Greyscale [✓]

Chapter 40

CHAPTER FORTY

Hannah woke with a start a few days later, bedsheets tangled around her ankles and a sheen of sweat soaking into her hair. She had returned back to her own house after the weeks stay at her father's place. The day was spent eating copious amounts of junk food whilst talking to Cameron and Alex, who had both settled in the kitchen with full stomachs, before retiring to her bed. She couldn't remember what she had dreamt of but it had left her heart pounding wildly, blood coursing through her like tsunami waves.

She lay back down with a sky, faint slivers of moonlight peeking in through the gaps between her curtains and the streets outside were masked with the velvet night sky. Her lashes flickered shut, drawing shadows under her eyes as her thoughts twirled together until she was barely sure what she was thinking of.

The past few days at school had been tough, each second dragging until it was barely tolerable.

Imprinted against her eyelids as she started to dream were two birds, wings fluttering as they flew around each other. She vaguely knew it was Rayne's tattoo of the sparrows she was thinking of, the dark ink a jet black against his pale skin as it folded with the contours of his chest. In a brief lapse of consciousness, Hannah wondered how she would look with a similar tattoo, her father's voice echoing in her mind until she fell asleep to it.

"You can't fly away from your troubles, but you can allow them to encourage you to reach higher."

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Hannah didn't know what she expected as she walked into school that morning but it definitely wasn't what really occurred. The sun had been shining bright, streaming in through the open windows and basking the building in an array of golden light.

She could hear whispers before she even reached the gates, scandalous voices drifting along the breeze as paranoia set into her bones. But for the first time since the dreaded video had surfaced, nobody was talking about her. Hannah's mouth dropped open in genuine shock when she finally pushed through the crowds and entered the main hallway, dark eyes scanning the walls viciously. Stapled onto every corner was a large nude photograph printed out on printer paper and it definitely wasn't her own body.

It had been cropped until there was nothing remaining but the bottom half of the unknown girls face, her neck and bare breasts, a silver nipple piercing glinting with the flash of the camera. The skin was a deep bronze, areolae dark and the smile curving upwards with a slight dimple on the side.

People were muttering, eyes excited to spread more gossip and Hannah realised that she had been forgotten about. This was high school. One rumour ended and another began, one reputation left in tatters to tear another one down. It made her feel sick but this was the reality of it. The truth was, that nobody really cared about anything. High school was too transient to care about, too fleeting to worry about what others thought in a world that jumped from topic to topic.

Mohammad was leaning against his locker with Cameron by his side and Charmaine giggling to something they had said. But unlike the two of them, there was something dark swirling behind his eyes, something that reminded her of the way he had gotten angry when she declared Rayne didn't like her. He was bothered by something.

And it was only when the school day had ended, final bell tearing through her skull, that Hannah realised what that something had been. As soon as the teachers had arrived, the photos had been torn down and the entire school lectured profusely. But that wasn't enough to stop students trying to figure out who they had been of or who had stapled them to the walls.

She may not have recognised the breasts – because let's face it, how many people are well aware of what their friends boobs look like? – but she sure as hell could recognise that smile. The photo's had been of Becky and judging by the way she walked with her head held high and not an ounce of mortification or shame, she had stuck them to the walls herself.

Hannah almost burst into tears when she remembered what Becky had said the previous day but, truth be told, she had done enough crying in the past week to last a lifetime.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll totally print out photos of my own right now and stick them all over the walls. Pemrose needs a little livening up anyway."

Her feet were unsteady as she walked the way home, soaking in the sunshine with the remains of a smile. How had she allowed herself to wallow in sadness after she had lost Ashlyn as a friend when she had gained so much better ones?

Whipping out her still-cracked iPhone, she squinted at the screen and tried to send a text message to Becky but unfortunately, no amount of emoji's could show her gratitude.

you defo didnt have to do that at all but thank you so much. nobodys said a word to me for the first time since the vid. i love you <333

The reply was instantaneous, one that made a giggle burst at the back of her throat.

smarty pants! nobody else had figured it out lool. dw u can make it up to me by makin it up to rayne, maybe go snog his ugly face off or something so he stops moping ?? ;) x

Hannah had been so absorbed in trying to read the text message through the cracks that she had barely paid attention to her surroundings. But as she looked up, she realised she had forgotten to take the last left turn and ended up near some shops, the smell of fresh Fish and Chips wafting along the breeze.

And right next to it was a small local tattoo parlour.

She had never particularly thought about getting a tattoo before but her mind was still on the dream she'd had that morning, one that had left her all hot and bothered for more reasons than one. And without pausing to think about her actions, she'd walked right in with her debit card in hand and drawn the design she wanted on a page torn out of her English textbook.

The metal hummed as its needle bit into her skin, a dull burn initially but growing in intensity with every passing second. The force of the tattoo gun sent shockwaves through her ribs, hammering against them with a speed her mind could barely keep up with. Eventually the man paused, wiping the excess ink away with a clean towel, gently smoothing it over to reveal small letters beneath one corner of the picture she had decided on.

Fly High.

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A/N: as soon as greyscale is finished, I am going to write a story that includes becky as one of the main characters. I hadn't intended on it at all but I just love her and her interactions with others – mainly mohammad – so I couldn't help myself. And in that, you will understand exactly why she did what she did with the photos of herself. Let me know what you think, as always, pleaseee <3