I kept calling relentlessly. The first three times, his mum answered saying he was sick and didn't want to talk. Then they stopped answering, and I decided to sneak out of the house, ignoring the stack of household jobs left for me, the most inevitable being tidying the dreaded bookcase.
I got dressed, pulling on some jeans and a jumper, and my usual footwear. I crept down the stairs, avoiding the last two steps which I had learned had a nasty habit of blowing your cover by squeaking if you needed to go incognito.
I could hear voices coming from the kitchen behind the stairs, which were muted by the shut wooden door. I silently thanked whoever was in favour of my escaping, and headed to the front door just ahead of me, clicking the key to the left to open it.
Unfortunately, the fact that my mother had ears like a bat slipped my mind.
The kitchen door burst open, and I jumped a foot in the air, spinning around to face my suspicious mother.
"Where do you think you're going?" she demanded, waving a spatula menacingly at me in her hand.
Quick April. Think of something.
"Erm... I was looking for Mogg," I said. "Here, Mogg! Where are you?" I cooed as I looked all around, laughing nervously.
Mum gave a wry smile, looking at me smugly as if she was a detective solving her first crime, watching the criminal being put into hand cuffs.
"Get your chores done, young lady." She waved the spatula in warning, and I conceded with a groan, without protesting. I knew she would yap the ear off me if I refused.
"And I think you've had enough of Christopher and Jessica this week, and whoever else you hang out with. You need to focus on-"
Her comment was drowned out by an outraged noise from my throat, as I turned on the stair and glared at her.
"Don't give me the eye. Now get!"
I had to stop myself from muttering profanities under my breath as I stormed up into my room, kicking my shoes off and flopping onto my bed, staring at my monster of a bookcase.
It was stuffed full of books for school and others that I read for my own amusement, and the bottom three shelves were used for my old records. I also had several towers of CD's stacked around the room. Music and books were a big part of my life, I wouldn't be able to live if I didn't have them to console me.
I pulled out the top shelf, and the books crashed straight onto my feet and head, paper cutting through the air like frisbees.
When the room was finally still and the carnage over, I eyed the devastation of the room miserably, rubbing a sore spot where To Kill a Mockingbird had thumped me on the head.
"Let the fun begin..." I muttered, lifting a frayed maths book from first year, and throwing it onto my bed with a sigh.
--
It took me all day. A whole day to tidy a blooming bookcase.
I was not pleased.
I had a whole day to myself, and the silence allowed me some time to think. To think about what happened to Chris. It was like a clock embedded into the back of my head. Tick, tick, tick. Chris, Chris, Chris. I couldn't stop it. My stomach squirmed into uncomfortable positions when I woke the next day, pulling on my school uniform. I really hoped he would be there. I needed to talk to him more than anything.
The town school was a bus journey away from the peaceful rural area of my home village, to the grey dull buildings of the town. It was of large size with eight hundred pupils. The large red bricked main building branched off into the Art, Technology and H.E department, and the large sports grounds spread out in a well kept grassy plane behind the building.
Jess was waiting for me at the school gate, her honey coloured hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, her usual style for school.
"Hey there!" she grinned, and I smiled absent mindedly back. "So how did the whole bookcase thing go?"
"It's was horrible. There was paper everywhere, and a really huge spider popped out of nowhere when I pulled a book out from the second shelf," I shuddered as we walked along the thin corridors to our registration rooms.
"Chris is in your registration, I was just talking to him." She paused, biting her lip in thought. "He seems a little..."
"Freaked out?" I suggested.
She nodded anxiously. "Do you have any idea why? It's not like him to be so on edge. He's usually the-glass-is-half-full kinda guy. Now he looks plain miserable."
"I have no idea..." I replied meekly, frowning as I turned into our room. My heart sped up a little when I saw him.
He was sitting at a desk on his own, by the window. The muscles up his arms were contracted tight, and his right hand was tensed into a tight fist. I could see the tendons protrude under his wrist.
He looked like himself apart from the tense posture and the pale skin. His hair was arranged into it's usual matt-gelled disarray.
"The bells gonna go. I'll see you maybe in one of your classes, okay?" Jess said, and I said goodbye.
I crossed the room carefully, taking in his current mood. I couldn't figure it out, so I sat beside him on the desk.
"Hello," he greeted me in a muted voice. It was less strained than when I had last talked to him, thankfully.
"How are you doing?" I asked politely, warming up to the real questions I wanted to ask.
"Not good," he admitted openly, ducking his head sadly.
I sighed, my eyebrows pulled together in a concerned frown.
"Can I ask about the clearing?"
His grey eyes snapped up, his expression cold. "Don't ask me about it. Ever. I'm not telling anyone." His gaze dropped, his expression smoothing out into sorrow, and his fist relaxed.
I bit my lip anxiously, tilting my head to try and catch his gaze again. He looked completely miserable, and I had no idea what was wrong.
"It's bad then."
He shook his head slowly. "It's... morbid. That's the only way to describe it." I started tingle with apprehensive curiosity, but my stomach still squirmed nervously. I was torn between finding out what really happened and learning something I didn't want to, and not asking and living with these ghosts in my head...
He cleared his throat quietly. "It's not because I don't trust you."
I waited patiently for him to continue. His jaw was set, and he stared straight ahead as his hand balled into a fist again.
"I just think you might... react badly. Actually, I'm positive that you will." He turned to me, his mousy eyes solemn.
I lowered my voice, as I could see other pupils gazing curiously at us. "What if I have a... suspicion?"
A brief look of panic swept over his features, but he composed himself quickly. "Not here, okay? The teacher is coming."
I shot a look at the door, but no one appeared for a few seconds. I looked at him quizzically.
