H A R R Y
The first week of school went by in a blur. Isabelle was her usual annoying self whilst Callum felt the need to attach himself to us. I tried hard to pay as little attention as possible to Lana in class, but she always showed up a little late and wore more clothing that hugged her figure oh so nicely.
Wednesday Isabelle smacked me across the head when she noticed me -sorta- checking Lana out in her sports tights. The frown evident on Belle's face when I turned back to look at her was so callous I thought she would try to kill me. However, she didn't say much after that, not hesitating to death glare Lana who sat at the back avoiding all eye contact.
Today however, there was no sign of Lana. Chad was at school, so that erased the idea that she would be with him. Callum didn't bother coming either because he mentioned something about a virus he might have caught.
"Harry."
I was finally snapped out of my day dreaming from a voice that stood above me. I looked up to surprisingly be met with none other than Chad. This was the only time I had ever wished Isabelle was here so she could chase him away.
"What." I snapped back, taking a huge bite of the apple I had been holding in my hand for the past ten minutes. He sat down across from me, eyes scanning around the cafeteria.
"Have you seen Lana around or anything?" He asked, eyes finally landing on mine. I scoffed in response, not even bothering to respond to that question. He narrowed his eyes at me, as if he couldn't believe me.
"What's your problem dude? You've been acting like such a dick since you got back with Isabella for some unknown reason." He retorted, his nose flared and lips slightly parted.
I put my apple down, taking my tray towards the bin before returning to sit back down. Chad didn't hesitate to continue to stare me down as if I was in the wrong.
"Whatever happened to never dating your friend's ex-girlfriend hm?" I asked, completely having changed my mind from what I originally had planned to say to him. He shifted in his seat, his gaze leaving mine for a brief moment and focusing on the table.
"We aren't dating." He mumbled, but I could see right through his lies. "I'll admit yes, I do like her and wish we could, but she doesn't see me like that and it would be wrong of me to do."
I was not expecting that response from him at all. I initially had imagined he would confess and laugh in my face, but his expression told me otherwise.
"Seriously, have you seen Lana?" He asked, his face now screaming worry. I didn't understand why she had a habit of disappearing like that. "She's been...different since Wednesday night, scared even. But she won't tell me what's wrong. Then now she magically disappears today without a word to anyone-"
"Listen, Chad." I finally spoke up, having no patience left in this conversation. "She does this okay? She disappears for a while and gets everyone worked up for the attention. Then you find out she was just at a stupid party where she hooked up with someone."
His eyes widened at my statement, and that's when I realised he didn't actually know what had happened. All this time I thought she had told him and he had believed her word without giving me the time of day.
"That's why you broke up?"
I nodded my head in confirmation to him who looked more irritated than anything. He didn't say anything else to me, standing up and leaving the cafeteria.
I didn't bother staying behind so I could sit alone, so instead I left the room to head to the music room which I knew would be open and I could use to erase the stress I had been feeling lately. I noticed Adam and a few of his friends looking at me as I walked in that direction, and I had hoped they weren't going to ask me any stupid questions about Lana.
"Harry, my man." Adam put his hand out to me, but I only looked down at it, not bothering to shake his hand. He put his hand away awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
"We're having a party tonight, my place at ten. Interested?" He folded his arms across his chest, leaning against the locker.
"Birthday?" I asked him who nodded his head with a huge grin on his crooked teeth.
"18th man."
I knew I wasn't feeling up to a party, but perhaps getting wasted was just what I needed right now. It wouldn't be too bad I bet, he had a pretty decent house and his dad owned a pub so they'd have shit tons of the strong stuff that could make me forget quickly.
"Yeah why not, what do you want?" I asked, referring to gifts. He shook his head no, turning around to leave with his friends.
"No presents, just bring your presence!"
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It had just hit 10:00 and I figured I should get ready before Chad got here soon. I called him up earlier to see if he was interested, who agreed and said he needed to get wasted asap after the news he had just heard. I figured it was to do with Lana so I didn't bother asking.
The house was dead silent and I was thankful no one was home so I could leave in peace without the constant questioning of my mum and Gemma. Despite how rude I had been lately, I knew they're intentions were for the best and I made a mental note to apologise to them properly for my poor behaviour.
I was taken back by the knocking on the door just as I was heading to the shower. I jogged down the stairs, opening the door to be met with Chad who held a brown bag in his hand. He opened the bag and pulled out a tall bottle of Vodka.
