Attached is a picture of Rebecca who is honestly so beautiful <3
Feel free to check out the rest of my books! Another one just published :)
xo
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I get to school late on Thursday morning, but I had to finish the chocolate cake from the restaurant last night so you can't blame me..
I trundle into class and mumble an apology to the teacher as I take my seat next to Rebecca. I also happen to be in front of Zeke and Mace. Great.
"Psst!" I hear from behind me. "Where were you?"
"I had to finish the chocolate cake..." I mutter innocently.
Zeke laughs. "Seriously? The one we got on our date?"
I blush when he says that we went on a date. "Yeah?"
Rebecca turns to look at me with a mixture of shock, excitement and anger in her features as she completely freaks out. "You two went on a date? Why didn't you tell me? What did you wear? What did you do? Where did you go? How was your hair? Or your make-up? Please don't tell me you messed up your make-up." She babbles.
"It was just a fake date." I sigh through an explanation and ignore Zeke's eyes on me.
"But... But..." Rebecca stutters. "Did you hug? Did you kiss?" I blush and try to hide behind my hair. "Oh my god, you KISSED!"
"We were asked to!" I claim.
"Yeah, it was improvisation." Zeke agrees and sends me a wink.
Rebecca spots the wink and gets flustered with excitement. "Oh my god, oh my god, ohmygod, ohmygod! You kissed one of the hottest guys in the school and you didn't tell me? Oreventextme?" Rebecca talks so fast that I can't even understand half of it.
"Oh they did more than a peck." Mace stirs things up. "They properly kissed each other's faces off. And I thought he was gay."
"Gay?" Zeke shrieks. "I'm not gay!"
"That's not what your texts said..." Mace mutters and I decide to leave their conversation then before fingers would be pointed at me.
I turn to Rebecca who has been bugging me. "It was all part of a plan to annoy Dillon, okay? I was with Zeke and then..." I explain to Rebecca what happened and am just about to say who Dillon's date was when two people walk into the room.
I look up to see Dillon being tugged along by the one and only Saulia Bennett who is practically hugging his arm. Dillon walks stiffly as she guides him to a seat near hers and cuddles up next to him. I then watch as Saulia taps her cheek and Dillon reluctantly gives her a quick peck.
Mace and I share a grin and Zeke leans down for a high five. I slap his hand before turning back to watch the show.
I have to say they make an excellent couple...
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A few days later I'm made to sit next to Baz in Biology and I decide to actually have a conversation with him for the first time in the week that I've known the boys. I place my bag on the floor and the work on my desk before turning to him.
"Would I be able to borrow a pen?" I ask him although I literally have one in my pencil case.
"Don't you have your own?" He grunts.
I snort but try to keep a smile plastered on my face. "Obviously not, otherwise I would be using it."
He rummages through his bag until he finds a chewed, blunt pencil and throws it in my direction. "Here, use that. I don't have another pen. Now leave me I'm trying to work."
I huff and turn away to complete the sheet that had been given out. After a while I notice that he has just got out another black pen from his pocket. "Ha!" I shout and point an accusative finger at him. "You do have a pen!"
"No shit Sherlock." He rolls his eyes at me.
"Then why didn't you give it to me?" I ask like I'm extremely offended.
"Because I'm using it." He says bluntly. "Now stop being so annoying."
I roll my eyes. "Well what turned you into Grumpy the Dwarf?" I mutter.
I think I've been watching too many of my brother's TV shows from the fact that my insults are slowly going downhill. They were good though...
He raises his eyebrows. "Did you just call me a character from Snow White?"
"Yeah." I shrug dismissively. "So?" He gives a small chuckle and shakes his head. Oh my god, did I actually just hear that right? "You laughed!" I yell excitedly with a shocked expression.
He stares at me. "Yeah. So?"
"I've never seen you laugh before."
"Well there's not always that much to laugh about." He grunts and shuts himself away from me again.
And that was the end of our amazing conversation.
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"Movie night on Friday, right?" I ask Rebecca.
"Sounds good." She nods. We always have our movie marathon together every Friday night whilst scoffing on chocolate bars.
What? You can't blame us.
"Yeah count me in!" Zeke calls excitedly from behind me as he interrupts our conversation. I didn't realise he was there.
I turn to face him and lean against the lockers. "Seriously?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Yeah I did say I would join you and I keep my promises." He says proudly, hand on heart.
"Movie night? Count me in." Mace nods energetically as he comes up to us.
"Bro you're not invited." Zeke pokes.
Mace narrows his eyes at him playfully. "Well neither were you, mate."
Zeke stands up from his position where he was leaning against his locker, "Yeah, well—"
"Hey guys." I see two grinning boys call in sync. "What's going on?"
"Bitch is having a movie night and we're all invited." Mace says casually.
"Cool, I'll come." James nods.
"Yeah, we could play spin the bottle." Myles winks.
I roll my eyes. "I am NOT having a party and you guys are NOT invited! I'm not having a house full of stinking teenage boys. Ew."
