I pull my red hair over to one of my shoulders, carefully undoing some tangles at the end. The whole first half of the day went by pretty fast. I didn’t have many conversations with Harry, trying to avoid any more irritation than I already had.
It was now lunch time, and luckily, Kris and I had the same lunch, so we met up in our same spot that we’ve sat in the previous three years. Thankfully, Harry disappeared once we arrived in the crowded lunch room, me quickly walking away to the our table where Kristen was already at.
“Hey!” She chirps when she sees me, moving her bag from the seat across the table. “I saved your seat.” She says, me thanking her and sitting besides Liam and Amanda.
“Hey guys!” I say to my group around me. I look to the spots next to Kris to see other Chris and Danielle, grinning at me.
“So how was your first half of the first day?” Kristen asks, me groaning loudly and hearing other Chris speak up.
“I saw you in first period walk in with Styles, what was up with that?!” He laughs, Kris widening her eyes and looking to me.
I explain the whole first part of my day, from the stress to the stairwell incident, them listening and nodding as I finish.
I decide to leave out the part that Harry said about my friends talking behind my back though, I don’t want any fights to happen on the first day.
“Wow, I feel for you. Where’s he now?” Kris asks, me looking behind my shoulder. “I don’t know. He disappeared. But he has a schedule too so he should be just fine.” I say, hearing Liam chuckle besides me.
“I’ve missed you guys.” I say, Danielle giving me a happy look. “Me too! It’s a shame you couldn’t come with us to the concert…James was there.” My heart leaps at the sound of his name as I raise my eyebrows at her.
She nods looking proud of herself, and then continues. “We went to say hi, and the first thing he did was ask where you are…” I smile and slightly blush, hoping that she’s telling the truth.
James was someone who I’ve liked for ages. Well, since freshmen year. We both had photography together, and we’d always turn in different pictures of each other. If one assignment was black and white, we’d just turn in a picture of the other in black and white.
I thought that we both liked each other, but he went on to date Faith for Sophomore year, which totally crushed me, hence forth my hatred for her. I know what you’re thinking, ‘it’s not her fault, Shayne!’ But you’d be wrong.
She was one of my best friends, and I told her everything romantic that me and James would do, which led her to asking him out. It was torture my entire 10th grade year to try to act like I didn’t care when I’d see them making out or holding hands.
My crush never went away, but we haven’t really talked in photography since 11th grade, but we were still friends…I think.
I am deep in thought about James when I see Kris’ eyes widen and then quickly tap me. I give her a confused look as she points her finger behind me.
Slowly I turn around, seeing none other than Harry standing behind me, grinning like an idiot. “What do you want?” I gripe, him raising his hands defensively.
“Hey! Relax sweetheart. I just want to let you know that I’ll meet you by the stairwell after lunch so you finish your tour.” He winks at me, sending a chill down my spine.
“Why do I give a shit? You have a schedule.” I snap, him smirking and nodding. “True…” He begins to turn around, but not before saying over his shoulder, “I’ll see you at the staircases Shayne.” I roll my eyes and turn back around, my whole table looking at me.
“Eat your food people!” I tease, everyone lightly laughing as the clock ticks away.
…
Normally, I wouldn’t even think about meeting Harry by the stairwell, but I can’t help the sense of curiosity rushing through me as my feet carry me there.
I see him leaning on a railing, swiping through his phone when he looks up at me and grins. “Hey sweetheart.” I grimace at his pet name and bark back, “don’t call me that.”
He grins and starts walking up the stairs with me, passing multiple people who tell me hi or ask how I’m doing.
It almost gave me a sense of pride over Harry the more people that said hi to me, it was almost like I was letting him know who’s in charge in this school and he can’t change that.
We get to the main upper hallway and begin strolling down, suddenly coming to a halt when I feel something grip me from behind. “Ah!” I spin around, someone hugging my waist tightly.
“James!” I chirp, happiness filling my eyes. He smirks and hugs me, me wrapping my arms around his neck. In the corner of my eye, I see Harry watching with a clenched jaw, me hugging James even tighter just to get on Harry’s nerves.
“What’s up?!” I ask, grinning from ear to ear. He looks at my ears and then smirks, “did you get another piercing…? I love it.” He grips my earlobe in his rough fingers, observing the new piercing I got just last week on my cartilage.
“Thanks! I was either going to get this, or re-pierce my nose, but I really wanted these…” I grab his hand that’s holding my earlobe and move his fingers over the silver camera on my ear.
He grins, studying my ear closely. “I love it. It reminds me of freshmen year, remember?” I nod. How can I not remember? It was the year I fell in love with you…
I keep my thoughts in my head as I turn my head slightly, seeing Harry gone. “Oh, I better get to class…” I hesitate, wishing that I could stay with James forever.
He nods and looses contact with me. “Text me tonight, I want to talk to you.” My heart leaps as he walks backwards and then turns around, leaving me to go to Orchestra.
I open the door and breathe in the wonderful smell of the only room I’ve had all four years, feeling at home and happier thanks to my encounter with James.
I remember Mrs. Fox saying that Harry was taking the same courses as me and scan the room, seeing all of my best friends sitting already, including Kris.
I see no sign of the curly haired boy and shrug, moving to sit next to Kris as Mrs. Jolk comes out and greets us all.
.
.
.
I love all of you!
-Arwen
