Chapter Seventeen – I Think You’re Cute

We all quickly livened up with Dean’s tragic attempts at lightening the mood. “Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl going to the bathroom?”Dean managed in between wheezes of laughter.

“Is this going to be as lame as the last one?” Ace grunted.

“Because the ‘P’ is silent!” Dean screeched, disregarding everyone’s lack of entertainment. He continued laughing to himself, wiping away the imaginary tears.

Dylan was silent as he fell behind the rest of the group, scuffing his shoes against the gravel. I supposed getting punched in the face could really ruin the day.

We didn’t end up going on any other rides for the rest of the day, which was a shame, because I’d really been looking forward to them. There was one event that I was was really looking forward to – the cute couple thing. My inner busybody was highly interested.

And so, we squeezed in between the hundreds of people gathered around the stage. The place was bustling as the announcer walked up with three envelopes in his hand. “Welcome everyone to the fiftieth annual show!”

The crowd roared. “First up, of course, we will be announcing the winners of the cutest couple competition. First place will win two hundred dollars each. Second place wins four tickets to Arker Theme Park. Third place wins restaurant coupons. All these prizes have been generously donated by Hale Corporation.”

I looked over at Archer who shifted uncomfortably on his feet. In truth, his family had sponsored over half of the giveaways and helped fund the show.

“Third place goes to Ella Keating and Dean Sawyer!” He exclaimed.

Ella gasped and we all yelled our congratulations, shoving them through the crowd. In her moment of surprise, she looked like a blowfish, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly. Dean grinned, holding up his hand for a high five. Ella high fived him and they made their way up onto the stage.

“Yeah Dean!” Hunter laughed, clapping.

“Ella!” I exclaimed happily. “Share those coupons!” I laughed.

Second place went to some Charlotte Demaio and Keagan Rowe. First place was won by Alicia Spencer and Tyler Shaw. I had no idea who any of them were – after all, they were four people in a city with a population of over one million.

Without a doubt, the winners looked great as a couple, but I remained certain that Ella and Dean should have won; we could have used two hundred dollars. On stage, Dean had one hand in his pocket, looking around the crowd with a self-assured smirk. He finally found us and laughed while we waved enthusiastically. Ella stood, beaming proudly. Her and Dean exchanged glances and did a weird half-hug thing when they received their prize.

They eventually made their way back to us, waving the little white envelope around. “Looks like it’s your shout next time,” Ace grinned, slapping his friend on the back.

“Actually, it’s Ella’s shout. She can keep the coupon,” Dean said.

“Ooh, little Dean’s being a man,” Ace teased.

~

Monday came around a lot faster than expected, and I still hadn’t done any of that homework. It was another thing to add to my ever growing list of regrets.

Cross country was coming up on Thursday, and eating all of that fairy floss suddenly didn’t seem as great an idea as it did at the time. As I did on every weekday, I had breakfast, got changed and slogged to school.

Winter was nice because it was shady, but not so nice because it was freezing. Walking to school in the morning was definitely one of the reasons why winter and summer were horrible seasons. “What’s up?” Hunter chimed as we met at the roundabout. He fell into step beside me and we kept walking.

“The air, I suppose,” I answered. “You’re not cold?” I asked, realising that he was only in the usual white short sleeved shirt.

“I lost my blazer,” he mumbled.

“Um. It’s part of the uniform.”

“I know. I usually avoid the front gates if possible. C’mon.” As we approached the school, we made a left turn before the gate and walked all the way to the back. The gates that surrounded the shed stood proudly. They were locked, as per usual and I stood, waiting.

“You’re kidding right?”

“No, I’m not,” he said, climbing over with ease.

“I’m thinking that I might become a little too good at this. What if we get caught?”

“You can say I threatened you, or something.”

I took a few steps back and as I was ready to make the climb, I was interrupted by a voice. “Why are you climbing the fence?” Ace asked.

“Did you also lose your blazer?” I replied, noticing that he, too, was only in the shirt.

“What kind of a moron does that?” He answered. We both glanced over at Hunter who looked away sheepishly. “Alright…” Ace said slowly. “I just spilt milk on mine,” he shrugged.

How exactly does one spill milk on his blazer? How does a seventeen year old one, in particular, do that? “So, where were we?” He asked, looking at the fence. He bent his knees and linked his hands, looking from me to his hands.

“I don’t know. I feel highly uncomfortable with the idea that you’ll be throwing me over the fence,” I mumbled.

“Chill out. I’ve done it before right?”

“I don’t know. Were you throwing or catching?”

“Just hurry up nerd-bird.”

I dawdled over and placed one foot on his hands. I began turning slowly, only to find that my bag hit him in the face. I clambered off again. “Hunter, catch!” I exclaimed, throwing it over. He let it crash on the ground in front of him. Glowering, I stepped onto Ace’s hands again. “Close your eyes,” I said quickly.

“Um. Why?”

“I don’t need you looking up my skirt,” I glared.

“Don’t worry. Wouldn’t wanna,” he scoffed. “Besides, if I shut my eyes, I’d probably throw you right into the fence.”

I continued glaring. “Oh fine. I’ll look over there, okay?” He grunted. I put both feet up. He bent his knees and pushed upwards while I threw my arms up against the fence, running my feet against them before pulling myself over. I jumped down, pressing down the sides of my skirt so it wouldn’t balloon upwards.

He vaulted over seconds later. “Didn’t sprain the ankle this time, I see? You’re getting a lot better at this whole rule breaking thing.”

“Thanks for catching my bag,” I said sarcastically to Hunter as I picked it up from the floor.

Jenny stood round the corner, agape. “Hey,” I waved. Just then, I caught sight of the fuming teacher approaching quickly from behind her. “Come on!” I beckoned.

