The Bad Boy's Secret

~Chapter Seven~

"I'm sorry, this is all just too much." she apologises, blowing into a tissue that seems to miraculously appear from out of nowhere. "I miss her so much, Amelia. Why did she leave us?" she asks and although she does so rhetorically, I feel the need to answer anyway.

"I don't know, Anna. I don't think she was really thinking about that when she decided to go." I reply, hating how my words in no way offer any sort of comfort. "You're not alone though, I'm here." I add, hoping to soothe her unbearable pain with my pathetic words.

Her clear blue eyes, full of misery, latch onto mine and with a fake smile that's fooling no one, she proceeds to open the door, muttering out a weak, "I'll be fine." while exiting the car.

Of course I don't buy it but I follow her lead nevertheless and as we both enter the building together, an unspoken moment passes between us and I find myself taking comfort in the knowledge that I'm not alone.

No matter what, I'll always have Anna and I'll forever be thankful of that.

"Right then," I state, offering her a gentle squeeze to the hand, "let's do this, together."

----

Leaving the principal's office after being allocated a locker each, with one hand clutching my new timetable and the other tightly grasping onto a map of the school, I notice the halls are now completely empty, causing my stomach to sink at the realisation of having to enter my class late. I'd been hoping to keep the whole 'I'm new here' thing under wraps but arriving halfway through a lesson will surely draw unwanted attention to myself, thus, ruining my plans to go unnoticed for the rest of my senior year.

Anna and I quickly compare our papers to see what classes we have together and as it turns out, with the exception of Gym and History, we've been well and truly separated. Of course, neither of those lessons is next, which makes interrupting a class to enter that little bit worse and with the dreaded feeling inside my stomach rising, I seriously contemplate ditching the first day of school.

"Well, I guess we're going our separate ways, then." states Anna with the most unimpressed tone known to mankind. "I mean, call me optimistic, but I would've thought they'd at least put us together to make this dreadful situation, less awful." she adds on a dramatic sigh that slightly cracks towards the end, hinting towards yet another breakdown.

Although fully understanding her point, I can condone the school separating us on this occasion. As academics, myself and Anna are on completely different levels, which more than explains our segregation. While Anna is a C+ average student, I'm more inclined to getting A's and B's, so it makes logical sense for us to be in different classes. That being said, it definitely would have been less nerve wracking to have my sister by my side today but obviously the school has other ideas.

"I know but try not to get yourself overwhelmed, okay?" I all but plead, desperate to nip her ever approaching crying fit in the bud. "You'll meet new friends in no time and I'll see you at lunch. Shall we meet back here at 12.30pm and walk in together?" I ask, hoping to shed some light on the situation.

She slowly nods her head, silently agreeing to my suggestion and with a quick, encouraging smile, I take off down the corridor, hoping for the love of God that my map successfully leads me to the English department.

After five minutes of fast pace wandering, I turn right down a sharp corner, finding myself standing outside my first period classroom, English Literature, and with shaking hands, proceed to knock on the thickly varnished wooden door. My stomach churns in an unsettling way and as I hesitantly step inside the, now, silent classroom, my nerves increase tenfold.

"Hi, sorry to interrupt, I'm Amelia." I smile, introducing myself to the seemingly impatient English teacher. "I'm new here and this is my first class." I add, skipping the introductions all together and getting straight to the point.

With a crisply ironed, deep blue trouser suit and wire-like grey hair that is unsuccessfully being tamed into a tight bun, Mrs. O'Donald appears to be the walking stereotype of a strict teacher and I can only hope I am dreadfully wrong in my initial judgements.

"Ah, yes! I've been expecting you, although you are ten minutes late." she comments in a patronising tone that instantly reminds me of Susan. "Let's see, Amelia, it's been brought to my attention that at your previous school you were studying Macbeth." it doesn't sound like a question but I find myself nodding my head nevertheless. "Well I'm sorry to be the barer of bad news," she smirks, suggesting she is anything but sorry, "but we've been reading Romeo & Juliet, so you may find yourself slightly behind for a couple of days-."

"Oh, no worries, I've read it a thousand times over." I interrupt and instantly regret doing so when seeing the thunder storm of an expression clouding her features.

"Well isn't that positively convenient." she sneers, offering me an unimpressed smile while handing me a worn out copy of the book, to which I physically have to resist the urge to tell her I have my own, much neater condition one at home.

I gratefully accept the fragile pages from her ageing hands and as I turn my attention to the rest of the class, I quickly scan the room for any potential seating areas.

"You can take a seat next to Joshua Reed over there." Mrs. O'Donald instructs, pointing towards a nervous looking guy with jet black hair.

I make a point to thank her quickly and smile widely at Joshua, who looks extremely uncomfortable with my ever approaching presence. He's situated near the back in the far left corner and as my gaze zeros in on his pale, twitching face, the guy sitting directly behind him suddenly grabs my attention, wiping the huge smile straight off of my face.

Aidan.

He's already staring at me and as my entire body comes to an immediate stop, a small, knowing smirk begins to play across his beautifully carved face at the same time as a perfectly defined eyebrow shoots up. From what I can see, he's wearing a plain black T-Shirt that leaves nothing to the imagination and as detailed images of being with him on Saturday night filter through my mind, I small gasp leaves the back of my throat.

"Is there a problem?" asks Mrs. O'Donald, to which I quickly shake my head; dropping my books all over the floor.

Just fantastic.

People from around the room begin to laugh at my flustered clumsiness and as I quickly gather my things, I begrudgingly take a seat in front of Aidan; the last person I thought I'd see today.

Assuming he was a College student is by far my biggest mistake yet and as the horrifying realisation of having to spend the rest of my school year with him settles in, I breathe out a reluctant sigh, willing myself to be in any other situation but this.

Crap balls. Massive, massive crap balls.

This cannot be happening!

~~~~

Well, well, well. Aidan does indeed attend high school, not College. Unluckily for Amelia! ;)