School Days - Chapter 5

Just wanted to say thanks for the reviews I got on the last chapter. It's really great to know that people are enjoying the story! Thanks guys!
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Amy was distracted the whole weekend. She tried everything to distract herself, but whether she was doing homework, working on her book, sat watching television her mind kept wandering back to Friday.
Was Jake really going to ask her out? Somehow she doubted it. Yeah, she liked him and she would definitely say yes if he did ask, but Amy just couldn’t see Jake actually asking, especially after only knowing each other for a week.

And what was the phone call about? One this Amy found her author’s mind going a little crazy, and had to stop herself from imagining crazy scenarios; everything from someone in Jake’s family going into hospital to him actually being a top government agent and being called away on a super secret mission.
But she was going to remember that last one for a future novel – it sounded like it could work out quite well.

And the one question that worried her more than all the others: why wasn’t Jake on the bus home? He hadn’t mentioned anything earlier on about going somewhere after school or someone picking him up or anything. This led Amy to believe that this was, somehow, connected to whatever conversation had gone on once she had left him on the benches and only served to feed her fervent imagination.
She wished she had walked away a little slower, or hadn’t offered to leave. Maybe then she would at least know a little about what might be happening, or at least wouldn’t have to worry about Jake so much.

As usual, Amy, Tina and Ella gathered at Ella’s house on Saturday night and, as usual, put a film on then spent most of the time talking over it, swapping gossip stories. Many a good film had been missed because of the lives of their friends and idols alike.
This weekend both Tina and Ella soon noticed that Amy was quieter than usual and spent inordinate amounts of time staring into space, a frown slowly working its way onto her features.

Eventually they stopped even trying to get her to join in and instead tried to get her to talk.
"Earth to Amy, anybody at home?" inquired Ella somewhat sarcastically.
Amy blinked at couple of times, then finally focused on her two friends. "Huh," she said, "what was that?"
Ella sighed in exasperation but Tina began talking before her friend got the chance. "What’s up Amz? You’ve been out of it all night."
"Oh, it’s nothing. My mind just keeps wandering off," replied Amy. "I’m actually having some trouble keeping control of it – it’s quite annoying," she said, a frown once again appearing on her features.

Ella giggled. "Oh please! You are so obviously obsessing about Jake." Amy threw a cushion at Ella for her assumption who, somewhat annoyingly, caught in deftly and put it behind her back whilst poking her tongue out at Amy. "You know I’m right – I’ve known you for far too long so don’t even bother trying to deny it." Ella resettled herself in her chair. "Come on, spill," she said. "Something must have happened on the bus for you to be this out of it."
Tina looked up excitedly. Having only moved to the area a couple of years ago, she still didn’t know Amy and Ella as well as they did each other since they had been friends since they were 5. "Really? Did he ask you out then?" she asked inquisitively.

Amy, knowing that there was no way she could get out of it now, looked at her friends eager expressions before rolling her eyes and sighing in an exaggerated manner. "Okay! You’ve beaten it out of me!"
Tina swiped at her playfully with another cushion. "Seriously! We want to know so get a move on."
"Ok," Amy started, looking at the television screen. "Honestly? Absolutely nothing happened because he wasn’t even on the bus." She looked round at her friends to see looks of shock on both of their faces. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly."
"So, he just disappeared after lunch basically?" asked Tina.

"No," said Ella slowly. "He was definitely in drama at the end of the day."
This surprised Amy as she had just assumed that Jake had disappeared following his phone call. Now, it seemed, he had been at school for the remainder of the day and had gone home some other way. What, was he avoiding her now?
She huffed in frustration. "Whatever. I don’t even care any more. If he just wants to avoid me then that’s on him." She glared at the television, trying to pretend that she didn’t care her, trying not to be bothered by the idea that Jake didn’t want to talk to her.

Jake wasn’t in school on Monday or Tuesday and despite her words on Saturday night, Amy couldn’t help but worry about him, wonder what he was doing and whether he was okay. The surprise came on Wednesday.

Amy woke up and got ready for school as she would any other day, albeit a little later than usual. She had had a late night last night, getting caught up in the latest book she was reading. It had reached 2 a.m. before she realized and she had managed to get only a little more than 4 hours sleep. She was going to pay for it later in the day, but for now she was still caught up in the world she had immersed herself in the night before, pondering what she would have happen next were she the author.

The post arrived just as she finished her breakfast. This made her realise just how late she was. Running up the stairs she grabbed her bag and was halfway back down when her mother shouted to her. "Amy! Post!"
"Not got time, Mum! I’m running late! See you when I get home."
Amy getting post was a rare enough event to usually pique her interest, but she just didn’t have the time. Slamming the front door behind her she started to walk down her garden, briefly wondering what she could have got. This was before she glanced at her watch and groaned. It usually took her nearly 10 minutes to reach the bus stop but she barely had five this morning. Why hadn’t her mother told her.

She answered the question herself: the twins.
Half-running down the road Amy began the race against the bus, knowing full well that she was likely to lose. Reaching the road with the bus stop in record time, she knew it wasn’t enough - she saw the bus pulling away as she rounded the corner. She groaned in desperation. There was no way she was going to get to school now.
Pausing where she stood, Amy deliberated whether to head home and tell her mum or to wait for another bus and explain to the school when she finally got there. After pondering her choices for a few seconds, she decided on the latter. It would be less effort, and there was little her mum could do anyway since her dad had taken the car to work.

She set of dejectedly along the road, knowing there was no reason to rush and disappointed that the first lesson of the day was Art. Amy was missing her favorite lesson just because of some stupid book.
As this thought went through her mind, she remembered that she had hurriedly stuffed it into her bag this morning. Well, at least she would have something to do whilst waiting for the bus.
She leant against the wall behind the bus stop, glad of the dry weather, and pulled the book from her back. Though she had been cursing it mere seconds ago, she was glad of the chance to immerse herself back into this world where she was nothing more than an observer to the lives of others.

Losing herself in the imagination of another author was an easy thing for her to do. It was for this reason that she didn’t notice the car drawing up right in front of her. Only when the electric window whirred down and a throat was cleared did she look up, jaw dropping as she took in the scene in front of her.
The car in front of her was huge and black. Amy knew nearly nothing about cars, but even she could tell it must be incredibly expensive - definitely not something she would have expected to see around here. It even had tinted windows, something she’d never even seen before.
But this wasn’t the biggest shock. That was the face looking at her from the now-open window. Jake, it seemed, had finally decided to come back to school.