Holden Peters expects nothing exciting to happen during the summer before his final year of high school. But in a spontaneous act of bravery, he saves his pretty next door neighbour from drowning and is deemed as a local hero.
Thanks to his newfound...
I refused to squirm or cower, so I grabbed my stuff, swung it over my shoulder and started walking. Wordlessly, of course, for a dramatic effect—but mostly because it looked like his temper timer was about to blow up. As much as I really wanted to be his personal punching bag, I had other priorities.
As I walked out of the locker rooms and towards the exit, Iris poked her head out from Dean's office, a wad of papers in her tattooed hand and an icy expression. But when she realised it was me, her anger slowly dissolved to sympathy. Her iron grip on the files in her hands released and she smoothed out the wrinkles against her leg.
"Holden, honey," she said, bringing the documents into her arms. "I'm sorry you overheard our conversation earlier."
"Sorry for eavesdropping."
She smiled meekly. "How much did you hear?"
"Not much, but enough to understand that he's pretty pissed," I answered. "Well, more pissed than usual."
Iris seemed somewhat relived for a moment before she smiled. "He's an ass. But he has his reasons. You should get going before he throws another one of his childish tantrums."
"I was just thinking the same thing," I answered.
"Great minds think alike." She winked, then disappeared back inside.
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Closing the front door to the house caused my friends to wake up. At first, they just shifted positions, curling back into each other, but when Tess opened her eyes slightly, she realised their situation and sprang away. This evident loss of body heat made Quinton to regain consciousness and he looked at her, kind of disappointed and embarrassed.
Although two of us actually lived in the house and had two separate bedrooms to accommodate, we all slept on the floor of the lounge room. It was for two pretty legit reasons. [1] We were way too tired to climb a whole flight of stairs and [2] It was close to the downstairs bathroom when the throwing up commenced.
To conceal his mixed emotions about Tess repelling from him, Quinton flipped onto his side and grinned at her mischievously. "Sleep well, beautiful?"
"The sight of your face is making my hangover worse," she answered, but her tone was playful.
"Did I just hear the word 'hangover'?" Beth said as she descended the stairs. She looked like one pretty angry mama bear.
"No," Tess said sheepishly, looking away to avoid her mother's intense glare.
"Are you all hung over?" she questioned, now sharing her scowl between all three of us.
"No," Quinton mimicked Tess' tone; sheepish and sing-song like.
"Holden?" Beth addressed me with her motherly, authoritative voice.
I shook my head. "I played chaperone and chauffeur."
