Him.

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

I pulled the maroon dress over my head. I decided to go for the ‘plain Jane’ look as that’s all I really ever opted for. I secured it just above my waist with a plain black belt and put on my black ballet t-bar pumps. I hesitantly looked in the full length mirror that was hung on the inside of my wardrobe door before nodding in approval at how I looked. My hair was curled and hung over both of my shoulders as the bowler hat I was wearing was perched at the top of my head. I yanked my leather jacket off the hanger and shrugged it over my shoulders before releasing my hair and placing it over the leather jacket.

I grabbed my bag. Keys. Phone. Lip-gloss. I turned the light off and closed the door to my bedroom. I left a note on the kitchen side for my mum informing her of where I was so she didn’t panic when she came in to find me missing. I locked the front door and began to walk towards the gate. Walking past the block of apartments next to my house, I gazed up, hoping I would be able to see Harry peering out the window at me, but no luck.

The air was cold as it was September and on the verge of leaving Autumn. English weather was never consistent and it was due to snow later that week, but I had serious doubts in the reliability of the weather forecasts as they were almost never true.

***

When I reached Amber’s house, I could hear the thud in the bass of the music she was playing. The front door was closed but lights were flashing in all of the windows in her house, even her mum's room. Her house was located in the middle of nowhere and was practically alone as no other houses stood around it apart from a small abandoned barn at the end of the road. As I grew closer, I could hear singing coming from inside the house. The door suddenly flung open and two figures appeared from the doorway. Wrapped around each other, the intoxicated teens were clearly making out and getting a bit too frisky for my liking.

I managed to pass them both without disturbing them as she unbuttoned his jeans when I passed by them. The door was unlocked so I easily let myself in to the deafening and sweaty atmosphere inside the house. Bodies were crammed and dancing around as I pushed my way through to the kitchen. Amber was stood on top of a chair, dancing. She had clearly been drinking for a while as it was now half an hour into the party.

She saw me and screamed. She jumped down from the chair and wrapped her arms around me. I couldn’t really understand what she was saying as she just babbled on about how happy she was to see me and how many “hot” boys there were. She quickly passed me a cup and moved on to hugging more people. I was left alone to find myself a drink so I made my way over to her fridge and pulled out the large bottle of red wine that Amber had stocked up on. Once I got my drink, I pushed my way through the crowds of people and out into the garden where I could see Ellen and Jenna, my other two close friends.

As I approached them, they both grinned at me and opened their arms for a hug. Once pulling away, they both commented on how I looked with comments such as “I love your hair” and “where did you get that dress from?” a typical girl’s conversation. Even though I was having a good time and happy to see my friends, I couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable and as though someone was watching me. I shrugged it off as my friends lead me back inside of the house and into the lounge where the stereo system was. The music was booming and we all put our drinks down on the window ledge as we helped ourselves to the snacks that were on the table.

We were pushed into the middle of the room with the other sweaty bodies and we all began dancing to the bass-line music. Suddenly, I felt hot air race down the back of my neck and goose bumps covered my body. I shivered as someone put their hands around my waist. I quickly turned my head to see who the figure was. Ryan. He had dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. “Hiya gorgeous, when did you get here?” He was attractive but always known for being a bit of a player and liked to frequently mess around with different girls.

“About 10 minutes ago” I screamed at him as I tried to back away from his grip. However, he only gripped tighter. Swinging me round, Ryan’s hands were sliding further and further down my back towards my bum when I felt him forced away from me. I looked up to see bright green orbs staring back at me. There was a hush beneath the pounding music as Harry stood before me with Ryan’s shirt held tightly in his right fist. Harry shoved him to the ground before turning to look at me again and smiling. I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks as Harry laughed deeply at me.

I receded back to Jenna and Ellen who both grabbed me and giggled with excitement. “You know Harry?!” Ellen questioned. “Not really, but, erm, he moved in next door this morning” I told them. They both gasped, seeming shocked that I had already spoken to Harry. “Why?” I questioned. “He’s the hottest guy here and known for being a bad boy. He’s really strong and says that he’d be able to knock anyone out with one hit!” Jenna gushed. Sadness overwhelmed me. Trust me to be associated with “the bad boy”.

***

It was now past midnight and people had begun to leave the party. I decided that I had left my mum for long enough and picked up my bag and leather jacket and headed for the door. As I was walking down the street, I felt nervous as it was now dark and extremely cold and I was alone. It would only take me 20 minutes to walk from Amber’s to my house but I felt that I needed to walk quicker to prevent myself from danger.

I felt the cold air brush past my face as I quickly strolled down the street in the direction of my house. I must have been walking for about 5 minutes when I heard a twig snap behind me. “Shit.” Someone cursed. I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and see who was behind me, instead I persisted to walk quicker down the road. However, the footsteps behind me increased and they moved faster and faster before breaking into a jog. I began to run as my heart began pounding rapidly. They were chasing me. Quicker and quicker. I broke into a sprint before they grabbed me and threw me onto the grass bank at the side of the road. I turned around expecting to see Harry's green orbs staring back at me but it wasn’t him. It was Ryan.