School Days - Chapter 15
Amy is just living her life, getting by with little of any of consequence happening. That all changes when Jake moves to town...
Enjoy! :)
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"Hey Mr. T" sang Amy as she opened the front door. It was ten o'clock in the morning and she could barely contain her excitement between the news she had received the night before and the thought of getting to spend the next two days in the company of her two best friends. Up since eight, she was long since packed and had been trying to work out the kinks in her latest story, more important now than ever.
"Hello there Amy," Ella's father replied in his quiet, deep voice. He was over six feet tall so picked up her case with ease. She had spent a good hour packing what was probably slightly more than was necessary for a simple overnight trip, but she couldn't help trying to prepare for every situation. On top of that, she had several outfits to choose between for their theater trip and wanted the input of Tina and Ella before she reached a final decision; she didn't want to be over- or under-dressed because she would then just feel awkward and not enjoy the night.
She turned back into the house and saw her dad at the bottom of the stairs. "Have a good time, honey" he whispered in her ear as he gave her a hug goodbye.
Amy drew away and smiled. "I don't think Ella will let me not enjoy myself," she whispered. Her dad grinned and nodded in silent agreement. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before shooing her out of the door.
"Bye, Mum!" she yelled over her shoulder. Her mother was in the middle of the twins' morning routine, which couldn't be interrupted for love nor money, so they had already exchanged goodbyes.
Amy pulled the front door shut behind her and nearly skipped down the path to Ella's car. Her dad smiled at her and made to ruffle her hair as she got into the car. Amy, however, was expecting this and swiftly ducked out of the way and into her seat before he got chance, throwing a quick smile over her shoulder at him as he shut the door behind her.
"I'm so glad you could make it!" exclaimed Ella as soon as Amy had fastened her seat belt. "This is going to be just the best weekend ever! I can feel it," Ella nodded sagely, as if this made it indisputable.
Which, Amy thought to herself, probably meant that it was in Ella's mind.
After this Ella kept up a near constant stream of chatter on their way to Tina's house. Amy had to contribute little, inserting the odd word or gasp as appropriate. She had long ago learned that this was the best way to deal with Ella's hyperactivity. Trying to get a word in edge ways was more than a little pointless.
Of course, when they had picked up Tina, Amy had to listen to Ella then repeat all the same things to Tina who copied Amy's method and merely sat there and let her get on with it.
Half an hour into their journey, Ella had calmed down some and had proclaimed herself DJ for the journey, grabbing her music player and selecting lots of incredibly bouncy pop songs as the soundtrack for their journey.
They soon reached the outskirts of the city center, which merely served to ramp up the excitement of all three girls, but particularly Tina. She hadn't ever been to Manchester before and was incredibly excited about the prospect.
They reached the hotel that they were staying at within a few minutes and were soon checked in and their bags dumped in their rooms. Mr Thompson led them to a nearby cafe where they had lunch before leading them to the city center.
"Right then girls," he said, "I don't want to get in the way of all your girly stuff but I want you back here at five on the dot, and I want a call every hour so I know that you're all alright. Is that clear?" He fixed them all with a little bit of a glare and in that instant Amy could see how he had gotten so far in business. She would be far too scared of him to do anything wrong.
Once he had been assured that they would check in regularly and that they knew the name of the street where they were to meet he left them to do his own thing. Amy had no idea what this was, and had no doubt that it was on Ella's strict instructions that he left them alone. For all that he was a tough business man, his youngest daughter had him wrapped around her little finger.
Upon his departure Ella linked arms with the other two and instantly dragged them into the nearest shop, barely at looking at the name.
They spent the next two hours wandering rounds shops and trying on clothes, laughing at some of the more ridiculous things they came across and Tina as she tried to wobble across a shop in six inch heels. This was made all the funnier when she nearly tripped over whilst trying to avoid a small child who had escaped from his mother, only saving herself by grabbing on to the nearest person.
Unfortunately for Tina this was an incredibly good looking male employee of the shop they were in. Tina instantly turned bright red and began stammering apologies. He merely laughed it off and said it happened all the time. He helped her keep her balance as she removed the shoes and flashed her a grin before he left that had her turn ever brighter red.
"You should totally get his number," murmured Ella on their way out of the shop as he waved goodbye to them.
