The Timekeeper

Chapter Fourteen

It was strange how different I felt driving myself to school a few days later. It was as if driving a car to school made me twice as cool as I was before, not that I was very cool to begin with. It was hard to believe that two weeks had already gone, and that I was back at school again. So much had happened since I had been at school last. So much had changed.

Walking from the student car park I felt as though the school was different. Perhaps it was because I'd never really seen it from this angle before, or perhaps I was the one that had changed. I couldn't say which it was, but either way the walk felt good. No, it felt right. I made my way towards my locker, knowing that Claire's tiny figure would be leaning against it waiting for my arrival.

"Hey hot stuff," she grinned as I reached her. Her hair was in a tight topknot, and somehow she managed to make our uniform actually look decent.

Now that it was getting colder, we had to wear our winter uniform which unfortunately for me, meant stockings and a long skirt. Claire and a lot of the other girls at school always managed to dodge the 'must be to your knees' rule, though I never bothered trying to alter it.

"Hey, Claire," I smiled, before unlocking my locker.

"Guess what happened to me last night?" Claire said excitedly.

"If it's about your sex life, I'd really rather not hear it," I mumbled, though Claire either didn't hear or didn't care. She continued with her story nonetheless. I tried my best to zone out, though it proved difficult since Claire spoke so loudly.

She was in the middle of talking about something to do with a bottle of vodka and a pineapple, when I spotted him walking in my direction. He smiled as he walked past, and I gave him a small wave in return.

"Who was that?" Claire asked, seemingly forgetting about the rest of her story. "That wasn't Jase, was it? I won't be happy if it is and you never told me that he went to our school, Candy."

"It's not Jase, he- actually I have no idea what school he goes to." The more I thought about it, the more I realised that I still knew near to nothing about Jase. I had known him for weeks now, but I didn't really know him at all.

"So who is he? He's kind of cute," Claire said, her gaze following Ryan as he walked down the hallway.

"It doesn't matter if he's cute, Claire. I have a soul mate and so do you." Claire gave me a strange look, before shrugging.

"No need to get defensive, Candice. You can still think a boy's cute without wanting to stick your tongue down his throat." I shuddered at the image that popped into my mind; I could only hope my first kiss wouldn't be anything like that. 

"Although I really couldn't blame you if you wanted to stick your tongue down his throat." She nodded in the direction Ryan gone in, before wiggling her eyebrows at me.

"God, Claire, please stop," I groaned. "That's not really what kissing is like, is it? It sounds painful."

"Sometimes I forget how innocent you are," she laughed.

                                                                         *  *  *

I walked into the classroom for first period, scanning the tables to try and find an empty seat. My late arrival only caused stares and snickers from the other students in the room, and also left me with the table right up the front, which just so happened to be the seat right beside Duncan Phillips. I was never one to laugh at or bully other kids, mainly because I knew how it felt to be on the bottom half of the food chain, but being stuck beside Duncan Phillips for almost two hours wasn't going to be an easy task.