I never thought I’d fall in love.
It happened so quickly that I had been swept off my feet completely and I was lying on the black and white tiled floor beneath me, before I knew what had even happened. 
I guess I’d never put much thought into the matter before. It happened to other people, not to me. Never to me.
Around 17 seconds ago the door to the school chemistry lab had swung open and the new boy had walked in. I’d never given him much more than a glance before and so chose to ignore him, not finding him important enough for my attention. Thinking back, maybe if Jen’s chair hadn’t been angled slightly into the corridor he wouldn’t have tripped over it. Maybe if he had come in a few minutes earlier he would have been able to take a desk by the front of the class. Maybe if he had been ill that day he wouldn’t have come to class at all. But, he was a few minutes late, her chair was angled into the corridor and he certainly wasn’t ill today. The clang of his shoes against the metal of the chair was what probably made me turn around. When there’s a noise you don’t recognise you investigate it right? Well, don’t you?

I never did complete my turn though. I got about half the way before I was literally swept off my feet as he went tumbling into me, knocking us both to the floor. It was at this moment I chose to look up. His icy blue gaze met mine as he muttered his apology and pulled himself off me, holding out his hand to pull me up. I’d never really noticed him before, but staring at him now I realised just how much I liked the way his black hair fell over his eyes. I liked the way he bit his lip in embarrassment at knocking me over and I liked the way his hand felt warm as he pulled me to my feet. I guess this is the only good thing than Jen’s ever done for me, not that she meant it. I’m sure that if she knew I’d fall for him her chair would have been dragged beneath the desk so far that she would have been struggling to breathe. 
When he first came to the school (yesterday morning it was) all I’d noticed was the way the other girls had stared, especially Jen. I could almost hear her heart beating beneath her school blouse. Being me, I didn’t show much interest.
Love has never bothered with me in the way it has with so many other 16 year old girls. I’ve been so used to having a small crush on someone just for them to ignore me completely. It hurts, even if it is only a small crush so I find it better not to care. Not to even bother attempting to care. 

The whole first row erupted in laughter as if it was me who had been careless. After pulling me to my feet and muttering an apology a few times the boy had turned around and gone to sit at the desk at the back of the room as if it had never happened. Even though I knew the others would tease me later, I had a smile on my face for the rest of the lesson. Though the madeleines were burnt beyond recognition, they still tasted like heaven to me and though he hadn’t spoken to me in the next lesson either, most likely still embarrassed I hoped, I felt like dancing and singing and anything else that people do when they’re happy. 

I’m not exactly a very confident person. I guess that’s why some of the others tease me. I don’t really fight back; I just ignore them and get on with my business. I get along with most of my class fine, it’s just Jen and her little group of followers (or should I say stalkers) who get on my nerves. I’d known Jen was interested in him which was reason enough to stay away but it really wasn’t my fault and at that moment I felt as though I could live through anything. 

“Holly” I recognised Jen’s voice above the loud conversations in the cafeteria around me. It’s pretty high-pitched and can sound quite sweet at times, which I guess is what guys find attractive about her. She’s one of those people who are rather pretty but it’s their attitude and confidence that makes so many boys fall in love with them. I didn’t turn around, just sat there eating my lunch with Hannah and Robin, pretending I hadn’t heard. Unperturbed, Jen sat down next to me, for once without her stalkers and began to eat her lunch like it was the most natural thing ever. When she had finished, she angled herself towards me, crossed her legs and began to fiddle with a strand of chocolate brown hair. 
“What is it?” I asked, pushing my tray away from me and moving up on the bench so Hannah and Robin could lean in to listen. 
“Sorry, could I speak to you alone please?” Jen said, glaring at Hannah and Robin. They gave me a pitiful look before taking all our trays to be washed outside the kitchen.

