Childhood Sweethearts

CHAPTER 3

"My name is Jake, Jake Advena." Jake's voice grated on Clayton's ears. He heard a little gasp behind him, which came from Gretchin as it dawned on her that Jake and he had the same surname. Well, that was because they were brothers. If you could call their relationship 'brotherly' - they had never had a good relationship. When their mum and dad split up 7 years ago, Jake went with Mr Advena to America and Clayton stayed in England with Miss Janstry (their mother); Jake would come over to England from America every few months, and every time he did, he would somehow screw up Clayton's life. One time he threw toilet paper over someone's house and blamed Clayton, and they had believed the accusation!

Clayton threw him a look of disgust, just as Jake glanced at him and gave him a mischievous grin.

What is he up to now? Clayton wondered in his head. He soon found out when Jake said to the teacher: "Don't worry, Sir, just carry on, I'll catch up. Should I just sit anywhere?" Unfortunately, Mr Shtwitz just nodded and carried on as asked.

Jake went to sit next to Gretchin, who seemed to be blushing, even though that exact day she had put the note in his locker. Shouldn't she like him? Wait, why am I getting so worked up? I haven't even spoken to her yet, why should I care that she's blushing around Jake? Clayton thought. Then, out of no where, a reply popped into his head, coming from somewhere in his subconscious, You're just jealous. Clayton was shocked by the thought. He didn't even know her! He couldn't be jealous that his jerk of a brother was sitting next to a girl he didn't know. He pushed the thought out of his head and tried to concentrate on the teacher. He was saying something about how music has changed over the years, but Clayton didn't hear half of it because a scrunched up ball of paper landed on his desk. He picked it up, unfolded it and read Hello, brother. Happy to see me? You don't mind me talking to Gretchin, do you? Anger boiled in Clayton. Jake knew that he hated him and that he wasn't happy to see him. As for the second question, the sudden reply of Yes! I do! screamed in his head. He didn't know why, but he really didn't want his brother to go anywhere near Gretchin, however, he didn't want him to know that; his brother would use it against him and somehow hurt Clayton with the information, he might even hurt Gretchin.

That was the thing with Jake. Whatever Clayton did or said, Jake would turn it against him and hurt him, just because he felt like it. Clayton didn't know why Jake hated him so much, but he did, so Clayton hated him, too. That's just how it had been for as long as Clayton could remember.

Clayton scrunched up the paper back into a ball and shoved it into his pocket, he wasn't in the mood to reply to his brother, he would talk to him via words when they had the time. He wanted to know why Jake had joined the school - he would usually come during the American holiday time, which it currently wasn't, and just stay for a week or so to see their mother, not join a school.

As Clayton zoned back into class Mr Shtwitz was saying, "In pairs, you are going to prepare and perform a presentation on your choice of a music era. I will put you into pairs and then I'll explain further." Clayton internally groaned. The only person that Clayton wanted to work with was either Edward or perhaps Gretchin, as no one else liked him (nor did he like them in return) and the chances of being put with either of them was minimal, practically non-existent considering his luck.

Mr Shtwitz began to pair people up. Clayton listened to him intently to see who he was going to work with, name after name was called, "Edward and Eloise." Edward's name caught his attention, and as he heard the person he was paired with, Clayton had to stifle a laugh. Eloise obviously had a crush on him, as every time she saw him she giggled with her friends and kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye to see if he noticed her, not to mention the extremely awkward conversations held between the two of them. This was going to be amusing, especially if the project happened to be a long one, because they would also have to meet outside school, and who knows how Eloise would react!