Hold Me Closer

Part Three

The rest of my week at Arundel Academy could have been shot in one of those montages that TV series do to show that teenagers actually have to study. You know, the ones where despite the fact that they've been running around sleeping with their teachers and murdering people (I watch a lot of 90210 okay?) they suddenly have mock exams to prepare for? And all of sudden, their legs are crossed as they highlight textbooks, type at laptops in cafes, blah, blah, blah.

It felt like all I was doing with my free time in the afternoons was catching up on the work that I had missed at the start of the term. In my old school, I had been a top student and that wasn't really a humble brag, because I had also given up my social life to get here. But now, I was suddenly trying to balance being amongst extremely clever kids and Ben's constant nagging for me to hang out with him, Meg and Mike.

Some of the times I had given into his puppy dog eyes, and found that there was actually quite a lot to do at Arundel. There was a basement room with a lot of couches and pool tables (in which I had tried to flip my hair, pucker my lips and pretend I was auditioning to be Bar Girl 2 in one of those cliched movies- Meg had wet herself laughing at my 'sexy' look), a couple of stables (I know right?) and even this little pond at the back where you could go swimming in the summer. But most of the time, I had stayed tucked up in my room, copying out notes and making essay plans. Not really exhilarating stuff.

I heard a knock at my door and took a break from my books, stretching and rubbing my eyes. "Hey," I yelled out. "Come in."

Meg poked her head around the door. "Hey Obi-Wan Kenobi," she said. 

"Hmm really? I was hoping to give off more Darth Vader Vibes."

Meg laughed and came in, star fishing on my bed. "If you think about it, Darth Vader would have the perfect Tinder bio. Tall, dark, mysterious guy looking for lurve..."

"God, the girls would come running," I joked back. "That is until he got all I'll kill your friends and family."

"Yeah, that's a bit of a turn off," Meg admitted.

"Do you know what's a bit of a turn on?" I said, swivelling around on my chair.

"Hmm?" Meg said, raising an eyebrow lazily. 

"Staying in your own room," I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

Meg threw a pillow at my head, and I ducked successfully. "I can't help it! I'm bored. Plus, I thought the biggest turn on was eating vegan lasagne apparently."

I stiffened slightly. "I think Mike just wanted food, the thief."

Meg sat up, resting her head on her hands. "I think he's into you."

"I thought you said Mike was complicated?"

Meg shut her eyes, as if she could avoid the conversation topic that way. "He's not complicated. He's just...confusing." She sighed. "I don't know."

"Is there anything between you guys?" I pried, remembering back to when I used to be so good at this whole guy-talk thing.

Meg peeked her eyes open and assessed me. "No. Yes. Maybe."

Now it was my turn to assess her. "Am I supposed to choose one of those multiple choice answers or do you want to pick one instead?"

Meg laughed, but without humour. "I don't know. Guys are just so- everywhere, you know. Sometimes he's telling you all this personal stuff and making you feel human in this massive school of phonies-"

"Hey!" I objected, pretending to be hurt.

"-Not including you of course! But then, other times, he's laughing and calling you dude and talking about other girls. And you think, buddy pick one! Flirt, care or treat me like a guy, but don't do all three."