As Head Boy of Truham Grammar School, I've done many things. I got drunk on theparents' wine at parents'evening. I've been photographed with the mayor threetimes.I once accidentally made a Year 7 cry.But none of that was quite as bad as having to stop everyonein Year 13 fromenjoying their nal day of school, which is what our head teacher, Mr Shannon, istrying to make me do right now.It's probably worth mentioning that my boyfriend of two years, Nick Nelson, is oneof those Year 13s."You don't mind, do you?" Mr Shannon leans on thecommon room table whereI'm supposed to berevising for my AS Levels but am actually watching Mac DeMarcoconcerts on my phone. "It's all got a bit out of hand and I think they'd be morelikely tolisten to you than me, if you see what I mean.""Erm..." I shoot at look at my friend Tao Xu who's sitting next to meeating apacket of Galaxy Minstrels. Heraises hiseyebrows at me as if to say, 'Sucks to be you'.I don't really want to say yes.This year, the Year 13's nal day of school is High School Musical themed. Theyhung a giant 'East High School' sign over the Truham sign at theschool gate. They'vebeen playing thesoundtrack on classroom computers, so wherever you arein theschool you can hear a High School Musical song playing from somewhere, but you'renever quitesure where. They participated in a 'What TimeIs It' ash mob on thefootball eld at breaktime. And they have all turned up to schooleither in redbasketball outts or cheerleader outts. Disappointingly, Nick went for basketballer basketballer.To top it all off, on a non-HSM-related note, they've built a fort out of cardboardboxes on thetennis courts and are having a barbequeinsideit."I just want them to put the barbeque out," says Shannon, obviously detecting howreluctant I am to walk into a boxfort of one hundred and fty people older than meand tell them to stop having fun. "You know. Health and safety stuff. If someone getsburnt, I'll bethe one dealing with angry parents. Hechuckles. Mr Shannon has cometo trust mecompletely over theseveral monthsI have been Head Boy. This is hilarious becauseI rarely do anything hetells meto do.Keep theteachers on your side and thestudents on your side. Don't makeenemiesor too many friends. That's my advicefor getting through school."Yeah, sure, no problem," I say."You're an absolutelifesaver." He points a nger at me as he walks away. "Don'trevisetoo hard!"Tao looks at me, still shoving chocolateinto his mouth. "You're not actually gonnago confront the Year 13s, are you?"I laugh. "Nah. I'll just go see what they're up to and tell them to watch out forShannon."My other friend, Aled Last, looks up at mefrom the oppositeside of the table. He'sbeen colour coding his maths revision notes for the past hour. "Can you please get aphoto of Harry Greenein a skirt? It's urgent."I stand up from my chair and put my blazer on. "I think we all need to seethat, tobe honest."The Year 12s have already left for study leave and the only reason I'm hereisbecauseI revise better at school than at home. Tao and Aled thought thesame. Noneof us really want to be herethough. It's the hottest day we've had this year and I justsort of want to lie down somewhere with an ice pack on my head.Nick and I have plans for this weekend. He's nally freefrom school, I'm taking aweekend off revision. It's Thursday today; I'm staying over his tonight. Tomorrow nightwe're going to Harry's party foreveryonein sixth form. Saturday we're going to thebeach. Sunday we're going to London.Not that we don't spend every weekend together anyway. Not that we don't seeeach otherevery single day.If you'd told methree years ago I'd bein a two-year-long relationship by thetimeIwas seventeen, I would havelaughed in your face."CHARLIE SPRING!"As I walk through the boxfortentrance underneath a banner that says'WILDCATS!' Harry Greene approaches me, arms outstretched. Heis wearing a twelveyear-old's High School Musical cheerleader costume and isexposing a lot morethighthan is probably appropriatefor school.Thefort is huge – they'vetaken over two tennis courts. Along with the hilariousamount of cardboard, they've also stolen at least ten tables from various classroomsand have a fully functioning barbequeset up in between thetwo courts. A couple ofpeople are handing out burgers and buns. Vampire Weekend is playing from awireless speaker in a corner. Most, if not all, of Year 13 are here. It's a huge year groupcompared to therest of theschool – most of the Higgs girls from that year groupmoved to Truham after their school burned down.Harry puts his hands on his hips and grins up at me. "Thoughts?"Harry Greene, a fairly short guy with very tall hair, is probably the most notoriousindividual in theentireschool, partly dueto how many parties hethrows and partlydueto thefact that he never,ever shuts up.I raise my eyebrows. "About thefort or about your thighs?""Both, mate.""Both are great," I say, deadpan. "Good job. Keep it up."Harry steps to oneside and lunges. "I knew theskirt was a good decision. I shoulddo this more often.""Denitely."Still in a lunging position, he asks, "Did Shannon send you? Have you cometo shut down our fun?""Technically, yes.""Are you going to?""Obviously not."Harry nods. "You're gonna go far, mate. You're gonna go far."Nick is usually very easy to spot in a crowd, but today almosteveryoneis wearingred. There are a few people