"Pre-drinks?" He sighed, stepping in. I grinned at him and nodded my head, telling him to get it prepared while I took a quick shower.
I decided on plain black jeans, black shirt and a plaid shirt instead of a jacket because the atmosphere of parties were known to be quite hot from all the dancing and sex hormones circulating the house.
When I got back downstairs, Chad had prepared four shots in little glasses from mum's cabinet. He looked up at me before downing one so quickly I thought he would fall over.
"That bad huh?" I asked, picking one up from the table and taking it down, feeling the long lost burning sensation down my throat.
"No fucking idea man." He chuckled dryly before taking the other in his hand and downing it hard. It was a good thing we weren't planning on driving anytime soon since we decided to get a ride with Isaac, his brother and a few other mates.
My head snapped to the door as banging boomed through the house. I figured our ride was here so I took my last shot before grabbing my phone and house keys for when I got back home late.
"Got everything?" I asked Chad as we made our way to the door. He nodded his head with the bottle of Vodka gripped in his hands. Light rain could be heard outside and I had just hoped it wouldn't get too heavy in case I needed to walk home.
"Shit, I should probably grab a jacket." I realised, turning around and running back upstairs. I opened my wardrobe and grabbed the only waterproof jacket I owned.
"Harry!"
"Yeah I'm coming!" I called back as I jogged downstairs towards the front door. However I immediately stopped dead in my tracks when I noticed it was in fact Lana standing by the door. Her clothes and hair were soaked, eyes and lips as pale as I had ever seen them. She looked frantic and almost terrified, making me wonder why she possibly could be at my place at this hour.
I could easily tell she was crying from her quivering and bloodshot eyes. She definitely wasn't in a good state of mind and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous as to what had happened.
"You can't go to the party Harry." She sobbed, hugging her chest to close in her heat. "Y-you have to trust m-me, please..." she heaved, her chest rising and falling at a quick pace.
Lights flashed where a silver car pulled up in front of us, music blaring and Isaac I assume, honking the horn to tell us to go. I looked at Chad who shot me a look of confusion, unsure of what to do either. Looking back at Lana, I sighed, knowing what I needed to do.
"You go ahead, I'll catch up with you later." I ushered for him to go.
"You've been drinking." He reminded me, raising the bag of vodka in his hand.
"I'll Uber or taxi."
He sighed, nodding his head, glancing at Lana for a brief moment before running outside and into the car. I watched them drive away before deciding to bring her inside. She shivered as she stood by the door, leaving a small puddle of rain underneath her feet. As I looked into her eyes, I don't think I had ever seen her like this before. Lately I had always wanted her to feel the pain she had caused me, but seeing her like this was the least bit satisfying and all it did was make my heart ache.
In an instant, she came closer to me and wrapped her arms around me, sobbing into my chest. I was at loss for words and I wanted nothing more than to push her away and leave her whilst I left and went to get drunk. But the idea of that seemed shallow and I didn't have the heart to do that to her, despite everything that she had done.
I held her in my arms until she stopped crying and pulled away from me, wiping her tears on the back of her hands.
"I'm sorry I got your shirt wet." She apologised, looking at my shirt but right now that was the least of my worries.
I didn't say anything to her, but decided to boil the kettle to make her tea and get her a change of clothes. For the first time ever, there were no clothes of hers for me to give her because I had given them all back to her.
I sat her on my bed, raiding my drawers for some clothes for her to wear. After finally spotting some track pants at the back and giving her one of my hoodies, I ushered her into the bathroom to have a shower.
She returned shortly and I had hoped she had stopped looking so horrified so I could take her home and go to the party, but her facial expression hadn't changed. She stood by my door frame, unsure if she could come in or not. I gave her permission to do so, handing her a cup of chamomile tea which she took down instantly.
Suddenly, it had gotten quite and she knew what I was going to ask her.
"Why did you come here begging me not to go the party?" I asked, wrapping a blanket around her shivering body. She looked down on the floor not saying a word as I slowly paced around my bedroom. "Answer me, Lana."
She looked up at me from my harsh tone, eyes welling up again but this time she blinked the tears away. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.
"Tell me, Lana." I demanded, getting rather impatient with her silence. She closed her eyes and took a deep sigh before finally looking back at me.
"Callum is planning to get rid of you."