The loud buzzing of my alarm clock wakes me up indicating that it’s Monday morning. I groan, roll over and smack my hand down on the snooze button. But it’s too late, the last bit of sleep has already left my system and I’m awake now. My eyes flutter open to take in the dreary day. I stretch and pull myself out of bed, padding over to one of the windows in my bedroom. My eyes scan the dark grey clouds up above me, hinting that it’s going to rain today. Awesome, it’s Monday and it’s raining. What a great way to start off the week.

I head over to my bathroom to brush my teeth and apply my makeup, checking my phone quickly just to make sure I had no important texts, I didn't. What a shocker. I pull on a high low heart tank top, a black leather jacket, light washed jeans and my black low cut converse. I add my two favorite rings and a black beanie to complete my look. (Ria's Outfit)

By the time I’m finished getting ready it’s 8:00 am meaning I only have 25 minutes to get to school. I still have no texts which is weird because Mitch always texts me in the morning and asks me if I need a ride to school. After a few moments I decide to call him. I dial his number and it rings twice before being sent to voicemail.

Is Mitch mad at me? I guess I’ll find out at school. He’s in my first period Math and we sit together.

I sigh, exiting my room to quickly check on my mother. I push open her bedroom door to find her wrapped in a cocoon of blankets, fast asleep like a small child. I smile as I shut her door and run down the stairs, grabbing my backpack and house keys before leaving.

I guess I’ll have to walk to school.

I begin the 30-minute walk to school slowly, already dreading the day in front of me. As I walk I smoke cigarettes, periodically checking my phone to make sure Mitch hasn’t texted me.

As the big grey building I’ve come to known as the worst high school in the history of high schools looms in front of me, I pull out my phone to send a quick text message to Jessica wishing her good luck on her first day and reminding her to come over after school.

Just as I pull open the front doors of the school, the light drizzle that was my companion for most of my walk turns into a heavy downpour.

Great I think hopefully I don't have to walk home in this.

The announcements are already on when I reach my locker on the second floor. Despite the large amount of students Ridgeview holds the second floor is practically empty. I hear my vice principal Ms. Canhadina come onto the P.A system, reminding students that are just arriving to report to the attendance office before class to get a late slip.

I roll my eyes at Ms. Canhadina’s nasally voice before grabbing my Math textbook for first period and my Art sketchbook for second period. I slam my locker closed and walk the distance from my locker to the attendance office, which is located on the first floor.

When I pull open the door, the attendance lady smiles at me and shakes her head, already typing my information into the computer so she can print me a late slip.

“Late again Ms. Hamilton?” The attendance lady asks me with a smile. I move to stand in front of her, placing my hand on my hip.

“Come on Dorcinda, don’t pretend like you didn’t miss me.” I say wiggling my eyebrows at her. She smooths back her grey black hair before handing me the late slip.

“Ria, this is the tenth time you’ve been late and it’s only October 7th. If this keeps up, you know I’m going to have to send you to Canhadina.” Dorcinda says. I make a face when she mentions my vice principal and she laughs.

“Yeah yeah, thanks Dorce.” I say, reaching to grab the late slip dangling from her fingers in front of me. At the last second, she pulls it away from me.

“That’s Mrs. Bruckwell to you young lady.” Dorcinda says mimicking Ms. Canhadina’s voice and handing the late slip back to me.

“Thank you Mrs. Bruckwell.” I say laughing and taking the late slip from her hand.

As I exit the attendance office, I decide to take a short cut through the History hallway and up the flight of stairs because it leads directly across the hall from my Math class. I pass the rows of classrooms until I reach the stairs, running up them two at a time.

I’m out of breath when I reach the top of the staircase. Man I really should stop smoking so much. I gaze into my math class, noticing I have a supply teacher. Shrugging I enter the classroom, place my late slip on the desk and turn to take my usual seat in the back left corner right behind Mitch who is conveniently not in class this morning. Weird. It’s not like Mitch to not text me in the morning and skip class.

I lean over to whisper something to Garett Thompson, one of Mitch’s band mates.

“You seen Mitch lately?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, saw him in the smoke pit with Hannah. He said he wasn’t coming to first or second. I think he’s still upset because Leedo quit the band.” Garett says shrugging.

Mitch and Garett had started their band Toxic Lullaby back in grade nine with their other two best friends Keith and Markus-Who everyone calls Leedo- but when Leedo got himself a girlfriend, he started spending less and less time practicing with the band, I guess he finally quit.

“I think he’s mad at me.” I say shrugging. Garett looks down at his paper and plays with his pencil.

“He is, isn't he?”
“I wouldn’t say mad, he’s not angry at you. He just thinks your comment to Hannah was a little er, how should I put this… cuntish.” He finishes, referring to the comment I made to Hannah about Mitch only keeping her around for sex.

“Whatever, not like Hannah’s permanent anyways.” I say, shrugging and rolling my eyes.

