It was well after midnight by the time I had gotten home. Niall had driven me back, but it had been an unpleasant drive. We hadn’t spent much of the night talking after the guys arrived at the pub. Neither of us had known what to say. He’d stopped in front of my house and we had shared a rather awkward hug goodbye before I’d gotten out of the car.
I was so lucky that my Mum and Stephen hadn’t gotten home before I did. If they had, Stephen would have been so mad. It was strange that they’d left before I got up this morning. I generally wake up way before anyone else in this household. But there was no sign of any life in the house while I made myself breakfast, which consisted of cornflakes in yoghurt with slices of strawberry. Hmmm, delicious. There was no homework for me to do, my room was tidy, I’d had enough fun and traumatizing situations last night to last me a week, so there was nothing left for me to do except paint.
I snatched up my iPod from my bedside table and plugged in my earphones. Blasting All Time Low’s Backseat Serenade, I walked over to my art room. I never even thought that Mum would give me this space, but she had. It wasn’t a big room, but it had a window, and the walls were covered in my paintings. A paint splattered desk stood against one wall. It had all my drawings, paint, pencils and brushes in it. The only thing that wasn’t covered in artwork was the floor, which had dark old wooden floorboards, some of them creaked when you stepped on them. I decided to grab a canvas and start painting. When I was painting, nothing else mattered. Time, what was happening around me, my thoughts, they were all meaningless. I got focused on my art so much, that it drained my energy so before I knew it, it was way past midnight again. When I finally realized the time I stood back and looked at what my painting looked like. It was an unfinished zebra pop art. Another day spent panting and it would be finished. I carefully stood the canvas back onto the easel and turned around. Going in to my room I glanced over at the clock. 01:34. Damn, it was a late one again. Deep in thought I grabbed some clothes and a towel to have a shower.
When I finally got out of the shower I looked out of the window, which had a view of the front yard and driveway. Neither Mum’s nor Stephen’s car was there. Maybe they were never coming back? I shook the thought away, that was ridiculous, they would never leave me behind. I mentally shrugged and turned away from the window. Now in my silk pyjamas I laid down in my bed, covering myself with my duvet. It took me a long time to drift off to sleep. And when I finally did it wasn’t the peaceful sleep I was hoping for.
“Arrgh.” I grabbed my phone to switch off the alarm that was going on and on without mercy. The bedroom fell silent as I clicked the alarm away and tried to open my eyes. 07:26. I was late, great. I hurried to get out of the house in time. At five minutes to eight I was out of the door running down my front yard. School started at five past eight and it was a fifteen minute walk. I ran down the street and took the first left. A car honked at me. It startled me and I almost fell over as I stopped running and turned around. There was Niall’s black Range Rover. I leaned over clutching my sides, gasping for breath. One of the tinted windows wound down and Niall looked over at me. “You coming, or what?” I laughed shakily and got in the car. “Hey.” I said, still breathing heavily. “Hi Jen.” Niall’s voice was a little croaky, it seemed like he hadn’t used it in a while. He started driving and in about two minutes we were at school. 08:00 it said on the dashboard. “Well, thanks for the drive Niall!” I said, getting out of the Rover. My heart had stopped pounding heavily and my breathing had returned to normal. “No problem, I’m turning into your personal taxi now aren’t I?” he laughed at his own joke. I shook my head with a smile on my face. “Yeah, but I’m not paying you!” I warned him. He laughed as I slung my backpack over my shoulder and we walked into school together. I went to my locker and looked at the little timetable I’d printed off to keep in there. “Economics, Chemistry and English Literature.” I muttered to myself while finding the correct folders to take. “Hey Jenna.” I turned around to see Luna smiling at me. “Hi!” I said, genuinely happy to see her. “I heard you’ve been hanging out with the popular gang. You’re creating quite a reputation for yourself.” She leaned against the lockers next to mine. “What? Oh, you mean the guys? Are they THE popular gang here or something?” I asked in astonishment. Luna nodded, her expression curious. “I know they’ve got the looks and they’re sweet and everything… But seriously?” Luna looked amused. “Yeah, so how did you get Niall Horan to drive you to school?” My cheeks flushed. I tried to hide it by casually flicking my hair down as I closed my locker and turned around. I shrugged. “Uh, he… offered me a lift when he spotted me running because I was late.” Luna squealed. “Oh gosh, okay. Do you even know who you’ve been hanging out with? Niall’s the mysterious one. He’s all fun and games but when it gets serious he’s nowhere to be seen.” I rolled my eyes, damn I was doing that a lot. “He seems really down to earth to me.” And with that I stalked off to Economics, just as the bell rung.
