5AN: Yeah, I know I said I'd post this after two reviews but I want to get the story moving. I have an English exam on Tuesday so I need a bit of practise for it. If you spot any errors, let me know as I still need a beta. Enjoy! Oh, and I'm sorry but I've only just realised that this story is going to be full of clichés, but I hope you'll enjoy it. And thanks to my first reviewer!
Forever Young
Chapter Two:
by Jess
It was only a few minutes walk to the school, and soon after I set out the door the imposing building clouded my sight. It was Victorian, a timeless piece of architecture with carved stone arches and delicate decorations. Four stories high and impossibly wide, I wondered how I was ever going to find my way around it.
I followed the lines of students making their way for - what I hoped was - the entrance. It was, and the school's motto stood over the solid wooden doors 'Ad imus est ad patramus all tu optatum' On either side of it were animals I wasn't close enough to recognise. I shuffled along with the rest of the crowd of students, a few of them gazing at me with interest. That was one of the downsides with small schools - everybody knew everybody else. I tried to avoid their eyes, walking up to the reception to be given my timetable and all the information I needed.
My introduction was met with a single finger to the lips. The receptionist, a short plump woman with obviously unnatural blonde hair. Her make-up lay a few cm thick across her face, and her skin was nothing less than the shade of an orange. She held up the phone in her hand and pressed it to her ear.
'Hello, Northbow Boarding & Day School.' She chirped, her voice two octaves higher than the normal person's.
The reception was encased from the entrance hall by a long circular casing, which came up to just below my shoulders. I stood on my toes to attempt to see over the side. My eyes narrowed at what I saw. I picked up and long, thin wire that was disconnected from the phone and held it up in front of her eyes.
'Don't you need to plug the phone in?' I asked. Her expression dropped several inches.
'Yeah?' She said, her tone bored. I spotted a piece of chewing gum in her mouth and stifled a laugh. She had to be at least sixty - and she was acting like someone sixteen.
'Um, I'm new.' I stated, managing to keep my voice flat.
'And?'
'I need my timetable.' I sighed. It was like talking to a brick wall.
'Name?'
'Faye Hanson.'
She grabbed a piece of pale yellow paper from the side and handed it to me. I glanced at the first entry - English, 231.
'Thanks.' I said, and turned to walk away from the desk. As I did so, I could've sworn I heard a 'Whatever.' in reply. I made a note that if I ever wanted anything from reception to ask someone else.
The school was complicated, and despite the smaller number of students there were more corridors and separate buildings. I had managed to find myself lost, and with the first bell having rung a number of minutes ago, I had no one to ask. I let out an exasperated sigh, only to found it cut short by a rough Cockney accent.
'Hey babe. You lost?' I swivelled around to meet the owner of the voice. I was met with a pair of soft, pink lips curved up into a smirk. My gaze travelled upwards to find twinkling blue eyes that promised you mischief and danger. I quickly averted my gaze from them and instead took in the whole of his face. Whoa. He was gorgeous. His hair was medium length and a dark brown colour with a fringe resting above his eyes. If it was possible to melt any more, the lengths of his visible arms looked perfectly muscular. It was obvious by the way he wore his uniform that he didn't have much regard for the rules. His white shirt was untucked and his tie hung loose in a knot halfway down his chest. His blazer lay slung over his bag.
'Um, yeah. I'm supposed to have English in 231.' I said, expecting my voice to stutter but it came out relatively smooth instead. His smirk grew wider, just by a fraction.
'Looks like we're in the same class.'
I tried not to look too pleased at his recent statement, but my lips betrayed a hint of a smile.
'Seeing as you're going to be in my class, how about a name?' I asked. He chuckled.
'I like you. You seem real. Niker.' I raised my eyebrows at the name. Unusual.
'Niker? I've never heard anyone called that before.'
'It's my last name.' He shrugged his shoulders. 'But it's been my nickname since Nursery.'
'Okay. Niker.' I pointed my finger at him as I said his name and he nodded. 'I'll remember that. I'm Faye.'
'Pretty name for a pretty girl.' I flushed and averted my gaze towards by feet, trying to hide it.
'Are you going to show me to English or are we going to stand here all day?'
'I'd rather stand here all day.' He winked at me, but began to move forward. 'But if you want to write so badly then it's over there.' He pointed to a door just behind me and my face flushed again.
'Oh my god, I can't believe that! I've been looking for about half an hour!' I put my head in my hands and he laughed again, a deep throaty sound in the back of his throat. Could this guy get any more sexy?
He reached out to the side of my shoulder to open the door. I saw about twenty inside, all with their gazes fixed on me.
