Skeletons

I knew I was late for school and it honestly didn’t bother me. I absolutely loved having nothing to do. Some people hate it but I have too much to do most of the time. School was just another chore that I could do without.

I turned my head towards my nightstand to look at my clock the bright colours beamed 10:45 they silently yelled at me. I scooped myself up from bed, brushing my straight chestnut brown hair from my face. I was already fully dressed and prepared for school with a pair of skinny fit jeans and a ”Faster Pussycat” t shirt and completing my look was my simple makeup; just a touch of foundation and black eyeliner making my dull brown eyes seem vibrant. I dragged myself down the stairs picking up my back pack and keys along the way.

As I stepped I stepped into my old, beaten up car, I began to think of an excuse to why I missed the first two lessons of my day. I could use the whole “I’m terribly sorry, but I overslept, I stayed at work far too late last night” or maybe the “I was ill this morning, I was resting so I could come in later and not miss the entire day” neither of these were actually true, of course.
Or I could be totally honest ”I’m love-sick as hell”.

I parked my car into the last empty space, right next to the school building. This had to happen when it wasn’t tipping down with rain, obviously. The sound of the school bell rang through my ears as I realized I had English class-the only class I could not get out of. I grabbed my bag and rushed to my class as fast as I could.

I wandered through the corridors, quietly and quickly trying to catch my breath. The halls were filled with students casually walking to their lessons, not a care in the world if they were late, unlike me. “Louisa!” I heard a voice. I stopped in my tracks and turned around looking for the person calling me, “Fine then, just ignore me,” my best friend Adrienne joked.
“Sorry, just not with it today,” I replied placing a smile on my face and engulfing her in a hug.

“Sweetie, you’re never with it,” she joked, “I didn’t see you this morning,” she brought up as we continued walking down the completely cramped hallway.

“I know, I completely forgot to do my World History essay so I stayed home instead,” I lied giving off a smile, there you go Louisa, perfect. Adrienne nodded her head in agreement, “So where’s Brian?” I asked. Brian being her new boyfriend of three weeks. They were inseparable.

“Oh he’s got Mr. Hart for English so he had to get there early, apparently he’s a total douchbag even if you’re a couple of minutes late he still gives you an hour detention,” she scoffed, “No offense,” she added quickly.

“None taken,” I forced myself to say cracking a slight smile, “Well, I’m in his class now, so I’ll see you later,” I said stepping in front of the classroom door.

“Sure, how about lunch?”

“Yeah I guess, see you later,” I rushed into the classroom seeing ‘Mr. Hart’ writing today’s work on the board. There were only a few people at their desks, the whole thing about him being a hard ass is a lie. He’s probably one of the most laid back teachers in school.

“Hey Lou, take your seat,” he said softly, taking his eyes off the board for a split second. I walked to the far end of the classroom to my seat. There was the usual people-a couple of nerds, a few air heads who had a crush on the teacher (a fact which made me physically sick), and then it was him. The guy who made my stomach do back flips. The guy who makes my heart want to jump to my throat. Brian Haner. The downside? Adrienne. His girlfriend. My Best friend. He gave a warm smile as I went straight to my desk, looking away from him as soon as the smile curved on his lips.
I took my books out of my backpack and slammed them onto my desk in frustration. Mr. Hart noticed and walked over to me, crouching down to my level, “You okay sweet pea?” He whispered saving the embarrassment of my classmates hearing what their “cool” English teacher calls me.

“I’m fine,” he raised an eyebrow at me, “Seriously, I promise,” I tried to convince him.

“Nice try, your nose is crinkling up, you’re lying,” he said poking the tip of my nose.
“Dad, can I stay here for lunch? Please?” I asked.

“You can stay for a bit, but I’ve got to talk to a student okay?” I nodded my head. He smiled at me and headed back to the board as the classroom began to fill up with the remaining students.

“Right you guys, so we’re moving onto Shakespeare for the next unit-“ there was an interruption of groans from each student, “Yeah, yeah I’ve heard it all before,” he rolled his eyes, “So, for this essay, we have to study two plays, analyzing each of them to help us with the essay questions,” he got a wad of paper off of his desk and started to hand it around the class, “The first play is A Midsummer Night’s Dream I picked a play that won’t make you guys bawl like babies,” he joked again making the class laugh, “Right, I need four lovers so, Beth you be Helena and Marc you be Demetrius. So Beth, you’re in love with Marc but Marc loves someone else,” I looked at the two of them standing at the front of the class with a look of disgust on their faces, “Haner, come up here you can be Lysander, and all I need is a Hermia-“ he stopped in his tracks as he looked around the class, don’t pick me, don’t pick me “Louisa, come up here,” thanks a bunch I sighed and got up from my desk. I stood a good few inches away from Brian, looking at him quickly then looking back, “Right Brian and Louisa are in love,” I felt a lump come to my throat, “love, love, love,” my dad said pushing Brian and I closer together, “So these two-Hermia and Lysander-are totally head over heels in love, but Hermia’s supposed to be getting married to Demetrius, which she is totally refusing, so these two decide to leave and elope, but Marc-Demetrius-loves Hermia so he follows these two through the forest, however Helena loves Demetrius so she decides to follow him too, you guys with me?” he got a responsive nod from each student. We sat back down, my heart was beating so hard against my chest that I found it difficult to breathe causing my face to turn bright red.

I should have stayed home.

As the lesson came to an end, my classmates began to leave the room whilst I was still sat at my desk, doodling on my note book.

“Haner, I need to talk to you about...that paper,” I heard my dad say. I kept my head down and continued drawing.

“Oh yeah,” his voice deep voice rang through my ears sending chills down my spine. I heard the door slam, indicating the last student to leave the classroom.

“Lou, what’s up?” he asked with a hint of worry in his voice, like any father would talk.

“N-nothing,” I stammered, “I’m just not feeling too good today,” I made up.

“You better get better by May 23rd then eh?” he winked.

“My birthday’s the 22nd,” I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah but the Backyard Babies gig isn’t,” he said casually.

“What?!” I jumped from my desk.

“You heard, we’re seeing the Babies, the day after your birthday,” he smiled, pulling a bottle of water out of his desk, “I got three tickets so if you’re best friend wants to pull that stick out of her ass and listen to some rock ‘n’ roll, then she’s more than welcome-“

“Dad!” I interrupted quickly, “Brian’s her boyfriend,” I whispered to him. He rolled his eyes and nodded slowly taking a sip of his water.

“Haner, you ready?” Dad asked looking over my shoulder to Brian.

“Yep,” I heard Brian reply, he walked over to the teachers cupboard and got out what looked like a guitar case, “I’m already tuned up,” he pulled out a beaten up electric guitar. Dad got out a mini amp from his desk and plugged the jack into Brian’s guitar.

“So what were we up to?” he asked Brian as he strummed each string of the guitar.

“I can’t remember, I think you were teaching me more Jazz,” Brian said taking a seat next to me, making me shuffle away slightly.

“Oh yeah,” Dad nodded strumming a few notes, “Lou, why is it you wanted to stay again?”

“Erm..I...needed to ask what time you wanted me to pick up Zoë tomorrow,” I made up.

“Like you usually do I guess, unless your mom wants me to have her until later,” he shrugged.

“Okay then never mind, I need to go to the library, I have a huge essay due in for German class, see you tomorrow,” I said as fast as I could, grabbing my bag and stuffing my books in quickly.

“Okay love, see you tomorrow,”

“Thanks, bye dad,” I said backing up towards the door.

“Bye,” Brian waved to me; I nodded and walked out of the classroom as fast as I could. I slammed the door and sighed heavily.

This sucks.