caught I h.s

Chapter 7

"Okay, so we're doing the marine ecosystem, then?" I say to Harry, who sits beside me in his fancy ass car.

"Yeah," Harry replies, turning a corner. "That's pretty good. We have to talk about dolphins. I love dolphins."

I laugh, nodding in agreement. "Who doesn't, honestly?"

We'd just finished our second day of school for the week, and were off to my place to start our Biology project. Everyone else's was due in a couple of days, but as Harry had told me the other day ours was extended to next Monday for obvious reasons.

"We can work outside, I think," I suggest, gazing up at the azure sky above me. "It's too nice of a day to spend it inside."

"Sure," Harry agrees. "Your house, your rules."

My lips pull up in a smile. "You're really nice, you know that?" I tell him sincerely. Harry shrugs, blushing slightly.

"I try my best."

We pull up to the driveway of my house, Harry's car looking incredibly out of place, like a fish out of water. It stuck out like a sore thumb. We both climb out, and I lead Harry up to the front door and inside.

"It's not much," I say. "But it's decent considering we only just moved in." I see my mother sitting on the couch in the living room, watching TV. She's been recovering quite well, and my fears about the whole situation have essentially evaporated. I think it was just bad luck, though truthfully, I still can't stop the nagging at the back of mind telling me that this wasn't simply coincidental. Oh well, I'll leave it to the police to sort that out.

Mum spots the two of us then. "Hello, Scarlett," she says. "And hello..."

"Harry," I fill in for her. "Harry, this is my mother."

"Ms Dorchester," Harry nods politely. "I hope you're doing well," he says, referring to the incident.

My mother smiles warmly. "I am, thank you." Harry smiles in return. I turn to face Harry, giving him the 'let's move on' look. He acknowledges me and starts following me to the other end of the hallway. We walk through the kitchen and out onto the deck, emptying our bags of the necessities. I pull out my Biology book and a pen, pursing my lips.

"Should we just gather information today? And then actually put it together at yours?" I say.

"Sounds good," Harry replies. "Thursday afternoon okay?"

"Yeah, I'm free," I say. "I'm free all the time, actually, but Thursday is fine."

"Okay, cool," Harry says, pulling his laptop out of his bag. "Can we sit on the grass?"

I laugh, raising my eyebrows. "If you want." Harry grins, leaping off the deck ecstatically. I grimace when he nearly drops his expensive laptop; fumbling around with it whilst jumping off a deck probably isn't the best idea, Harry. Luckily, no accidents occur involving his precious device and I follow him, taking the smart way down the small set of stairs.

---

"Ow, fuck!"

I look over to see Harry standing on one foot, clutching the other in his hands, inspecting it closely.

"What happened?" I ask cautiously, not wanting to become an annoyance, knowing that one of Harry's bad traits is impatience.

"Got stung," he grunts, carefully lowering himself onto the grass to obtain a more comfortable position. "Bee."

Clearly a man of few words when in pain.

Harry grimaces when he attempts to squeeze some of the venom out.