Tina waved back before swatting at Ella. "Don't be ridiculous. He must be like five years older than me." She wrinkled her nose a little at the idea. "Plus I'm just the stupid girl who nearly knocked him over in stupid shoes," she finished as Ella dragged them into a nearby cafe to grab an energy boost.
"She's right," agreed Amy as they joined the queue. "And he lives miles away."
Ella shrugged like inconsequential things like this shouldn't stand in the way of cute guys. "Still reckon you could have at least asked," she said as she began studying the menu.
Amy and Tina exchanged glances and with a quick nod began their plan of attack. They were determined to get the truth out of Ella about what she had remembered in school the previous day and knew this was their best shot. There were no shops or clothes to distract her and no escape. Each one side, they linked arms with Ella.
"So," began Amy.
Ella's head whipped around, instantly suspicious. "So...?" she queried with a hint of steel in her voice.
"So we were wondering," continued Tina, "what exactly it was that you remembered yesterday again?"
"I told you," sighed Ella, a little exasperated, "I had a dentist appointment. You don't get teeth like this without a whole lot of care," she finished before flashing them a dazzling smile.
Tina and Amy exchanged another look. "I thought you said you had a hair appointment?" said Amy lightly, trying to keep the smile off her face.
Ella's face paled for a second. "You're not hiding anything from us, are you Ella?" queried Tina.
"Don't be silly! What would I hide from you guys? I must have just got in wrong yesterday, 'cos I definitely went to the dentists." She pulled them both into a quick hug. "If anyone's hiding something I think it's Amy." Ella turned the tables to quickly that Amy barely had time to register what was going on before her face flooded red.
This was enough to confirm Ella's suspicions, causing a smirk of triumph to come to her lips.
Luckily, they were called on to order at that moment so Amy was given a temporary reprieve and opportunity to ponder what to say. She was hiding something, two 'somethings' actually, but she thought that telling her friends one of them now - the lesser of the two - would give her some time before having to tell them about her kiss with Jake. She smiled at them, but quickly hid it before the others latched on.
The three of them were soon seated around a table, sipping their drinks and eating huge and delicious slabs of cake. "So..." mimicked Ella, "spill."
Amy knew that she had no choice and was more than a little frustrated at how quickly her and Tina's plans had backfired. "Okay, so you know my book that I'm writing?"
"Yeah, sure," said Tina. "What was it about again?" Amy quickly outlined the main premise between sips of her drink.
"We know about the book," said Tina, a little exasperated at this waste of precious shopping time. "What's that got to do with anything?"
The grin crept back on to Amy's face. "Well," she began, "I never told you guys this but I entered this competition a few months ago for under-16 authors." Both of her friends clicked onto what the ending was here and huge smiles erupted on their faces but Amy continued anyway - she just wanted the chance to say it.
"Anyway, I never really expected anything to come of it. Thousand of people entered and they just wanted like 15 people to write short stories to put into this, like, anthology thing. But a couple of days ago I got this letter, but I didn't get to open it because of everything that's been going on."
All three smiles faded a little at this point and Tina reached across to rub Amy's knee before she continued. "So I opened it last night, and I've my story's been picked! It's just so amazing!" she finished, her smile firmly back in place.
"Oh, I'm so happy for you!" said Ella, a little too loudly in Amy's opinion. "I just knew this was going to be an amazing weekend," she sighed, sitting back as if this news made her earlier prophecy undeniable.
"That's great news," grinned Tina at a more normal level. "So what's the prize."
At this Amy perked up even more. Just thinking about it got he excited. "Well, over half-term I get to go to London-"
Amy had to pause at this point she had to pause and silence Ella with a look knowing that an explosion of noise was likely to issue from her at any point. When it looked like Ella had composed herself Amy continued.
"So I get to go to London and meet all these authors and editors and publishers and stuff and they're going to give me loads of tips about how to be a better writer and then I have till Easter to finish the final draft and then it's going to be published!" Amy finished on a high. Getting to finally tell her friends about this made it seem even more real and her joy slipped out a little resulting in her doing a small dance of happiness in her seat. Her two friends joined in and they were soon all sat around laughing at themselves.
When they'd calmed down a little, Ella glanced at a clock and, noticing the time, insisted that they get going at once because there were still loads of shops she wanted to visit. They stood up and began putting on their coats as they walked towards the door when Tina's next words meant Amy's resolution not to think about boys this weekend fell through for the second time.
