8 Pencils 1 Sharpener

Chapter Four

"Jesus Mary and Joseph!" exclaimed Cathal as he staggered out his room, one hand clasped over his mouth. His stomach churned and gurgled and his gag reflex was already in high gear. The door to the bathroom wasn't closed fully, so he gave it a small push and screwed his eyes shut as sunlight from the bathroom window assaulted his senses.

Once he was used to the light, he found a rather queer sight. Jack was crouching on the floor, his entire face hidden in the toilet bowl. Meanwhile, Adrien had claimed dibs on the sink, of which he was hunched over vomiting. His insides giving one almighty heave, Cathal decided (rather quickly) that the best place to empty his insides was the shower. He ripped aside the flimsy curtain, climbed inside and hurled into the drain. There the three remained, a chorus of hungover hooligans spewing their morning song.

                            *****

Harry sniggered as he made his way downstairs, listening to his friends vomit their guts up. He was always there when they got drunk, always their ride home and always there to witness their morning vomit routines. He strolled through the sitting room into the kitchen to find fully dressed Adam and a messy-haired Victor. Both were groggily hunched over leftover boxes of the night before's Chinese.

"Good morning." Harry squeaked, opening the fridge and pulling out the remains of chicken and sweet corn soup. "Murninmph." muttered Victor, his mouth full of noodles.
"It is not a good morning." Adam stated, stabbing a wonton with a chopstick.

"Oh and why?" Harry asked.

"Because I go to bathroom and find two dumbasses puking. I still have to piss." Adam replied rapidly.
Victor snorted. "If you got up earlier like me, you could've pissed in peace."

"If you no shut up I'll piss in your noodles fucking bitch!" Adam snapped, poking Victor in the ribs hard with a chopstick. Victor squealed and flailed his arms about.
"Oh shut up you're not dying!" Adam sneered. Victor turned to Adam with piercing eyes.
"No, but you will be!" He growled.

*****

The scene of which Ashley and Evan walked into was peculiar. Harry was lying flat of the floor, tears streaming down his face. Victor struggled under Adam who sat on top of him. Ashley didn't think that Adam's eyes could have been more squinted, yet they were narrow slits the width of razor blades as noodles slid from the top of his head. Victor grunted as he tried to push Adam away, as Adam held a chopstick to his throat.

"Lads. Too fucking early." Evan said, although Ashley saw a smile tug at the corner of his lips. Adam and Victor looked up simultaneously. Adam shrugged and de-straddled Victor, but not before flicking him on the nose. Victor got to his feet scowling.

"You look good covered in noodles. Improvement on your original hair." Victor muttered.
"Oh stop! Stop!" Harry roared, using the kitchen counter to support himself. "I'm going to wet myself!"

"I don't know what was funnier- the vomit fest upstairs or the battle of the continents here." Evan sniggered, finally allowing his wide grin to spread across his moon face. He looked at Ashley, who flashed a quick, forced smile. Ashley wasn't really in the mood to socialize at that moment, but he couldn't rouse any suspicion. He hardly knew these boys.

They couldn't know.

The text and the sender had been on his mind all night. His eyes drooped from the broken hours of sleep.
He hadn't responded, but that didn't mean he hadn't written draft after draft. They had ranged from threatening to apologetic to even affectionate. Yet it was of no use. He had to keep his head down. If she had his number, then they could track him down.
And Ashley couldn't take the risk.

His private thought bubble was burst by three groans coming from behind them in the doorway. Cathal, Jack and Adrien were hunched over together, trying to hold each other and themselves up. They staggered towards the group slowly, grudgingly. As they made their way into the kitchen, Victor took many steps backwards.
"I swear to God if any of you vomiting freaks comes near me and so much as burps I'll bring up breakfast on you." he growled.

Evan slapped him around the head. "Jesus Christ aren't you a fucking delight? They're not gonna give you herpes you germaphob."
Victor grunted, but remained to keep his distance.

"Lads, we kinda have to go. It's quarter to nine." Ashley butted in, tapping his watch. Victor nodded and went into the living room to retrieve a purple backpack. Harry, still wiping tears from his face followed. Evan quickly retrieved a wonton from under Adam's nose, which resulted in rapid Chinese swearing. The three hungover boys took one look at the chicken and sweetcorn soup and decided simultaneously it be better to skip breakfast. Once all had backpacks and satchels, together they exited through the front door, greeted by the warm Sun's rays and the cool, fresh winds of Autumn.

                             *****

The eight boys entered room 302 with a minute and a half to spare. Jack's stomach continued to twist and turn as his eyes scanned the other freshmen in the seats. Already cliques had formed: guys wearing football jackets obviously from high school talked loud and brutish, and Jack could imagine them butting heads like goats. There were a group of thick lipped girls caked in makeup swishing hair, trying to lowkey attract the opposite sex. Already it was working, as Jack noticed a few loners staring wide eyed with, Jack noted, slight bulges. One girl winked at Jack and let out a high pitched giggle. Jack smirked. If she thought she had a chance, she could think again.

Girls didn't interest Jack one bit.

The boys managed to find a small cluster of seats in the middle. Adrien's head immediately hit the desk, and within seconds his snores filled the room. The gaggling group of girls sniggered, while one of the footballers screwed up a piece of paper and aimed at Adrien. Jack saw this coming, and with his right hand blocked the paper from hitting the side of his friend's face. Jack felt his cheeks grow warm, and his insides bubble with anger. As he stood up to approach the group, the sound of a door slamming instinctively made him sit down again.

All eyes in the room fell upon a woman at the door. The sound of her high heels clacked on the marble floor as she made her way to the mahogany desk at the front of the room. Jack's gaze travelled up her smooth, pearl legs, to a neat, noir pencil skirt. She wore a white blouse with one button undone at the top. Her brown and silver hair was pulled back in a loose bun.  She had pillowy pink lips and cool, blue eyes that scanned her class. She was slim, but had a somewhat flattering posterior— not to mention her heaving bosom.

Jack shot a glance at Cathal, who was practically drooling. Adrien had woken up and even he watched her, bewitched. In fact, Jack noticed, all of his friends were transfixed with this woman, as was the entire male population of the class.

Finally, she spoke with a voice low, yet inviting.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Miss McFonald."