Chapter 17

Lucy's POV

I wake up the next morning and get ready for school. It feels weird not getting a morning text from Conor. Things will be ok with us right? I blame all this on him. He over reacts about everything. My phone starts to vibrate.

From - Jack: do you want to come over after school?

To - Jack: I don't know, conor will be there and I can't be bothered with him

From - Jack: he won't bother you. Please come:(

I think about it. Jack won't let anything happen between Conor and I so I don't really have anything to worry about. If Conor does come in, I've been thinking of a good argument to back me up.

To - Jack: fine...

From - Jack: knew you would;)

To - Jack: whatever

I walk to the shop, scared about seeing Conor. I see him, Jack and Lois waiting for me as I turn the corner and I decide to completely ignore him, not even make eye contact with him. It'll be hard but I can do it.

"Hey" I say to Jack and give him a hug. I do the same to Lois and start to walk to school, Conor walking behind us, talking to Lois. My eyes drift over to Conor although I was telling myself not to look. I wish I didn’t. He’s just glaring at me...

The day goes surprisingly well. Music class was funny. The teacher hasn't turned up since... Well, he's never turned up. We just mess around. I mainly hung around with Ben and Mike and I sat with the girls at lunch. They were talking about some party this weekend but I wasn't interested. I was too busy thinking about Conor. He hasn't said a word all day, even in registration class he was silent.

I'm now walking to science, dreading every second of it. I walk in and see Conor sat in his seat, drumming his pen on the table. I sit down and roll my eyes at him.

"Did you bring the project?" I ask.

"Oh shit, I forgot" he smirks.

"You purposely forgot it to get back at me for doing nothing? Fucking pathetic" I spit and he rolls his eyes. "Jealousy gets you nowhere"

"What?" he raises his voice, making the whole class turn to us.

"You heard" I whisper.

"You think I'm jealous?"

"See, you did hear" I smile, just as the tutor comes in the room.

"Ok everyone, get out your projects and I'll come around and have a look at them. I'll collect them at the end of class" he says monotonously.

"So I have to put up with this just because of your jealousy. Grow the fuck up already" I snap.

"I didn't purposely forget it for fuck sake. It was shit anyway"

"Are you joking?"

"Yeah, because that's hilarious" he says sarcastically and rolls his eyes.

"Where's your work?" Mr. Nicholas asks. I stay silent and wait for Conor to reply. "Is one of you going to answer me?"

"Conor couldn't be bothered bringing it in" I quickly say making Conor's eyes grow.

"What? We left it at your house. Don't blame me" he says. Is he being serious? I'm just about to say something when Mr. Nicholas steps in.

"I don't care who left it where. Both of you see me after school" he says and walks off.

"And you wonder why you're always in fights" I mumble.

"What did you just say?"

"You're always fighting. Everything is always your fault. You're so childish and have to get better than everyone else. You make people feel like shit for your own benefit. Did you hear that alright or shall I say it louder?" I snap and instantly regret it.

"You don't know shit about me so fuck you Lucy. I don't even know why I fucking bothered with you" he shouts and slams his fist on the table before storming out of class. All the class stare at me so I just look at the floor and pretend that I don't know what's happening. Mr. Nicholas starts walking over to me.

Fuck this.

I run out of class before he can catch me and start walking around the corridors to clear my head. About 20 minutes later and I haven't seen anything from Conor. I walk back into class and see everyone packing up to finish the lesson.

"Ok so it'll be 45 minutes for forgetting your project and 45 minutes for leaving class early" the tutor says. I just roll my eyes, grab my bag and walk to my next lesson.

I think about missing detention. One, because I'm supposed to be going to Jack's, and two, because I'm really not in the mood.

I decide against it and after school, I start walking to room 33. I get there and see a piece of paper and a pen on one desk, and the same on another. The board is filled with writing and Mr. Nicholas is sat next to it reading a book. He taps the board with his pen, signaling for me to copy the board, so I sit at one of the desks and copy what he's wrote.

About half an hour later, I finally finish what's written on the board and there's still no sign of Conor.

"Ok stay for ten more minutes and you can go. I'll let you off this time but do not do it again" he snaps and I just nod. I sit there drumming my pen on the table and start stomping my feet on the floor to make a beat.

"Lucy" he snaps, mad at me for making noise. "You can go now" he sighs making me smile. I walk out of class and start walking out of school.

To - Jack: sorry about this, I'll be there in 10 minutes

I get to Jack's house and knock on the door.

"Finally" he cheers, opening the door.

"Sorry, blame your idiot of a brother" I laugh.

"What happened this time?"

"He forgot the science project so we got in an argument, then he stormed out of class so I followed him and got an extra long detention but he let me out early because I was being annoying" I explain.

"As usual" I hear a voice and see Conor walking down the stairs.

"Don't even start" I mumble, making him smirk.

"Anyway let's go upstairs" Jack says, ending our little argument. We get upstairs and I thank Jack for getting me away from Conor.

"Jack can I borrow your... Is this Lucy?" a girl asks me. She looks young (about 9) and has short ish blonde hair.

"That's me" I smile.

"Sorry, Lucy this is my sister Anna" Jack says.

"Hey" I smile "Jack you didn't tell me you had a sister"

"I forgot"

"You forgot about me?" Anna gasps.

"No I didn't mean that"

"Jack, you're such a bad brother" I say sarcastically and roll my eyes.