"Hey! Isn't that Jake?"
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"Hey Mr. T" sang Amy as she opened the front door. It was ten o'clock in the morning and she could barely contain her excitement between the news she had received the night before and the thought of getting to spend the next two days in the company of her two best friends. Up since eight, she was long since packed and had been trying to work out the kinks in her latest story, more important now than ever.
"Hello there Amy," Ella's father replied in his quiet, deep voice. He was over six feet tall so picked up her case with ease. She had spent a good hour packing what was probably slightly more than was necessary for a simple overnight trip, but she couldn't help trying to prepare for every situation. On top of that, she had several outfits to choose between for their theater trip and wanted the input of Tina and Ella before she reached a final decision; she didn't want to be over- or under-dressed because she would then just feel awkward and not enjoy the night.
She turned back into the house and saw her dad at the bottom of the stairs. "Have a good time, honey" he whispered in her ear as he gave her a hug goodbye.
Amy drew away and smiled. "I don't think Ella will let me not enjoy myself," she whispered. Her dad grinned and nodded in silent agreement. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before shooing her out of the door.
"Bye, Mum!" she yelled over her shoulder. Her mother was in the middle of the twins' morning routine, which couldn't be interrupted for love nor money, so they had already exchanged goodbyes.
Amy pulled the front door shut behind her and nearly skipped down the path to Ella's car. Her dad smiled at her and made to ruffle her hair as she got into the car. Amy, however, was expecting this and swiftly ducked out of the way and into her seat before he got chance, throwing a quick smile over her shoulder at him as he shut the door behind her.
"I'm so glad you could make it!" exclaimed Ella as soon as Amy had fastened her seat belt. "This is going to be just the best weekend ever! I can feel it," Ella nodded sagely, as if this made it indisputable.
Which, Amy thought to herself, probably meant that it was in Ella's mind.
After this Ella kept up a near constant stream of chatter on their way to Tina's house. Amy had to contribute little, inserting the odd word or gasp as appropriate. She had long ago learned that this was the best way to deal with Ella's hyperactivity. Trying to get a word in edge ways was more than a little pointless.
Of course, when they had picked up Tina, Amy had to listen to Ella then repeat all the same things to Tina who copied Amy's method and merely sat there and let her get on with it.
Half an hour into their journey, Ella had calmed down some and had proclaimed herself DJ for the journey, grabbing her music player and selecting lots of incredibly bouncy pop songs as the soundtrack for their journey.
They soon reached the outskirts of the city center, which merely served to ramp up the excitement of all three girls, but particularly Tina. She hadn't ever been to Manchester before and was incredibly excited about the prospect.
They reached the hotel that they were staying at within a few minutes and were soon checked in and their bags dumped in their rooms. Mr Thompson led them to a nearby cafe where they had lunch before leading them to the city center.
"Right then girls," he said, "I don't want to get in the way of all your girly stuff but I want you back here at five on the dot, and I want a call every hour so I know that you're all alright. Is that clear?" He fixed them all with a little bit of a glare and in that instant Amy could see how he had gotten so far in business. She would be far too scared of him to do anything wrong.
Once he had been assured that they would check in regularly and that they knew the name of the street where they were to meet he left them to do his own thing. Amy had no idea what this was, and had no doubt that it was on Ella's strict instructions that he left them alone. For all that he was a tough business man, his youngest daughter had him wrapped around her little finger.
Upon his departure Ella linked arms with the other two and instantly dragged them into the nearest shop, barely at looking at the name.
They spent the next two hours wandering rounds shops and trying on clothes, laughing at some of the more ridiculous things they came across and Tina as she tried to wobble across a shop in six inch heels. This was made all the funnier when she nearly tripped over whilst trying to avoid a small child who had escaped from his mother, only saving herself by grabbing on to the nearest person.
Unfortunately for Tina this was an incredibly good looking male employee of the shop they were in. Tina instantly turned bright red and began stammering apologies. He merely laughed it off and said it happened all the time. He helped her keep her balance as she removed the shoes and flashed her a grin before he left that had her turn ever brighter red.
"You should totally get his number," murmured Ella on their way out of the shop as he waved goodbye to them.
