All the Things She Said

Chapter 2

I have to run from the bus so I can get to school on time, but despite this I still only make it by a few seconds. Panting, I scan the room to find Laura. She's deep in conversation with Zack, but nevertheless look up as I walk over to her desk.

"hey"

There are butterflies in my stomach. For gods sake, this shouldn't be happening, what is wrong with me? This is my best friend and I get the jitters just saying hi?

"Sam...hey!" Laura grins, for some reason I get the feeling she is relieved to see me, and pats the seat next to her. I sit down. My head feels oddly light.

The teacher walks in and takes the register, and then we talk. Or, should I say, Laura and Zack talk. Really most of the time I just listen, but eventually conversation will come round to a topic i can participate in.

"So basically I was thinking this lunchtime we could finish off that drama project, and then that way after school we'll be free to do whaterver" Laura says.

"fuck drama...can't we just do that tomorrow...seriously it's not due till WEDNESDAY" Zack groans. I roll my eyes.

"dont listen to him Laura....seriously its better off we do it as soon as possible then we have time to goof around after school...hey are you coming to mine tonight?" I add. Laura smiles at me. My stomach flutters.

"Yeah sure..." she says. For a split second a look flashes across her face, almost a plea, but I can't be sure because it's too quick, and then she sticks her tongue out at Zack. He leans forward and kisses her. I grit my teeth.

"you okay?" Laura says, turning back to me.

"oh...yeah...just, you know, thinking" I say, hastily wiping the look of contempt off my face.

Laura chuckles. "all right.."

I sigh, my eyes rest on her lips. I realise she's still looking at me,

"oh...I...didn't get much sleep last night...you know with all the texting..."

Laura smirks, "and what, I live in a different time zone to you and got all seven of my required hours?"

I close my eyes, smiling, "you know...that's not what I meant..."

"hey...I'm just kidding with you jeez..." she punches me playfully on the shoulder. "you look like hell, though, I must admit...what did you do to yourself?"

"what?" I hastily pull out a compact mirror from my bag, "oh...fucking hell..." I groan. My eyeliner, half removed, has smeared all around my eyes. "do you have a makeup wipe?" I ask Laura.

Perfect Laura, beautiful as always.

She hands me one and I remove the rest of the eyeliner, just then the bell rings signalling the end of registration.

"oh and hey, Sam, there's a party on Friday at Leslie's house...wanna come with me?" Laura asks as we file towards the maths corridor.

"um, sure, who else is going?"

"oh, just a bunch of friends, you, me, Lauren, Tyger, Zack...you know...nothing big" she says, then gives a short wave as she reaches her classroom. I wave back and go into mine.

~~~

At lunchtime, Zack, Laura and I crowd round a table in the library, each with a pen in one hand and a notebook in the other.

"so our objective is to write a script...about...a modern fairy tale..." I read from the assignment sheet. "seems pretty lame,"

Laura, however, is already deep in thought. "hmm...what you mean a modern twist on an old fairytale..." she asks. I read the sheet again.

"guess so..."

"what's your most memorable fairytale?" she asks me

"umm...Cinderella maybe? Or snow white...those are the ones I remember most clearly"

She writes something down.

"and a modern twist, hmm...well plenty of people have done modern versions of fairytales...too many people if you ask me...ugh I wish we had something we could make more original..." she says throwing down her notepad and looking at me.

"do we have to be original?" I groan. She glares at me and I twist my mouth, "sorry, ok I'll think of something...um..."

I look back over at her. The look she's giving me now is one of the strangest I've seen yet. I try to ignore it, but even so, it stays on the edge of my mind for the rest of the day.

~~~

"Zack's not coming over today, right? I ask Laura tentatively as we wait in the courtyard.

She smiles at me, "no, just us two today."

Maybe my glee is just a little too evident, because she quickly hits my arm, "hey, he's my boyfriend, he makes me happy, deal with it!"

"Ouch, sorry..." I say, a note of sarcasm in my voice.

Laura's face is suddenly hard. Wow, she is really overreacting to everything today...

"sorry" I say again, this time I mean it as an apology.

"let's just go, ok...I don't think he's gonna walk with us..." she says tiredly. She's pissed off, heaven knows why.

On the way back she doesn't talk much. I can tell something's bothering her. She looks quite worried, her eyes, which are focusing on the cars outside, keep flicking back to me sitting opposite her, but every time this happens, every time it looks like she's about to say something, suddenly she bites her lip, sighs and looks away again.

Oh god, this is killing me...not so much the silence, just wondering what it is she wants to tell me...

What if it's...what I think it is? What if...she's trying to tell me she feels...

NO

It can't be, it would never be...don't even go there, don't even get your hopes up!

She turns to look at me again, opens her mouth, closes it, then takes a breath,

"um...I...need to tell you something...um....when we get to yours.,." she says. I'm surprised to hear the nervous quiver in her voice.

"Ok...sure, anything..."

"I don't think it's gonna work out with Zack"

Ok...I didn't expect that. She said it and it came out in such a rush I barely caught the words, and once I figured out what she'd said I tried not to gape, tried to keep my mouth shut and my heart from pounding in my chest, because...could it...possibly...surely not...

"w...why?" I try to keep my breathing steady.

"tell you later"

It's barely a whisper.