Greyscale [✓]

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Hannah yawned as she pulled herself up and out of bed, stretching her limbs until she heard the satisfying click of her shoulder blades. She wasn't sure why she was awake so early on a Saturday morning but after lying in bed for a while, she decided to appreciate the extra time and make use of it. For some reason she felt as though life was ten times more stressful than usual although nothing had changed; she just couldn't shake off the unexplainable feeling brewing in her gut that something bad was going to happen.

She forcibly shook the foreboding feeling off and pattered out of bed and around her house, her usually straight hair tousled and not bothering to change out of her lilac princess pyjamas. A wide smile spread across her face when she caught sight of Cameron sprawled out on the dark brown leather sofa, his breathing slow as he slept peacefully. Unlike her, he wasn't a morning person at all and so she was careful not to wake him as she crept past – why had he not slept in his own bed anyway? – and pulled an old fleece blanket over his sleeping form with something akin to affection.

Hannah hummed to herself as she spread out her Math's books across the dining table and shoved a piece of toast with raspberry jam in her mouth. She attacked the complicated Poissan Distribution chapter from her Statistics book with vigorous energy, determined to do brilliantly in her last year at school so she could make something of herself following graduation. She still wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to do but whatever it was, there was nothing but success on her mind. She had to prove she had been worth the life given and if this was the way then so be it.

Hannah's mind briefly flickered over the idea of software programming or something of the sort as she remembered Mr Harris' recommendations but she quickly nipped that idea in the bud as she thought of Ashlyn and the rest of her friend's inevitable reactions.

She sighed; speaking of Ashlyn, she hadn't gotten a chance to get back to her like she'd promised the previous day. Hannah had gotten so caught up in the refreshing simplicity of working with Rayne that she'd forgotten her best friend! Or rather, she'd purposefully ignored the niggling voice at the back of her head reminding her of Ashlyns' disgust if she had able to see her. Not only had she happily spent the day with a scholarship kid, something deemed entirely unacceptable by students of Pemrose but also doing homework in a ratty library! She could almost hear Ash berating her in her mind and was relieved her best friend didn't know about it.

With her lips pursed, Hannah pushed away her books slightly and unlocked her phone. Intentionally ignoring all seventeen Facebook friend requests, she quickly replied to a text from Gabriel, carrying on the conversation from the previous night before she'd fallen asleep. It was now 9:13am and she knew Ash would be awake – she had some crazy schedule of intense yoga workouts every morning. Pressing two on her speed-dial, she called her best friend, her fingers drumming on the table absent-mindedly.

"Hello?" Ash answered, her voice slightly groggy.

Hannah smiled at that; it was adorable to hear her sound so child-like before she had fully woken up and reassumed being the Regina George of Premrose.

"I'm sorry Ash, I didn't mean to wake you. I thought you'd be up already," Hannah rushed out, grateful that Ashlyn only laughed. She knew Ash would be mad at her for forgetting about her and would have to do whatever she said so for a while before all was forgiven. If there was one thing everyone knew about Ashlyn Janek it was her ability to hold onto a grudge for the longest time.

"It's no biggie, I should probs get up now anyway," Ashlyn replied before excitedly chattering on about random people as they usually did. She was in the middle of an interesting conversation about Karishma slapping Yakub the previous evening at Charmaine's party when Cameron woke up.