Destiny

Further Unhappy Happenings

CHAPTER SEVEN

That night was a torturous affair. Once I'd recovered my senses, I spent half an hour searching for Laura, to apologise and explain myself to her, but she was nowhere to be found, and there was no way I was going to visit her at her house. Giving up, I returned to the park where my tunnel was situated, and dejectedly tried to do some homework. I was distracted the entire time though, and it ended up being the shoddiest homework I ever did, and I only half finished it, too busy thinking about Laura, and how much I'd stuffed up by going off at her.

I kept going over the conversation in my head. I'd said so many things I regretted, but a part of me cringed as I realised that most of what I'd been saying was true, or at least partially true. I definitely did not want to be coddled by her; it made me feel weak and dependant. But on the other hand, I was completely grateful for the way Laura took care of me.

I kept arguing with myself late into the night, and even when I lay down in my tunnel to sleep I couldn't get the thoughts out of my head.

I slept restlessly, tossing and turning, and waking up multiple times in the night from a nightmare, only to remember that the nightmare was real and Laura really wasn't my friend anymore.

The next day I woke up late and blearily crawled out of my tunnel to find the sun already high up in the sky. Crap! I glanced at my watch to discover that it was fifteen minutes past eight. I was going to be late for school!

I sprang up, fell back down again because my head was spinning, finally managed to stand properly and grabbed my backpack by its straps before sprinting out of the park and towards school.

I arrived about ten minutes later, having had no time for breakfast or getting ready at all, and ran to my locker so as to grab my books for the day. A kid pushed past me on his way to class, and that's when I realized how deserted the playground was. I went straight to my locker, pulling out my books in a frenzy and threw them in my backpack, before slamming the door shut and running full pelt to my home room class.

"Miss Rowland, you're late." Mr Taggert addressed me sternly as I entered the class room hurriedly. All my peers were staring at me, and the clock on the wall told me that I was just over five minutes late. How did that happen?

"Do you have an explanation?"

I turned my gaze back to the teacher, open mouthed, then blushed and looked down at my shoes.

"I slept in, sir." I murmured. "Sorry sir."

He huffed. "Well, sorry doesn't make it any better, Destiny. You still have to attend a lateness detention."

I groaned, closing my eyes. Half of lunch spent sitting in a classroom with the delinquents of my school was not something I wanted to do.

Mr Taggert frowned at me, handing me my detention slip and pointed sternly at my seat.

"You'll just have to learn to wake up earlier next time." he told me as I trudged towards my seat, threw my bag onto my floor and sat down, depressed and tired out of my mind.

"How exactly do I do that sir?" I asked rudely.

"You could... set an alarm or get somebody to wake you up, or maybe just go to bed early." he informed me tersely. "And mind your tone young lady!" he snapped.

"Yes sir."

Mr Taggert then turned away, content with his scolding. I sighed, and leaned back in my chair as he called the roll. After a night of no sleep, all I wanted was to drift off and forget all my troubles. But sadly, I had to deal with school.

I wondered if Laura would stay true to her word and leave me alone today. I sincerely hoped not. Despite what I said to her, I wouldn't be able to make it through a week without Laura. She was the best person I'd ever met. If I told her this, would she forgive me? Probably not, but I still had to try.

The bell eventually rang and I scraped my chair backwards and sluggishly exited the classroom, dragging my bag along behind me as I went. I heard Mr Taggert tut behind me and smirked to myself as I imagined his face in reaction to my rudeness, his nose all crinkled up and his eyes narrowed in distaste.

No wonder no one liked me.

The next classes were horrid. I sat as my teachers droned on and on, just wanting it to end. I was more awake now but not happy about it because all it meant was that I could concentrate more on subjects like English and History. Fun.

After recess (in which Laura avoided me) I had more boring classes. In Maths, I handed in the homework I'd done the night before. My teacher took one glance at it before scoffing and throwing it onto a pile of papers. I'd known it was terrible work.

Lunch eventually rolled around, and I sat at my usual spot for five minutes before remembering my detention and legging it there so that I wasn't late for my punishment for being late. It turned out I was in fact late, but it couldn't matter less because the teacher just marked my name and directed me to a seat, in which I waited out the thirty minutes of emptiness. Then the bell rang.

The other detentionees all hurried out of the room straight away, but I went slow. There was no reason to run. It's not like there was someone waiting for me, or something I was anxious to do.

Oh wait.

I ran to the spot I usually sat with Laura at, to find it empty. Laura wasn't waiting for me.

I didn't expect her to. But it was like an added blow to the chest to realize that she REALLY wasn't my friend anymore. I endeavored to go find her and apologize.

Our school yard was very large and with all the buildings in between, it felt like I was looking forever before I turned a corner and caught sight of her.

Laura was standing, half hidden in a corner, next to Shaun, engrossed in conversation. She twirled her hands through her hair and looked at the guy she liked with an expression I'd never seen on her face before, infatuation, love.

I stood there for a moment and silently observed my friend. I'd heard a lot about Shaun from her but had never properly met him, or anything. Sure, he'd walked past Laura and I a couple of times in past lunchtimes, but his focus was always on her and he never even so much as glanced at me.

I started to walk slowly toward them, trying to work out how to word my apology.

I was still out of earshot, but I saw Shaun's lips moving and Laura nodding enthusiastically. I was close enough by now that I decided to call out to her.

"Laura!" I yelled, stupidly not noticing Laura moving closer to Shaun, or his face moving down to meet hers. I gave a yelp of surprise and hurried to cover my eyes as their lips met.

Laura obviously heard me this time and she quickly pulled away from the lip lock, turning her head to glare at me. Shaun looked at me too, but in confusion, like he had no idea who I was. Nice of him, right?

Laura's hands balled up in fury as she strode towards me. I backed away, scolding myself for horrid timing and bad luck. Only I could be stupid enough to just happen to come apologize to her at the precise moment she got her first kiss with Shaun.

"Destiny, what the hell?"Laura yelled at me. "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry!" I raised my hands out defensively, above my waist. "I didn't mean to- I just wanted to apo-"

"Why do you always ruin everything?" Laura continued wildly, cutting me off. "I thought I made it clear that you went a step too far last night. You can't go off at me like that and then expect me to just be fine with it."

"I know," I tried to explain. "And I'm sorry!"

"You're sorry?!" She shook her head in bewilderment, tears beginning to stream down her face. "Look, just... Just go away! This is hard enough as it is."

I didn't need telling twice. I turned and sped away from the scene, only stopping to look back when I was about to turn the corner. My last glance of Laura was of Shaun awkwardly patting her on the back, as she cried into his shoulder.

What had I done now?