Writer's block has gone away! FINALLY!
I'm so happy. Although I think it's probably rubbish but hey, I actually, finally wrote something.Anyway, this is chapter two. Under the spoiler is a spoiler of the previous events in the last chapters...I tried to add a little bit of Lauren's accent into this so where it's supposed to be 'was' further down, I changed it to 'weren't'. Tell me what you think and please feel free to shred this
Thanks,
Mac
Contains language unsuitable for 6 year olds to see.
Spoiler! :
Chapter Three
Liam Hunt
Was there no end to my alarm clocks constant buzzing? Seriously, it just kept ringing and ringing and ringing. What was the point of them anyway? Waking you up so that you know you’ve got
7:58 AM
14-FEB-2011
My eyes flickered open again, after waking up abruptly from a strange dream–I was going to a gallery with my Art teacher. Weird.
I considered staying home that day, until I realised what the day was and why I had set my alarm early.
Valentine’s day... CRAP!
I dashed to the bathroom for a quick shower and brushing my teeth. I leapt out of the bathroom but I slipped on the white carpet, flooring me.
"For God’s sake!"
I stood up again and flung open the door, and ran to the bedroom again. I put on my uniform: a light blue polo shirt and some beige combat trousers. I then grabbed my bag before pelting out of the house.
I could tell that the weather would be nice that day. The weather was always nice actually, except for the freak storm you’d get once a year. Apart from that, it was nice. That day was no exception–the clear sky was a cerulean blue, the sun’s rays almost blinding and reflecting on the sand that drifted onto the road, shimmering.
Stopping to look at the scenery–what scenery? It’s all sand–around me made me even later than I was.
I growled. Like this, I would never get there on time.
I arrived late to school, interrupting Arabic. Thankfully, sir didn’t say anything, but even so, I still couldn’t ask her.
A few minutes later, we began our spelling test. We usually had one every Tuesday, but sir announced after Christmas that we’d have to spell the words without knowing what they were beforehand, to my dismay. Why? Seriously...
I was terrible at spelling in Arabic. Who could tell the difference between ح and ه ? Sometimes, Omar’s kind enough and flicks a scrunched up piece of paper with all the letters that had the same sound but had something to do with emphasis. James sniggers every time we do the test, glancing at the frustration written on my face while I’m trying to work out how to spell a word. It doesn’t help that James is fluent in Arabic. His parents gave him special Arabic classes before he moved here. He’s been in Sharm for ages.
“Spell camel,” our teacher said, in Arabic. Easy words first, hard ones later. “Spell plane.” Second word in and already we had a word that would confuse me.
Just before sir was about to tell us the third word when James shouted, “Give us hard words–these are for babies.”
James was dead.
“I was doing the easy ones for Liam,” he replied, smiling.
Everyone in the room’s eyes darted to me. I felt my hollow cheeks go a fiery red, so I put my head down, where my face couldn’t be seen. I doodled on the corner of the sheet, as if I wasn’t concentrating.
“But fair enough. I will do harder spelling.”
Nice practical joke, James.
Halfway through the test, I felt something hit my ear. I found a note, from Omar, with another tip. I smiled. It was nice to know that there was someone who was willing to help. That didn’t stop me from failing the test–again. To my dismay, there was a much more important test in two weeks. I knew what my result would be.
***
It was lunch and I went out searching for Lauren, having been unable to speak to her. She was with her friends. Her giggling friends. Her loud, giggling friends. It seemed like there were more than normal, because even Jasmin was there. Lauren didn’t exactly like her. It might’ve not have been completely obvious...
Their presence around Lauren made me extremely nervous. If I spoke to Lauren, the topic would be spread like a wildfire. But if I didn’t...
Huh. Least I wasn’t asking someone like Jasmin to come with me. A “bitch” as James described her.
I found her sitting at the front, on the grass, picking off the petals of one of the roses that lined the garden. She’s... pretty. I smiled to myself, as I walked closer to her. Understatement. I grinned.
She still didn’t notice me. I slowly sat next to her, my greeting only alerting her of my presence. She seemed a little surprised but happy all the same. “Hey.”
“It’s Valentine’s day today,” I said, a few minutes later
.
“Really?” replied Lauren, in a sarcastic tone. Her eyes were still on the petals she was playing with. I smiled.
This is it. “L-Lauren,” I began, my gaze set on the grass. “D’you–do you want to–” I stopped, feeling my cheeks go ablaze for the second time that day. You’re a fail. “Would you like to go cinema with me tonight?”
Lauren stopped playing with the flower and from the corner of my eye, I could see her facing me. “What?”
“Would you like to go the cinema with me tomorrow?” I repeated. I turned to her, holding my breath.
“You’re asking me?”
No, I’m obviously asking my pet rock.
I nodded.
“I’d love to,” she beamed.
I breathed out again.
“But can we do it tonight? Tomorrow’s Tuesday, beach day.”