“So Holly, I just wanted to check you are ok after that fall of yours earlier” Jen said in a tone I’d never heard from her before in my life.
Slowly I nodded, wondering what evil plan was running through her mind at this precise moment. I could see her friends peering over at us from the other side of the cafeteria.
“I hope this has taught you” she continued, sounding more like a teacher giving a lecture than a 16 year old girl, “that you should stay away from Jay. You’re obviously some kind of bad luck charm for him”. She let out a small laugh and smiled at me as though she had just announced to me that I had won the lottery.
“Jay?” I asked, feeling pretty confused at this moment in time.
“You… you don’t even know his name?” She began to laugh again, showing her pretty white teeth, “he’s the boy you knocked over this morning”.
With that she stood up and flounced away, back towards her table like nothing had happened. I sat there staring into space for a few minutes thinking to myself. This was her idea of a warning to back off but I wasn’t paying attention to that. I sounded the word out in my head, then spoke it softly, then a bit louder, “Jay”. I liked it. It fitted him perfectly. I glanced around the room, seeing if I could catch a glimpse of him. I spotted him over at Jen’s table. He had obviously just told a joke of some sort because she was laughing and flicking her light blonde hair over her shoulders as she edged closer to him along the bench. I forced myself to look away.
What chance did I have with someone like him?

Outside, Hannah and Robin were sitting on the bench beside the kitchen door in our usual ‘hanging out’ place. As soon as they saw me they began running over, firing questions at me so fast I was struggling to answer them all. I stopped at the bench and sat down, waiting for Hannah and Robin to run out of questions.
“But,” said Hannah, pausing and looking at me through her wavy brown fringe, “do you actually like him?”
I thought about telling them the truth but what good would that do. I shook my head being careful not to catch Hannah’s eyes. If I could convince them, then hopefully I would be able to convince myself. 
By the end of lunch I had pushed all the feelings of the morning out of my head and eventually managed to convince myself that I really didn’t care if he went out with Jen (which I believed was inevitable seeing as Jen had obviously already set her sights on him and could get any boy she liked). Robin and I waved goodbye to Hannah as she went off to her maths group which was the one below mine and Robin’s and then made our way to room C2.
Robin and I took our usual seat at the back of the class on our own. Hannah’s seat, vacant since she had moved groups, was then piled up with our bags after we had taken out our pencils and books.
Miss Green is usually late for lessons so for the first 10 minutes we talked about our activities at the weekend. Robin had gone to his grandparent’s house whilst I’d just sat home doing homework. Unlike me, Robin’s exceptionally clever so can easily finish his work and homework during class. I still find it a mystery why I ended up in the top group with him. The door to the classroom creaked open. I stopped talking and opened my book to look like I was actually preparing some notes.
“Excuse me” someone said behind me, “is this seat taken?”
I looked up, already knowing who I would see standing beside my desk. I glanced over at Robin who was hiding a smirk beneath his clenched fist, before shaking my head and pulling our bags off the seat so Jay could sit down.
He sat down, took out his books and began to write the date at the top of his page. I did the same, refusing to meet his eyes. 
“Umm… I’m sorry for knocking you over this morning” he said after a few minutes of silence. He turned around on his chair to face me, awaiting my response. 
“I…it’s o…k” I stammered, suddenly aware of just how fast my heart was racing and how close he was now sitting. Around 32 centimetres away I’d guess seeing as each chair is normally around 40 centimetres apart but he was angled about 84’ and… I stopped myself, realising that for one my mind was racing just as fast as my heart and two… had I just done a complicated maths sum? Despite the situation, I sat there smiling to myself like an idiot before a nudge from Robin brought me back to reality. 
I was about to say something but at that moment our teacher finally walked in. I glanced at the clock. Only 7 minutes late, that was a record for her. She was as flustered as ever this morning, her bright pink face and clashing orange and pink outfit looking out of place amongst the cream walls and the grey of our school uniform. I fiddled with the collar of my blouse, waiting for her to lay down the textbooks she carries around everywhere with her and start the lesson. She’s one of those really old people who haven’t quite been able to get their heads around the idea of a book shelf let alone a computer yet. She lives alone since her husband died a few years ago so those textbooks have been her only company since then. She’s pretty mad (I swear I once saw her talking to one of those books) but she’s not a bad teacher. The lessons always fly by seeing as all we ever do is answer questions from the books and she gives us little chocolates if we can complete the task she writes on the board. I admit, I’ve only ever got a chocolate once seeing as I was working with Robin then, but it gives us something to work for. So enough about the chocolates and bookshelves and back to the present maths class where I’m staring off into space and Jay is giving me a pretty odd look. Shoot!
I snapped out of my daydream just as Miss Green walked past handing out the books. 
“Page 24, exercise 7, Holly” Miss Green said, laying the book down and walking swiftly to the next desks. I glanced over at Robin who was already on his 2nd question. I gaped, not understanding how anyone could even write that fast. 
I stared down at my book; the numbers swimming around on the page in front of my eyes making me feel dizzy. I made a mental note to get more sleep tonight then wrote down the question and stared at it. Beside me, Jay had just finished the 1st question and I peered over at his answer. His eyes met mine and he smiled, moving his arm out the way so I could see. I knew I should say thank you, or at least look at the answer before Miss Green noticed but my eyes were still locked with his. In the end it was me who looked away or to phrase it better; literally forced my eyes to look down at the page. Stuff the ‘I don’t fancy him at all’ idea I’d had at lunch, he was amazing. “Holly” Miss Green’s voice said softly from beside me. I jumped, not realising she’s been standing there. “You’ve missed out all the workings out, maybe you could get Robin to help you or…”
“I’ll help her” said Jay suddenly. I felt my face flush and my heart speed up even more. Robin kicked me under the table, I could tell he was going to start laughing.
“Why thank you…” Miss Green stopped for a moment staring at him.
“Jay” he said quickly, smiling warmly then glancing over at me who was still struggling to stop even more blood rushing to my face.
She moved on, back to her desk at the front.
Robin snorted, causing me to kick him rather hard.
He continued with his work whilst Jay looked over at my book before taking a pencil and circling part of the question in my exercise book. 
“Ok, so this is the x you want to carry to the other side” he said, showing me step by step how to solve the equation. I was trying to pay attention, I really was, but his voice was so… well perfect. I was listening to the words but not taking any of them in.
“Pay attention, Holly” he said, sounding annoyed with my lack of interest.
“Sorr…” I began, looking up at him and noticing the playful smile playing across his face. I grinned and tried harder to listen. 

