Stow away.

iii

Cole woke to the sound he had learn to dread over the last few years. His alarm clock, buzzing him awake. Cole had a tendency to fall back asleep so the clock was placed across the room on his desk, near the door. So he would be forced to get up. It was his mum's/mom's idea. He hit the thing so it'd stop hurting his head, stretched, yawned a bit and turned on his stereo to his 'pumping up' playlist, as was the title. With the music blasting loud and clear for the neighborhood to hear, the first song 'right here, right now' was playing per usual. Cole put on his classic school clothes, an old pair of jeans and any clean t-shirt lying about. As well as his zip up hoodie and a jacket over it, along with his favourite shoes. A pair of normal black and white converses, worn so often it was time for a new pair, but he was saving up for university/college. He also grabbed his black beanie since it was predicted to be a colder day.

Cole was at least 190 cm/ 6ft 3" tall and had his mothers dark brown hair. The only thing he got from his father was his warm brown eyes and height. Cole's passion was producing music and Photography. He was going to university for the exact two things.

Just after he'd finished getting his textbooks back in his bag from a night of study, Cassy burst in and turned the music down, too low for Cole. "Cassy! what the heck!?" he hissed at the little girl, still in her pajamas and her hair, unbrushed. "Oh, sorry. It's just I couldn't her myself think and I still don't feel all that good from yesterday! Plus I can't reach the cereal..." she offered peace to him, they only ever had spats such as this in the morning. Cole's expression softened. "Feel well enough for school?" He asked. She pondered over the question. "yes" she told him honestly.

Cassy and Cole were close ever since their father left, so most of Cassy's life. Cole still remembered the cold blank expression his father gave him the morning he left. Their father leaving had brought the whole family closer since.

"Okay, I'll help with the cereal" he accepted, the two of them moved down the hall to the kitchen. Natasha left early every day so they were alone in the three bedroom house in the mornings. They then proceeded to get Cassy ready. While she got herself dressed, Cole packed her bag and gave her money for lunch. Knowing their mum/mom would've disagreed, he gave it to her anyway. She was a very proud woman. Cole got it from her.

Once Cassy was on the bus Cole started walking his way to school. He had a crappy little car like everyone else but sometimes he enjoyed walking and breathing in the fresh air, plus the family lived a five minute walk away from the high school.

Once there, he greeted his best friend, Steve, who everyone knew as Mack due to his last name. "Hey Mack." Cole casually walked up outside the front doors of the main building where Mack would sit, trying to impress girls with whatever craze he'd gotten into lately. "Oh hey Cole, I forgot to ask, why didn't you come out this weekend? Amanda was all over me at Saturday's party!" he asked, he always wanted Cole to be his wing man.

Cole hated the idea of being at parties though. He was what you call, a bit of an introvert. He was confident within small groups, but shut down instantly when giant, raging parties, their goers and Saturday nights were involved. "Yeah, sorry man. Had to look after Cassy, it sucked" he said, playing it off. Mack shrugged, it was the usual excuse. He then continued to 'impress' the girls with every stretch he knew, frequently failing at them, as well as jogging on the spot or around in a little circle. "What? Girls love an athlete." He said as he noticed the weird looks Cole was sending him. "Do they?" Cole asked, looking around at the expressions of disgusted faces, male and female, teacher and student.

One person caught his eye thanks to the strategically placed low cut top. Melanie Woods, was the party girl of their school. She knew a billion people and all of their friends. Her Facebook friends list was proof of this as it was infinite and close to the capacity, however many that was. She wore a mask of makeup, short skirts and often ripped fish net stockings on a night out. Some kids are just broken like that.

One of Melanie's closest friends was Emma. She was the nicer ones of the group when compared to the rest and was popular thanks to her personality and her friends, not because what was in between her thighs. Although her looks did help her appeal in most of the male and some of the female students minds. She had long dirty blonde hair that was up in a high messy ponytail at that moment and wore what looked like an expensive cream overcoat, hiding more expensive clothes, dark stockings, ankle cut high heel boots with a cream coloured scarf and an even more expensive handbag. As she walked by, he caught her eye too, they looked at each other, with a small smile on both their lips.
And as the bell rang Cole knew that the day would drag on for what seemed like forever. Because just then, he saw a flicker of a spark between Emma and himself.
_______________________________
By the time lunch had rolled around Cole had had 4 of his 6 classes for the day and his stomach grumbled at the sight of the cafeteria food which had been laid out in rows and rows of hot and cold foods, along with fridges full of drinks for sale. Cole got his food and sat down at his usual table and was almost instantly joined by his friend, Amy and her tray, on it a home packed lunch.
"Cole, i hope you realise I just over heard Emma and Melanie talk about you in the girls bathroom!" Amy immediately started with the gossip. As much as she was nice, Amy had been prone to gossip. Quite a few people who lived in the town were very nosy at times.
"You sure it wasn't another Cole?" He asked, those type of girls, the 'popular' girls did not pay any attention to him, or his name. "no, I'm sure, they said 'the tall Cole', and that's your identifier" Amy told him like it was obvious. "My what?" Cole asked, confused at the last word. "Identifier, you know, how people know who you are, like I'm Amy with the hair"
Amy looked up at her unruly, ringlets of bright orange hair, manageable but still crazy as ever.

"what's mine then?" Mack asked skidding down to the bench to a stop, sitting next to Amy, bashing into her with a slight force, making Cole smirk at his timing. Amy blushed at the encounter but quickly hid her cheeks and replaced the shock on her face with a sarcastic smile. "Oh, people know you as the heart breaker, Mack." she smirked at him as his face lit up like his life goal was complete, "actually, I think that might've been a slight variation to the actual identifier. Yah, it was" she smiled at Cole as Cole smiled looking down at his tray, biting on a crunchy hot chip, pretending to mind his own business. "What?" Mack called out in an uproar. "Yeah, I think they call you the creepy guy, Mack" Amy told him truthfully. "What! I'm not creepy! Stupid people." Mack sulked. "Dude, you're literally so close in my proximity right now, plus I saw you checking out girls at the front this morning, it is creepy" Amy made a good point, Mack was still shoulder to shoulder with her. Mack realised his closeness and backed off right away, getting up and sulking off, muttering "I'll show her... And the stupid people."
Cole watched his friend go and looked back at his other. "What? He needed to know." Amy said, persuading herself more than Cole.
"So what did Emma say about me?" Cole couldn't keep his mind off it since Amy had brought it up. "My, my, is Cole Healy actually interested in some gossip?" Amy asked him, in a matter-of-factly tone. "Yeah, yeah, the irony, I know. Go on." Cole said impatiently. "Well, okay." Amy said adjusting her seating position to get more comfortable.
______________________________________________________________________
Emma had only wanted to know his name, Amy had assured him it was a sign, but Cole thought the theory that Emma Peters liked him was more than absurd, considering they hadn't spoken since they were 13, when she asked him to move over for her friend that one time.
Cole got home to find Cassy sitting at the front door, "Cassy? what are you doing out here?" he asked "I forgot my key" she replied, smiling innocently as he opened the door for both of them.

Their mum/mom got home to find Cassy channel surfing between afternoon cartoons and the world news while Cole was in his room watching videos on his laptop on YouTube. The Healy family then proceeded to eat dinner and talk about their days, Cole leaving out lunch time, laughing together as a tight-knit family.