Highmore Manor

It wasn't till I got back to my room that I realized I was still wearing Jesse's jacket. I sighed and took it off, throwing it into my end of Callie and my wardrobe.

Only half an hour had passed since I had left the room but Brittany and Phoebe were still asleep, eye masks still covering half their faces in an attempt to block out the light and earplugs sticking out of their ears, not very attractively.

I immediately got changed into some proper clothes, slightly embarrassed that I had just had a fight with Jesse in the cafeteria dressed in my pajamas and a formal jacket. Once in my bum-pants and Elmo t-shirt I flopped down on my bed and looked at the books on my bookcase. Pride and Prejudice immediately stood out; I glared at it, then grabbed it and threw it under my bed, folding my arms over my chest and then glared at the wall opposite me.

Why are boys so annoying? They're just so - moody. Well Jesse is anyway. Maybe he's going through male PMS. Hormonal problems much? I laughed inwardly as I stared at Brittany's poster of Zac Efron. I suppose he's just human, guys have mood swings too, but not bipolar mood swings, unless of course that's what he is. I thought to myself. And why was I letting this get to me so much. I had always known right from when I'd met him that he was going to be like this, Callie warned me, and I've already worked out that I like him at least a little bit, but not enough to be hurt by him. I mean he wants nothing to do with me as far as I can tell, and if he does, he's not very good at showing it.

I lay on my bed staring at Zac Efron mulling thoughts over and over in my head until I had a headache.

"I hate boys!" I groaned out loud.

"Hayley?" a small voice groaned directly after me. I looked up quickly at the bed opposite mine. Brittany was sitting up slowly, slipping her eye mask off her face and pulling her earplugs out. "Who are you talking to?"

"Myself - I mean no one," I corrected as I realized how insane I must sound.

"Hayley you were talking to someone," Brittany pressed.

"Fine, I was talking to someone," I said, not bothering to fight back. Brittany stared at me oddly and then flopped back down on her bed. I decided she must have been sleep talking but a second later she sat back up and got out of bed.

"I can't sleep," she announced to no one in particular. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Do you care?" I asked inquisitively. She turned her chocolate brown eyes on me.

"You'd be surprised how much Phoebe and I actually care about things other then boys and the colour pink," she muttered.

"Wow, who would've known? I mean it's not like you go around flaunting your intelligence or anything, more like the opposite. Where does all the 'hehe I'm such a dumb blonde' get you, no offence?" I asked. Brittany stared at me for a second, contemplating whether to be angry or not and then sighed.

"It doesn't get us anywhere," she agreed with a sigh.

"Then why do it?" I asked incredulously, my voice raising a slight pitch higher.

"It's sort of a criteria you have to meet to be part of Camilla's group," Brittany said warily with a small laugh. I sat up and raised my eyebrows.

"You're kidding? Camilla has guidelines?" I laughed.

"Not kidding at all. She has these really strict rules, like you have to be pretty but you can't be prettier then her, you can't be richer - it's really silly," Brittany laughed sitting down on the end of my bed.

"That is silly, so why do you do it?" I asked with a small laugh. Brittany shook her head and shrugged.

“When I was new three years ago she sort of just accepted me. But if she knew I was talking to you like this she’d un-accept me for sure,” she said.

‘Yeah, about that, is everyone at Highmore so bipolar? Because you’re suddenly talking to me like I’m not one of your worst enemies and a few other people I know have changed a bit since I got here,” I asked.

“Well technically we’re all spoiled rich kids apart from you 'scholarships, so we’re all a bit used to getting what we want. Some of us are quite nice when we want to be but most of us are just moody. Half of us were sent here to board because our parents couldn’t be bothered looking after us with there high powered jobs,” Brittany said with a roll of her eyes.

“Is that what it’s like with you?” I asked tentatively. She nodded slowly.

