"Okay then, Mads. Let's go."
We started walking together back towards the front entrance.
"Here's the reception area. Remember that when you come in it's a pull door!"
I looked up at him, surprised. I didn't think anyone had seen.
"Yes, I saw you trying to get in," he laughed.
"Oh my god." I screwed up my face in embarrassment. "I didn't think anyone was watching!"
"I could see you from the bleachers. Didn't realise it was you until I saw you in the office though," he smirked.
I blushed and winced. How embarrassing.
"Okay, moving on..." I prompted.
Mason proceeded to show me around the rest of the school. To my surprise, he actually did a pretty thorough job, efficiently touring me around each of the four main buildings as well as the auditorium and finally, the outdoor high school sports stadium.
"Here we are," he gestured with a wide sweep of his arm, "the final stop on our tour. Perhaps the most wonderful, incredible, magical sanctuary this place has to offer."
I raised an eyebrow and dubiously looked up at the bleachers he was gesturing towards. He must be joking.
"This?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Really? Is that just because it's one of your 'top three smoking spots'?" I questioned, quoting Mrs Waters.
"No, come on, let me show you!"
And then all of a sudden, he had grabbed my right hand with his left and started pulling me towards and up the bleachers, tugging me along behind him. I ungraciously half-ran up the bleachers in an attempt to prevent being dragged up them.
"Mason-"
He turned around to face me and carried on walking up the bleachers backwards, thankfully at a slower pace. He was still holding my hand.
"Just wait, Maddie. It's worth it, I promise!"
"Turn back around! You're going to fall!!"
He smirked and informed me to 'relax' and that he was 'fine'. But he turned back round nonetheless.
Moments later we reached the top of the bleachers. Mason stood on the platform at the back and I stood on the highest row of benches, looking up at him.
"Turn around," he said softly.
I awkwardly rotated within the small space I had on the bench. Once I had manoeuvred so that I was facing the other way, I looked up, and was met with the most spectacular view. I could see the town of Bluedale, surrounded by luscious forests nestled within the surrounding mountainous valley, and far off in the distance, a shimmering deep blue lake that extended into the horizon.
I stood for a moment, taking in the sight. Mason hopped down onto the bench beside me, his boots clanging against the metal. He sat down on the platform, feet apart on the bench with his elbows resting on his knees.
"It's so...beautiful," I whispered.
I sank down so that I was sitting on the platform next to Mason. With my feet planted firmly together on the bench, I crossed my arms and rested them on my knees.
He fiddled with his hands as he looked up at the view, squinting a little against the glare of the sun.
"I like to come here sometimes," he said after a moment of silence, his voice low and soft. "I just need to get away sometimes, you know? Like-"
He paused. I turned my head towards him and waited for him to continue.
"Like, everything gets a bit much sometimes. And I guess it helps to come to a place that makes your problems feel small."
He looked at me, frowning.
"Did that even make sense?"
"Yeah, I totally get it! Like when you're on an aeroplane and you look out the window at all the tiny houses and tiny cars. And even the huge things look tiny. Like lakes and mountains. And you know that amongst that there are so many people, so many lives, so many problems...but you realise how small and insignificant they really are when you're so far up above it. I guess it just takes some perspective to see it like that..." I trailed off as I noticed him watching me intently with the smallest hint of a smile on his face.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble," I hurriedly apologised.
"No, no, you weren't! Not at all. That's exactly what I mean. I think you just phrased it a lot better than I could have," he reassured me with a kind smile.
I smiled back at him and our eyes met for a moment before I looked away. I seemed incapable of maintaining eye contact with him for more than a few seconds.
We sat in silence for a minute, just enjoying the view and the cool end-of-summer breeze and the warming rays of sunshine and the soft whistle of birdsong. I felt relaxed and peaceful.
At least, that was, until I remembered I hadn't checked the time since we left the auditorium.
I shot upright, nearly launching myself back down the bleachers, and hurriedly grabbed my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans. Mason quickly stood up too.
"Woah woah, what's going on?"
I pressed the home button. 9:24. 4 minutes since registration ended and my first lesson started.
"We need to go, now!" I started stepping back down the bleachers as fast as I could. I could hear Mason behind me, his footsteps much heavier than mine. I reached the bottom and turned to face him. He was maybe 10 steps from the ground.
"Come on! I can't be late on my first day!" I called.
"It'll be fine, they'll know you're on a tour," he shouted back. I knew he was descending the bleachers fairly quickly, but standing there at the bottom waiting for him come down it felt like he was moving excruciatingly slowly.
"Please, Mason!" I pleaded.
"Okay, okay!" he replied, more serious. He reached the ground and we paced back to the main courtyard. As we walked, I checked my timetable and told him I had English in room E4.
"Oh, same as me!"
We entered one of the buildings and walked along the corridor. I stopped just short of the last door on the left. Mason kept walking, heading towards the door.
"Wait!" I whispered. Without thinking, my hand reached out and grabbed his forearm, pulling him back. We both looked down at my hand holding onto his leather jacket-cladded arm before I quickly pulled my hand back and awkwardly used it to dust off my jeans. He looked back up at me, a playful smirk on his face, one eyebrow raised.
I took a deep breath, then put my hands on my hips and asked, "how do I look?"
"What? Great. I mean, nice. I mean, what?" he replied, suddenly flustered.