who clearly couldn't be bothered, one of whom being mysister Victoria, who's in her black Truham uniform, sitting on the blue asphalt in acorner talking to her friend Rita. But apart from her and a couple of others,everyoneblurs into one giant mass of red."Nick's over there."I look back at Harry and he's pointing towards thefar left corner, grinning at me.Then hestarts walking towards thecorner, humming 'We're All in This Together', and Ifollow him."NICK, MATE!" Harry shouts over thecrowds of Year 13s, all holding food and redplastic cups and taking photos ofeach other.And there heis.Heturns round from a small group of people, a slightly dazed expression on hisface as if he's not quitesure whether he's imagining Harry'svoice.I have been going out with Nick Nelson sinceI was fourteen. Helikes rugby andFormula 1, animals (especially dogs), the Marvel universe, thesound felt-tips make onpaper, rain, drawing on shoes, Disneyland and minimalism. He also likes me.His hair is dark blond and hiseyes are brown and heis two inches taller than me, if you care about that sort of thing. I think he's pretty hot, but that might just be my opinion.When hespots us, he wavesenthusiastically, and when we nally reach him, helooks at me and says, "All right?"Nick's High School Musical costumeconsists of a pair of bright red gym shorts anda red tank top. He's pinned a piece of paper to thefront with a very badly drawnwildcat on it. If I'm honest, he's had worse outts."You didn't text me back, bitch," I say.Hesips his drink. "I was way too busy getting my head in the game."Then he holds up a disposablecamera and, beforeI havethechanceto smile ormakesureI look in any way presentable, takes a photo of me.A second too lateI hold up my hand in front of thecamera. "Nick!"Helets out a loud laugh and starts rewinding thecamera before putting it in hispocket. "Another onefor the Derp Charliecollection.""Oh my God."Harry's already wandered off to talk to another group, so Nick steps a littlecloserand our hands automatically touch, his hands tapping minelike we're playing aclapping game. "You sticking round herefor a bit? Or are you revising?"I glanceround. "I wasn't really revising. I was watching Mac DeMarco concerts.""Mac DeMarco?" Nick laughs. "I thought you said he was a dickhead.""Heis, but his music's good."Wejust sort of stand therefor a bit, hands touching, and then Nick brings up ahand to adjust my hair slightly. It hits mesuddenly that this is thelast day we're goingto be at thesameschool. Sixentire years of being at thesameschool, being in thesame placeevery weekday, are over. Thetwo years we've been a couple at school, twoyears ofeating lunch together, sitting in form, hiding in music rooms, I.T. rooms, P.E.changing rooms, two years of going hometogether, walking home when it's sunny,getting the bus when it's cold, Nick drawing faces in the window condensation, mefalling asleep on his shoulder. It's all over.Normally wetalk about this stuff – stuff that we get sad about or annoyed about orangry about – but Nick's really excited about uni so I don't want to start complainingor make him feel bad. I've done morethan enough of that in my life, for God's sake. Ijust... I'm the one getting left behind, which is kind of crap, really.Welook up when we hear a small 'click' and a loud laugh. Weturn and Harry isholding Nick's camera up to us gleefully. "So bloody romantic. I can't believeI'mgonna haveto nd a new coupleto cockblock at uni."Nick snatches thecamera back, but he's smiling. "Did you just pickpocket me?"Harry winks and laughs at him before wandering away again. Nick shakes hishead and rewinds thecamera. "That's gonna besuch an awkward photo.""Where'd you get thecamera from?""I bought it. I thought it'd be good to havesome actual physical photos to put onmy uni wall instead of just crappy photos on my phone."I grab it out of his hands and take a picture of him."Hey!" He grabs it back, grinning. "I don't want pictures of just me. Everyone'll thinkI'm obsessed with myself."I smiletoo. "I'll havethat onethen."Nick puts his arm around me. "Okay, we need at least one picturetogether wherewelook fucking normal." He holds thecamera up in front of us, thelens facing us, andI say, "Let's be honest, we never look normal," and Nick laughs at me whileI'mmaking sure my hair isn't doing something weird, and then we both smile, and hetakes the picture."When Ivisit you at uni, I'm expecting that oneframed," I say."Only if you buy me a frame. I'll haverent to pay.""God, get a job.""What? You mean you're not going to buy methings now that you have a job? Ican't believethis. Why am Ieven in this relationship?""I don'teven know, Nick. Why are youu still here? It's been over two years."Nick just laughs and kisses me quickly on thecheek, then starts to walk backwardsaway towards the drinks table. "You're niceto look at."I give him the middle nger.When we rst started going out I didn't really like being too irty with Nick aroundschool because we'd get a lot of weird looks, particularly from the younger boys. Ididn't really like holding his hand anywhere where peoplecould see us. Ieven felt kindof awkward just talking to him in school, because groups of other boys would look atus likethey weren't quitesure whether they weresupposed to be making fun of us ornot.Nowadays the weird looks only make me want to hold his hand even more.