“My parents work in the same business as Callie’s dad, at the Leighton Stewart & Business Partners, they’re all filthy rich there and to top it off none of them can be bothered looking after their kids. But I suppose you’ve heard this all from Callie,” Brittany said with a knowing look. I thought about it quickly, Callie had told me that her mum was a fashion designer but nothing else and she never talked about her dad. I shook my head slowly.

“I don’t think she has,” I said just as slowly. Brittany’s eyes widened.

“Serious? I know Callie quite well, and normally she tells her best friends everything!” Brittany said in a surprised voice.

“How do you know her so well?” I asked. From what Callie had told me she hated Brittany but never got close enough to know much about her apart from all the gossip.

“Well we were best friends in beginners’ school; you New Zealanders call it Primary I think, and in secondary. But once we both got to Highmore she got jealous that she wasn’t in Camilla’s group and started hating me. I didn’t think she cared all that much.” Brittany said. My eyes had widened until the eyeballs should have dropped out and my jaw was hanging on the ground.

“She wanted to part of Camilla’s group?” I gaped. Brittany nodded. I just stared at her in shock. I wanted to ask her more about Callie but Phoebe suddenly groaned slightly and sat up. Brittany leaped off my bed before Phoebe could pull off her eye mask. She sent me a look that said ‘keep your mouth shut’ I just nodded slightly. Phoebe pulled off the mask and glanced around the room, rubbing her eyes as she went.

“I thought I heard talking,” she said in a sleepy voice.

“It was just Hayley’s music, I told her to turn it off though to help you sleep, but it didn’t work obviously,” Brittany said, her voice had changed back to a more girly tone. Phoebe just shot my glare.

“Well thanks a lot, freak,” she snapped before stepping out of bed. Brittany shot me an apologetic look when Phoebe wasn’t looking and then suddenly everything was back to normal. Phoebe and Brittany started talking about some party they had attended that night and giggled a lot. I just lay on my bed staring at the roof.

Suddenly the door opened and Callie walked in.

The other two stopped talking for a few seconds, long enough to shoot glares at Callie. Callie just glared back at them and then turned her glare on me. I just smiled innocently but on the inside it hurt that she was still being so frosty.

“I just came to tell you that Ryan, Alex, Jesse and I are going for a walk in the wood, so if you want to come Ryan and Alex would appreciate it,” Callie said giving me a look that said ‘I hope you don’t.’

“Yeah sure, that sounds great,” I smiled enthusiastically.

“Fine, we’re leaving in 15 minutes,” Callie said and then walked over to our wardrobe and picked out some clothes to wear and I did the same.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

So fifteen minutes later the five of us were walking along a path leading through the woods in silence. Ryan had attempted conversation but so many of us were unhappy with each other that it just seemed to fail. For a start Alex and Callie weren’t talking to each other at all, Callie wasn’t talking to me and Jesse was completely ignoring Callie and I so any conversation was a little hard to maintain with the only one person no one was angry at - that being Ryan.

But other then all that it really was a nice walk.

It had warmed up a little compared to the others days, when it had been drizzling and cold so now it was just pleasant. We were all still wearing jeans or track pants though but the guys had their jackets off.

I had brought my camera and was taking pictures of the scenery so at least I wasn’t bored. But after a while all the scenes started looking exactly the same and I’d exhausted all possible ways to try and change that, angles, lighting, colour tones, everything and I was suddenly getting tired of walking.

“So,” I said randomly. Everyone turned to look at me expectantly.

“Uh, did you know it’s my birthday a week after Christmas?” I asked. Everyone shook their heads. “Well it is,” I said pathetically.

“We’ll have a party for you, I guess,” Ryan said in an apathetic voice. I just grunted slightly in response.

“It was Callie and my anniversary yesterday,” Alex said softly. Callie turned and glared at him slightly and then at me.

“We can have a party for you as well if you want,” Ryan offered in a bored tone. Alex did the same grunting thing as I had. The conversation was extremely frosty and boring; we just walked in silence again.