“Ri, I know you’re still upset that things didn't work out between Jess and Mitch but Jess is gone now… And Australia is really far, I don’t blame him for not keeping a long distance thing going and neither should you.” Garett says to me.

“Oh so you haven’t heard?” I ask excitedly, ignoring his tiny lecture.

“Heard what?”

“Jessica’s back!” I squeal out smiling.

Garett’s eyes widen and he’s about to say something to me but the sound of a British accent interrupts him.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Harry Tomlinson walk into my math class.

“S’cuse me, is this Mrs. Shanks Math class?” He asks the supply teacher shyly, handing him his timetable.

“It is indeed young man, I’m just a supply teacher. I’ll be here for a few days until Mrs. Shanks returns from surgery. My name is Mr. White.” The supply teacher says looking over Harry’s timetable.

“You can sit in the empty seat in the back for now, I’m sure when your teacher comes back she’ll place you in your appropriate seat.” Mr. White says handing Harry’s timetable back to him and returning to the chalkboard to write todays lesson down.

Harry regards the back of the class, when our eyes meet he smiles and I give a little wave.

“You know him?” Garett asks me, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s my next door neighbor. Him, his brother and his dad just moved in a few days ago.” I say shrugging.

“So tell me Ri, which one have you fucked?” Garett says, poking me in the side and laughing. I swat his hand away and blush as Harry makes his way down the row of desks to the empty seat in front of me.

“Anyways.” Garett says changing the subject. “Mitch is in a total shit mood because we have absolutely no idea where we’re going to find a new guitarist in time for Battle of the Bands.”

Suddenly an idea pops into my mind.

“Harry plays the guitar!” I practically scream.

Harry’s head snaps around and his eyes lock with mine.

“Do you play, pretty boy?” Garett says sheepishly to Harry.

“Well, uh yeah, I sort of-“ Harry begins but I cut him off.

“Sort of my ass, he’s amazing. He played Hotel California for me perfectly last night.” I say smiling at Harry, who looks like he wants to kill me.

“Looks like we found our new guitarist.” Garett says before Harry can say anything else.

“Hey hold on –“ Harry starts only to be cut off by Mr. White.

“Mr. Tomlinson, please quiet down.”

Garett and I laugh as Garett writes down a bunch of information on a sheet of paper for Harry and hands it to him.

“We’re called Toxic Lullaby, we mainly cover The Ramones, The Police, The Smiths, and you know stuff like that. We’re practicing tomorrow at 7 at Mitch’s place. Ria will show you how to get there.” Garett whispers to Harry. Harry looks defeated as he nods his head in agreement.

The rest of Math class passes painfully slowly. Five minutes before the bell I poke harry in the back of the head and ask to see his timetable. He passes it back to me and I scan it over quickly before passing it back to him.

“We have first and third together, never thought you’d be into psychology.” I say to him, referring to our third period psychology class together.

“I’m not.” Harry says shrugging. “It was the only class they had available.”

I nod my head and we sit in silence for a few seconds before Harry speaks again.

“So since we have third period together, does this mean you’ll sit with me at lunch?” Harry asks me innocently but it’s Garett that answers him.

“We usually hang out at the smoke pit, it’s next door to the school outside of that abandoned arena, and you’re welcome to join if you’d like.” Garett says and I roll my eyes. Harry just smiles and nods in agreement. It’s then that I notice how beautiful Harry’s eyes are. The green and tiny bit of yellow mix together to create one enchanting color, after a few seconds I find myself lost in those beautiful deep green eyes.

The bell rings, snapping me out of my daze and also reminding me I have Art class now, my second favorite class. If it weren’t for the fact that Hannah Scott and her annoying guard dog for a best friend Dalice Thompson sat directly across from me, Art would be my favorite class. Now before you even ask, yes Dalice and Garett are twins. Both blonde haired blue-eyed beauties with complete opposite personalities.

I slowly make my way through a stream of scared freshmen, their heads down avoiding all eye contact. Harry runs up behind me and grabs my shoulder, startling me.

“Can I walk you to class?” Harry says out of breath.

“Harry you probably don't even know where your class is let alone mine.” I say rolling my eyes and smirking.

“Right well yea, so can you walk me to class?” Harry says playfully.

“Come on Romeo.” I say laughing and grabbing his hand to pull him out of the mob of freshmen. “What do you even have second period?”

“Gym with Harris.” He says.

“Yuck.” I say making a face, although the thought of Harry sweaty from gym makes me lick my lips. Whoa, lady boner. Settle down Ria. I leave Harry in front of the gym with the promise to see him at lunch and make my way to Art class, which is conveniently located right near the gym. Thoughts of Harry shirtless, his muscles pulling and working dance through my mind and I shake my head, trying to focus on anything else.

I see Hannah and Dalice take their seats and immediately begin the eavesdropping process.

