Hurricane

Does the stalker have a name?

Copyright © 2012 Alaska May

Insubordination. In the dictionary that word is defined as a noun, meaning ‘disobedient; rebellious’. To the HamptonHampton family it just means the oldest child. Well, her and what she does. Those two things are the horror of her parents and the disgust of her siblings. Not that she cares, but it’s the truth. This was something I found out on my first day of meeting the oldest Hampton child.

Something about the girl seemed to have sent a hush over Pavilion, a thing I don’t think anyone here has ever really encountered before. Except when Mark Rush was arrested by the police near the front of school, it was definitely quiet then. My mates were kind of awestruck and to be honest so was I. It wasn’t everyday you saw a girl that fit, turn up on a motorbike and then go into your school. I watched with the rest of the student body as the door swung shut behind her and then waited for the explosion of exclamations to begin.

“Who bets me five quid I can’t get her to kiss me by the end of the day?” Mason swung around to face us better and grinned.

“Make it ten and I’m in.”

“Alrighty then, anyone else?” I smirked as Mason slapped hands with George, Andy and Mike who all agreed to the bet. “What about you then Jacky-boy?” I shook my head, my hands finding their way into my pockets before looking up and meeting his eye.

“I’d be ten pound up but the sight of you being rejected is much better than that.” Mason frowned and then punched my in the shoulder not moving me in the slightest.

“You’d be ten pound down actually; I’d be twenty pound up.”

“Even more reason for me not to bet. I wouldn’t want you to get more money.”

“’Cept  he won’t, ‘cos she won’t kiss ‘im.” Added in Mike, just to make sure Mason understood, to the agreeing nods of the rest of us. His ego abused enough I slung my arm around my best mates’ shoulder and started leading him towards the school, following everyone else as they trailed towards the school building a bit quicker than usual because they knew what was inside. The others walked behind us joking and generally being idiots.

By the time we had reached the double doors leading in I could see that we weren’t getting any further. A big congestion had formed, starting by the first door on the left. It took me a minute to place the door (someone had decided to redesign the school over the holidays, so nothing was where it had been last year) and when I did I guessed easily why people were stopping to look inside. It was the door to the student hub – where you went to get timetables, look through lost property, cash in merits and such. Right now it was where the blonde girl was, and thus so was the rest of the school.

Some were pushing through to get to the front, and I stepped away from Mason and joined them, ignoring the looks people sent me as I elbowed my way forwards. Soon I had reached a point behind a short year eight and I had a good vantage point through the open door. Usually I wouldn’t be so interested, but today the schools’ emotions were rubbing off on me and I listened closely with everyone else to what was being said.

“Why were you absent for the first two days of term?”

“Flying the first day, sleeping the second.”

“Sleeping?”

“Yeah. Jetlag.”

“Right, of course. Have you got a student card, car park pass, timetable or map?”

“No.”

“Right then. Here we are, I’ve just printed off your timetable and map and you’ll be able to collect your card and pass form your form teacher at registration.”