My Least Favourite Character (Han Solo Fanfic) #Wattys2016

Chapter 2 - Gray Osborne, the girl who hated science-fiction

A ray of sunlight shot through the curtains of the bedroom. It hit the young girl's eyes so aggressively she opened them, covering her face immediately with her forearm. She turned round in her bed, sighing heavily as she thought of the long day at high school she had to survive. A few seconds later the door burst open with a loud bang and rapid little steps stormed into the room. A small boy leapt on his sister's bed.

"Gray! Graaaaaaay! Wake up!" he bellowed, bouncing on his knees excitedly.

"What is it, Tom?" she grumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"Look what Mum gave me as a birthday present!" he was waving energetically a large toy spaceship.

"Oh, yeah...happy birthday, little bro." she reached to ruffle his hair.

"It's the Millennium Falcon, big sis! The best ship in the whole galaxy!"

He jumped off the bed and ran around, carrying his toy high above him and making loud shooting noises. Their mother's voice was heard from the kitchen:

"Gray, hurry up if you don't want to be late for school."

Gray stood up lazily and put on her school clothes. The Millennium Falcon, she thought, from Star Wars, of course. Tom's beloved Star Wars.

She went down to the kitchen, where Mrs.Osborne was busy decorating her son's birthday cake with a large "7" and little storm trooper heads made out of sugar. Gray watched as she shoveled spoonfuls of cereal into her mouth.

"Is he going to take that to school?" she asked between two mouthfuls.

"Yes" said her mother eagerly, "his class teacher allowed him and his little friends to have a party during one of the afternoon lessons. And gladly they all love Star Wars! This cake will be just perfect."

Obviously, they all love Star Wars, Gray mumbled to herself. She'd never understand it. Fiction was fiction, and she lived in reality. Science-fiction was the worst. All those...monsters, and crazy unrealistic cities. Gray Osborne was a very down-to-earth kind of person, and always thought very rationally for her age. No 16-year-old she knew was like her.

She heaved her backpack behind her, said goodbye to her family and left for school. When she was out in the front yard, her foot stepped on something small and hard.
She looked down at it. It was another of Tom's toys. Gray crouched to pick it up, and examined the miniature figurine in her palm. She recognized it at once: it was a toy Han Solo. It certainly had come with the ship. Of all the characters she knew of Star Wars, Han Solo was probably the one she disliked the most. So sarcastic, so self-assured, so...
She observed it's tiny right hand. It was detached from the arm. She'd broke it with her foot.

She put it in the smallest pouch of her backpack. There was no way she could return it to Tom in that state. She'd reglue the hand as soon as she'd get to school.

It wasn't long before she arrived to her school, and as she pushed open her classroom door, she was relieved to see almost none of her classmates had arrived. Quickly, she pulled the figurine out of her bag and lay it on her desk. Then she rummaged in her pencil case and took out a tube of strong glue, applied it to the wrist, and joined the hand and the arm. Mission accomplished.

The bell rang at that precise moment, and Gray realised that some students had entered the classroom, and a few of them were sniggering. Her desk partner, Jasmine, elbowed her.

"So?" she said mockingly, "your brother finally convinced you, did he?"

"Convinced me of what?" Gray responded, speedily shoving the figurine back into her bag.

"Don't start pretending, I saw you playing with that Star Wars...doll." that last word was pronounced in a muffled giggle.

Gray blushed furiously. "It's not a doll! And I'm only fixing it."

"Yeah, right, as you wish." Jasmine smirked as she sat on her chair.

"Oh, shut up, Jaz."

For the rest of the lesson she didn't say a word more to her friend.

"Alright, class. As this is the last school day before the summer holidays, let's do something you'd like to do." announced Mr.Bennet, their English teacher.

"Watch a movie!"

"Play games!"

"Leave the classroom!"

Several propositions were shouted out at the same time, until the teacher called to order and made them vote. The majority voted on the movie, so Mr.Bennet pulled out three DVDs: a historical one, a murder mystery one and a science-fiction one. Although Gray had shot her hand as high as she could in the air for murder mystery, she was defeated by more than half of the class, who voted science-fiction. She lay her head in her arms, disappointed, hoping she could get some sleep instead. How she hated science-fiction!

She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the sound of laser blasters and roaring spaceships. But soon, she was awakened by another sound. It was a thunderous bumping noise.

And it was coming from her backpack.

The teacher paused the movie. "Who's doing that?!"

Gray's lips were sealed. Numerous pairs of eyes glared at her. "Sorry, Mr.Bennet. It was my cellphone. I'll turn it off" she finally said.
He looked at her suspiciously but said nothing and resumed the movie.

Gray turned off her cellphone, sure that it her ringtone hadn't caused that noise.

A few minutes later, it started again.

The teacher looked enraged now. "Is this your idea of a joke?!"
Gray didn't know what to do. She didn't understand what was happening to her. Mr.Bennet strided to her desk, grabbed her backpack and opened it. The hole class freezed as he examined it's content. He finally dropped it and pointed his thin finger to Gray's face.

"Look, I don't know what this is about," he blustered. "But if I hear it one more time, it's detention for you. Understood?"
He marched off.

"But....I- I didn't do anything, I assure you..." she muttered in astonishment.

She herself slowly unzipped her backpack and checked inside it. There was nothing but her books.