“Did you see the new guy?” Dalice whispers to Hannah.

“Yeah, he’s Ria Hamilton’s new neighbor I met him on the weekend.” Hannah whispers back to Dalice.

“Total 10 out of 10, I’d go him.” Dalice whispers, giggling and wiggling her eyebrows.

“Ew, don’t. Ria probably already has and God knows where she’s been.” Hannah whispers. Both the girls turn to look at me and I ever so kindly give them the finger. They disregard me and turn back to their own conversation but I’ve already heard enough brain rot for today.

I turn my attention back to the blackboard where my teacher Mr. Rochester is writing todays lesson down on the board. Yawn, it’s stuff I already know so I rest my head on my desk and sleep for the rest of the period.

The loud bell and the scraping of chairs wakes me up, signaling class is over. I collect my things, wipe the tiny bit of drool in the corner of my mouth and leave the classroom, heading for the smoke pit.

I’m halfway there and I can already see Keith, Mitch, Hannah and Dalice. Hannah’s hanging off Mitch’s neck eating his face like usual and Dalice and Keith are passing a joint back and forth.

I walk over to the little group, pluck the joint out of Keith’s fingers and inhale.

“Uh, excuse you. What do you think you’re doing?” Dalice says giving me a dirty look.

“What does it look like I’m doing Dalice?” I ask her innocently, batting my eyelashes. She makes a gagging sound.

“Yeah, if I wanted herpes, I’d kiss a toilet seat. Don’t touch my joint Ria.” Dalice says, taking the joint back from me. I roll my eyes and walk over to Mitch who is still locked in Hannah’s grasp. I clear my throat as I pull out a cigarette and Mitch looks at me, I lean against the railing of the steps leading down into the arena.

“So Mitchy, you gonna talk to your best friend?” I inquire.

“When she apologizes to my girlfriend I will.” Mitch says as he stares lovingly into Hannah’s eyes. Barf barf barf.

“Well if you’re not going to talk to her, I guess she’ll just have to tell her wonderful amazing news to someone else.” I say shrugging, taking a puff off my newly lit cigarette.

He sighs and shrugs out of Hannah’s arms. She whimpers and stalks off to where Dalice and Keith are.

Mitch comes to lean against the railing with me, pulling out his own pack of cigarettes and popping one in his mouth. He pulls my lighter out of my right pocket, lights his smoke and then puts the lighter back into my pocket.

“Alright.” Mitch says between puffs of his cigarette. “Whats this amazing news?”

“Two things.” I say smiling. Mitch raises his eyebrows.

“First, Jessica is back. Second, I found you a new guitarist.” Mitch’s face lights up when he hears my news and he pulls me in for a hug.

“Who is he?” Mitch asks excitedly. “Is it that cool guy with all the tattoos from my fourth period?” He sounds like a little kid.

“Er… no. It’s Harry, Harry Tomlinson.”

“Your new neighbor?” Mitch asks puzzled. “Ria this is a rock band. I don’t really think he fits the part.”

“Trust me on this one Mitch.” I say. Out of the corner of my eye I see Harry and Garett making their way over to the rest of the group.

“Whatever you say Ri. Anyways, what were you saying about Jess?”

“Shes back Mitch! I saw her at Tim’s the other day, her dad kicked her out and her mom made her change schools to the Abbey!”

“You mean the all girls school?” Mitch asks puzzled.

“Yeah… That one. She’s coming over after school, you should come I know she missed you.”

Mitch looks from me to Hannah and then back to me, silently telling me he has plans with Hannah. I groan.

“Oh come on, Ri it’ll just be for an hour or two, then we’ll leave I promise. I just really wanna see Jess and Hannah will kill me if I cancel on her again.”

“No. Nuh- huh not happening no way.” I say firmly.

“Pleeeeeaaaaaaase Ri.” He whines using the puppy dogface. I smack him on the arm playfully before letting out a groan of agreement.

“But if she touches any of my shit, I’ll fucking kill you.” I say before turning away to meet Harry halfway across the field. I link arms with him.


“Come on, I don’t feel like standing out in the cold.” I say before dragging him back inside the building with me.

Notes

HELLLLLLLLLLLO LOVELIES

sososososoo sorry that this chapter cut off in such a weird way, but i had to end it somewhere or else i probably would have never ended it..

READ THIS!!!

For every chapter, I'm giving you 2 questions. And you have to answer at least 1 for an update. Because I honestly hate getting comments that say "update" So. If you want an update, i want an answer.

SOOOOOOO

Do you think something is going to happen between Jessica and Mitch again?

OR

What was your favourite part of the chapter?


GAH IM SO SORRY THESE QUESTIONS SUCK ANYWAYS I'M PROBABLY GONNA UPDATE AGAIN TODAY BUT ONLY IF YOU GUYS ANSWER THE QUESTIONS SO MUAHAHA