Charlie

chapter three

A week passed since i'd first been placed beside Zayn in class and the only thing i'd got out of him was, "Do you know what time this lesson ends?" I found him rude and ignorant. He was poor mannered and he didn't like to make friends. I'd basically given up on being civil to him because i came to the realisation that if he wanted my respect, he'd have to earn it which he most definitely was not doing.

"Our yearly film festival contest is soon approaching and i should assume that you all have creative ideas up your sleeve." Mrs. Samuels announced which chorused a groan from the class. Film week was the worst week of the year. "Unlike other years, teachers now have the power to choose groups or partners. I have decided that the person that you are sitting beside will be your partner. If you aren't sitting beside anyone, you are allowed to choose your own group."

"But miss-" A girl called out. 

"No buts. I think you'll all learn something from this project and i am excited to see what you all come up with! You have two weeks starting today to finish your film. As always, it may be on what ever you want but it must fit the school rules policy." Mrs. Samuels beamed and i let out a quiet sigh. "I will give you until the end of class to plan what you're doing." 

"So, what do you wanna do?" I reluctantly asked Zayn.

"Sleep." 

"No seriously." 

"I seriously want to sleep." Zayn repeated and i sat back, irritated. 

"Fine. We'll just sleep and not do this film. It's not like we need it to graduate or anything." 

"Cool, sounds good." Zayn looked at me and gave a slight smile, almost as if he was mocking me. 

"Yup, sounds good." 

Anyone else but him. Any other person in the class. Any other person in the school. Any other person in the world, why did i get paired with Zayn Malik.

----

"It's not fair, last year we got to pick our partners, why did they change it. Does she want me to fail and not graduate? Ughhhh." I vented to Harry and my mum while she was making dinner.

"Maybe he's not as bad as you really think he is. Give him a chance." My mum told me.

"No he's worse than i think. All he cares about is himself and he has no consideration for how anyone else feels and there are so many rumors about him, he's bad news." 

"Yeah but Charlie, my cousin went to prison, doesn't mean he's a bad person, he just made bad choices." Harry added to the conversation, making me feel bad about what i'd said.

"How do you know he's good. He could get me hooked on drugs or sell me to the sex trade or force me into his gang or-"

"Charlie, shut up." Harry laughed and me and i crinkled my eyebrows. 

"You don't understand."

"I think you're being too quick to judge again Charlotte. Rumors aren't always real, you don't know the boy." My mum shook her head and smirked at me as she stirred the pot of pasta. 

"Yeah Charlotte Olivia, don't judge people before you know them." Harry piped in, knowing how irritated i was getting.

"Just shut up Harry." I walked out of the room, hitting him on the arm as i made an exit. No one understood. I could hear my mum and Harry share a laugh, mocking my misfortune. 

----THE NEXT DAY----

We had a free block instead of our usual class with Mrs.Samuels so that we could get started on our films. Zayn was already irritating me and it had only been 20 minutes.

"What do you want to do it on?" I asked him while i began setting the camera up. 

"Good luck graduating then." I added when i realised he wasn't planning on replying to my question.

"Who cares about graduating." He spoke in a cold, intimidating tone that made the hairs on my back stick up.

"Speak for yourself." I shook my head, facing away from him. After a while of sitting in silence, i gave up. "Why are you here if you aren't even going to talk?"

He paused for a moment before he answered. "If i skip one more time i'll get expelled."

"Thought you didn't care."

"You don't know nothing about me." He spoke, putting emphasis on the word 'nothing'.

"It's anything."

"What?"

"You don't know anything about me." I corrected his poor grammar. I was intimidated but i wasn't scared of him.  

"So what do you want to do for the film?" I reluctantly asked and he shrugged, taking off his leather jacket and throwing it over the back of the chair. I gave him a dirty look, my eyes piercing through his cockiness. "Honestly, why are you here, you're not helping me." I stated and he stared at me for a while, looking as he was in deep thought. "I'll help you."

"Great!-"

"If," Of course there had to be an if. 

"If?"

"If you don't tell anyone i'm doing this. Only the teachers find out."

"Why?" I asked him, puzzled.

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Oi listen, do you want me to help you or not?" He clenched his jaw and i nodded slightly; I just about gave up on finding out the reason. 

"What do you want to do it on? What do you like?"

"Weed." 

I sighed, "I thought you were going to help me." I sat down, frustrated with his lack of interest in anything. 

"It was a joke." 

"It wasn't funny." This boy was weird. I'd never met anyone like him. It was almost as if you could feel tension while you were around him because you could tell he had numerous secrets held inside of him. I set the camera up on the stand and resumed the preparation. After five minutes, the silence finally broke. 

"I like music." He piped up, looking at me with his mysterious big brown eyes.

"Okay, me too. We'll do it on music." I smiled at him. I wasn't surprised when i didn't get a smile back. "Let me guess. Your favourite genre is old school rap mixed with a few newer rap artists."

"And let me guess. You like pop music mixed with slow, sad, depressing songs." He replied.

"You're wrong." I explained. "You don't know nothing about me." I joked, repeating a line from earlier in the converstation.

"It's anything. You don't know anything about me." He played along. A smile almost appearing on his face. Almost.

"I have lots of old records at my house if you want to pick them up after school and we can use them in the film?" I changed the subject back to the project. I just wanted to get it over with.

"Yeah, if you want." He accepted my offer without hesitation, much to my surprise.

After 20 minutes of planning out our film, we seemed to be making fast progress. 

"Listen CJ, i actually gotta go." He randomly told me.

"CJ? And why where are you going?" 

"Isn't that your name?"

"No. My name's Charlie." I reminded him. 

"Whatever man." He called back at me as he ran down the hall. I was so confused. I thought we were making progress. I thought he was beginning to open up a little bit but clearly he was just another ignorant boy. Not that i cared about him or his life, i just wanted this film over and done with so we could get out of eachothers lives for good.