Lethal (Harry Styles)

chapter 3

My feet carried me to my classroom but I was already running late.

Opening the door, I mumbled an apology but stopped myself when the wind, which I brought in, ruffled the papers on the teacher’s desk and they flew to the ground.

Groaning, my teacher crouched down and collected them. I heard him mutter “fuck me,” under his breath.

“Anytime,” I whispered. Mr. Sanderson bit his tongue to stop himself from laughing out loud.

A loud snorted laugh swept through the first row. I turned around to look at my friends, Lisa, George and Meredith. Theresa rolled her eyes but smiled.

Although my teacher was not that old – I didn’t consider 22 as old – and not that bad looking, he was still out of reach. After all, he was my teacher. But that didn’t stop me from flirting every now and then.

Law and History was already boring enough, so why not make it a bit fun?

I took my seat next to Lisa and pretended to pay attention. I couldn’t really focus. My thoughts slipped to my mom’s birthday on Friday. Furthermore, to her birthday party. I still needed to go shopping for a cute outfit for the party even if there were only old people present.

How did old people celebrate their birthdays? Did they eat cake, talk about their grey hair and handed their birthday prese- shit! An urgent thought made its way through my brain, reminding me that I haven’t bought a present yet. Another thing to add to my list.

To be fair, my mom wasn’t that old. But old nevertheless.

Mr. Sanderson was talking about legislators when my phone vibrated. I put my handbag on my lap and rifled through it until I finally found my phone.

1 new message

From Phoebe: “We need to go to the mall! Meet me at Forever 21 at 5pm and afterwards, we’ll go to the cinema with Adrian and the boys.”
I groaned. Adrian was Phoebe’s extraordinary good-looking boyfriend who was also Sean’s best friend. Sean was also extraordinary good-looking but his not-so-fabulous girlfriend Hanna was the representation of everything evil in the world.

I re-read Phoebe’s text. “Adrian and the boys” meant Adrian and the boys, without their girlfriends, right? I didn’t know who “the boys” were but it couldn’t be that bad.

To Phoebe: “Ok. I’m gonna bring Theresa along. She needs some quality time with boys ;)”

“Theresa,” I whispered, loud enough for her to hear me. She looked at me and nodded. “You’re coming to the mall with Phoebe and me today,” I continued, my voice leaving no space for an argument. She nodded again before turning around and raising her hand to answer one of Mr. Sanderson’s questions.

I tuned out and went through my mental check list again.

 *****

“What exactly do you need?” Theresa asked me.

“A present for my mom. Her birthday’s on Friday and like usually, Phoebe and I are running late on buying one… again,” I shrugged.

“Zo! Tess!” my sister yelled over the overwhelming mall noises.

I watched her approach us, high fiving Theresa before turning around to look at me. My sister’s hair was a little lighter than mine and her eyes were the same brown as mine but they reflected a bit of green sometimes. Phoebe was an inch taller than me and also a year younger. According to others, you could tell we were related just by hearing our voices. I didn’t agree with them.