The Bad Boy and The New Girl

Chapter 5

The next morning, I woke up, got ready for school and walked there in time for morning registration at 8:45. Heidi, Sophia and Stacey were already there, and Lola arrived a couple of minutes after me. We all sat and talked while we did some work. Around 20 minutes later, Mason strolled into the room. 

"I'm surprised to see you here, Mr Cartwright! I thought you considered registration to be 'an unnecessary inconvenience'," commented our tutor, Mr Meade.

"Yeah, well, I'm here, aren't I? Don't convince me to leave again," Mason retorted.

"I'm glad you decided to show up." He paused and added in a hushed voice, "and just so you're aware for future, registration starts at 8:45."

Mason rolled his eyes and headed over to the back corner where his friends were gathered in a circle, sitting on various chairs, desks and counters.

I looked down at my worksheet and carried on writing. A couples of minutes later, Heidi nudged me with her shoulder and whispered, "he keeps looking over here."

"Who?"

She nodded towards the group in the corner. Mason was facing the wall and had his back to us. None of them were looking in our direction.

"No he's not," I whispered back.

"Just wait a second," she replied.

As if on cue, Mason turned his head round, glancing over his shoulder straight in our direction. As soon as his eyes met mine, he raised his hand and gave a small wave. I returned the gesture with an awkward smile, then looked back down at the desk, staring a little too intently at my work.

"Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm watching Romeo and Juliet!" Heidi whispered excitedly.

"They both died, Heidi," I replied matter-of-factly, "and we're just friends! I think? I don't even know if we're friends. We're not that close."

"Hmm...okay," she replied and went back to her reading.

We continued working until the end of registration, and then I went about the rest of my day. It turned out that Mason was in all of my lessons except French and Music, so I saw him a lot, but we didn't get much chance to talk since we were only sat together in English, which I didn't have that day. I spent my break and lunchtimes with the girls, and that evening I did my homework and watched TV, staying up into the early hours of the morning because it was Friday and so I didn't have to get up early for school the next day. My weekend was fairly uneventful; I spent most of my time doing schoolwork, texting my friends, practising piano and watching television.

-

On Monday, I was in the library during a free period. None of the girls had a free so I decided to head there alone to get on with some work.

I set my stuff down on a small table in the far corner and then headed towards the bookshelves to look for a French dictionary. I found the right aisle and wandered down it, scanning the shelves for the book I needed. I couldn't see it anywhere, so I turned into the next aisle and saw Mason sat on the floor, leaning against one of the bookshelves, texting. A huge box of returned library books sat next to him.

He looked up as I walked towards him, then hurriedly put his phone in his pocket and rose to his feet, brushing off his jeans.

"Having fun?" I asked.

"No. Library service is the worst," he huffed.

"You didn't seem to be doing much," I observed, pointedly looking at the box of books on the floor between us.

"Yeah, well, it's boring, okay? There's only so much a guy can take."

"We're literally five minutes into this period. You're so dramatic!" I exclaimed, smiling.