I'll keep you safe

Chapter 49

It seemed the staff of Waterloo Road weren't the only ones who had, had run-ins with Earl Kelly. Aside from Paul, Bolton and the girl in year 9, he seemed to be Maxine Barlow and Janeece Bryant grief too.

When the bell rang for the start of afternoon classes, Earl stalked along to his next classroom.

As he walked along the corridor, he paused, looking into Mr Budgen's classroom.

He was mesmerised by Maxine Barlow as he eyed her through the window. Her sparkling blue eyes had captivated him. All temptations to bunk off for the rest of the day were forgotten when he saw her, laughing and chatting away to her best friend. Maybe this school wouldn't be so bad after all.

He waltzed into the classroom, cutting Grantly off mid-sentence and startling everyone. He strutted smugly over to Maxine, sitting at the unoccupied desk behind her and Janeece.

"Hello, can I help you?" Grantly boomed sarcastically

"Nah, mate, you're alright" Earl responded sharply, sitting down

Maxine eyed him briefly, her expression bored and slightly repulsed. She turned her back to him. He didn't mind though. She was playing hard to get.

"Are you supposed to be in this class?" Grantly asked, growing increasingly irritated

Earl ignored him

"I'm Earl, what's your name?" He asked flirtatiously, unfazed by the fact he was talking to the back of Maxine's head

Janeece turned around with a massive grin on her face. She was keen to make introductions.

"Hiya! I'm Janeece, this is Max" she grinned, nodding to Maxine

Earl stared at Maxine who had turned briefly to face him. She really was stunning.

"Aww, well, now that we've got introductions out the way," Grantly mocked, smiling sarcastically

Earl shushed him, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"Trying to have a conversation here" he said

Maxine scoffed, refusing to look at him. But Earl wasn't giving up.

"I was going to go home, until I saw you" he rambled

Maxine turned to face him now, shooting him a glare.

"I'm not interested, alright?" She snapped

"So there we are!" Grantly interrupted

"Not interested? I haven't even made you an offer yet!" Earl snarled

"I know what you're offering and you've got a pretty high opinion of yourself if you think this is going to get me to drop my knickers!" She shot back

"Ok, that's it! You're leaving!" Grantly ordered, pointing to the door

Earl remained seated

"You think I've got a high opinion of myself? Well, it's not as bad as the low opinion you've got of yourself!"

Maxine rolled her eyes

"And if I wanted someone easy, I'd be talking to your mate!" He added

Janeece turned to face him angrily

"Eee, you cheeky get!" She snapped

"You don't even know me!" Maxine huffed, scowling at Earl

"Yeah I do" he shrugged

Maxine scoffed

"Right! To the cooler!" Grantly barked at Maxine

"Why me?!" Maxine shot back defensively