Out of Your League

Chapter 20

After our jet had landed and we'd arrived back home, the rest of the holidays proceeded with very little excitement – that is to say that I was cooped up in my room watching the rain trickle down my window and the fog descend over London for most of the holiday. Although spring was coming, it was late this year and despite the tentative green buds on trees, the weather was still miserable.

After the disaster that had been our ski trip, me and Ed had been unable to see each other – his parents were now well aware that we'd met up alone in the Christmas holidays and were determined to prevent it. Although my parents weren't against our relationship, Ed's parents had clearly voiced their concerns and now my parents were abiding by the parent-code as they also made sure that we weren't meeting up. I hadn't even been able to see Will as my parents had started thinking that if I went to Will's, Ed would come and meet me as they lived relatively close in the countryside together.

So, as a result of the piss-poor weather and my banned relationship, my Easter holidays were pretty shitty. The only bright spot in my life was Belle – we had spent a lot of time together, more than we ever had for years as a result of neither of us being preoccupied by boys and she had even agreed to come with me to a club one evening, granted she had spent the whole night grumbling and critising but I knew that even coming had been a big sacrifice for her. And when two boys had sent us a round of drinks, she had given me something to laugh about as she marched over to them and threw the martini's in their shocked faces before saying 'don't think that either of us is about to swoon and sleep with you. We're not'

And then the holidays had abruptly come to an end.

My room was dark, only a slither of starlight able to fit through the gap between the curtains as I lay in my bed. It was 2am and despite promising myself that I would go to sleep at more reasonable times at school, I was wide awake. My brain was whirring with worries and wonderments, and then I looked at the clock, realise I only had 6 hours to sleep and count down the minutes I had left to sleep. Which only stressed me out more.

The thoughts going through my head were, predictably, about Ed. We hadn't seen each other for about three weeks and I knew that loads of people had long distance relationships where they didn't see each other for much longer than that but... three weeks from Ed felt like forever. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting to see floppy, blonde curtains covering a kind yet confident face behind me, only to see empty space; which would remind me of how long it had been since I had seen him. Which would bring me back to the start of thought process which had become such a continuous, monotonous cycle that I had even tried to forget him entirely for a while. But that didn't matter anymore because tomorrow I would see him, finally!

The summer term was a favourite for nearly everyone– the nicer weather, the lighter days, the ability to go out and not come back freezing cold and, of course, the short length of it. There was no specific reason why it was the most popular term, but, I was fairly sure that you could ask any of the students and they would agree – the lack of cold and darkness made a real difference to everyone's mood. But for those in the truth and lie brigade, it was easily the best by far, as well as all the events enjoyed by the rest of the school, we could enjoy three annual traditions – the polo match, Midsummer's end and the Lanterns.

A bleeping awoke me as my bloody alarm went off. As usual, I moaned and raised a hand to press the snooze button. Before my brain kicked in – I was seeing Ed today, for the first time in three weeks! I would finally get up on time and look nice for him. So I didn't hit the snooze button, instead I threw off the covers and located my uniform, found my hairbrush and applied my makeup. 

When I arrived down at breakfast, on time for once, the attention of those already down there swivelled to me as they issued a collective gasp – was it really that unusual for me to be down at breakfast on time? Apparently it was because a girl in the year below came in a few minutes after me, saw me and immediately apologized for her lateness, assuming that because she was down after me that she was late. Belle saw my surprise and cocked her eyebrow at me,