"Good hearing," he reminded me sheepishly, and a moment later a stern looking teacher called Mr. Webster entered the room, the role book under his arm. He took the role, and then handed out our timetables to us. We cross examined each others; we were in most classes together except Chemistry and Maths. I made a mental note to check Jess's one later.
When the bell dismissed us, he walked me to my first class, which was unfortunately, Chemistry.
I reluctantly said goodbye, and he headed off to Physics in the opposite direction.
I pushed open the heavy door, taking in the classroom and the pupils within it. There were many familiar faces behind the desks, much to my relief. I spotted Jess in the third row, and she waved me over.
"Hey," I greeted her, taking a seat on one of the uncomfortable lab chairs.
"Did you find out what's up with Chris?" she asked as she got her pencil case out of her bag.
"Nope-"
Our conversation quickly ended, when the same teacher from my registration marched into the room. He eyed us warily from behind thick glasses for a few moments, before informing us that we must sit in alphabetical order.
The class grumbled and groaned as we shifted seats, and I found myself in the back row with a new face.
He looked pretty friendly. Warm, brown eyes gave me a once over as I sat beside him, and he extended his hand.
"Samuel O'Conner," he introduced himself as I took his warm hand in a shake. "I just moved here a week ago from the south."
"I'm April Brownlee. I guess we'll be partners for experiments."
He winked. "Looking forward to it." He tousled his fair hair, grinning at me.
Half way through the class, the person if front handed me a folded piece of paper. I opened it curiously, peering at the writing.
OMG! That guy sitting beside you is gorgeous! What's his name? -Jess
I couldn't help giggling at her message. It was so typical of her to be checking out the new guy. Covering my own message with my hand, I scribbled a hasty reply:
He's called Samuel. And stop looking at him like that, you might freak him out! -April
She dropped her interested stare as she turned back to pass another note:
Okay, I'll stop. But I'm so asking him out. I'll just pop up beside you at the end of class, okay? -Jess
I looked up to see her staring expectantly back at me, and I conceded with a roll of my eyes and a nod.
She did quite literally 'pop up' when the bell went. One second me and Samuel were alone, packing away our things, then the next Jess materialised out of nowhere. I nearly burst into a fit of laughter when I saw the huge grin on her face.
"Hey April!" she greeted me, and then turning to Samuel as if she only noticed he was there. "Oh, and who might this be?"
I excused myself and let them talk, letting a giggle out of my lungs before I exploded on the way out.
The next I saw Jess was at break. Something was definitely up. Her cheeks were rosy pink and the goofy grin was still plastered to her face when she sat down on the front steps of the school, our usual hang out spot.
I was sitting with another member of the crew, Danny Weir. Chris wasn't there yet.
Danny was another old friend, though I'd never bonded with him as much as I had Chris. He was eccentric, and totally unpredictable, always up for a laugh. He could go a little over the top sometimes especially at parties, but it was too hard to stay mad at Danny for long. With his cute, dark curly hair and puppy eyes, he was easy to forgive.
"Don't you look jolly today?" Danny quipped, his emerald eyes staring knowingly at Jess, who immediately flushed.
"I'm just... happy to be at school," she said after a moments thought.
"Or maybe you got some," Danny accused her, a wicked grin on his face.
A look of fake shock spread over her face.
"And I was wondering... who was that cute guy in Chemistry? He seemed friendly," I can't resist adding.
Her head snapped to the swinging doors behind us as Chris pushed it open.
"Oh look! There's Chris!" she squeaked in mock enthusiasm, turning back to give us a nervous smile. "Hi Chris!" She waved exaggeratingly at him.
He gave her a "You are a nutcase" kind of smile, waving back at her slowly with a pale hand.
"Hey," I said, giving him a small smile.
"Oh, come on April. That's not how the Irish greet each other! What ever happened to a good old fashioned hug?" My eyes narrowed when I realised she was trying to get one back on me. But I was up for the challenge.
"Have you forgotten that Chris isn't Irish?" Ha, take that.
"Well, I'm sure most people try to tune out my scruffy London accent." He shrugged.
"I actually like your scruffy London accent," I said turning to him, and his grey eyes sparkled a little.
Just at that moment, Samuel pushed the double doors open, making a beeline for Jess. Chris jumped, shot Samuel a panicked look, cussing loudly under his breath. Samuel's eyes narrowed in a look that could nail jelly to a wall. Chris jumped to his feet, and Samuel's elbows bent up slightly, his fists clenched.
I looked from Jess, to Danny. They both looked as flabbergasted as I was. Did they know each other? And why did Samuel look as if he wanted to kill Chris?
"Chris?" I finally murmured to break the icy silence. He turned his head slowly to look over to me, and his eyes were opaque and cold.
"Everything is fine." His head snapped back. They both seemed to be daring one another to make a move.
The shrill call of the bell broke the tension. With one final look, Samuel turned without a word to Jess and back into the main school building.
"What the hell was that about? Do you have an enemy I didn't know about?" Danny asked, still dumbfounded by their behaviour.
Chris ignored him and grabbed me by the forearm, his long pale fingers trapping me in a gentle but strong grip.
He steered me away from the group, and muttered in my ear when we were out of earshot, "Stay away from him, April. Tell Jess if she were wise, she'd not get involved with him either."
I blinked in confusion, staring up into his cold eyes. All traces of his semi-cheerful mood were gone.
"Chris, what's going on?" I tugged him to a halt in the middle of the corridor, catching his furious gaze.
"Just stay away from him, please," he said, his tone steely. "His crowd is not the kinda crowd you'd want to... mix with."
I stared up at him, feeling as if a piece of me was dying.
Where was my best friend, the amazing, funny, kind musician I knew and loved?
)
). And the addition of some new characters is always great!
