Perspective- Chapter 6

Holly’s Perspective

Saturday morning was painfully boring. The long, lazy lie in I had planned was ruined by my over-enthusiastic DIY neighbour drilling God-only-knows-what at nine thirty. Nine thirty on a Saturday! I mean, what is wrong with the man?

Slowly, I dug myself out from the depths of the Harry Potter duvet I’ve had since I was eight, and walked downstairs and into the kitchen. My zombie state of mind was screaming for coffee so I hastened to switch the kettle on. Waiting for the (far too bright) red light to go off signalling full heated water, I glared at the insultingly bright yellow of our curtains. My Mum’s choice to ‘brighten the place up a bit”, but, like almost all her ideas, it hadn’t quite managed the desired effect. The rhythmic drone of the drill continued and my eyes glazed over as my tired brain struggled to focus on anything.

The drill suddenly stopped and, moments later, the kettle boiled. I spooned into my favourite mug- it’s black with my name on it in swirly pink font- one teaspoon of rich coffee then, as an after thought, a half teaspoon extra to wake me up. I began to pour the still slightly frothing water into the cup when a loud bang travelled from next door. I jumped, causing boiling water to spill all over the surface and drip lazily on to the floor. I groaned, and grabbed a tea towel, relieved that it hadn’t made contact with my skin.

Once fully caffeinated I shoved a couple of sausages in the oven, one for me and one for Mum, and grabbed bread rolls for our traditional Saturday morning sausage sandwich. I turned the radio on whilst I worked, turning the volume up to conceal the muffled sounds of the neighbour hammering next door (the cause, I assumed, of the big bang). I sighed when my Mum’s favourite station came on, one of those that constantly plays ‘Golden Oldies’ so that over forties can feel nostalgic about there adventures when they were our age or stare into the eyes of their partner and remember the song that played when they first fell In love etc etc. I rolled my eyes when ABBA blared out “Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen, oh yeah”. Well, I thought as I tuned it to my preferred radio station, you may have been seventeen when you wrote that, but you’re closer to seventy now.

My Mum came down stairs in her pink bunny slippers to find me eating my sandwich and singing along to Bruno Mars at the top of my voice in-between bites. She laughed at me, and I grinned back,

“I made breakkie” I said, offering her the plate,

“Thanks Hun” she replied, taking it, then, “You changed the station again.”

“Yeah well, who wants to listen to music that’s forty years old anyway?”

“This will be forty years old one day”, she pointed out, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the radio, “and then the irony will be that you’ll be listening to it on my golden oldies radio station that you hate so much!”

“But then what station will your music be on? Golden REALLY oldies?” I debated, raising my eyebrows comically,

“Ha-ha” she said in a dry monotone, then, being the mature adult, poked her tongue out at me.

A little later on and I was sat in front of my computer completing the possibly the most boring essay ever. ‘To what extent should Fleming be credited with the development of penicillin?’ I don’t know Miss, I spent most of that lesson trying to catch Charlie’s eyes, why don’t you ask this Fleming guy instead? My brain chattered as I wrote, coming out with increasingly offensive responses to the essay, none of which I wrote down of course, and of all of which seemed to end with Charlie’s eyes.

I smiled when I considered his eyes. There was just something about them, you know? Almost like they can see right to the bottom of your soul, and they make you shiver all over with anticipation, no contact required. Or maybe it was his arms that made me shiver. Defined and muscular, but subtly, flexing under his tanned skin every time he stretches or even, sometimes, when he’s writing. It could’ve been his smile too. The way, just when I started to think he didn’t know I even existed, he’d look at me with those intense eyes and gave me a focused half smile which sent whispers of desire up my spine. What I wouldn’t have given to kiss those lips. Unfortunately, I struggled to even keep a conversation going with those lips, as they instantly stunned me into silence every time I saw them.

I glanced dejectedly at myself in the mirror. My pale freckled skin, my slightly pointed elfish ears and my mouse brown hair, cut short in a pixie style. I was so completely plain, I inwardly complained. At a size twelve I was too big to be one of those model-skinny girls, but not big enough to be considered curvy. My height, too, was average, I wasn’t small-and-cute or tall-and-willowy I was slap bang in the middle. Nothing much to distinguish me from the crowd, and certainly nothing that Charlie would ever find attractive when beautiful girls fawned all over him on a daily basis.

I looked at my computer screen, the essay a couple of paragraphs off being finished, but I just couldn’t find the motivation. I saved what I’d done and clicked internet explorer. Facebook came up straight away, Chris showed me how to set it as my home page, and I look down the list of who’s online. I was sick of being cooped up inside, I wanted to walk up to The Rec with someone or invite someone round. My Mum was out visiting Robert, the latest boyfriend, which left me all alone in the house. Not many people were on facebook, it was early in the afternoon so most people were already out and enjoying the weekend. I scrolled down my news feed. Nothing of consequence was going on; a picture of James smiling at the camera holding up a champagne glass which Lucy had captioned ‘My romantic boyf <3’, a link to someone’s prom dress followed by a series of heated comments because she’d bought the same dress as someone else, a few depressing status’s including one from Annabel demanding ‘why does work start so early’, and a very fluffy ‘Lol cat’ with a total of four spelling mistakes in one line. I sighed and switched the computer off, searching my brain for ideas of what to do next.

