Always

Chapter 12

To everyone who's been reading and giving me a chance... I just really love you guys and want to say thank you :) x

In the morning when my alarm went off, I practically sprinted out of bed, excited to start the day.  After carefully getting myself ready, making sure I looked nice but not like I put in a ton of effort, I bounded down the stairs.  Breakfast was being prepared by my mother, who looked startled by my chipper greeting as I pranced through the door.

"Well aren't you in a good mood this morning," she observed, smiling at me over her shoulder as she flipped some eggs in the skillet. 

"It's Friday," I said simply, not bothering to hide by grin.

"That's it?" she asked, not believing that my mood was simply due to the end of the week.

"Um... yep!" I lied.  I wasn't ready to explain whatever was going on to my mother.  She was the type to pry and ask more questions than I was ever willing to answer; it was better to leave her out of the loop for a while.  She tutted as she set down a plate in front of me, raising one eyebrow skeptically.  I just smiled at her and began to eat my breakfast.  After I was finished, I said goodbye to her and headed out the door. 

When I got to school, I ran into Lydia in the parking lot.  She waved me over to her car as she ducked to open her backseat and extract her bag.  Maneuvering my way through the parked cars, I made my way over. She had just shut her car door when I walked up, and she straightened up to face me.

"Hey, Jo!" she smiled at me, which I returned.

"Good morning, how are you today?" I asked, a smile on my face as well.  I really was grateful she had apologized and was at least making an attempt to be nice.

"Oh, you know, just so happy it's finally Friday," she replied, starting to walk toward the school. "You?"

I shrugged, trying to appear casual.  "Yeah, I'm good as well."

"So you're sure you don't want to come to the movie with everyone tonight?  We're going to that new scary one," she wiggled her eyebrows at me, knowing how much I loved a good scary movie.

"Yeah, sorry, I've still got plans, otherwise you know I'd be there."

"I understand," she shrugged. "But you're still coming to my party Saturday, right?"

"Yes, Lyd, wouldn't miss it," I reassured her.  She must have had suspicions I was still mad and would change my mind about coming.  We had made it to my locker at this point, so I opened it up and took what I needed.  I had just finished when Haley and Jack strolled up. 

Besides Colt, Haley was my least favorite person at the moment.  Not only had she been extremely rude, but she had yet to apologize or show any remorse.  She started talking to Lydia, acting as if nothing was wrong.  When she turned to me with a smile on her face, I just stared at her, eyebrows furrowed in a slight frown.  She didn't even seem to notice when I hardly answered her.  Whatever, if she was that dense that she couldn't see I was upset, I wasn't going to cause a scene in the hallway.  Again.

The bell announced that it was time to go to class, causing my heart to skip a beat.  Just a few more minutes until I could see Harry again.  I rushed with Lydia to our class, in a hurry to arrive.  When I walked through the door, however, he wasn't sitting in his usual spot.  He wasn't anywhere in the room, in fact, and I felt like my heart had plummeted in my chest.  I told myself to relax, that the final bell hadn't rung yet, and he was most likely on his way right now.  I had beaten him to class before, after all.  He was probably just behind schedule.