The bell rang outside the classroom, signalling the end of the day. He stood up, closing his book and putting it into his bag. How I wished that lesson could have gone on forever. 
“Jay” Miss Green’s voice rang out as everyone began to file out the classroom.
“I’ll catch up with you later” called Robin as he followed the crowd leaving and I pretended that I was having trouble getting my books in my bag so I could listen. “Thanks for helping Holly earlier and as you are new as well I thought you deserved the chocolate for today’s lesson” Miss Green said, handing him a small chocolate wrapping in silver foil. I recognised it as one of the caramel ones. 
“Thank you” he said politely before turning to leave, “come on, Holly” he called.
I felt my heart jump as he said my name, then forced myself to act natural as I followed him out.
“I’m not too keen on chocolate” he muttered to me as he left, “here, you have it”.
“Oh, thank you” I said smiling and hoping that my face wasn’t going to turn pink again. He handed it to me, his fingertips feeling warm against the palm of my hand. 
“Well, I’ve got to catch a bus into town now” he said turning to go, “I’ll see you tomorrow”.
“Bye” I called after him.
There was no hope for me now. I’d fallen too far in just that one day that I didn’t feel as though I could ever love someone else. He was perfect, perfectly amazing. 

I reached block B and hurried towards the dorm room to find Hannah waiting outside.
“Forgot my key” she mumbled, as I approached.
“You ok?” she asked me suddenly, fiddling with a strand of hair “you just look slightly odd”.
“What?!” I screamed at her, wondering if it was my hair, or had I gone bright pink after all. 
She laughed.
“Don’t worry, you just look a lot happier than usual”.
“Remember your key next time” I said grinning at her and changing the subject.
I opened the door and together we walked into the dimly lit room we both shared. On the far wall was a painting of the headmaster [talk about vain] and beneath that were two small wooden beds. My suitcase was shoved beneath my bed beside the wardrobe and a window with the curtains still drawn on the left wall. Hannah’s suitcase was shoved beneath her own bed on the right side. Apart from a small bathroom on the right wall, that was it for our living quarters. 

Hannah bounced onto her bed and collapsed, mumbling about how tired she suddenly felt.
“Come on” I laughed, throwing my pillow at her, “we’ve got that English assignment due in for tomorrow”. She groaned and sat up, tossing my pillow back onto my bed and dropping her school bag at the end of her bed. Beneath the painting of the Head teacher, was a small desk with two chairs and it was here we sat down and pulled out a few sheets of paper each.
“I’ve almost finished actually” Hannah said, flicking through her papers. “How come you are always so organised?” I moaned, looking at my messy pile of notes and the two sentences I’d written down as the introduction. Hannah laughed and volunteered to help me finish.