I ended up walking a bit behind the others, my feet sloshing through the slightly mushy dirt. Suddenly I felt someone walking along beside me. I looked up to see Ryan walking there. He was still looking forward at our friends walking a few metres in front of us, I glanced at them - they were out of hearing range.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" Ryan asked, his voice kind of stiff. I glanced up at him and then just nodded.

"What were you doing with Jesse last night?" he asked, I realized suddenly that he was either angry or very hurt by something. His voice was incredibly thin and tight.

"What?" I asked quietly.

"Callie told me she caught you too in the lobby, getting - close, and now this morning, you and Jesse are avoiding eye contact," Ryan said not looking down at me. I just stared at him for a few minutes.

"Nothing happened if that's what you're so worried about," I said turning to look away from him quickly.

"Can you just tell me what happened?" Ryan asked.

"No," I replied. "It's not any of your business." Ryan set his jaw slightly.

"Fine, then can you answer me another question? What's happening with us?" he asked. I stopped walking suddenly.

"Is that what this is all about Ry?" I asked slowly, Ryan turned around to look at me. "You're angry because I might have something going on with Jesse, which will stop me liking you. Well sorry to burst your bubble on a few levels, nothings happening with Jesse and I and if I do I remember rightly I said no down on the beach so nothings happening with us either. I'm sorry Ryan, I don't think I like you enough in that way," I said, Ryan took a step forward so he was rather close to me.

"What happened with you and Jesse?" he said in an almost whisper.

"Nothing," I hissed back.

"Then why were you with him? Why did Callie tell me that you said he was opening up to you? Is that some kind of code language for 'we got together' or something?" Ryan asked angrily.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself? Should I spell it out for you? Nothing happened last night. All we did, if you really have to know, is talk and then this morning he was back to normal. He told me I'm the most annoying person if it gives you pleasure knowing he doesn't even want me, so would you just leave off and stop acting like a jealous boyfriend when you most definitely are not and at this rate will never be," I hissed quickly, my breath now coming in short puffs.

I stared at Ryan for a few seconds and then brushed past him, satisfied that I had left him speechless. I stalked ahead, moving through the others until I was at the front of the group.

I heard Alex call our my name asking if I was ok but I just kept walking until when I turned around I couldn't even see my other friends. I smiled slightly to myself and then carried on walking, fuming slightly over it all.

It was all a mixture of anger at Ryan and Jesse.

I was walking for about 15 minutes when I realized the edge of the cliff was clear at the end of the path. I could see the slightly blue sky and taste the salty air from where I was and hurried up slightly to get to the edge faster. I got to the edge and breathed deeply at the beautiful view that was in front of me.

We could see all the way down the coast, the beach that Ryan and I had been at and the huge lime stone cliffs shining white in the weak sunshine. It was absolutely stunning.

“Be careful, the slope will be quite wet,” Jesse’s voice warned me from behind. I spun around to find him walking up behind me; I just scowled slightly and turned back to my awesome view.

"Yeah I know," I mumbled. I took my camera out of my pocket took a few pictures but the angles were all wrong. I noticed a little path just down from me and followed it up the cliff to where it started.

It was really just a little bit of rock that stuck out a little further away from the rock and sort of made a little path but I could tell already that a photo from there would be ten times better then from up here, as strange as that sounded.

I followed the edge of the cliff until I came to the top of the path and then started down it.

“Hayley, don’t go down there it’ll be slippery,” Jesse called out, he still hadn't caught up with me yet and was now walking faster to try catch up with me.

“I’ll be fine,” I called out. “My shoes are good.”

I don’t know what happened to my brain in those few minutes, it was almost like it went into autopilot and I had no control over what I did. I knew I shouldn’t go down the path, Jesse was right, it would be really slippery and the rocks below didn’t look particularly inviting, but I went down it anyway.

Suddenly half way down the track my foot slipped out from underneath me. I skidded down the wet track, screaming as I went and then slipped over the edge and started falling to my death on the rocks metres below me and in the waves crashing angrily against them.