Always

Chapter 75

It was a Thursday afternoon and Harry and I were gathering our things from our lockers, about to leave school.  The week had passed fairly calmly, with no further sign of the hated Katie, which I was more than pleased about.  A small part of me had feared she would suddenly enroll in our school and I’d be forced to see her everyday, but she was nowhere to be found. 

“I can’t believe we graduate in like less than a month,” I said as Harry closed his locker.  We had just gotten out of a group meeting with our advisors to make sure we had everything in line to graduate.  “That’s so surreal.”

“I know,” he nodded.  “It’s gonna be so weird to be free to do whatever we want soon.”

I smiled, very much liking the idea of being able to do whatever I wanted with him, whenever, and not have to worry about parents or curfews or getting caught sneaking around. 

“It’s gonna be amazing, you mean,” I said lightly, grinning at him.  He returned my smile quickly.

“Definitely.”

We were nearly out the door when we ran into Haley and Lydia, who had just come from the other end of the hallway.

“Hey, guys!” Haley greeted happily. 

“Hey, how’s it going?” I returned as Harry smiled at them.

“Great, so happy tomorrow is Friday,” Lydia said, rolling her eyes.  “I need a drink after this week.” 

I didn’t really know what she was referring to, but it seemed like she always needed a drink, or seven, at the end of the week so I just smiled at her.

“Yeah, are you having another party or what?” I asked. 

“Well obviously,” Lydia said, rolling her eyes playfully.  “You guys coming?! I know the boys would like to see you, Harry.”

“They would?” he asked in surprise.  They had been so nice to him since the first party, but I don’t think Harry realized that they actually liked him rather than were just tolerating him for my sake.  They considered him a new friend, now.

“Oh, yeah! They’ve actually been asking about you guys and why you never eat lunch with us,” Haley added accusingly, glaring at us playfully.  I grinned sheepishly.

“That’s my bad,” I admitted. “I dunno, Harry, do you wanna go?” I asked, turning to him. 

He shrugged.  “Could be fun, yeah, let’s go,” he said, smiling at me. 

“Yay!” both the girls squealed in unison.  They were so easily excitable it was hard not to smile at them.

“Looks like we’re going,” I said, grinning at them both.

“Awesome, I’m so glad you guys are coming.  Okay we gotta go but we’ll see you later!” Lydia said, raising her hand in a wave that Haley copied before they carried on down the hall, talking excitedly about tomorrow night.

“Well if this party is anything like the last one, we’re in for another interesting night,” I laughed.  “Hopefully we can avoid another damn fight this time.”

“Well I don’t imagine Colt will be making an appearance since he’s still covered in plaster and seems to have had a change of heart, so as long as you behave I think we’ll be fine,” he teased, nudging me in the side with his elbow. 

“Hey, as long as no one messes with you, I’ll be happy,” I said.  He grinned at me before slinging an arm around my shoulders and tugging me into him, pressing a kiss to my temple as we walked outside.