Greyscale [✓]

Chapter 07

CHAPTER SEVEN

"So, have you thought about it?" Mr Harris asked, scrutinising Hannah from under his thick eyebrows.

She sighed, her shoulders falling in defeat. It was only the second week of school but it was already getting too stressful. The workload was already much heavier than the previous year and even Gabriel – who had always been far too laid back about school in his girlfriends opinion – had started to actually open his textbooks in class. That was a miracle in itself to be honest.

Every final year student of Pemrose were arranged a meeting with their form teacher to discuss their options after leaving school at the beginning, middle and end of the year. The problem, however, was that Hannah had no clue at all what she wanted to do with her life.

"I don't know, sir," she said, shrugging apologetically. "There's just nothing I want to do for the rest of my life. I know I want to do something I enjoy, something I'm good at. I want to be successful for my own self but–."

Mr Harris had been silent the entire time she had been talking since their meeting began in the office five minutes ago, allowing her to express herself but it was time to intervene. "Have you thought about something in the IT industry," he asked, knowing she was going to reject the idea.

To his surprise however, she just pursed her lips and thought about it. "I guess I can see myself doing it later on y'know, maybe something like software engineering or web development or even making apps for phones but the thing is that–." She couldn't really bring herself to continue, knowing her reasons were pathetic in the grand scheme of her life but at the moment it felt like a big deal to her.

Mr Harris flicked through some of the university careers advice he had printed out before picking out a brochure for website design at a local university. "Miss Hales class is about to start their web development unit soon so maybe you should read this and if its something you're interested in, I can have a word with her to let you in the class despite not having been enrolled," he said with a smile. He had a lot of students he enjoyed teaching but Hannah was one of his favourites. For a girl who had everything handed to her on a silver platter, as was assumed around the school, she worked awfully hard. 'Perhaps a little too hard,' he thought with a frown as he noticed her carefully concealed eye bags.

"It's no biggie," Hannah laughed, as her teacher worryingly commented on her lack of sleep. "I've just been up late looking for jobs that's all."

They continued discussing Hannah's possible future until their session was over and she had to leave to make her way to her Biology class. She was half way out of the door when Mr Harris stopped her. "There's an opening at the library, if– well, if your job search doesn't go so well," he offered. He didn't know why she would need a job considering she was awfully rich like everyone else but he knew better than to assume.

It seemed there were a lot of secrets in this school.

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Hannah's next lesson was World History but due to her meeting with Mr Harris shoving as many IT leaflets as he could towards her, she was running late. She stood outside the door for a few minutes, able to hear the droning of her teacher through the door before knocking softly on it. She was a little embarrassed to barge in more than half way through the lesson but she smiled radiantly despite the urge to blush as everyone paused to look at her. Sauntering over to where Mrs Turner stood at the front of the room, Hannah handed her the late pass and looked across the room.

She had been avoiding her boyfriends gaze all day in hope he wouldn't bring up the wedding again but as History had assigned seats and she was near his, she didn't have much of a choice. It wasn't that she had a problem with attending the wedding – in fact, she adored Gabe's sister. Angelica always had treated her as an equal; she was kind in the way she addressed her unlike the rest of his family who were always so unfriendly and cold. But even Angelica's lovely demeanor was not enough to make her wear a dress designed and produced by her mother's fashion label.