Greyscale [✓]

Chapter 08

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Ugh, can you believe it?" Ashlyn complained as she set her plate on their table at lunch-time and gracefully settled down. Neatly dipping a celery stick into her hummus, she flung her hair back waiting for someone to ask her what was wrong.

Sure enough, she wasn't disappointed. "What happened babe?" Matt asked, putting an arm around her shoulder, worry evident in his voice. He was the latest addition to their regular table and was doing all he could to postpone the day Ashlyn got fed up of him there and decided he needed to go. Her boyfriends never lasted long. In fact, she was probably the female version of Cameron in that regard – a fact Hannah had noted several times.

"Aww," she cooed as she nuzzled against him, ignoring Cameron pretending to throw up into his chicken wrap at their affection. "It's some dumb scholarship bitch I have to work on a project on for Sociology! Such bull. Ugh as if some stupid school project is really going to make me voluntarily hang out with some poor kid who lives on a disgusting rat-infested council estate. Ugh!"

Cameron raised an eyebrow and laughed at her theatrics. "Jheeze, calm your tits Ash! It's not like her family income is going to disease you," he said, somewhat seriously as he shook his head.

Hannah just shook her head and refused to say anything, biting her lip hard to stop a snarky comment coming out by itself. Luckily Ash was too busy listening to Matt sympathizing with her to pay attention to her best friend.

"Hey, where's Gabe gone?" Cameron asked with a frown. It wasn't usual to see his cousin sitting quietly at lunch without her boyfriend next to her, an arm tightly wrapped around her shoulders as he spoke loud enough for half the school to hear. Hannah shrugged, knowing perfectly well he was probably gossiping and kicking a football outside with Jakub.

Jakub was the sort of guy who acted all tough and macho on the outside but couldn't handle his own problems himself – he always went running to Gabe whenever something didn't go to his liking. The two of them had been friends since childhood and were joined at the hip. Or at least they used to be, until high school rolled around and Gabriel, Ashlyn, Hannah and Cameron had met and become The Elite – the most 'it' crowd of the school. Hannah snorted quietly when she thought that; popularity was bloody ridiculous.

"I dunno, with Jakub outside I assume," she muttered in answer to her cousin, readjusting her striped school tie nervously as she did so. She was hoping Jakub had the decency to shut up and not plant any ideas in Gabriel's mind as to why she spoke up in their World History class in the first place – she knew he would jump to conclusions and believe anything Jakub said..

She knew he didn't like it. She was supposed to be calm at all times, never flustered or even a little infuriated. He had so many expectations of her as his girlfriend and although she was managing it, right now she felt overwhelmed to the point she was considering stabbing herself in the hand with her fork.

Ugh.

---

"Where are you going though?" Hannah asked, trying to bring out the puppy eyes but it was to no avail. Cameron just laughed loudly; his head thrown back, and shoved her with his elbow.

The two of them were walking towards the rest of their friends so they could go home when Cameron mentioned he would be out all of tomorrow. Hannah had been trying to figure out who this mysterious girl was that seemed to have caught her cousins' heart but it was impossible. He just wouldn't tell her and it was driving her crazy. He'd never kept a secret from her before.

"Calm down! Jheeze," he whined as she shoved him right back, much harder. "It's not even a big deal man, just a friend I met a while back. We're just going to pop down to Camden to look around. He does some busking y'know, plays guitar around there, that's all!" he answered, nervously looking around as he spoke to make sure Ashlyn wasn't near by. She would probably have a heart attack if she heard him. Camden for God's sake; she'd probably never so much as thought of somewhere so dirty, crime-ridden and full of weird people in all her life!

Hannah laughed with affection laced into it, imagining the face of her best friend if she had heard that. Her laughter stopped abruptly however, when she realised her boyfriend was standing a little ahead of her. His honey-blonde eyebrows were furrowed and his hands buried deep in the pockets of his blue trousers and she knew he wasn't happy.

She sighed, pulling her black school blazer tighter around her to shield her from the cold air as she made her way over to him. "Hey Gabe," she said with a smile as she leaned over to kiss him.

He muttered in reply as the three of them began walking towards the grand gates of their school where they knew Ashlyn and whatever posse she had today would be waiting. Sure enough, Ash was there with Catherine and Matt, her platinum curls waving in the wind behind her head. She looked incredibly regal and for a minute, Hannah felt her self-esteem plummet.

She may have been bloody perfect to everyone around her and part of The Elite but there was no doubt that she only the best friend of Ashlyn Janek and not the other way around. No matter what, she'd never be good enough as Ash.

The six of them walked together, the cold air around them slowing their pace. Gabriel had tugged at the strap of Hannah's black Michael Kors bag to pull her a little behind as he asked her the question that was irritating him.

"But why did you even start the debate? That's all I want to know!" Gabriel exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. He had managed to last the whole day without mentioning what Jakub had told him at lunch but it was bugging him.

Hannah shook her head wearily. She had bit her lip hard until she could taste her blood so she wouldn't say a word to anger him. From the moment Gabriel first approached her, a sceptical look in his powder blue eyes, she knew Jakub had twisted the words around about what transpired in World History class.

"Mohammad is my friend," Hannah blurted out, her voice higher than normal in annoyance. "And Mrs Turner was being so harsh! Of course I'm going to defend him!"

Gabriel's frown grew more prominent at her words and Hannah felt like slapping herself. She should have known better than to mention Mohammad; she distinctly remembered Jakub's last words in History class when he called her an ass-licking bitch and knew perfectly well that he was still stuck on the idea Hannah had a thing for Mohammad.

The idea was so ridiculous that Mohammad often took the piss out it at every possible opportunity. He was a great guy, he really was but there was no way that anything was going on between them! 'Gross,' she thought with a shudder. They were far too close as friends for anything like that to ever happen.

"You know how I feel about the two of you! Even Cam always makes jokes about you two dating!" Gabe snarled, his perfectly pink lips curling up in disgust.

"Whoa! Whoa, keep me out of this dumb thing mate," Cameron called out from ahead of the couple, rolling his eyes at their argument from where he was walking alongside Ashlyn, Catherine and Matt.

Hannah felt like bashing her skull against the walls they were currently walking past. "Jokes! He makes jokes about us dating because it's so ridiculous that it's funny!" she answered, trying to keep her shoulders from shaking and her anger in check but it wasn't possible. She was his girlfriend and he should at least have the decency to trust her. But instead he had listened to Jakub once ages ago and now had the stupid idea stuck in his head. She was sick of having to defend herself all the time.

Gabriel stopped walking abruptly, his mouth agape. He wasn't used to Hannah arguing back at him even if it was minor but she seemed to be doing that a lot since they started school again. What the hell was wrong with her these days?

Hannah ran her fingers through her dark hair wearily, smiling weakly when Cameron looked back with a concerned expression flitting across his face. He paused, waiting for the two to catch up before swinging an arm across both Hannah and Gabriel's shoulders before waffling on about how hot Helena had looked today.

As Gabriel laughed and fist-bumped Cam, Hannah groaned at his disgusting ways. She couldn't help the smile spreading on her face, however, as she knew he brought that up just to change the subject and reduce the tension in the air.

'What an idiot,' she thought, grinning widely, her heart swelling with love for her stupid cousin.

A/N: hannah's school uniform is in the external link on the right side because I'm bored and making outfits is fun ok c: