sheffield? where's that?

"what party?"

The gravel crunched under our shoes as we finally left the school ground to be free for the weekend. The week was very, well, you could say it was eventful and I was ready to just go home with a big cup of tea and curl up in be-.

"Right, so you've all heard about the party tonight then?"

Leila ran up to us, her backpack swinging and her hair flying around her petite face.

"What party?" She gasped for air when she finally caught up to us.

"Yeah, what party?" I stopped to turn to face Matt.

He eyed all of us for what seemed like eternity with a bit of concern in his face until he realized we really had no idea what he was talking about.

He motioned wildly and with wide eyes repeated himself. "The party! Tonight! Tom's house! His parents are out of town and left him a shitload of money so he's covering all the drinks. No reason not to go really."

Tom. Great.

We carried on walking to the bus stop, with Lucy deciding for all of us that we'd go. I felt a tiny bit nervous, because even though it wouldn't be my first house party ever it would be my first one with knowing only a handful of people.

"Come on, it'll be great! We can just hang out and find Avarie a new fling to get over that rat." Lucy exclaimed, trying to win us over. I froze up the minute she mentioned playing the role of matchmaker. I expected some awkward silence but Jamie just carried on smoothly, saying that he agreed with Lucy. Alex was the only one not engaging in the loud excited discussion. Well, apart from me. He was dragging his feet and looked slightly groggy. Lucy pulled on his arm asking if he'd come and he nodded quickly, not making eye contact with her but she was too boisterous to notice it.

"I expect all of you to be there, no matter the circumstance! First party of the year so naturally we HAVE to be there. It starts at 8, and we'll meet at my house to go from there." Lucy commandeered us. Jamie jokingly saluted, earning an eye roll.

The afternoon sun warmed the bus, transforming it in to a massive steel oven. I untucked my blouse from my high waisted school skirt to make it more airy. Almost as if in sync, Alex loosened his tie at the same time. We made brief eye contact and laughed before some girl from y9 sauntered up to him, attempting to make conversation.

I was sitting by the window seat, next to Alex. We had ended up sitting together most days on the bus, because it just worked out that way. Alex once joked about it being fate, but we then agreed that the back seat in the top level of the bus isn't a very romantic atmosphere. We also expanded in to rating the weirdest places for the highest "snog" possibilities. Invigorating conversations.

Anyways, the girl held on to the red pole to steady herself and had her other hand on her hip. She spent a good few seconds preparing herself right in front of us, posing a bit and then sort of creepily smiling down at Alex. This had already gotten the full attention of the whole top level of the bus, which was filled up by only our year. We sort of invaded it and took it as ours. Everyone stared at her, waiting for her to completely embarrass herself. I felt bad for her in that moment, but also heavily respected her for being so straightforward about it.

"So, you're Alex Turner right?" She drawled her words in an attempt to sound older.

He leaned back and loosely crossed his arms. He cocked his head up at her and I could tell he was going to take the piss out of her. He gave her a fake smile and said "Yeah.".

She stood there a bit awkwardly until she understood that that was all he was going to say.

"Well, I heard your band play and it was well good."