lovestruck {F.W}

Chapter 15

RIVERS POV
im up so early, it's 4:45am and that's because I want to be the first one on set, because finn is always there early, so we'll have some time to ourselves. i dress simple, cute pink summery dress (even though it's the freakin' middle of fall) and it's christmas soon, ahhhh! Christmas is my all time favourite time of year. the lights, the tree and the food of course.
i creep past all the bedrooms and pop my head round Harpers door, she's fast asleep. i still can't believe she ditched on her first day, what a rebel. i wouldn't dare on my first day, my mum would kill me! she's so lucky her dad didn't find he'd make her fly back out to England.
i creep downstairs but stop there's someone else down here, i creep into the kitchen, holding my breath to find mark, pouring milk into his big bowl of cereal.
i sigh with relief, "oh it just you" i grab my lunch out of the fridge.
"just me?" he jokes, "what are you doing up?"
"getting ready" i grab a chocolate from the fridge. he raises his eyebrow
"for breakfast?" he asks
"nope. well yes." he laughs and shakes his head at me, i rush back upstairs and sit on my bed, i still have so long so i do what i do best, sit on my bed, grab my laptop and watch IT, finn wolfhard version of course, nothing's better than that.

halfway through the film I hear the Harpers bedroom door open quietly. her little patter of footsteps make their way to the bathroom. i look at the time, 6:00. she doesn't even need to be up this early but i should get going. i sling my bag over my back and check myself in the mirror one last time before creeping in my moms room to give her a gentle kiss on her head, just like she used to do to me before she got me up for school. she was going to drop me off this morning but she got called in for work again and didn't come back until we were all well asleep. she was so tired she slept through her alarm.
"river is that you?" She mumbles sleepily, reaching out to stroke my hair.
"yeah it me, i was just leaving" i smile at her in the dark
"oh no what time is it? id better get dressed quickly" she begins to sit up, her eyes still closed.
"no mum" i say quickly, "I'll walk, it'll be okay. i know my way around, well sort of but I'll ring you if I'm in danger, i promise"
"are you sure?"
"110% sure mum" i give her head a quick kiss and shut the door firmly behind me.
"Harper!" we bump into each other, she drops her photos and books on the floor.
"sorry" i hear her mumble, scrambling to pick up the book and her precious photos
"wow did you take that?" i stare at the shot of a single brown leaf falling with the busy city perfectly blurred in the background. it's breathtaking.
"yeah"
"are you okay harp?" i ask her she doesn't seem herself.
"what? oh yeah I'm okay" she replies, as if i snapped her out of her own daydream world.
i pull her into a warm hug and leap downstairs.
marks gone. im often used to having an empty house, it's quite peaceful actually.
i walk quite quickly, the freezing air causes my teeth to chatter and a single snowflake falls down and lands on the tip of my nose. harper is going to love this weather.

HARPERS POV.
"she did that, really?" i ask wide eyed at this story of a fellow girl called 'ellie'. she doesn't sound...nice, maybe she is, she just doesn't sound like someone id hang with. josh and i skipped again. we're walking round the back of the field, it's like a huge forest round here. he scenery is so beautiful that a snap a quick picture. i turn and see that josh is watching and i smirk at him, watching him flush a scarlet colour. a small snowflake drops on my nose. the first taste of winter.