After a quick scan though my phone contacts I concluded that there was nobody free that I could text. Lucy and James were reportedly on a date, and Annabel was at work. I considered texting Chris because I didn’t know what he was doing, but decided against it, I’d never hung out with him alone and had a crippling fear of awkward situations. This is why I needed a proper best friend. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the group, I loved them, I truly did. It’s just that Annabel and Lucy had known each other since forever and they were inseparable as best friends. James and Chris also were best friends. But I didn’t have someone I was especially close within the group. I had other friends throughout the school also, but again, nobody I had that indefinable bond with. Nobody I could call that Saturday, for instance, and just kill time with.

I resigned myself to an afternoon spent watching repeats of Jeremy Kyle and reading, for the billionth time, ‘Looking for Alaska’. The afternoon gradually became evening and was uneventful, except for a little spurt of excitement at about ten to six when Charlie walked past my window. He was heading in the direction of town and, as always, looked stunning. His dark eyes were emphasized by the shady background of dusk. His over grown wavy hair ruffled in the wind, as jet black as the night that was to come. He ran a hand through his hair, making the muscles flex temptingly.

I suddenly realised how creepy it would look if he saw me watching him through my window, and quickly ducked out of view below the sill. I chuckled at myself and resolved that Monday would be the day. The day I finally got up the nerve to talk to Charlie.

Lucy’s Perspective

We stayed at The Rec until the sun begun disappearing behind the trees and the Chavs started appearing in front of them, fags at the ready.

“C’mon,” James said, the last bus to Chinnor goes at six twenty.” I sighed over dramatically, twisting his hand in mine so that I could get a view of his watch; five to six.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Annabel will be done at work in five though, we could wander over to the café and walk with her to the bus stop?”

“Sure” James replied with a casual shrug, “I wonder how many plates she broke today”

“Or how many people’s dinner she threw away whilst they were in the toilet, but she thought they’d gone home” he laughed,

“Or if she accidently squirted another kid with chocolate sauce for his ice cream!” we both smile at each other, “still,” he continued, “none of the café stories compare to when she did a paper round and rode her bike into a lamp post.”. I grinned, remembering how she’d got concussion from that and we’d gone to visit her at the hospital thinking she’d be really upset, but instead she couldn’t stop smiling because she got a week off school and a really hot doctor. Life was so much simpler aged thirteen, when all that mattered was the amount of school you avoided and the hotness of your doctor. You feel indestructible at thirteen, but by sixteen too much shit has gone down for life to be so care-free. At least, that’s how I felt. I leant on James’s shoulder as we walked. I thought that for him life was still pretty simple, in many ways he hadn’t changed since he was thirteen. I looked at him, his big brown eyes that felt like home and his arms that meant safety. He still has a Childs face- baby fat around the edges and undoubting trust in his eyes- but his body is a mans now. He stands tall, maybe taller than Annabel, who used to tease him lightly for being almost as small as me, he’s sprouted muscles too and there’s just something about his stance now. He stands like a man. It’s different, but I like it.

We got to the café and spied Annabel fighting with Henry the hover, head bent towards the floor, glaring at some sticky crumbs that refused to be sucked in. James and I leant our faces against the window, contorting them into comical monster faces.  When Annabel looked up and spotted us she practically jumped at least a mile off the ground, a yelp escaping her lips. An instant later she giggled and waved us inside. We sat down at a table watching her scrub at the crumbs, then put Henry back in the cupboard. The rest of the staff finished the washing up they’d been doing in the kitchen, and came down to where we’re sat. The boss stormed in from outside and squinted at James and I,

“I don’t remember hiring you.” He barked,

“They’re just waiting for me to finish up” Annabel reassured him. He responded by forcing to mop up the non-existent foot prints James and I had made on our way in, she then collected her cash-in-hand pay, and we made our way out.

We were slowly ambling toward the bus stop while Annabel told us about Chris coming into the café, when I saw a familiar face making its way towards us. I subtly nudged Annabel, knowing James would hate it if I loudly pointed out oh-my-god-so-hot Charlie strolling our way. She took in the stunning sight and mouthed

“Wow” at me whilst waggling her eyebrows. It seemed though, that nothing got passed James, who fixed me with a severely disapproving look. To put him in an even worse mood, when Charlie passed us he gave that model perfect half smile and confidently called out,

“Well hello ladies!” I smiled coyly before I remembered James was still giving me the death stare, and Annabel waved at him with the subtlety of an elephant.

At the bus stop I made it up to James with a long kiss goodbye, while Annabel looked extremely uncomfortable and looked at the sky as though looking at us making out would be as blinding as looking directly at the sun. Then, the two of us left James waiting for his bus and walked towards our houses which were just a few streets apart.

I privately smiled at the moon, thinking about how lucky I am to have James. He did put such a lot of effort in for today. Of course, I won’t be able to eat for a couple of days to make up for gauging myself at lunch, but it was worth it. He hasn’t smiled like that in a long time. At least not at me.

Just a quick note in case my actual friend Holly who has a YWS account reads this- I hope you don't mind that I stole your name and your hair cut for my character. Please don't be offended by anything I've written; her personality is not even slightly based on you. You're probably recognising the names of the other characters too, but again, I've changed practically everything about them to fit with my plot line, just taking inspiration from all my friends awesomeness! Also I loves you muchly XD