What the hell was that?
I brushed over it and changed the question.
"I mean do I look alright? I want to make good first impressions!"
"Oh, yeah, you look fine. Like really...good-impressiony," he said awkwardly. Weird.
"Okay, well, I guess I'll take your word for it," I replied.
I paused for a moment, looking at the door, scared to go in.
"You'll be fine, Mads," he gently assured me.
Okay. I can do this. It'll be fine.
"Come on," he whispered, "you've got this."
And with that, he pushed open the door and we walked into the classroom.
"Mr Cartwright, you're late yet again," a deep, loud voice boomed out. I looked at the speaker: a stocky man, probably in his late fifties, with grey hair and a grey beard and moustache. He glared at Mason through his round glasses before his gaze shifted to me as I stepped further into the room.
"Ah, you must be Madeleine!" he exclaimed, suddenly sounding a lot less menacing. He walked over to us and shook my hand enthusiastically with both of his. "I'm Mr Davidson. Welcome to Bluedale High!"
"Thank you," I smiled. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a classroom full of students. A few were looking in our direction, but most were working or doodling or fiddling or checking their phones under the desks.
"Sorry about being late. The tour overran and-"
"Of course. I completely understand, no need to apologise!" Mr Davidson interrupted. I smiled gratefully, relieved that I wasn't in any trouble.
Then he turned to Mason.
"But I doubt you have an excuse," he stated disapprovingly, frowning at him.
"I was the one giving Maddie her tour," he fired back defensively.
Mr Davidson scoffed disbelievingly.
"Well, if that's truly the case, I wonder how much manpower was required to force you into doing that," he remarked, before welcoming me again, telling us to take our seats and returning to the front of the classroom. Was it really that unbelievable that Mason had offered to take me on the tour?
There were a few empty seats dotted around the room. I noticed a moody-looking boy in the back row drag a backpack off the chair next to him and then nod at Mason, who he seemed to have been saving the seat for. Sat on the other side of him were a few other guys, who, judging by their attire and obvious disinterest in the class, I guessed were probably Mason's friends. Mason acknowledged them with a glance and a nod.
I felt like I had been stood there for too long, so I just sat down on an empty chair in the front row, next to a blonde girl. I started unpacking my stuff when I heard the chair on the other side of me scrape against the floor as someone sat down there. I was surprised to see Mason slouching in the seat, arms folded across his chest. I assumed he would've sat with the guys in the back row. And I wasn't sure if I imagined it, but I was almost certain I heard a disgruntled murmur from them as Mason sat down next to me.
"Okay class, settle down. I'd like to formally welcome our new student, Madeleine Parker. Would you like to introduce yourself?"
Ugh. The notorious introduce-yourself-to-the-class-on-your-first-day-of-school. I had been dreading this moment.
I turned around in my seat to address the other students.
"Hi, I'm Maddie. I just moved here for senior year," I smiled.
"Yeah, no sh*t," muttered a kid sat behind Mason.
I decided to ignore that comment and turn back to the front.
Mason, however, clearly had other ideas.
He spun around in his seat and lunged towards the boy behind him, halfway out of his seat before he'd even fully turned around. He grabbed the boy by his collar, scrunching up his shirt tightly in his fist as he pulled him in close to his face.
"What the f*ck did you just say?!" he spat, his eyes aflame with rage. The class seemed to fly into a frenzy of noise; suddenly everyone was jostling to see what was going on. Amongst the cacophony, I could hear Mr Davidson shouting to "break it up, calm down", but Mason wasn't listening. He kept his fist clenched around the boy's collar as he waited for him to stammer out a reply. He was so focused on what he was doing that he seemed oblivious to everything else around him, to Mr Davidson's shouts and the class's reactions.
"Mason!" I exclaimed, grabbing his bicep in an attempt to pull him back. He slowly turned to face me, struggling to drag his attention away from the boy to something else. He didn't let go of the boy's collar.
"What are you doing?" I whispered to him, horrified.
He paused for a moment and the anger on his face seemed to fade, replaced by a look of something else. He looked back at the boy, then at me, and then he released his grip on the boy's shirt, throwing him back into his seat. Mason then turned around and slouched back into his chair. I stood for a moment, as shocked as the rest of the class, and then sat back down too. The room was silent now, and you could almost taste the tension in the air. I could feel everyone's eyes looking in our direction, watching us.
After a moment, Mr Davidson spoke, addressing the class.
"As we're all aware, this type of behaviour is never acceptable or tolerated in a classroom. Mason, you know you don't have the leeway to keep acting in this way."
Mason didn't react to that statement, just kept staring ahead at his desk with his arms folded across his chest.
Mr Davidson paused for a moment and then turned his attention to the boy sat behind Mason.
"And as for you, Mr Mills, I'd appreciate it if you didn't go making snide comments about other students in my classroom."
The boy nodded meekly, trying to smooth out the crumpled neckline of his shirt.
"Consider this a warning to both of you. And I don't expect any more of these types of antics. That goes for everyone."
We all sat in silence for a moment, waiting for Mr Davidson to say something else.
"Well," he eventually continued, "I guess it's about time we carry on with the lesson."
Hi everyone! I'm new to Wattpad and this is my first story, so I'd really appreciate any feedback/constructive criticism, and I'd also be really grateful if you could comment and vote on my chapters! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy the story!