"Yeah, Jack" Anna agrees, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Whatever. Anna what did you want?" Jack asks.

"Can I borrow your laptop?" She asks.

"Yup, it's over there" he says, pointing to the right. She gets it and starts walking out of the room before turning back to look at me.

"Bye Lucy"

"Bye Anna" I smile and sit on Jack's bed. We spend the rest of the night watching films and eating and Conor didn't come in once. I didn't hear a peep from him.

"Lucy, I'm bored" Jack moans.

"I'm nearly done" I say, finishing painting Anna's nails.

"You said that half an hour ago!"

"Shut up" Anna and I say in sync, making ourselves laugh.

"I'll get Conor to come in" he smirks.

"Don't you dare" I snap.

"Oh Conor doesn't shut up about you. You're all he's been telling me about since I got off holiday" Anna laughs.

"What? What's he been saying?" I ask.

"He tells me about everything you do and how you've met and stuff" she laughs. "If he found out I told you that, he'd kill me"

"Wow" Jack laughs and I just sit there speechless.

"Have you split up or something?" She asks.

"What? We were never together"

"Really? Sorry I just assumed you were"

"No way. We've had a fall out now and he's just taken things too far so it's worse than what it should be" I half laugh.

"Get used to it. He's like that" she says and rolls her eyes.

"I've learnt that now" I laugh.

"Are you done yet?" Jack asks.

"I think so. Are they ok?" I ask her.

"They're perfect. I love them, thank you!" She says and gives me a hug.

"Anytime" I smile and she walks out of the room staring at her pink, sparkly tipped nails.

"Finally" Jack sighs.

"Well it's half nine now so I have to go" I laugh.

"For fuck sake" he sighs.

"Well come to mine on Wednesday yeah?"

"Yeah ok" he says.

Conor's POV

It took all my effort not to go in that room just to be with her. I sat on my bed and listened to their conversation almost all night while playing on my Xbox. I'm going to go sick at Anna tomorrow. I knew I shouldn't have told her shit.

Lucy finally leaves my house and I look out of my window to see Jack walking her home. She's right, I really am jealous. I hate her being around Jack, I have a feeling something's going to happen between them two. I just need to move on from her and everything will be how it used to be... simple.

Lucy's POV

I get home from school and do a bit of homework. Conor didn't come into school today, probably skipping it for no reason. I sit down and watch some TV with my parents because they came home from work early today. We order a pizza and watch a film that I wasn't interested in. I was just sat on my phone the whole time. I finish my pizza and my phone starts to vibrate.

"One second" I say to my parents and walk out of the room.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Alex" he says.

"Oh hey"

"I'm having a party on Friday at my place. It's going to be pretty big and everyone will be drinking so do you want to come? All the girls are going"

"Yeah sure" I say without thinking. I feel bad saying no but I suppose it'll be fun. It’ll get me out of the house at least.

"Great. Sorry for calling, I didn't want you to find out by someone else and think you weren't invited or something" he laughs.

"No it's fine"

"Ok well I'll see you tomorrow"

"Bye!" I say.

"Bye" he says and ends the call. The minute he puts it down, I get a call from Jack.

"Lucy!" he shouts.

"Jack!" I shout back.

"You coming to Alex's then?" he asks.

"I think so"

"It'll be fun" he laughs.

"It better be"

"Am I still coming to yours tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure"

"Ok well I'll see you tomorrow" he says. We exchange our goodbyes and I walk back into the living room to see my parents staring at me.

"Who's Jack?" Mum asks.

Shit. She must've heard me shouting on the phone.

"A boy from school"

"Don't lie to me Lucy"

"Well, he's like my best friend I suppose" I say, preparing for what's coming.

“A boy?”

“Yes Mum, a boy”

"Oh right, you should invite him over sometime" she smiles.

What?

"Um, yeah sure. Can I go to Lois' on Friday?" I lie.

"If you want"

-

The next day, I walk back from school with Jack. Conor didn't make an appearance today either...

We get to my house and walk into my room.

"What's up with Conor?" I ask, genuinely worried.

"He's just a mess. I don't know what's happened between you two but I know it's getting to him"

"His fault" I snap.

"You’re both acting five. Maybe you should just sort it out"

"I haven't done anything wrong though. He should be making the effort with me" I sigh.

"I know I know. I just can't be bothered with you two arguing constantly"

"He just annoys me”

"Whatever" he laughs.

I miss Conor so much. I miss him sneaking in my room at the most random times. I miss our kisses and I miss his morning texts before school. It's starting to get to me now.

-

That Friday, I come home from school and get in the shower. When I get out, I start blow drying my hair before straightening it making it fall just above my bum. I put on my black, fitted dress that shows off all my curves and finish the look with my plain, black heels. I put on some simple make-up and make my eyes darker with my eyeliner and eye shadow.

Jack said he'd pick me up at 5:30 so he can walk me to Alex's without getting 'raped or something'. His words... My doorbell rings so I take one last look in the mirror before answering it to Jack.

"Wow. You look, um, nice" he says.

"I look nice?"

"Beautiful" he winks.

"Well you look very handsome yourself" I say and mean it. He's wearing a fitting white shirt with black jeans. He has a snapback on and a gold chain around his neck. He looks hot.

"Thanks" he laughs.

"Is Conor going to be there?" I ask.

"Yep" he says and I sigh. "Lucy, he is Alex's best friend"

"I know" I mumble.