Ace and Hunter took off in a sprint round the side. “Come on!” Hunter exclaimed, slowing down to make sure I’d decided to run. It was safe to assume the teacher had seen me jump over, because boy, she was pissed.

“Come on nerd bird! Move those little legs!” Ace laughed, taking the lead down the back of the school, through the carpark.

“Oh yeah?” I retorted, speeding up, leaving Hunter just slightly behind as I tried to catch up to Ace.

“Left up ahead,” Ace announced, seconds before making a sharp turn into the back gymnasium door. Our feet slammed rhythmically against the glossy orange floor, making a left turn past the change rooms and a right by the toilets before stopping in front of the door.

“I’ll check if the teacher’s still there,” I said. “After all, I’ve got a blazer,” I added. I opened the door and walked a few metres out, making sure she was gone. I gestured to them and they came out. We bee lined into the hallway, straight to my locker. “She’s so going to recognise me,” I panicked. “That was my lit teacher,” I groaned.

“Chill out. They wouldn’t suspect such a wonderful student to be climbing fences,” Ace assured.

“Worst case scenario, we all get a detention, or something,” Hunter shrugged. He probably saw the look of horror etched into my face, because his next line was intended to be comforting. “It’s a lot better than a Saturday detention y’know.”

The two quickly left once the bell went. I looked around for Ella. It was unusual that she would ever be late. I took my time grabbing the books, going through each and every one before placing them back inside. She turned up a few minutes later, flanked by a laughing Dean. I couldn’t wait to hear about this.

“I’ll see you later, yeah?” Dean laughed.

“Yeah,” Ella grinned.

As soon as he left the hallway, she leant against her locker and sighed dreamily. “Spill. C’mon. Let’s hear it,” I urged, shutting my locker.

“Nothing. We’re just talking,” she said, obviously trying to side step the issue. I’d known her for about five years, and this was Ella avoiding something.

“So. You think he’s cute?”

“No. Yes. Well, he is kind of isn’t he?”

“Personally, I think he’s quite good looking.”

“Yeah, exactly!” She beamed.

“You dating?”

“No!” She hastily denied, her face flushing a slight rosy pink.

“Well, you settled on one love interest yet? That would really keep those jocks away.”

“Oh whatever, I’ll tell you about it during break.”

We parted ways and headed to class. I had totally forgotten to tell her about my morning adventures. Recalling the memory, I smiled – like an idiot, to myself. In all honesty, it’d been exhilarating.

In lit, I’d behaved as well as possible and avoided all eye contact with Mrs Meller. She didn’t show any visible signs of suspecting me of being a criminal. Yet.

“What was that this morning?” Jenny hissed, leaning over from her table.

“Um. Fence climbing?” I whispered, constantly glancing back up at Mrs Meller, who was luckily still scrawling something down on a piece of paper. “They both lost or forgot their blazers, so they entered from the back.”

“And why did you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve climbed it before you know? That time when me and Hunter were locked in the shed.”

“You were locked in the shed?”

“I swear I told you already, but anyway, yeah, we were packing up the sports gear and the shed door swung shut.”

“Oh…” Jenny pondered.

By lunchtime, I was still innocent of any crime. No teacher had come to interrogate me, and no one had mentioned it. Ella was buying lunch from the canteen, so I followed her there, coming across the punks on the way. Ace cocked a smile in my direction. “Well, hello there little rule breaker,” he greeted.

“What’s up?” I replied.

I followed Ella into the line where she immediately spun around to interrogate me. “What was that?” She exclaimed.

“A greeting?”

“Come on. What happened?”

So I told her the whole story while we waited for the line to ease up. “Seriously?” She laughed. “I should’ve been there.”

“Oh yeah. If you weren’t with Dean hey?” I nudged. “So what’s going on with you two?”

“Nothing. I just think he’s cute,” she shrugged casually.

“Oh please. You two look great together. And you know what? I’m not the only one who thinks so. Remember the show thing?”

“Oh whatever,” she giggled, obviously very happy about it.

By the end of the day, the coast seemed completely clear. There was absolutely no suspicion. Not even the punks had been questioned. We filed out of the school gates, everyone eager to get home. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen Archer at all throughout the day.

“See ya nerd bird,” Hunter laughed, messing up my hair. I snarled, not even bothering to fix it up.

“Free dress tomorrow to fundraise for the cross country camp right?” Ella double checked as she walked me a little out the gate.

“Yup. What are you wearing?” I replied, thinking about what I had to wear.

“Jeans and a shirt? You?”

“Yeah, probably. I’ll have to go through my wardrobe.”

“Make sure it’s school appropriate, you little rule breaker,” she teased.

The next morning, I ended up wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a batman logo shirt and a light blue sweater. When I reached the roundabout, I found myself looking for Hunter or Ace. I waited a few seconds and continued on.

By the time I reached the front gates, they were already there. “Little late?” Ace commented. He was in black jeans, white shirt and grey jacket. I glanced over at Hunter. He was in dark blue jeans and a crew neck sweater. We stood around in the grassed area, talking about stupid things until Dean, Dylan and Ella turned up.

“Carla’s coming today right?” Dean reminded.

“Yeah, I think so,” Hunter replied.

Sure enough, Carla turned up. She wore a minty jumper and a black skater skirt, looking as stunning as she did at the show.

What the other four obviously didn’t expect was the girl that followed after her. She was tall. Very tall. They stood there, gobsmacked. She wore black skinny jeans, a white shirt and black leather jacket. Her piercing blue eyes shone out from her even waves of brown hair.

“Well, well, well,” she laughed. “How are my badboys doing?”

~~

Pew pew sorry for late updates xD Thanks for reading. Please vote, comment, whatever ;D