all too well, n.nelson

𝗢𝗻𝗲🍂

"CHARLIE YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS OR I'M LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!" Bethany called up the stairs of the Spring residence household. She stood in her school uniform, which consisted of a white button up, a green and blue striped tie, a navy blue jacket, and a gray pleated skirt. They were allowed to wear whatever shoes they wanted, most girls opted for flats, Bethany chose her green converse. "We're going to miss the bus!" She yelled again.

      "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Charlie bounded down the steps, flinging a coat around his shoulders. The boy wore the same color of uniform, but with black dress pants and white converse. Bethany was jealous that the boys got to wear pants while the girls were forced to wear skirts. He swooped his backpack off the ground by the door and gave the girl a thumbs up. Over the last year, Charlie had grown to be taller than Bethany, even though she was in the year above him, at one point she was the taller of the two. Charlie fixed his dark curls in the mirror before leading her out the door. The duo ran to the bus stop, making it just in time to watch the last person in line load the bus.

       "Hold the bus!" Bethany said to the driver as they neared. The bus driver waited for them to climb in and sit down, then he began to move. Charlie's phone dinged, Bethany peered over at his screen. "You're still meeting up with him?" She asked disapprovingly. Him being Ben Hope, Charlie's secret romance. Apparently Ben didn't know if he wanted to come out yet and forced him to keep it a secret, something Charlie did not like.

       "Are you still meeting up with Sarah?" Charlie fired back, raising an eyebrow at the older girl. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it. Bethany realized she had no room to talk. Sarah Collins ran in the same crowd as Ben, it consisted of the ruby lads and the popular girls. "That's what I thought." Charlie scoffed, replying to Ben's message. Bethany looked down at her own phone and saw that Sarah had left her on seen, the girls had decided to meet in the music hall, near the choir room. The bus pulled up to Truhman Grammar High School, students loaded off the bus. Others crowded around the gate, rugby boys occasionally chucking things at other students who walked by.

       "Look! It's the gay boy and the gay girl!" A voice pointed out, the voice belonging to Harry Greene, the biggest bully in the entire school. His group laughing at his comment, Charlie put his head down and ignore him. Bethany never ignored Harry at times like these. In a way, that was their dynamic. Charlie was quiet and introverted, and Bethany was hot-headed and extroverted.

       "Look! It's a boy with only half a brain cell!" Bethany shouts back in the same tone. "Piss off, Greene." She added walking by him. Harry shouted something after her, but she ignore him. Bethany made her way down to the music hall, when she arrived a dark haired figure was waiting for her. "Hi. Sarah turned over her shoulder to see Bethany.

"Hi." Sarah replied back, smiling weakly. "I missed you." She said, only staring at Bethany's lips.

"I missed you too. How was your holiday?" Bethany asked as the dark haired girl stepped closer. Sarah reached out to brush a lose strand of red hair from Bethany's face.

"It was alright, you?" Sarah responded, leaning closer. Her breath fanned across Bethany's.

      "I-it was good, I got a new pair of sh-" Bethany started, but Sarah cut her off with a sloppy kiss. Bethany kissed her back, but it didn't last long when the bell rang. Sarah practically jumped a whole foot back from Bethany.

       "Er-Sorry, see you later?" Sarah smiled and brushed quickly past Bethany, not sparing her another glance.

      "Happy new year, students! Don't forget that there will now be students from all school years in your new form groups. I hope you all enjoy getting to know some fresh new faces in from registration each day."

      Bethany looked down at the form group written in pen on her hand. It read B205, Charlie had the same group. So Bethany put in her earbuds and walked all the way to the other side of the school. A mop of curly brown hair caught her eye from down the hall.

"Charles!" Bethany shouted over the noise in the hall, the lanky boy turned over his shoulder and waved. Bethany jogged to catch up with him so they could go in together.

"I'm so excited we have a class together now." Charlie said as they approached Mr. Hamlet.

"Ah! Miss Bethany Stark and Mister Charles Spring! Hope you had a happy new year." He greeted them.

"Hi, Hamlet." Bethany greeted.

       "Now, let's see where i put you two on the seating chart... Ah! Stark, you're by Nicholas Nelson. He's in your year, captain of the rugby team." Mr. Hamlet pointed to a table that a blond boy sat at, picking his nails. She recognized him, he was Harry's best mate. "In your year, good kid. You could get along... or maybe not." The adult shrugged.

       Great. She thought. Bethany waved a goodbye to Charlie and shuffled over to the other boys table.

     "Hi." Nick greeted her with a friendly smile.

"Hi. I'm Bethany." Bethany mentally cursed her self. Stupid bitch, he knows who you are.

        "Yeah, I, uh, knew that. I'm Nick, but you probably knew that." Nick said laughing a little at the girl.

      "Yeah, I totally did. I don't get out much." She joked, shrugging. Nick let out a breath of a laugh in response. Bethany caught Charlie's blue eyes from across the room, his eyebrow raised. She shook her head subtly at him as a sign to shut up. The bell rang and Nick said a goodbye before leaving the room. Bethany found Charlie waiting for her by the door.

"Don't say a word." Bethany pointed a finger at him.

After that day in form, it was like Bethany saw Nick everywhere. One morning they ran into each other in the halls, literally. Nick brushed it off with a laugh and greeted the red head. When they passed each other in the halls, Nicks voice echoed louder than the usual hall noises.

"Hi."

"Hi."