The road came to a dead end at a tall, stone church. Wilted flowers surrounded the outside of the fence that enclosed the church. I reached out one hand to open the gate then stepped through it and onto the pathway leading up to the entrance. I took a few steps forward, my feet brushing the ground so lightly it felt as though I wasn’t moving at all. The throbbing sound in my ears was getting louder as I neared the church, pounding in a rhythmic beat as I moved. I reached the door and rested my hand upon the iron door handle and pulled. Loud, happy music filled my ears making my mouth stretch into a smile. Flower wreaths lined the carpet that lead past the pews filled with people and towards an alter where a man wearing a black suit faced away from me. I took a few tentative steps into the church, eager to see the face of the man ahead of me but before I had a chance to approach him a familiar face came running towards me. “You’re late” muttered Hannah as she pushed me into the pew by the door before hurrying away again.
“For what?” I called after her but she’d already disappeared into the door beside me. The music in the church was starting to get quieter and the crowds of people fell silent. Hannah slowly emerged from the door beside me wearing the most beautiful white dress I had ever seen. I yearned to reach out and touch it but something held me back. I tried to catch her eye to ask what was going on but she wasn’t paying attention to me. Her eyes were staring towards the man I’d seen earlier who was still facing the alter where a vicar now stood. I leaned forward on my seat, my head spinning. Slowly the man began to turn. He was dressed in a smart black suit with a white shirt and dark coloured trousers. His eyes that stared lovingly towards Hannah were an icy blue colour which I swear I had seen somewhere before and his jet black hair flopped carelessly onto his perfect face. I stared up at him as slowly the scene began to fade so that it felt like I was watching a black and white TV screen. 
He turned to face me and our eyes met but this time I felt nothing but a cold numbness creeping up my back.
“Wake up Holly” he said in a voice that wasn’t his own, “wake up”.

I jerked awake as Hannah tripped over the end of my bed as she ran to the bathroom to brush her hair in front of the mirror. 
“Do I have to get up?” I complained, glancing over at the glowing pink clock on the desk.
“7:00” I exclaimed, “why didn’t you wake me earlier? We have like only 20 minutes left to get to breakfast”.
“Well I tried” she mumbled turning to leave the room, “now hurry up and get dressed”.
I quickly pulled on my school uniform and ran to the mirror to stare at myself as I brushed my hair. Random strands of my chocolate brown hair stuck up at gravity-defying angles which just would not flatten however hard I tried to force them to lie down with the rest of my shoulder-length hair. Seeing as my best friend had left it so late to wake me up I didn’t really have much time to do anything with it so quickly tied it into a ponytail, flicked my side-fringe out of my eyes, grabbed the key and my school bag and hurried out of the dorm.
“Come on Holly” yelled Hannah who was already sitting at a table in the small dining room all the girls shared in the morning.
“Promise me you’ll wake me up on time tomorrow” I muttered to her, whilst eating my breakfast.
“Ok” she said nodding, “but I did try”.
She started to laugh and I couldn’t help joining in. That’s one of the things I like about Hannah, whatever the situation is, she can always make me laugh.

We waited for Robin to join us before going up to the large table in the middle of the room stocked with cereal.
“He’s never late” complained Hannah, checking her watch every few seconds, “it’s normally him waiting for us”.
“Well, he may have gone in already” I said, trying to find an excuse for his odd behaviour, “or maybe he forgot to wait or is ill”.
“No, he would remember and he always texts us if he isn’t going to be here” she muttered, checking her phone.
“Come on, lets just get some food already. Breakfast will be over soon.” I told her. In my rush out of the dorm I’d forgotten my jumper which I now really regretted. 
“Hey, ” we turned to see Robin hurrying towards us. 
“See you guys later” he called to the group of boys standing behind him.
“So, why were you late this morning then?” I asked Robin as he sat down.
“Oh, I was talking to that new kid, Jay. He’s my new room mate” he replied, ignoring mine and Hannah’s open mouths.
Hannah was the first to speak, “When did he move in?”
“Last night really” Robin explained, “some teacher had moved his stuff into my room by the time I got back”.
“Come on” I said changing the subject, “they’ll be out of toast if we don’t hurry up”.

