Bad Boy Burn

1 || The First Riot

New story yay! This is again totally different from what I usually write. This will be a classic teen-fic and while it will mostly be cliche, I hope I'll be able to add my own personal touch. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! - Zoe :)

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Olivia POV

By the time we reached Cheverly Manor my thumb nail was bleeding. Unfazed by the pain shooting through the digit, I fixedly continued to chew my nails as I stared at the barbed wire fencing surrounding the school. A bulky guard stood at the front outside the gate and I could see another one pacing just outside the main entrance.

I thought of who would be inside the building and my heart dropped to my toes. I was so not ready to see him again. I almost regretted reading the list of current students the school had sent us.

After flashing the guard my ID and being allowed through the gates, there was suddenly a loud bang as the main entrance door was thrown open. A shirtless student came running out, screaming and shaking what looked like a bottle of champagne. Seeing as this was a boarding school I had no idea as to how that could have fallen into his possession.

The student's one man party was quickly extinguished when a guard rugby tackled him to the floor. I winced for him.

Taking a deep breath and tilting my head up high, I continued to make my way up to the main entrance, dragging my suitcase behind me. The wrestling couple on the ground paid me no mind as I passed them so I rang the bell on the door and waited for the receptionist to let me in.

England's fanciness was all coming back to me now. After living in America for seven years I had nearly forgotten how beautiful it was here.

The receptionist greeted me cooly, not that I could blame her. From the looks of things I wouldn't be surprised if most new students attacked her in their first few minutes.

I waited whilst she made a few calls taking in the high ceiling and dark wood of the reception room. A subtle but clear sign proclaimed that the name of the room was in fact, 'The Harking Hall'. Well I guessed that was what I got for going to a private school in England.

Ten minutes later I was being shown to the West side of the school. According to the old lady leading the way I was to be staying in 'Margaret House', which was the girls boarding house closest to the main school. I didn't know whether to happy or not about that.

Because I had been listed as an 'unstable' student I had been assigned my own room. It was a quaint space, modest in size but cute enough in it's layout. Not that it mattered since I wouldn't be staying at this school for long. The old lady, who I had learnt was a support teacher, told me to leave all my things because I needed to join everyone for breakfast. Honestly I had only been here for five minutes and they were already telling me what to do. It was seven thirty in the morning, they couldn't even give me a bit of time to settle in?

I huffed, rolling my eyes slightly but did as she said, following her out of the room. If this were my old school I would have made a big fuss but I was going to be good this year and that meant doing what the teachers told me to do. Even if they weren't real teachers but support teachers. Basically the people who got paid to sit around in the classroom right?

As we neared the dining hall a thought occurred to me. He was going to be there. My heart rate sped up as I tried to mentally prepare myself to see him. It had been seven years, I wasn't sure if he would recognise me or not. Hell I wasn't even sure that I would recognise him!

Unsurprisingly, the dining hall was just as pretentiously grand as the rest of the school. The ceiling soared many metres away from the floor and huge portraits of old men from the 1800s adorned the walls.

The high ceiling amplified the deafening roar of the students. Who were currently jumping from one circular table to the next, laughing and screaming as they did so.

I turned to ask the 'teacher' what this was all about but she appeared to have vanished into thin air. I had nothing to do but enter the hall, avoiding pieces of flying food as I walked. Amidst all the commotion I had almost forgotten about him but my thoughts were abruptly refocused when I saw a tall guy standing on a chair which was on a table, right in the middle of the riot.

He laughed loudly at something his friend said before shouting, "We will never surrender!" and jumping straight off his chair and table and into the crowd.

I was frozen in place, still trying to link the image of a ten year old boy with the man I saw in front of me. I must be mistaken. That lean, well built figure with the twinkling eyes and deep husky laugh could not possibly be Thomas Walker.

As my mind continuously rejected this fact, the crowd surged and I found myself swept up onto a table. I sat there confused for a couple of seconds before someone behind me hauled me to my feet. I spun only to see some random guy jump off into the sea of people.

A thunderous sound like a fog horn erupted in the hall, making the tables and windows shudder. An army of teachers stood at the dining hall doors, murderous expressions on their faces. One man held what looked like a megaphone but was obviously what the sound had come out of.

As a unit, all the students on the floor moved away from the tables, crowding to either side of the hall and painting expressions of innocence on their faces. Looking at the remaining tables there were about five people still standing on the tables. Six including me.

Oh God, I was in so much trouble.

The teachers swarmed into the room along with several guards who went to control the remainder of the crowd. Not that they needed much controlling what with the how they were looking around in confusion as if they couldn't possibly fathom what was going on. One of them even had the nerve to damn whistle!

The man with the megaphone stormed up to us and I realised that the rest of the table people were climbing down onto the floor. I quickly followed suit, hopping onto the floor and trying to look as innocent as the rest of them. I wondered if anyone would notice if I just sprinted out the doors.

It was at that point that I realised the person standing right in the middle of the six of us was none other than Thomas Walker.

"Walker!" What I now recognised as the headmaster screamed the word as he approached us. "What is the meaning of this?" His large double chin wobbled as he shouted and it took everything in me not to burst out laughing.

I had missed the adrenaline rush of being bad. Not that I had actually done anything wrong this time. Although I was supposed to be being good, I was not delusional enough to think I could possibly talk myself out of this one. Some jerk had set me up, knowing that the teachers were coming.

"Sorry sir," his deep voice echoed through the hall. "I don't know what came over me."

Anyone with a pair of eyes and ears could see that he was straight up laughing at the teacher.

"Come on Tom!" The head seemed exasperated now. "It's the first bloody day of school and you're already making a mess of your record." He rubbed his face with one hand.

"Sir!" Tom exclaimed, "What makes you think it wasn't one of," he gestured at us, turning to look at who was joining him in the sin bin. His eyes fell on me and his face paled dramatically, the corners of his lips falling down from his smirk. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Them," he managed to finish in a quiet voice.

He continued to hold my gaze as the head proclaimed that all six of us would receive detention and a strike on our records. I could hardly hear him what with the intensity of Tom's gaze.

I was the one to break our eye contact, following the other pupils out of the hall and back towards our Houses before school started. As I sucked in a breath I realised that I hadn't been breathing for the entirety of my encounter with Tom. I blinked rapidly as I tried to come to my senses.

Students pushed passed me, some loudly and obnoxiously screaming friend's names or laughing at the top of their lungs. I didn't like the atmosphere but I wasn't going to be here for long so I would have to put up with it for a short time.

As far as reunions went, that could have gone a lot worse.