Colour My Shadow

Chapter Five - School

here y'all go!

The next morning, Steven picked me up again. I'd kinda forgotten, so it was a shock - but not exactly a bad one - to see him waiting for me when I opened the door. 

"Oh. Uh, come in, I'll just get my shoes."

I stumbled into the living room, which was connected to the hall, suddenly rushing. No way did I want Aidan, getting dressed upstairs, to come down and find Steven here. If it had been just me, without parents to embarrass me or a brother to tease me, I might've enjoyed the fact that I had Steven Tyler on my doorstep... but as it was I was just freaked out that my family would scare him off the idea of ever coming back. 

Storm threw my shoes at me, from the kitchen where he'd found them, and then handed me my bags when I was ready. I grinned at him, giving him a silent 'thanks,' and returned to the hall, hopefully looking semi-normal. I hadn't properly brushed my hair, but it was too late for that now...

"Hey," he looked amused, as though he could read my scattered thoughts, but looped a thumb through the strap of his rucksack and swung it onto his back. "Let's go, education awaits."

I used to be taller than Steven, when I first met him. By quite a lot, but a year and a half means that now, he towers over me. He had been at our school for a couple of years before I'd actually gotten to know him... and then, well, he'd captivated me.

"So," I grinned up at him, my morning now sunny, "how're you?" 

He smiled back, shrugging. "So-so. You?"

I nodded. "Good." I was tempted to add a 'better now you're here', but reminded myself about luck pushing. I held out my hand, palm upward, catching a few drops of rain. "Nice. Good old English weather, raining. Again."

Nice one, Rosa... you're talking about the weather.

He laughed, shaking his head. At me? "Are you okay?" He asked, out of the blue. "You look a bit... flustered?"

I couldn't help rolling my eyes. Yes, Steven, I'm talking to the cutest, most loveable person ever - who, yes, I love - about the weather, of course I'm flustered.

"I'm fine," I told him, rather than tell him the truth behind my thoughts. He might run away screaming if I called him the cutest, most loveable person ever to his face. Although, saying it to Hazel was another matter.

We arrived at school a short while later, amazingly without injury. I was particularly surprised; I had been expecting my heart to fail, which would then mean a heart attack. The way Steven messed with it was enough to make me worried. Well not my physical heart, but the one inside my head that had managed to break free of its cage; I was acting a little crazy. 

Although... I smiled at the idea of Steven having to give me CPR. If heart attacks meant CPR.

Hazel watched me and Steven enter form room together with wide eyes. I sat down next to her anxiously, anticipating her next words. Damn, she would be talking about this for days.

"Since when were you and Steven walking to school together?" She whispered, when Mr Matthews was preoccupied enough for us to talk. He likes silence during form; he rarely gets it. "I mean, he lives on the other side of town from you!"

I gave her a startled look. "What? No, he walks home the same way as me. That's why he wanted to see me yesterday; he was asking me whether I wanted to walk home with him... because I always walk home alone."

She shook her head. "I could have sworn he told me he lived on Tanner's Street, which is miles away from your house. But, either way, it's kinda sweet."