Noticing You (On Hold)

Chapter 12

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[Jake's POV]

In slow motion, I watched, helplessly, as Mr Shielding's head began to turn as she jumped. No. Not helplessly. I dived on top of her just as Mr Shielding turned towards us.

"Mr Wingate! What are you doing?!" Shielding yelled.

"Ummm, I dropped something sir." I said, giving a warning look to a breathless Fey on the floor below me. I had landed with my hands either side of her head so she was upside down, my body shielding her from Mr Shielding's penetrating gaze. I turned back to her, concerned, and suddenly it was just us in our own little bubble cut off from the rest of the world.

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[Fey's POV]

I looked up to see Jake staring at me intently. The sun behind him bathed his hair in a golden glow, making it seem like the light was coming from him and illuminating his features.

"Are you alright?" He asked, searching for any sign I had been hurt.

"I'm fine..." I answered, dreamily, gazing deeply into his gentle brown eyes. He stared back with the same intensity and started to lean in. Suddenly, someone coughed and our bubbled popped, and we looked up to see the whole class watching us, grinning. Jake jolted out of his daze, like he'd been electrocuted and stood up quickly, blushing. He cleared his throat and turned away and I flushed a deep red. As I gathered up my fallen books, dumped them on my desk and sat down, avoiding eye-contact with anyone. Brushing my long red hair out of my eyes, I looked up and froze.

Mr Shielding was staring right at me with a puzzled look on his face.

"Were you here this whole time?" Mr Shielding puzzled, looking like an old man trying to remember where he'd put his glasses when they were on his head.

"Yeah, it's not like she climbed through the window!" Jake laughed nervously. Mr Shielding just shrugged and carried on blabbing about some math thing. I shook my head I relief and sank down in the desk next to his. "Are you ok?" He asked with a frown. I looked at him strangely.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He looked at me sheepishly.

"Well, I saw an ambulance outside of your ITD classroom, and you came late so I kind of got worried..." Ah. That explained the staring at the door. "But what happened back there anyway?" Now it was my turn to look at him sheepishly.

"Well, I was thinking of..." I blushed, remembering exactly what I had been thinking of. "...thinking of stuff and I kind of lost concentration, and, well..." He grinned and I could tell that me injuring people amused him greatly.

"Someone got hurt, didn't they." I looked at the floor.

"Maybe." Jake laughed loudly.

"Go on, what happened?"

"Well, I slipped with the power drill and" his eyes widened in delight "it went through some girl's hand." He laughed harder and I glanced up at Mr Shielding who had given up trying to lecture and was sitting down biting his nails. Suddenly, Mr Grumpy-Bottom stood up, so quickly his chair fell from under him onto the floor with a clatter. Some students jumped.

"It is time..." He said, speaking in a deep voice that captivated us all. If he made all his lectures this interesting, I would be a maths genius! "For you to prepare yourselves...." Everyone's eyes were fixed on him. "It is time..." He paused as he looked at each and every one of us in turn, "For your next class. Goodbye." Then he became just plain old Mr Shielding again and the startled class spilled out of the room in a hurry to get to assembly.

The teacher who held assemblies, Mr Poorly-Spewcannon, liked to give detentions out to anyone who was even a minute late. Bearing that thought in mind, I rushed out the door without a second thought.

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[Jake's POV]

I watched her practically run out the door and I would have, had I the energy, followed suit. But I hadn't been able to sleep at all the night before as a result of Jordan having two girls over (yes two) at the same time in his room all night. Trudging to the library (also home to the Burnett theatre where the assemblies were held) I contemplated what had happened over the last hour. What is with Fey and windows?! And why do I always seem to be saving her life? I slipped into line next to Fey just as Mr Spewcannon waddled out of the building. To say he was tubby would have been a huge understatement. He was so enormous; he had to squeeze to get past the double doors of the library. As he talked, his multiple chins wobbled.

"Look you, teenagers," He said it like it was a dirty word. "I don't want any mucking around; you are in middle school, not kindergarten." He paused, as if he had run out of script. "If you don't do the right thing, you won't be doing....the right...thing?" The kid behind me laughed at his failishness and Spewcannon's head whipped around, like he'd been stung. His eyes bulged and he raged at the foolish kid, (whose name was Elliott) frothing at

the mouth. "You...you..." Spewcannon lurched towards Elliott and he screamed, fleeing in terror in the opposite direction. He risked a panicked glance behind to see if Spewcannon was following him and crashed straight into a pole. Immediately he crumpled and fell, like a doll, to the ground. "Nobody move!" Mr Spewcannon barked. The entire student body froze as he shuffled over to Elliott's limp body. "Mr Blee!" Elliott didn't move. "Get up stupid child!" He kicked rather than nudged Elliott with his foot, but still he remained motionless. "Pah!" Spewcannon spat on the ground in front of Elliott and sneered. "He deserved it anyway." I heard a feral snarl rip through Fey beside me and on instinct I dropped my books and grabbed her around the middle just as she lunged for Mr Spewcannon's throat. I waited till she had calmed down before letting go and whispering, "Getting in trouble won't help him." As I watched her breathing heavily, fighting the urge to give in to her manic, uncontrolled rage, I realised that she frightened me when she was like this. Her dark red hair contrasted greatly with her pale skin and bright green eyes. Everything about her was unpredictable, from her long, wild hair to the way she moved, cat-like and sudden. Fey was so different to everyone else, impatient, exciting, intelligent and selfless all at the same time. She would do anything for the ones she cared about. I was drawn out of my daze by Fey gently nudging me into the theatre with the rest of the students. Grudgingly, I picked up my books off the grass and followed.

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[Fey's POV]

How I hated him! How dare he say that about Elliott! One of my friends! He could be seriously hurt, and all he does is laugh. Muttering things I would never repeat to my mother I took my seat. That was the only thing good about this school, the seats they had for assemblies were extremely comfortable. And the huge library I thought abstractly. Once I had thought of moving schools, but Jake had convinced me not to, I mean, what would he do without me?

"Ahem." Mr Spewcannon's voice broke through my thoughts. "Now, as you all know" he began, speaking slowly, as if to preschoolers "Tomorrow is camp. All those who are not yet packed raise your hands." I swore under my breath. I had forgotten all about camp with the excitement/weirdness that had been going on for the last few days. The note was still scrunched up in a ball at bottom of my bag, where I had stuffed it from about five months ago. My mum was going to get a shock tonight. Almost all of the student body nervously raised their hands, including me. "That is unacceptable!" He said, his voice rising to a shout. He then when on to tell us why we were so stupid and ignorant and lazy so I zoned out of the rest of Mr Poorly-Spewcannon's insanely boring speech and gazed longingly over at Jake. He was slumped in his chair, eyes shut, and he kept balling up his fists and clenching his jaw. I wondered what he was dreaming about and hoped it was me.

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