collarbones

19 ~ absences

A/N: It's nearly 2am, so I apologise for any mistakes in advance. :) Thank you for your support, despite this book being a draft that needs to be heavily edited once my exams are over.

~

Anna's hand began to ache as she feverishly wrote down notes about carboxylic acids, ignoring the protests of her stomach for food.

She didn't have time to eat.

Anna's table was a mess, with various revision guides and notes strewn about the place as she prepared for her upcoming exams. Even though they were months away, she hadn't left her room for any other purpose than to eat or go to the bathroom for the past two days.

On Tuesday she'd really enjoyed Trent's company. Her cheeks had ached by the end of the day from smiling so much – Trent wouldn't stop making her laugh – and Anna's hand began to slow as she thought back to how he'd given her a piggyback on his house tour, for some reason unbeknown to Anna.

She laughed slightly to herself, before picking up her pen once more and making more chemistry notes. The anxiety was too much for Anna, and she couldn't stop writing. It provided an easy distraction, too.

It was about 2pm and Anna hadn't eaten her lunch yet, trying to push the thought to the side of her mind in a desperate attempt to be rid of the fat that stuck like leeches to her body.

Her phone buzzed for what seemed like the tenth time that day, and once again she ignored it.

She didn't want to be distracted. It wasn't just because she was studying; any distractions would cause her to become sloppy and more likely to go downstairs and make herself a sandwich. Right now her parents were at work, so nobody would know if she didn't eat.

It was the perfect opportunity for bereavement.

Her phone vibrated against the wooden desk again, snapping Anna out of her reverie. Stubbornly Anna picked it up, ready to throw it onto her bed where she didn't have the energy to collect it from, before it began to vibrate wildly in her hands. She looked at the screen, startled, only to see that it was a phone call from Trent, a picture of the both of them that she'd taken on Tuesday on the screen.

She sighed in defeat, begrudgingly answering his call.

"Yes?" she snapped, irritated at being interrupted.

"Woah there, Belle," he teased, "there's no need to sound so excited about my phone call."

She rolled her eyes, before realising he couldn't see her. "I just rolled my eyes at you."

Trent let out a very feminine gasp. "How dare you!"

"What do you want, Trent?" she asked bluntly, her tone impassive.

"You."

Anna choked.

She coughed violently, blindly grasping for her desk with her free hand to balance herself.

Unsurprisingly, she missed.

Anna's body headed straight for the ground as she tumbled off of her chair wildly, yelping in shock as she did so. Somehow, Anna had ended up in a crumpled heap underneath her desk.

Trent's laugh boomed out of the speaker of her phone. Anna lifted her head swiftly, her eyes honing in on the black device that lay on the floor innocently.

"I'm going to kill y-"

She hit her head off her desk, hissing as she did so. Slowly she crawled out from underneath her desk and picked up her phone before diving onto her bed.