They groan. "But Zeke's going." Mace points out.
"No he's not." I shrug exasperatedly.
"Er yes I am." Zeke winks and chucks an arm around my shoulders.
I sigh. "Fine... Just you though..." I can't believe that a single touch from him makes me agree.
What is happening to me?
But then I realise that poor Rebecca will have to put up with him too. I shoot her an apologetic look but just get a wink in return.
"You know what? Me and Mace can have our own movie night. We don't need yours!" She calls like a child whilst sticking her tongue out playfully.
My eyes widen as I realise that she's trying to set me up. "N—"
"Yes Bella, that's a great idea!" Mace nods energetically and swings his bag onto his shoulder before looping his arm around Rebecca's neck.
"See you guys in class." Rebecca winks at me, earning a glare.
Once Mace and Rebecca have left, James and Myles get the idea too and start to wander away, sending flirty looks at us as they go.
Zeke turns to face me. "So at seven? I'll bring the chocolate."
He knows me too well already.
I shake my head. "Nah I was thinking after eight."
"You want me to bring After Eights?" Zeke raises an eyebrow as he refers to the chocolates my grandparents love.
I roll my eyes at him and reply sarcastically. "No Zeke, I want you to bring pixies and fairies and sparkly unicorns."
"Oh really?" He flirts and steps so that I am forced to lean my back against the lockers, his chest only a couple of inches from mine. To anyone watching us, how close we are makes us seem like a couple about to make out. This isn't good. "I can bring much more than that if you want." Zeke whispers, trying to be serious.
"Ew." My nose wrinkles. "You know what I mean, now go away." I sigh.
"You want me to leave you?" Zeke puckers his lower lip in an irresistibly adorable way. "But we've got a free period next."
"So?" I play dumb.
"So, we could spend it together." Zeke suggests as he gestures between us.
"Oh yeah," I say sarcastically. "because I love being wrestled to the ground."
Zeke smirks. "You're thinking of us on the floor?"
My eyes widen as I stutter. "Er, n-no."
"I think you were." He teases and prods my nose.
"Anyway..." I slide out of our intimate position. "Where do you want to go?"
"So you're coming now?" Zeke raises his eyebrows and grins.
"Yeah well I don't have anything else to do." I admit and look away. Rebecca's left me because she ships Zeke and I together (which I wouldn't want and seriously doubt) and Mace wants to hang around with Rebecca because they're both flirty dancing. What else am I supposed to do?
"Well how about we go some place interesting." Zeke winks and strides out of college and into the gardens outside.
I guess I'm meant to follow him...?
"Come on!"
Yup, I'm meant to go with him. Because this is totally not the scene in the movie where the girl gets murdered in the middle of the forest where she will never be found again. Great...
"Where are we going?" I ask innocently as Zeke climbs over the fence marking the boundaries of where students are allowed to go in the college grounds.
"You'll see." He smiles and offers a hand to help me over the metal fence.
What a gentleman.
I take his offer and climb over easily. As I jump down, I notice him give me a sideways glance. "What?"
"Normally girls would worry about the heels on their designer shoes snapping or something. Not jump over fences like they don't give a shit. Oh and they don't normally demolish cakes in their spare time. That too." He laughs amusedly.
I smile. "You've been hanging around with the wrong girls mate."
"Oh yeah?" He laughs as he kicks the dirt under his feet.
"Definitely. Unless you like that kind of girl of course. The ones who always want to be thin and wear bikinis to show off how anorexic they are." I shrug.
"Nah that's not my type of girl for the long term. I mean– I'll happily spend a night but there's no point in being with them if all they want to do is sleep with you. You want them to be themselves; funny, outgoing, kind, adventurous..." Zeke smiles and looks away.
"Woah woah woah, who are you and what have you done with Zeke Westley?" I frown as he faintly blushes. Yes, he's blushing. "Since when was that your opinion?"
"I dunno. I realised recently I guess..." He shrugs and stares creepily at me for a second before shaking his head. I bet I've got mud on my face. Damn it.
"So now you don't like girls who are fit? I doubt you would like one if she was fat and ate cake all day." I say and point to myself.
"Number one, of course I still like fit girls – obviously. Number two, not all girls who pig on chocolate cake are fat." He says before gesturing towards me. "Take you as an example."
"Ugh, I do not pig on chocolate cake!" I shout defensively although I know I've already been proven guilty. He stares at me and I sigh. "Fine... Maybe I do eat a little bit of cake a month..."
"Each month?" He raises an eyebrow and gives me a blank stare.
"Okay okay, each week..." He crosses his arms as I give up. "Fine! You got me! Each day..."
He laughs. "And you're still not fat."
"Whatever, I blame that on my metabolism." I suggest quietly. "Anyway, where are we going?"
"I told you you'll have to wait and see." He reminds me with a wink.
"This better be like the surprises Edward gave Bella in Twilight." I laugh, nervous that he's going to take me to some boxing ring or a cliff we can jump off.