'Yes?' An adult stood to the front of the room shot us a look at being disturbed.
'Um, I'm -' My voice was cut off by Niker.
'This fair lady was lost and I helped her find her way Miss.' The teacher narrowed her eyes at us.
'Your name?'
'Faye Hanson.'
She pointed to a desk in the middle of the classroom, next to a girl with glasses and, as I realised as I sat down next to her, a bad case of BO.
'Faye, as today is your first day I'll let you off. But being late to my class isn't acceptable, do you understand?' I nodded my head, my gaze lowered as I tried not to catch Niker's eye. 'Niker, it's detention. Tomorrow, after school.'
What remained of the lesson was dull; consisting mainly of her (I learned her name was Mrs Smith) droning about the correct use of apostrophes. English had been my favourite lesson before, but I could already see it would be one I hated here.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the sharp, tin sound of the school bell rung and I gathered up my things and headed towards the door. I paused and pulled out my timetable. I had Maths next in 110. There was no way I was ever going to find that. My silent prayer for help was answered when I heard a bright, chirpy voice call my name.
'Faye is it?' I saw the owner of the voice - a girl with olive skin and dark brown hair. She was accompanied by a pale-skinned auburn girl, who was a few inches taller than me.
'Yeah.' I replied.
'You must be one lucky girl.' The brunette said, her eyes flickering to Niker, then back to me. 'Anyway, I'm Cerise and this here is Holly.'
'Hey.' Holly said to me, and I greeted her in return.
'What've you got next?' Cerise said. I could tell she was the more talkative of the two.
'Maths in 110.'
'Oh, that's with me.' Holly said, her voice quiet but silky. 'The teacher's a nightmare.' I laughed in response to the look on her face.
Maths was the boring swirl of numbers that it always was, made worse by the balding, middle-aged Mr Patrick. His scornful expression didn't relent for the whole lesson, and I swore the frown lines had been permanently carved into his head. Holly and I exchanged conversation a few times. She seemed nice, her hobbies were singing and dancing. Next was dinner, and I sat with Holly, Cerise and another girl, Anna. She was blonde and spent most of Dinner with her boyfriend, Matt. He was nice too, but we didn't talk much as his lunch time consisted of being attached to Anna's face.
'I want a boyfriend.' Cerise whined halfway into lunch. Holly and I voiced our agreement as much as we could whilst our mouths were full of chicken baguette. She sighed and angled her body away from the kissing couple. 'Right, Fayre. We'd better get you up to date with everything that's happening here. For a small school, we have a lot of gossip.'
Holly raised her eyebrows over her baguette, swallowed and said, 'You'd be surprised the stuff that goes on here.'
'Right, first of all. Make sure you're not doing anything this Friday. You see her over there.' I followed her gaze to a dark blonde girl, sitting with another girl. They looked bored, plastic fingernails picking at their salads. 'That's Heidi. She throws the best parties anyone's ever seen. We're all invited, we'll get ready at mine beforehand and then we'll only have to walk half a mile. Tell your parent's you're staying at mine - expect lots of dancing and alcohol.'
I nodded. I hadn't attended a party before like this and my mental calendar told me I didn't have anything planned.
'Okay, and the guy who you came to class with? He's Niker. He's a bad boy, so obviously the girls go bananas over him. He's a total man whore for his sixteen years. He's slept with quite a few, but only that. No relationships, no attachment. But that'd be fine with me.' She winked at us and giggled.
From my seat I saw Niker at the table behind us. He gave me a wink and continued to chat up the group of giggling, hormonal girls at his table. I laughed as he rolled his eyes, but stopped it as Cerise turned around. She gave me a knowing look and opened her mouth to continue her speech when the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.
The rest of the day went by quickly. I only had one lesson without Holly or Cerise, but I'd been ushered to a seat next to Peter, a tall, lanky boy with dyed blonde hair. He was friendly, chatting on about the school and introducing me to more people. When I left, I looked forward to the next Science lesson and mentioned his niceness to Cerise.
'He's handsome, but gay. He came out the closet in Year 6. It wasn't a surprise.' I simply raised my eyebrows and walked with Cerise and a group of boys home.
I was relieved that my first day had gone okay. The nerves in my stomach had subsided almost entirely, and I was left feeling confident about the move. When my Aunt had questioned my day, I replied 'Everyone seems nice. I made friends with these two girls called Cerise and Holly, and I've been invited to Cerise's on Friday.' My Aunt ruffled my hair and started on lasagne for tea.
A/N: Chapter 2 is finally finished! It took a long time to write, but i hope you all like it. If you have any ideas for the next chapters, let me know! And let me know what you think of Niker - I hope I've created a sexy enough guy!