Thing- Chapter 1

"Get down here now!! You better be out of bed I'm telling you or you're going to be late for school!"

It was my last week of school, one last week until I finished and had three whole months of freedom before going to college. One last week until I could actually be trusted by my mum and dad to go further than the nearest city, trusted enough to travel halfway across the country on my own. Finally.

"I'm coming, the bus doesnt come until half past anyway!" I looked at the clock which was ticking on my wall, it seemed to tick faster than normal, 8:27am, I guess my mum was right. I ran down the stairs, grabbed my bag and waited on the kerb. It was a relativly cloudy day for the end of May, May 20th to be exact. Mondays always seemed to be the worst day, especially seeming though I had maths first, who decided to force me into a maths lesson at 9:30 in the morning? Miss Mack, thats who. No wonder she was never married, she had to be at least sixty, had wires for hair and cheese curls popping out of her sandals which she decided to wear all year round, even in the dead of winter when her toes could be used as yellow snow plows. She seemed to have an evil plot against me, well she had an evil plot against everybody in Year 11, as our head of year she would organise mass maths sessions and sinister revision lessons where you were punished if you didnt know what SOCSu4 was.

Enough about my evil head of year anyway, I had an amazing three months planned and nothing was going to ruin it. My birthday was two weeks away, sixteen at last, free to buy lottery tickets, scratchcards and party poppers, how exciting... NOT! I sat daydreaming, staring at the clouds floating above my head and I was so lost in my own thoughts that I almost missed my bus. Being the first one on my bus gave me the pleasure of choosing where to sit, normally we had set places, a routine, something to stick to, but today I felt like annoying the bitches who got on my bus.

I sat down, kicked my feet up on the chair next to me and plugged in my headphones. Nothing ever seems good when your iPods in a shuffle, even my favourite song seemed like it wasnt good enough. It was a long journey to school, the traffic always seems to get worse as the year goes on, it's odd.

School was buzzing that day, nerves and excitement were running through the head of every year 11 student, not me though, I was cool, calm and collected, for the most part anyway. Prom was only a few days away and seeing the girls coming in with white faces and orange legs made me chuckle, they were probably going to wear a long dress anyway, I just didnt see the point. I prefered being pale and interesting anyway. Dates seemed important to all the other girls too, I didn't have a date, but I knew who I wanted to ask me. Lucas was amazing, most girls saw right past him because he was different, but that drew me in even more. I knew he liked my friend but I couldn't help but be attracted to the sparkle in his eye and the way he'd get so lost in his music. I had been to see his band play a few times, but he never really noticed me, to him I was Gem's best friend, nothing less nothing more. I had never really spoken to him on his own, I wouldn't know what to say, how to act, who to mention.

Lucas knew Gem didn't like him, she was only leading him on to get to Joe, Joe was ignorant and spiteful, a bit like Gem in a sense, Lucas didn't deserve to be treated the way she treated him, he was far too good for her. She had all the boys at her feet, I wasn'y surprised to tell the truth. Gem had glamourous bouncy brunette curls, she was rather short but very slim, had those eyes which enticed boys and men alike into falling for her and a wicked charm which could force anyone to wrap themselves around her little finger. Then there was me, the one with the boobs, bright red hair and a love for alternative music, yes, I was an outcast, nobody could understand why Gem was friends with me really.

I sat next to Gem in the first lesson of the day, maths. Lucas sat in front of us and it killed me when the two of the were flirting. That day was different though, Gem was too busy texting Joe to notice Lucas's new hair, I had the perfect chance to tell him how amazing he was.

"Hey Lucas," I managed to blurt out, " Your new hair really suits you."

"Oh, thanks, do you think Gem will like it?"

"Yeah, suppose so," looks like I would have to work a lot harder to grab his attention; I only had 4 days before prom. I was starting to get annoyed, how couldn't he see that Gem and Joe had something going on. I needed something drastic.

"Gem!" I whispered, "Fancy helping me look a bit more, well, girly?"

"Sure, I'm not seeing Joe tonight so come over after school, Mum won't care if you stay."

"Alright, I'll text mine at break," and with that Gem was all over her phone again. I couldn't stand it when she blanked me like that. Gem was the type of girl who would quite gladly ditch her best friend in the whole world for a boy she liked, even for ones she didn't sometimes. Gem knew I liked Lucas, I was rather surprised that she didn't make a comment about me complimenting him.

"Hey, Lucas!" I whispered, "Do you get this?" Maths had never been my strong point, I suppose you can't be good at enlgish and science as well as maths, that would just be too lucky.

"Yeah I think so anyway, do you need some help?" Exactly what I wanted him to ask. How was he so gorgeous and clever at the same time? It seemed physically impossible.

"If you don't mind. It's going to take a while though, I'm really bad at angles and stuff."

"Can you get to mine tonight then? Best to start soon, the exams not far away," he was right, I had a maths exam the day after my birthday, 7th of June.

"I said I'd go to Gem's tonight and I can't cancel on her, you know what she's like," he laughed, I actually made Lucas laugh.I couldn't help but notice his cheeks flushing when I mentioned Gem, it made me jealous but I had to try and hide it.

"How about the night after? If it's okay with your Mum and Dad of course," he was such a gentleman. The more I spoke to him, the more I fell in love with him, it was insane.

"I'm texting my Mum after this lesson anyway, I'll ask her then," I flashed him a huge smile then attempted to get on with my maths work.