School Days - Chapter 4

Hey! Sorry for the wait but I was on holiday and then had some issues getting back into the story. I meant to get a chapter up before I went away but - obviously - didn't. Epic fail on my part! I'll try to do better from now on!
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
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"Hi, Dad!" said Amy as she jumped into the passenger seat of her Dad’s car. She had to get a lift home with him on the days they had rehearsal as there were no buses by that time and there was no way she was walking all the way home.
After his return greeting, they sat in a comfortable silence for most of the way home, with each asking occasional questions of the other’s day. They pulled up to the front of the house and before they had even opened the door Amy could hear her two little brothers - Andrew and William - screaming.

She sighed, and knew that her mother must have had a tough day and would spend most of the night doing as little as possible. It wasn’t easy keeping two little boys happy as well as keeping the immaculate house that she strived for.
"We’re home" yelled her dad over the sound of crying.
"In here!" replied her mother from the kitchen, as if they wouldn’t have been able to work that out from the cacophony put up by the twins. They walked in just as she was beginning to dish up dinner.

The meal held little conversation between Amy and her parents as they were both too busy feeding Andy and Will.
Once everyone had finished, Amy gathered the plates and began the washing up. This was the little her mother would allow her to contribute to the upkeep of the house, and that was only because she was usually too tired to put up much of the fight by this time in the day.
After this Amy mumbled, "I’ve got French homework to battle with, I’m gonna go to my room."

"Ok, sweetheart," her mother replied distractedly. "Have fun."
Amy sighed as she got into her room before flopping backwards onto her bed. She knew her parents were busy and tired, but she quite often wished they could at least give her a little bit more attention.
She lay, staring up at the ceiling, for a few minutes more before groaning and tugging her French textbook from the dresser at the side of her bed. She reluctantly pulled it open onto the appropriate page and began laboring through the exercises they had been set. As she had earlier predicted, most of what she had learned in class was now gone.

She struggled on for another half hour or so before giving up for the night. She didn’t have French again until Wednesday, so she would try again the next night.
Instead, she pulled out her notebook and tried to write some more of her book. She knew it was no literary masterpiece, but she thought there might be some potential in it, and it was only a first draft. Losing herself in the world she had created, two hours flew by with her hardly realizing.
When she realized the time, she jumped up and went downstairs to spend some time with her parents. The twins would have been in bed for about 90 minutes, so her parents would have had some time to unwind by themselves. They sat in near silence, watching television for about an hour before Amy went to get ready for bed. Her parents followed soon after.

The rest of the week passed in much the same way, with Amy abandoning her book as soon as Jake got on the bus and them chatting about anything and everything through the bus ride both to and from school. This was interrupted on Thursday once again by a rehearsal, and Jake once again looked dejected when she told him she wouldn’t be getting the bus. Amy kept an eye out for him in the car park, but didn’t see him. This helped to put her at ease somewhat, but there was still a little niggling doubt in the back of her head.
Since Jake was so likable, he soon made friends in his classes, so didn’t sit with them for lunch past Tuesday. Despite this, Tina and Ella were still adamant that he liked her and would be asking her out before too long.

This seemed to be confirmed when, about halfway through lunch on Friday, Jake came over their table and asked if her could talk to Amy by herself for a while. Amy shot a warning look at both of her friends as she stood up to leave the dining room with him.
They walked down the corridor in a somewhat awkward silence before heading outside. Amy was about to ask where they were going when Jake seemed to read her mind. "Is it ok if we go and sit on one of those benches?" he asked quietly.
She nodded an affirmation, and they headed towards the cold metal benches that stood near the path down the field. He sat, not looking at her, for a few seconds before turning to her and clearing his throat.

"Amy," he started, "I was wondering if," he cleared his throat again. She started cracking her knuckles - a nervous habit. "I was wondering…"
At this point he was cut off by a ringing sound coming from one of the pocket of his trousers. Both of them frowned, Amy because she didn’t know Jake had a phone - they had been friends for nearly a week and he hadn’t given her his number or asked for hers or anything.
"Sorry," Jake murmured before standing up to retrieve his phone. Amy’s mouth opened in surprise. Not only did Jake have a phone, but he had a brand new, top-of-the-range phone. He flipped it open and after a cursory greeting and a brief pause turned to Amy.

He hesitated and was about to say something when she got the hint. "It’s fine. It’s important. I’ll see you later Jake." She smiled at him gently, him returning the gesture.
"Thanks," he replied.
As she walked back towards the main school building Amy couldn’t help herself from turning back for a quick glance at Jake. He was frowning heavily and looked very worried. For a second she wondered about going back to make sure he was okay but then thought better of it. She had realized that she didn’t know Jake as well as she though, and it was obvious that he didn’t want her there for whatever conversation was going on.

She sighed and entered the school once again, making her way back to the dining room.
Tina and Ella were almost bouncing with excitement when she arrived back at the table they had been sat at. "Well? Where is he? Why isn’t he sitting with us again?" Ella instantly questioned Amy, barely giving her chance to sit down.
Tina, being the more observant of the two nudged Ella in the ribs. "Ssh. What’s up Amy?"
Amy sighed. "Nothing."
Ella finally realized that Jake hadn’t asked her out. "What happened?" she questioned, somewhat more gently. "We were so…" she trailed off into silence when Tina glared at her.

"Well, he got as far as ‘I was wondering’ when we got interrupted," Amy said as she knew she would get no peace until her two best friends knew exactly what had happened. Also, she wanted their input on what this meant and where to go from here.
After she had finished telling them what had happened they both looked confused. "What, he just looked at you and you left?" Ella asked, confused. "But he might have been going to end the call before that. Then he would have been able to finish asking you out!"
"One," Amy started "you didn’t see his face - he looked almost panicked. There was no way he was gonna end that call."

"And two," continued Tina, "we can’t be sure he was going to ask her out." Ella scoffed at looked at her incredulously. "Yeah, ok, it was the most likely end to the sentence but you never know!"
Ella dismissed Tina’s suggestion with a wave of her hand and turned towards Amy. "Don’t worry about it, babe. I’m sure he’ll ask you out soon enough. You’re getting the bus together again today so he’ll probably ask you then."
But Amy wasn’t so sure. Jake was a shy person and she couldn’t imagine him doing it somewhere as public as the school bus.
But Jake wasn’t on the bus that night.