We entered the maths room twenty minutes later to find Jay already sitting at his desk. I was completely aware of the rate of my heart beating as I took my seat and carefully laid my books down onto my desk. 
“Morning” said Jay, smiling at Robin and me.
I smiled back, biting my lip as I tried to remind myself to play cool and casual. 
“Bet Miss Green is going to be at least 10 minutes late today seeing as it’s a Friday and she’s probably fallen asleep whilst walking to school” Robin joked, leaning towards me. I nodded, tilting back on my chair and fiddling with the nib of my pen. 
‘Cool and casual Holly’, I reminded myself focusing on steadying my heart.
I leant back a bit further, hoping to look a little bit more ‘cool and casual’
Crash
The whole class turned to face me, now lying on the floor after just hitting my head on the wall and falling to the ground as the chair slid away beneath me.
It was at this moment that Miss Green decided to walk in. She gave me a disapproving look and said some comment about me wanting to stay there for the whole lesson before moving to her desk and distracting the class from my unfortunate incident.
“Cool and casual, pfft, more like clumsy and careless” I muttered to myself pushing the books away from me that had been dragged down as I fell.
“Well done Holly” laughed Robin as he watched me fail to get to my feet and slip back again. 
Jay was laughing and I felt my face go bright pink, definitely not looking ‘cool’. “Here Holly” he said, reaching out his hand to help me to my feet. I grasped it eagerly, once again marvelling at the warmth radiating from his fingers. It’s at moments like this I wish that time would stand still. I could hold his hand forever, and though I know it didn’t mean anything, I was forcing my mind to pretend it did.
“Umm Holly” he mumbled. I shot back to the present where I was standing up and still gripping tightly to his hand.
“Oh, sorry” I muttered in response letting go of his hand, picking my chair up and sitting down at the desk. 
Robin gave me a smug look. I glared at him.

The rest of my lessons flew by in a blur, including lunch. Me, Hannah and Robin had eaten lunch outside, discussing our days so far. Hannah had tried to question me about Jay but my mind was elsewhere. It was at the end of school I next saw Jay. He was chatting with Jen and they were walking side by side as they boarded the 427 bus for town”. I bit my lip and dragged Hannah and Robin the opposite way.
“Thought we were all going into town?” said Hannah.
“I really don’t feel like it anymore” I muttered, “you two go by yourselves and I’ll go back to the dorm. Or the main floor?
“You ok, Holly?” asked Hannah.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine” I muttered.
“Maybe we could go in tomorrow instead?” suggested Robin, “and we could go watch a movie tonight?”
“Ok” I replied, giving him a smile.
We all walked slowly to the main floor which is the floor between the girls dorms [on the bottom floor] and the boys dorms [on the top floor] where anyone is allowed and four TV screens are situated.
“I saw Jen with Jay” Hannah said quietly, biting her lip as she waited for my response.
I was silent for a few moments before muttering “it’s nothing”.
“You really like him don’t you?” she asked, persistently.
Slowly I nodded my head.
“Don’t worry” she said, putting an arm around me, “as soon as he clocks what she’s like or the stalkers scare him off he’ll be running back to you”.
I started to laugh at just how ridiculous it sounded but the fact that Hannah was trying to comfort me did make me feel better.
“Just think you could be Holly Keine, instead of Holly Gerard, eh?” she joked, making me break out in hysterics.
“Come on, race you back to my house” she said breaking into a run.

That week, Jay had taken to hanging around with us at lunchtimes though everyday after school he’d walk into town with Jen, causing me to feel a pang of jealousy every time I saw them together. It was a few weeks into term when me, Robin and Hannah arrived in school to hear the year 11 rumours flying around school.
“He asked her out…”
“Really?”
“What did she say”?
“I think it was yes”
“No, she said no”
“No, she definitely said yes”
Me, Hannah and Robin entered the Main floor, curious as to whom the rumours were about. There was a hollow feeling in my stomach as Hannah moved around, asking as many people as she could, but they all appeared too distracted to give a straight answer.
The bell rang, so Hannah abandoned her search for the moment and together we filed into the history room and took our seats. A few more people entered, including Jay who was surrounded by around 15 other boys all laughing and talking to him at once. 
“When did he get so popular?” muttered Hannah to me.
The boys sat down and started calling Jay over and pointing at the currently vacant seat beside them. He shook his head, and called “I’ll sit with you guys at break” before moving towards me, Robin and Hannah. 
“Mind if I sit here?” he asked Robin.
Robin shook his head and let Jay take the seat beside him and Hannah.
Jay smiled and took out his books. He caught my eye and grinned. At this moment in time I couldn’t seem to stop smiling. He had chosen to sit on my desk when he could have sat with his other friends. I suddenly felt quite special and as if I actually had a chance with him. So he’d sat with us a few times at lunch but the fact that he did it in front of his friends. That was special wasn’t it?
“So, any idea what the rumours are about today?” asked Hannah, still curious.
“Oh” said Jay starting to laugh. My smile started to get slightly wider, his laughter was contagious and sounded just as smooth as his voice, but in a slightly different tone. 
“Well,” said Jay, “I asked Jen out yesterday”.