He's into adrenaline rushes compared to me who would happily sit on my bed reading a book.
Although I should really never get my hopes up, otherwise I'll live being disappointed.
"You mean like when he surprised her by coming clean that he is a fucking vampire." Zeke groans.
"That's not your surprise, is it?" I grin.
Suddenly he reaches out towards me, his hands nearing my neck. I flinch away with a scream, making him burst out laughing.
"We're not going to watch that on Friday night, are we?" Zeke moans as he leads me even further into the now spooky forest.
"Maybe I'll have to examine my movie collection..." I chuckle awkwardly.
"I could bring some films?" He suggests.
"But they'll all be horror movies," I moan.
"I've got some action films too." He smiles kindly before a mischievous smirk comes across his face. "Or we could use my Netflix account."
I stop short. "If you're hoping for Netflix and chill I would get your head out of your ass pretty quick." I warn him with narrowed eyes and a pointed finger.
"Chill!" He calls which makes me tense even more. He places a hand on his heart and speaks dramatically, "I am just a humble friend wanting to join his female companion for a movie marathon whilst eating a lot of chocolate. What's wrong with that?"
I roll my eyes. "Are we nearly there yet?" I sigh impatiently. "This walking is getting boring."
"My company is boring you?" He asks, offended.
I rush to correct myself. "No! I just thought it had been a while since we left and—"
Zeke laughs and puts an arm around my shoulders. "I was kidding."
"Because that was so funny." I say and elbow his chest to get him off my back but it only makes him move closer to me.
"Come on, don't be so moody. We're nearly there." Zeke says with excitement in his eyes.
I wonder where he's taking me. I mean, I'm not expecting something out of the movies but it must be pretty important for him to take me all this way.
He guides me round a corner and that's when I see it. There is a huge grey concrete building with black and yellow striped tape surrounding it. The building seems to be run down and slightly destroyed, and there are gaping holes in the walls which give you a glimpse of what looks like a cleared out three story parking lot.
"Where are we?" I ask Zeke who is ducking under the police tape.
"I come here to think." He admits shyly.
He holds up the tape for me to go under but I stand there hesitantly.
Should I go? I mean I've come all this way... But it will still be trespassing and the whole building looks like it could collapse at any second.
"You coming or not?" Zeke asks, soothing my panic. "It's a non-refundable ticket by the way."
I should go. I mean, you only live once, right?
I try to reason with myself.
Come on Hayley, you can't hang around with the badass and not take risks.
I crawl under the tape Zeke is holding up for me and follow him through the hole in the wall in silence. We duck under the crumbled doorways and step over the rubble until I see the one thing which makes me believe that I'm in a fairytale.
Inside the centre of all three floors is a huge hole, like a bomb has been dropped from above. In the middle of all the mess is a beautiful oak tree. It grows through all the building and snakes towards the sky. I'm careful not to trip over the unearthed roots as I examine the glorious symbol of life in front of me. The tree is in full bloom and pretty pink and white flowers dot the branches like candy floss. The carved out building surrounding the oak is laced with vines and cracks. I rub my fingers down the rough bark and notice a small copper plaque nailed into the tree.
IN HONOUR OF THOSE WHO DIED IN
THE EXPLOSION OF 1978. THIS REPRESENTS
THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES BUT
WILL STILL LIVE ON AS LONG AS THIS TREE GROWS.
WE ARE SORRY FOR THE LOVE ONES OF
THOSE WE ARE NOW WITHOUT.
Tears form in my eyes as I read it and I feel Zeke come and stand by me.
"My dad was killed here." He says quietly and I let out a small gasp. "He worked for the military. An illegal gang was after him because he had been accused of fraud. He was coming home from work when it happened. And you can guess what I'm talking about," I nod with a gulp as he continues. An explosion happened here? That would explain how wrecked this place is. "I wasn't born yet, my mum went into labour two weeks after." Zeke explains to me sadly. "This tree was brought in from a local church- it's centuries old. It keeps the memory of my father alive."
I stay silent for a couple of seconds, unsure of what so say. "I'm so... so sorry, Zeke." I say slowly and he looks away sadly to hide his expression. I can barely believe that someone so joyful and energetic could have been through something so traumatic. He must trust me a lot to tell me, so for some reason I decide to share with him my story, although I will probably regret it. "My father... He left when I was eleven. In a way I was thankful as he was never very kind to my mother. My mom's great of course, I just miss having someone else, you know?"
He nods slowly. "I think we both know the feeling too well." He mutters and I can tell that his voice is on the brink of breaking.
Emotions overwhelm me and I suddenly get an urge to hold him close. Like he is my father, the one man in my life that I should be able to trust fully. I step forwards and wrap my arms around his waist. He hesitates for a second before hugging me back tightly like he never wants to let go. My eyes swell with tears but I let them fall onto my cheeks, pleased that Zeke has a firm grip on me. I don't only feel sad though. I feel devastated, but there is a new emotion swirling inside of me;
Hope.