The Last Breath Of Reggie Warrington

Chapter 1: The Party to End All Parties

It was supposed to be the party to end all parties, a bonfire night spectacular along with the eighteenth birthday of my older sisters friend. Invitations had been flying around the school for weeks. Everyone who was anyone had been invited and I remember sitting down at my desk in GCSE history, counting down the minutes until I could finally go home and get ready.

Although my phone was strictly on vibrate during school hours, I could feel it buzzing like a demented bee in the back pocket of my black skinny jeans. My nails, which I'd painted emerald green the day before, failed to stop drumming on the desk. I could feel the excitement growing inside me and all I could think of was Ethan Campbell. Sexy Ethan Campbell with his shiny black hair and bright shining blue eyes like those blue gem things, not emeralds, they were green, but like sapphires, that was it. Rich blue sapphires twinkling in the sunlight. He'd been everything I'd thought about for months and I longed to see him at the party.

I stared at the clock which hung on the bleak walls of history class, counting down until I could finally leave that tedious school. 5.....4.....3.....2.....1...... The sound of the bell echoed throughout the building. I leapt from the chair so quickly Mr Flanagan almost jumped in the air. As I was sitting at the front of the class, as near to the door as I could possibly get, without sitting in the hallway. The second the bell sounded, I grabbed my bag and legged it out of the room as fast as I could. I didn't even bother to shove my workbooks back into my locker, just left them on the desk for someone else to move away.

History was stupid anyway, I'd only picked it to make my Dad happier. He and mum had been separated since I was a kid. I think his long working hours as a university historian put a strain on their marriage. Then when he got a job overseas as a Professor at Princeton University in the states, that was the final nail in the coffin.

My heart pounding in my chest like a drummer hammering on the drum, louder and louder as I sprinted through the corridor and finally out into the open. I ran and ran and would have run all the way home if it wasn't for the fact I lived on the other side of town. Usually, my sister Maddison would drive me home, but she had something on that day, not that I could remember what. I was too obsessed with the party.

No credit on my phone to call a taxi, and with Mum at work, left me with one option. The bus! My eyes rolled at the thought of it. All those screaming and crying little kids and unwashed tramps made me hate even the idea of public transport. Thankfully, there was a bus stop right outside the school.

Standing outside, a frosty chill scurried down my back. I shuddered and turned to see someone I knew from school running across the yard. The hood of Reggie Warrington's greenish-brown parka was pulled over his head and his bony legs scuttled in the direction of the bus stop. Great! Just what I wanted! I tried to look the other way so he wouldn't see me, but no matter how hard I tried, I'd been spotted.

"Hiya!"

I didn't have time to talk to him and even if I did, I'd known him long enough to know he would probably never stop talking and knowing my luck, I'd end up missing the party. I tried to look the other way, but it wasn't enough. Why did I have to have the brightness multicoloured rucksack in the world?

"Whoo Hoo! Chloe, Chloe Leighton!" He called, and out the corner of my eye could see him waving his arms around like a lunatic, while his thin legs carried his skinny body towards me.

I opened my bag and began to rummage around for my purse. Another thing I hated about public transport, the fact you had to pay to get from A to B.
"Sorry Reg, I can't chat. The bus is due any minute now."

He tutted loudly and rolled his big brown eyes.
"Now then Chlo-Chlo, tell uncle Reg-Bae that you're deffo going to Indira Lewis's bday bash tonight? It's like totes the talk of year 11!"