Oh yeah... Beach day was held every week. Our class would all go to the beach after school and have some sort of party. I usually didn’t bother going. “Alright... Freckles.”
***
I met Lauren at the cinema, slightly late after being told off by Mum for leaving the bathroom looking like a warzone, being forced to clean it up and getting grounded. Not like she’s ever in the house anyway ‘cause all she seemed to be doing was working. Trust her to do something like that.
“Sorry I’m late–Mum was being a pain,” I said after greeting her. My mouth was uncomfortably dry but I tried to ignore it.
“It’s fine,” she replied, beaming. We walked to the cinema through the square in front of the cinema was large and busy. The sweet smell of hookah filled the air, accompanied by words of conversation wafting with it.
Entering inside, we were welcomed by the smell of popcorn. “Er, right, which film shall we watch?"
“Umm... what’s this one?” she asked, pointing at a name of a film on the wall mounted screen behind the cashier.
“Can we watch another one? I’m not... really... into blood and guts.”
I looked down at my feet, dragging my trainers back and forth, watching the pattern on the carpet change slightly.
“Or... I don’t know... you pick, Liam.”
“Hm?” I looked up. “All the good films aren’t now ‘part from stupid films for eight year olds about them defeating the cardboard alien race invading or a sloppy romantic film about the mother in-law being a pain. Or that blood and guts one.”
“Totally true,” she smiled. “It’s a shame there’s no films worth seeing.”
“We could go and have a bite at the food court...” I mumbled.
“...she tried to be a hair dresser and put bubbles in my hair.”
“Wish I had a little sister,” said Lauren, taking a bite out of her jacket potato. Lauren had opted for the ‘healthier option’ of food a few minutes before. Burgers were way tastier, personally. “It sounds so amazing.”
“But I’m a boy,” I protested. “I–hairdressing isn’t fun. She and her friend were trying to make my hair full of bubbles.” Last year that was. Beth and her friend Helen were the hair dressers in a bubble factory while I babysat them. They poured the bubble mixture into my dirty blond hair which trickled into my eyes and nearly burned them.
“Bubbles? Sounds creative.”
“Horrifying. But she’s too adorable to resist. It sucks.”
I finished my burger and stood up, throwing my plastic box in the bin before returning.
“At least it weren’t Tuna,” she smirked.
I rolled my eyes. “That stuff’s disgusting.”
“Our lass–” she began. I sniggered like every time when a word from Manchester–her hometown–cropped up in her speech which most of them weren’t in her vocabulary because no one else at school was from Manchester.
“–what?”
“Our lass,” I smirked.
She looked back at me sheepishly. “You put me off speaking sometimes, Lee.”
“But it’s funny, though...”
She finished her jacket potato as we sat in silence–comfortable silence though, with the occasional grin,
or smirk. I held her gaze, before we both burst out laughing.
We walked home, the square being busier than before. The Egyptians never slept before one in the morning, or at least, that’s what it felt like. It was like some law that everyone adhered to. Soon if they made a new constitution they’d probably change it to four in the morning.
The floor vibrated with the loud bass of subwoofers from the clubs at the hotels nearby. The cold felt like it was wrapped around my fingers and plastered to my hollow cheeks. “It’s cold,” I said. It was supposed to be a desert, for God’s sake, not a cold night in Scandinavia or whatever. Baked sand anyone?
We walked through a quiet street, lined with two or three story apartment blocks. Absent-mindedly, I ran my hand along every lamppost we passed, until my hand felt something rougher than the smooth, cold surface I was expecting. I stopped abruptly. Lauren carried on walking ahead, ‘til she stopped as well.
“Why did you stop?” she called.
Holy...
They were photos of... faces. Most of them were ones I recognised from diving. There were a few older faces on there...
My stomach bubbled with acid before twisting into a knot. I knew what it was.
My face glazed over the photos of faces on the paper and onto the bright red title, written in both English and Arabic. “Missing...”
Holy crap, there are more people. More people gone. Older people. Tourists. Probably snorkelers.
You’re such a flipping coward Liam. You should’ve gone after them to see what happened. Soon there’ll be more people.
More people...
More people...
Soon, there’ll be James, a photo of him smiling and probably with his headphones hidden between the thick, chocolate brown hair on his head, his eyes full of happiness from a photo taken a long time ago. A photo of a younger James, with his cheeks even chubbier than now, even happier...
Soon, Lauren will be there. Her electric blue eyes dazzling as usual, her hair floating in the wind.
[/i]And soon, you’ll be there[/i]–the thin boy with the bottle green eyes, the hollow cheeks and the dirty blond hair. Soon the person who started all this mess will be up there because he was such a coward and didn’t do anything about it. Soon...
“Liam, are you all right?”
“W-w-what?”
“Are you OK?”
“I...” I looked around, avoiding her gaze. “I–got a text from Mum, I’ve got to go, there’s something, I–bye Lauren–”
I ran.
I ran, leaving her completely bewildered.
You’re not gonna let yourself forget the mess you’ve got to clear up.
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