"i know hardly anything about you, wildfire. tell me, tell me everything about yourself" he asks when we sit on the grass, i pull blades of grass out, smiling.
"well i have a baby sister, she's called Kate" i tell him, he seems to be listening very carefully.
"aw i bet she looks just like you" everyone thinks that but she actually doesn't.
"actually, she has curly hair like me, but she's blonde" i laugh, "she looks like my dad whereas I look like my mum" i say proudly.
"ah of course, did you mom and dad move here with you?" i blink at him and im quiet for a moment.
"well my mum, she got sick a lot. well she died a couple years ago" i say sadly, still staring at the grass. i struggle to talk about my mom, even though it's been 2 years.
"oh harper, I'm so sorry" he apologises, using my proper name, it sounds weird. i shake it off.
"no you mustn't apologise, you didn't know"
i say firmly.
"so your dad, he's still at home?"
"yeah but he changed" i say quietly.
"changed?"
"yeah, he stayed out a lot and drank but we got him some help and he seems to be a lot better now, my sister and i, we stayed with our nanny. she was only 3 so she had no idea what was happening but I wasn't a silly 11 year old, i knew what was happening."
"you stayed with your nanny?" he holds back a laugh.
"no don't mock! she stayed and helped us clean and stuff like you know, taking Kate to school and cooking dinner if dad wasn't home"
"ohh like a maid?" he laughs
"well not really, but if you want to call her that then okay" i say
"hey" he says softly, placing his hand on mine gently
we're interrupted by a small voice, he seemed to be talking to himself, muttering nervously. it was the boy who was sitting in the back of Joshs car that picked them up. it hits me.
"is that jack grazer?!" i gasp, you seem to meet everyone here.
i go to stand up but joshs hand grabs mine and he mouths to be quiet.
the small boy spots us on the field.
"josh? what are you doing?" he asks confused.
"i could be asking you the same thing nerd" he shoots back and i giggle nervously.
"i uh are you ditching school?" He asks shocked, "oh and I have a free period"
"can I hang with you?" He asks, i nod but josh stands up quickly.
"no you cannot and if you don't mind, harper and I were talking" he says sharply.
"oh hi harper! you were the girl i spoke to last night right?" he waves at me and i laugh
josh doesn't laugh, instead he looks at me in shock, "you were talking to him??"
"what? no. you were there" i laugh and he seems to force a chuckle
"well jack, my boy, you've done your talking, leave. go on, scamper" he hisses at him
"first of all, im not a dog. second, ill tell dad that you're ditching school then we'll see who has to be put on curfew, that's sounds great to me" he fake pouts and josh freezes on the spot.
"brothers?"i ask them, staring at them both.
"oh how rude of me" jack laughs, "I'm jack grazer"
"yeah I know, I've seen you before in IT and your tv show, that was a great by the way, but I didn't know that but you're his brother?" i ask astonished.
"yeah he's joshua, Joshua grazer. did you not know?"

RIVERS POV
"SHE DID WHAT?" millie and sadie yell.
"shhh girls i wasn't even supposed to tell you!" i whisper to them when we were in sadies trailer, i look around as if Harpers here.
"i can't believe that, you know how much trouble I'd get into if i did that!"sadie sighs
"and im the one who can't keep secrets" millie raises her eyebrows and crosses her arms across her chest.
i shrug and smile sheepishly.
"yeah but that boy seem like bad news if you ask me, he should've let her go, especially when it's dark" millie scolds, even though josh isn't even here.
"oh mills" I laugh at her worrying. "Harper may seem like she has common sense but sometimes I'm sure she doesn't have any brains" i shake my head. "seriously though don't tell her" I make sure they understand
"hey girls what's happening?" gaten walks in, all cheery and happy, at 7:40 in the morning.
"rivers friend Harper ditched school on the first day to hang out with a boy called josh!" millie blurts. i look at her shocked, "millie!" i elbow her in her bony ribs.
"ouch!" and she pushes me away.
"wow what a rebel" he laughs, "she doesn't seem to be the only rebel here, does she River?do you often break the rules?" he looks at me raising both his eyebrows. the girls turn their head to look at me.
i suddenly get flustered
"haha, wh-what?"
"Oh you know what river! i saw you're kiss with finnnn" he sings
the girls squeal so loudly I think they burst my eardrum.
"I-i dont know what you're talking about gaten"
i mentally groan, im a terrible liar. i can feel myself blushing.
"oh really?" he laughs, "we won't tell River, well someone might"
"cough millie cough" sadie jokes, millie slaps her in the arm.
"no i won't!! I promise this time, I'm zipped!"
she pleads
i give in, "uhh fine! we did it's no big deal! i lo- like him, so what?" i gulp
"did finn tell you?"
"no river I saw" he laughs, "walk to school with me?"
"sure" we all say but when we walk to the door, lola is standing there and she looks surprised to see us. sadie stands in front of me and millie slightly. she looks nervous.
"oh sadie, i didn't expect you to be here!" She stutters. wow she's scared of sadie! she wouldn't hurt a soul. at least I don't think so
"it's my trailer lola" she says obviously.
"oh right" she laughs, she looked me dead in the eye, "i was looking for finn" i feel a stab of jealously. gosh river, you and finn aren't anything yet, calm yourself.
"well he's not here" gaten says and she storms of in a sulk.
"what's up guys?" finn appears out of nowhere and startles is all, i blush.
"we were just leaving finn" millie laughs.
"cool, also jack, you all know jack right? small kid brown hair?" finn continues talking with everyone nodding, "well his brother, josh, met someone. now Ive put all the pieces together from what I've heard, and i think it's harper"
"you are correct, wolfhard" i smirk at him and we all walk to school together, finns hand in mine.

LOLAS POV
i see them. i saw them. holding hands, standing on the field, kissing. will i snitch? no. but i will make river's life hell. ill try my best to get rid of her, but first ill get the smaller people involved, maybe talk to my hair stylist or something. but i do know that i will win. i always win.

~word count 1921~
soooo I know this might be a bad chapter but i kinda rushed some of it because i was at school and didn't have time to write but i wanted to publish something. oh well🤷🏻‍♀️
over and out,
-L💛