Different Inside and Out

Chapter 7

*3AM*

Why the hell can’t I sleep?

Whenever I close my eyes I either think of Ahren’s lips against mine and the next second Joel’s face when he saw me at school.

What is wrong with me?

Why is it bothering me so much?

*MORNING*

I wake up to my loud alarm and don’t even know how long I slept for.

I wait a few minutes until I actually wake up fully, and get out of bed to start getting ready. I step carefully downstairs and peer in the kitchen to see if mum’s up. No sign of her.

I quickly make myself breakfast and as soon as I’m finished eating, I get into my clothes and try and cover up last nights’ thoughts with my makeup.

****************

As I arrive at school, I keep my head down ignoring stares and try to avoid any sign of people wanting to start a conversation with me.

I pace inside and as soon as I turn around the corner, I bump hard into someone. I mumble a quick sorry and look up.

Joel.

I stare at his kind hearted face that suddenly drops.

‘Hey Jess.’ He rubs his neck in our awkward silence.

‘Joel what you saw yesterday was nothing.’ I blurt out before I even think. I close my eyes and rub my face with my hands.

‘It’s okay I just didn’t know you know Ahren. I don’t really care.’ He lets out a short laugh and shrugs like it doesn’t matter and that stings a little.

‘I just…’ Why am I so nervous around him?

‘It’s okay seriously Jess.’ He interrupts me and gives me a reassuring smile. I breathe out in relief and smile back. Before I can say anything else, I feel his arms around me.

He’s only hugging you Jess, calm down. I think to myself, but then my thoughts drift off. I start to think about when Ahren had me in his arms and how different it is to hugging Joel.

I savour the moment with him and when he pulls away, his smile grows and I feel better straight away.

‘Have to get to class, catch you later.’ He waves at me and I realise how quick that conversation went and that I didn’t even reply to his goodbye.

On the other side of the hallway, Hannah is standing there glaring at me like I have done something wrong. I shrug it off and don't worry about it too much.

As I arrive in class, I peek over to my normal seat and see Ahren sitting in his chair next to mine. He glances up and I can’t help but smile as his eyes meet mine, his eyes almost light up and his smile grows wide.

I can’t help but blush in his excitement to see me.

I forget everything for a minute and just think about the way he held me last night.

‘Morning beautiful.’ He compliments me as I sit down. I feel my face go a deep crimson.

‘Morning.’ I say and give him a nervous smile. He ignores my goofy facial expression, and he puts his hand over mine and rubs his thumb over it.

‘So many things happened last night, I’m still trying to process it all.’ He lets out a small laugh and I just smile.

‘Yeah I know.’ I reply, not knowing what else to say.

He begins to say something else but the teacher interrupts him so we can start class. He takes his hand off mine and starts to copy down the teachers notes, and I know I should do the same.

Today he’s wearing black jeans and black converse shoes with a plain white t-shirt. His brown eyes look brighter today, almost a hazel, while his smile looks wider.

As class continues, I listen as closely to the teacher as I can without thinking or looking at/about Ahren. I even catch him glance at me a few times which results in awkward smiles, or even occasional small childish giggles. We get a few looks from people sitting close to us until I look over to my left and see Hannah glaring at me, just as she had been earlier. I give her a fake sweetened smile and right at that moment, she looks like she is about to strangle me.

I laugh at the thought and continue with my work.

I feel her eyes on me almost the whole class, although I don’t let her stop me from messing around with Ahren. He doesn’t seem to notice her so I just pretend I don’t either, which makes her even more mad.

When the bell rings, I seem to take longer leaving than usual. Ahren has disappered and the only ones left in the room are Hannah and I. She’s still staring at me.

‘Seriously Hannah have you got a problem?’ I ask her as I gather my books. She shrugs.

‘Dunno, do I?’ she asks with a wicked smile on her face.

 ‘Don’t know why you’re smiling, if you stare at me any longer, people will start to get the wrong idea.’ I shoot back as I walk out of the room. 

*SORRY GUYS WAS ONLY A SHORT CHAPTER, PLEASE POST LOTS OF COMMENTS ON YOUR OPINION OF THE STORY! ILYS XXX*