Running on Adrenaline

Once again I was late, I hated being late to class. I burst through the door to my English classroom and sighed with relief to find everyone talking and still waiting for Mrs. Green to arrive. I sat down and rested my head on my folded arms, I then realized Oli was looking at me from the seat next to me.

I slowly lifted my head and furrowed my eyebrows.

“I didn’t even know you were in this class”

He shifted his view to the front of the room.

“I sit out front” he then opened his notebook.

“How cute” I laughed.

“At least I’m not the one failing English” he smiled widely.

I scoffed “And I seem to remember you asking for help with-“

He stopped me “I thought yeh forgot” he groaned.

At that moment Mrs. Green walked through the door and apologized for being late. Another lesson consumed me as I tried my hardest to stay awake; every now and then Oli would bump me, a little harder each time. I would roll my eyes in response and hit him back.

The bell rang and the students couldn’t have escaped faster.

Oli and I got up at the same time, and the whole way down the row of desks he bumped and pushed each other to overtake the other. Mrs. Green turned to face us and we stopped and smiled.

“Hows the tutorin’ goin’?” he asked Oli

“She seems to be improving” it was funny how fast he turned from dick to responsible.

She then turned her gaze to me and all I could do was nod. When she let us leave we carried on down the hallway, I bumped him into a wall of glass cabinets and they shook.

“Yeh dead” he said with a smile, my eyes widened and he chased me down the hall, somehow it was fun. Like the thrill you got when you played tag as a kid. I finally lost him when I got to the art rooms, once again I wasn’t late. I was on a roll.

I sat smiling breathing heavily; Hannah gave me a questioning look.

“Wha’ have yeh been doin’?” she asked curiously.

“Oli chased me here”

She just shook her head and went back to sketching something.

I once again grabbed a camera, loaded it up with film and made sure to not head in the direction of the hall Heidi hit me in. Instead I came by some stairs, and some more stairs and by the time I got to the third flight of stairs I regretted my decision to climb them. I then came by a ladder by the wall. I hated heights, but I still continued with the plan to climb it. When I got to the top, of the ladder, I peered over the ledge it brought me to, all I saw was nothing.

The cold fresh air whipped my face, and I climbed down, defeated. I was hoping to find something interesting, but alas, I did not.

To try and describe this feeling, I need to remind you how you feel when you miss a step on the stairs, that momentary stopping of your heart that sends shivers up your spine and sucks the air out of your lungs. My foot slipped and my hands gripped the ladder until my knuckles turned white, I felt myself slip down and into something, something pretty solid. Their arms hooked under mine and lowered me down onto the ground slowly. I sat imagining what I would have happened if that person didn’t catch me.

I stood up, brushed my uniform and took a couple of breaths.

“Do I ever catch yeh doin’ anythin’ smart?” Oli questioned, his eyes slightly shaken.

“Thanks” I finally breathed “hate heights” I mentioned.

He chuckled and shook his head.

“Oh so you’re a tough guy ey? Not scared of anything?” I raised my eyebrows.

“I didn’t say that, yeh just funny” he raised his hands in defense.

I scoffed at him and referenced to walk past him.

“I don’t appreciate spiders” he mentioned as we walked side by side down the stairs.

I smiled remembering my brother’s fear of spiders, and his girly scream every time he would see one. I missed him so much.

“Are you ever in class?” I questioned, referencing to the last time I saw him.

“Yeah, I just go for a lot of walk-abouts”

I smirked “Can’t sit still?”

“Exactly” he agreed.

Could this be a nice conversation with oli? I think it could be.

“So I needed to ask yeh something” he continued, rubbing his neck.

“Well that depends” I said sarcastically

“Fuck off” he answered back sarcastically “Can yeh keep an eye on Heidi for meh?” he finally asked after moments of silence.

I laughed at this “Why?”

“Well yeh the only girl in the school who won’t kill her for datin’ meh, I mean yeh do fuckin’ hate meh” he chuckled.

“That I do” I agreed “and yeah, I’ll keep an eye on her. What exactly am I looking for?”

“Yeh know, if she cheats on meh. I just don’t wanna hand over everything to her and have her, yeh know-“

“Break your heart?” I laughed “I swear this conversation is getting cheesier by the second”

“C’mon Ame” he rolled his eyes “I can call yeh that righ’ ?” no one here called me Ame, it made me kind of miss it.

“Fine” I said loudly “You owe me though” I smiled and then started towards the art rooms.

“I just saved yeh life” he reminded me; I shook my head and rejoined Hannah in the art rooms.