Watercolour

Twenty Six

Alana's P.O.V.

I heard the bell ring from where I was stood outside the gate. For a minute or so, nothing changed but soon enough a large crowd of students came rushing out of the main gate of the school. I moved out of the way of the students and found a small set of steps to stand on so that I could see over the multitude of heads and hopefully spot either Alex or Lucas.

"What do they look like, again?" George asked from behind me.
"Both tall, one's blonde-ish an-"
"Oh yeah... I remember now. Why don't you try calling them?"
"Because Lucas doesn't normally turn his phone on until he's out of school and, most likely, Alex won't answer if he sees it's me," I answered, not taking my eyes off the crowd.
"How do you know that? Isn't it worth a try?"
"Well, if what happened at the weekend is anything to go by, then I know for certain that he won't."
"What happened?" he asked, sounding slightly concerned.
"Not much... I just decided that seen as it has been 6 weeks since New Years', I should call him and see if we could talk it out a bit. But he didn't pick up."
"Hey, don't worry about it," he said, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me closer. "You guys will work it out."

I'd been extremely reluctant to tell George about what had happened over the holidays but as I spent so much time with him, I couldn't keep up my act for very long. My expectation was that he'd overreact and worry a lot but he'd been surprisingly calm and had only made sure that I was completely alright and had continued to do so every time I saw him since then.

It was best part of another five minutes before I made out a tall, dark-haired figure making its way out from the building.

"Lucas," I called, walking in the opposite direction to the rest of the people, George following closely behind, so that he wouldn't miss me. "Lucas!"
"Al?" he said, speeding up slightly and joining me at the side of the road. "What are you doing here?"
"I need to speak to Alex," I explained. "Have you seen him?"
"Yeah, he left before me... you must've missed him."
"Shit."
"Look," Lucas said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'll go round to his now and talk to him. I'll make sure he calls you."
"I'm at training tonight though."
"You finish at half 7, right?" he asked. I nodded in response. "Okay, I'll get him to call you at 8."
"Alright, thanks Lucas."
"That's cool."

The three of us walked in silence for a while before Lucas spoke again.
"Al, why don't you introduce your friend to me?" he laughed.
"Oh yeah. Sorry," I said. "Lucas: this is George. George: this is Lucas."

They exchanged 'hi's before Lucas realised that we'd already reached Alex's street and he said goodbye before leaving George and I alone again.

"I like him," George admitted as if it was some sort of surprise.
"Good," I replied, not really knowing what else to say.
"What are you thinking about?"
"You."
"Me? Finally! I've been waiting for you to pay some attention to me for ages," he laughed. "Why are you thinking about me?"
"Just about how much of a coincidence us two are," I explained. "I mean; the fact that we ended up at the same college, doing the same courses and being friends too."
"Yeah, I've thought the same thing."
"And you're too nice to me... you care too much."
"Awww," he said, faking embarrassment. "Stop it."
"Hey, I'm not finished yet," I laughed. "But you manage to balance out your care and love with the many times you take the piss out of me."
"Just throwing the compliments around, aren't you?" he joked. "Anyway, this is my street."
"I do know that."
"Well, I didn't know what else to say."
"Fair enough. I'll see you tomorrow then," I said giving him a quick hug.
"Yeah, last day before half term," he added excitedly.
"Finally... bye," I waved as we headed in our opposite directions.

*

I'd been going over my routine for the last hour and a half when, in my peripheral vision, I saw someone come into the room so I conveniently did a half twist so I could see who it was. I didn't know who I was expecting it to be I knew for certain I hadn't been expecting to turn around and see Harvey taking a seat in the corner.