crisp. She kissed Ace briefly on the lips before running into her house.
Mrs Morris was waiting for her with her lips pressed together, clearly not impressed by the hour that Laura was arriving home.
Laura apologised for being late and tried to make her way past her toward her bed.
"I know where you have been," she growled at her, "In the back of a car no doubt."
Her nostrils flared as she stepped closer towards Laura and slapped her sharply on the face.
"I don't know what your mother was thinking letting you run wild, doing god knows what, with god knows whom but that stops today," she yelled, spittle landing on Laura's face.
She shoved Laura into her bedroom and locked the door behind her.
Hot tears began to fall on her cheek that was still stinging sharply. She could not deny she had been in a back seat that afternoon but it was perfectly innocent. But it wasn't always, Laura thought to herself. She was feeling ashamed but she couldn't figure out why, what had she done that was so awful?