Tina waved back before swatting at Ella. "Don't be ridiculous. He must be like five years older than me." She wrinkled her nose a little at the idea. "Plus I'm just the stupid girl who nearly knocked him over in stupid shoes," she finished as Ella dragged them into a nearby cafe to grab an energy boost.
"She's right," agreed Amy as they joined the queue. "And he lives miles away."
Ella shrugged like inconsequential things like this shouldn't stand in the way of cute guys. "Still reckon you could have at least asked," she said as she began studying the menu.
Amy and Tina exchanged glances and with a quick nod began their plan of attack. They were determined to get the truth out of Ella about what she had remembered in school the previous day and knew this was their best shot. There were no shops or clothes to distract her and no escape. Each one side, they linked arms with Ella.
"So," began Amy.
Ella's head whipped around, instantly suspicious. "So...?" she queried with a hint of steel in her voice.
"So we were wondering," continued Tina, "what exactly it was that you remembered yesterday again?"
"I told you," sighed Ella, a little exasperated, "I had a dentist appointment. You don't get teeth like this without a whole lot of care," she finished before flashing them a dazzling smile.
Tina and Amy exchanged another look. "I thought you said you had a hair appointment?" said Amy lightly, trying to keep the smile off her face.
Ella's face paled for a second. "You're not hiding anything from us, are you Ella?" queried Tina.
"Don't be silly! What would I hide from you guys? I must have just got in wrong yesterday, 'cos I definitely went to the dentists." She pulled them both into a quick hug. "If anyone's hiding something I think it's Amy." Ella turned the tables to quickly that Amy barely had time to register what was going on before her face flooded red.
This was enough to confirm Ella's suspicions, causing a smirk of triumph to come to her lips.
Luckily, they were called on to order at that moment so Amy was given a temporary reprieve and opportunity to ponder what to say. She was hiding something, two 'somethings' actually, but she thought that telling her friends one of them now - the lesser of the two - would give her some time before having to tell them about her kiss with Jake. She smiled at them, but quickly hid it before the others latched on.
The three of them were soon seated around a table, sipping their drinks and eating huge and delicious slabs of cake. "So..." mimicked Ella, "spill."
Amy knew that she had no choice and was more than a little frustrated at how quickly her and Tina's plans had backfired. "Okay, so you know my book that I'm writing?"
"Yeah, sure," said Tina. "What was it about again?" Amy quickly outlined the main premise between sips of her drink.
"We know about the book," said Tina, a little exasperated at this waste of precious shopping time. "What's that got to do with anything?"
The grin crept back on to Amy's face. "Well," she began, "I never told you guys this but I entered this competition a few months ago for under-16 authors." Both of her friends clicked onto what the ending was here and huge smiles erupted on their faces but Amy continued anyway - she just wanted the chance to say it.
"Anyway, I never really expected anything to come of it. Thousand of people entered and they just wanted like 15 people to write short stories to put into this, like, anthology thing. But a couple of days ago I got this letter, but I didn't get to open it because of everything that's been going on."
All three smiles faded a little at this point and Tina reached across to rub Amy's knee before she continued. "So I opened it last night, and I've my story's been picked! It's just so amazing!" she finished, her smile firmly back in place.
"Oh, I'm so happy for you!" said Ella, a little too loudly in Amy's opinion. "I just knew this was going to be an amazing weekend," she sighed, sitting back as if this news made her earlier prophecy undeniable.
"That's great news," grinned Tina at a more normal level. "So what's the prize."
At this Amy perked up even more. Just thinking about it got he excited. "Well, over half-term I get to go to London-"
Amy had to pause at this point she had to pause and silence Ella with a look knowing that an explosion of noise was likely to issue from her at any point. When it looked like Ella had composed herself Amy continued.
"So I get to go to London and meet all these authors and editors and publishers and stuff and they're going to give me loads of tips about how to be a better writer and then I have till Easter to finish the final draft and then it's going to be published!" Amy finished on a high. Getting to finally tell her friends about this made it seem even more real and her joy slipped out a little resulting in her doing a small dance of happiness in her seat. Her two friends joined in and they were soon all sat around laughing at themselves.
When they'd calmed down a little, Ella glanced at a clock and, noticing the time, insisted that they get going at once because there were still loads of shops she wanted to visit. They stood up and began putting on their coats as they walked towards the door when Tina's next words meant Amy's resolution not to think about boys this weekend fell through for the second time.
"Hey! Isn't that Jake?"
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