Illicit [Harry Styles]

Chapter 5

The piercing ring of my alarm sounded at the crack of dawn on Monday morning and, rather reluctantly, I hauled myself out of the comfort of my mattress to get ready for school. I threw on a pair of black skinny jeans and a cream coloured jumper - our sixth form had a dress code of 'office wear' and we had to stick to mainly black and white clothing, but no one really paid any attention to it and the teachers had just about given up with the idea. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, applying as little makeup as I could get away with without looking completely dead, before releasing my hair from the bun on top of my head. The messy, dark golden waves fell onto my shoulders and when I noticed the time was almost eight fifteen I decided that would have to do for today.

I flew down the stairs at lightning speed with my books in my arms, my mum and Niall were eating breakfast at the table but I'd sacrificed the luxury for an extra twenty minutes or so in bed, so instead I grabbed an apple from the bowl and took a large bite as I scurried around the house collecting my things. I packed my books, keys, purse, lunch and a bottle of water into my backpack and shoved my feet into my scuffed combat boots whilst grabbing my coat and pulling it on all at once. As I waited by the front door I sighed in relief whilst internally congratulating myself for making it just in time as I heard Niall and my mum loaded their bowls into the dishwasher and they came to pick up their own bags.

We clambered into my mum's little Ford fiesta, Niall calling shotgun as always, and zoomed along the roads in the direction of our school. My mum stopped briefly on the main road outside school and we hurried out the car as fast as we could, avoiding the glares of other road users waiting impatiently behind as my mum called, "Have a good day! Behave!"

I composed myself after our scramble out of the vehicle as I walked next to Niall through the gates. Niall - like Liam - was nineteen years old, meaning he should ideally be done with school by now, but he was retaking his first year to try and improve the grades he'd gotten. Like most students he'd spent his first year slacking off and not really doing any work, so he'd gotten slightly disappointing grades the first time round, but it seemed the harsh reality hit home and he'd managed to get his shit together for his second year. Liam, however, was always an A grade student so he's at University right now.

We made our way into the sixth form building, parting ways without a word as he departed into the downstairs common room and I ascended the stairs up to the upstairs common room. I swung open the heavy door and glanced around, the chairs were arranged into three sections as usual and my eyes caught sight of Mckenzie sat in our usual square. I casually walked over and sat down in a free space in the formation with a huff.

"Jess, hey," she called over at me from her seat on the opposite side of the square. I simply nodded and smiled to her.

First period started at eight forty-five, and I usually rocked up at around thirty-five past - not too early and not too late. Leaving just enough time to settle in the common room for a few minutes with everyone before we set off for our first lesson of the day. I sat silently with my phone in my hand as I listened to everyone else's conversations, I didn't have much to say this early in the morning so I just took in everything around me with droopy eyes. I took a moment to bask in the clean air, because I knew that by lunch time the stuffy room would be smelling of the pasta and curry that people had an annoying habit of cooking in the microwave like they lived here.

Eventually after almost ten minutes of people watching, the morning bell sang out loudly signalling the start of the day, most people grabbed their things and filed out of the door and down the stairs grumbling about the early start. Mckenzie was caught up talking to a group of guys so I decided to make my way over to psychology by myself for now, I'm sure she'll catch up if she wants to. I mindlessly plodded down the stairs and allowed my eyes to drift in and around the downstairs common room as I passed by, just glancing over the faces of everyone dotted around inside. But one face didn't quite sit right.