Pride and Pratishness

Chapter 1

It was a bright winter's morning. The wind was bitingly cold as I made my way down the cobbled square, past the campanile with Sofia in tow behind. I hugged myself as a rather strong breeze flung my curly brunette hair back from my face. It tangled with my scarf and I knew the knots would hurt like hell later when I try to brush them out. My teeth were chattering and I glanced over to see that my blonde haired friend's were too.

You might be wondering as to why I was putting myself through hell on earth. Was it for the beautiful scenery as we passed the cricket and rugby pitches? Was it the beautiful, rustic and dated buildings that lined the cobbled lanes and square? Or was it the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafting out onto the streets enticing us out of hibernation.

No, in fact none of these things occurred to me when I rolled out of bed at 9 am this morning. The real reason Sofia and I decided to grace the world with our presence this morning was because of, one word...University. Yes I am unfortunate enough to have a half 9 lecture on a Monday morning halfway across campus. You might be asking why does she bother to go? In one sentence, because my lecturer is a dick.

You know how they give that lecture in school how; university doesn't care if you turn up or not for class...well in some cases that is not true. My dick of a lecture Mr. Browning does care. The one time I didn't turn up for a lecture, I had a valid excuse mind you...well not a great one, basically I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning shopping for shoes on Boohoo. Yes, I know that I have an addiction but... I'm slowly conquering it.

Anyway back to the situation at hand, Professor Browning discovered that I wasn't there and sent out a search warrant for me. He assumed that the only reason I would miss his lecture was because I was either dead or kidnapped. I was stuck in the police station with a killer headache for five bloody hours sorting out the mess he made! Now I turn up to every single one of his stinking lectures.

A leaf flew up into my hair and I tugged it out angrily, crumpling it in the palm of my hand in the process. I could see the lecture hall in the distance even through the hurricane that was practically forming in front of me. The caretakers perfectly raked pile of leaves were fluttering around madly. I knew that when the caretaker saw the decimation of his leaf pile he'd have a hernia. That man was 100% anal.

"Yano, if you want to go on the ski trip you are gonna have to save up?" Sofia said pulling me out of my thoughts. I glanced over to see her eyes trained on her phone as she scrolled fervently, looking for something. Her fingers were turning blue from the cold. I huffed and strand of hair fluffed up in the air before falling again onto my forehead.

"I know" I sighed, "And I need to get it soon if we are heading off at Christmas". I glanced to the left as another group of students walked passed, chatting amicably. I glared at them with jealousy; they did not look cold at all. I rubbed my hands together, blowing on them. Suddenly a phone was shoved right under my nose. My eyes went all cross-eyed trying to look at the picture on the screen.

"I knew someone mentioned this to me earlier" Sofia exclaimed, a grin stretching across her face. "What is it?" I asked pushing the phone away and then taking it out of her hand. "Andrew told me he saw it earlier during the week. Basically the Medical department need people to donate blood for lab work and for analysis." She babbled as if this was the best news. Like I care what the Med's were doing with their lives.

"And how is this going to help me?" I asked rolling my eyes, "I don't feel like giving a pint of blood for the pure shits and giggles". "Thank god you aren't a lawyer cause you never read the fine print" She scolded and then zoomed in on a certain part of the text. '£300 pounds will be paid out to those who donate' it read. "What! Omg!" I screeched and then hugged Sofia. "I will be able to go on the ski trip. I can't believe that they are paying out that much money for a bit of blood". I was so happy nothing could bring me down, not even Browning. I made a reminder in my phone for the appointment as we walked into the lecture hall.

The change of temperature was instantaneous as we stepped inside. My hands began to warm up and I ripped off my scarf and coat. I collapsed into the soft leather seat and Sofia settled in beside me. I pulled my phone out and placed it on the foldable table attached to my seat. I was just scrolling through twitter when I received a sharp elbow to the ribs. I turned to Sofia and glared at her. She made a quick gesture with her head. Did she have tics or something? The shaking of her head became more frequent and then with an 'ohhh' I realised that she was trying to draw my attention to something behind me.

I turned around and nearly gasped when I noticed Eli Thornton walking into the lecture hall. His hair was dark brown, fluffy and slightly curly. It had that 'just got out of bed' look to it. I wanted to run my hands through it. His cheekbones were as sharp as stone; his jaw was clenched and strong. I wanted to place little butterfly kisses along it. His lips were plump and just looked downright delectable. They curled up in disgust as he read something on his phone. As he sauntered towards us I couldn't help but admire his body. He had broad shoulders which lead to a narrow waist. He was tall and his body was lean muscle. I could see the muscles straining under his jumper as he carried his worn leather satchel. He wore a heavy dark brown cable knit woollen jumper with a pair of tight enough straight leg dark wash jeans and heavy dark brown leather winter boats with lose laces.

I bit my lip as he came closer to us, my heart was beating in my chest and my mouth was dry. He approached the row in front of us and slipped passed a bunch of other people. His beautiful icy blue eyes met my green ones as he shuffled past me. I smiled at him thinking that we had some sort of connection going on. My illusion was shattered when he just grunted in reply and then continued on his merry way.

"Ugh! That prat! I gave him a pencil before." I huffed and folded my arms across my chest. However how annoyed I was I couldn't help but check out his sexy ass as he walked down the row. His pants were a good fit in the area...he had a good ass, I must admit. It just made me want to grab it. God I sounded like a sexual predator.

"Ya, two years ago Vera" Sofia announced, ever the voice of reason, isn't she? "That's besides the point Sofia. How could he forget this beautiful face?" I asked jokingly. "Actually ya it must be difficult considering you look like a fish out of water every time he passes" she mocked. Browning interrupted us before I could come up with a scathing remark so I just swatted her arm instead with my copy. "Did you see his ass though?" Sofia whispered to me after a while and I giggled loudly in reply, nodding like a maniac. There was a loud cough from the dick that is Browning and so I zipped my lips for the rest of the lecture. I barely even payed attention; I was too busy day dreaming about the sexy beast that is Eli Thornton.

A.N. So that was chapter one of my new story Pride and Pratishness. I've been really looking forward to starting this story. If ye could let me know what ye think that would be great. This is a super long chapter so I decided to split it into two and they won't be this long in the future but it's just so ye can have a taster.

What do ye think of Eli? And Vera actually :P?

Anyway Please vote and comment! Thank you :)