I don’t believe I could have had a bigger mood swing. One moment I was so happy and hopeful and felt so amazing and the next I felt like I was trapped inside a dark hole and every time I tried to climb out I’d slip down a bit further until I could no longer see the light at the top. I looked down at my work, hiding my face with my hair and watched as the ink on the paper blurred before my eyes. I blinked a few times, sending a few droplets of water onto the page. I quickly dabbed it dry then used my jumper sleeve to dry my eyes. I was barely aware of Hannah rambling on about ‘how interesting that was’ in her desperate attempt to cover up her surprise and distract him from me. At that moment in time, everything felt hopeless. There was nothing I could do. If he had liked me, he had the chance to ask me out, but he’d preferred Jen. Who wouldn’t? Strangely I didn’t feel jealous though. I didn’t like Jen, but the fact that it had been Jay’s choice just made me feel sad. I’d been too scared to say anything to him and now, if I did, he might feel awkward and not want to hang out with me anymore. I just had to accept, there was nothing I could do.
Mr Kruse, our History teacher was unusually late that day. We waited around 15 minutes before he finally arrived, dressed in a roman suit of armour and grinning at us all.
“Sorry I’m late” he apologised quickly, picking up a wooden sword from behind his desk and swinging it around his hand, “I had to get my armour out of the store cupboard. You can’t imagine just how untidy things are in there”. I forced myself to laugh as he began to prance around the classroom asking us questions about the Romans and acting out some of the battles. A few times Jay tried to catch my eye but I looked away quickly, pretending I was as interested in History as everyone else in the class appeared to be at this moment in time. The bell outside rang for break and Mr Kruse dismissed us. “Meet you outside” called Hannah as she was swept away by the crowd of students fighting to get through the door. Me, Robin and Jay hung back, waiting for the crowd to clear before moving out the classroom.
“Are you ok, Holly?” asked Jay, moving to stand beside me. Typical boy, couldn’t he tell I was anything but ok? I forced myself to nod and made up some excuse about not feeling well. What was I supposed to say? ‘Oh by the way Jay, I really like you and am pretty upset you prefer Jen to me’. 
“Come on Holly, lets go” said Robin, catching on pretty quickly, grabbing my hand and directing me towards the door. “See you later” he called over his shoulder to Jay as we made a quick exit and left him standing in the classroom on his own.

We met up with Hannah outside, sitting on our bench. She was eating a packet of cheese and onion crisps and offered us some as we approached. 
“No thanks” I muttered, taking a seat on the bench and running a hand through my hair. 
“You ok?” asked Hannah after a moments silence.
“Yes, I’m fine” I said forcing myself to smile at her. She didn’t look convinced but picked up on the fact I didn’t want to talk about it and so stayed quiet. We sat in silence for the rest of break, Hannah and Robin on either side of me.
The bell rang causing me to jump. We rose from our seats and made our way to French.
Bzzzzzzz
The familiar sound of the intercom bursting into life caught my attention as we entered the school building.
“Students of South Lake School” rang out the headmaster’s deep voice, “could Nicole Kree, Matt Smith and Holly Gerard please come to my office”. Holly and Jay both turned to me, “Holly” muttered Hannah, giving my hand a squeeze, “any idea what he wants?”
I shook my head.
“Well, umm good luck” said Robin as they arrived at our classroom door. I walked on, towards the Headmaster’s office feeling somewhat abandoned by my friends. Was I in trouble? I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong. Maybe it would be about my grades? But so far I was getting mostly As and Bs in all my subjects so that probably wasn’t going to be it. I reached the door and stood outside for a minute, wondering if there was any chance I could run and hide somewhere. Before I could make up my mind, the door swung open and the headmaster’s smiling face appeared.
Ok, so this wasn’t what I had expected.

I wandered in to see Nicole and Matt already there. 
“Don’t look so worried you three” said the Headmaster, closing the door behind him and taking a seat at his desk which was currently overflowing with paperwork. 
“Well, getting onto business, the reason I’ve called you three in here is because of a certain competition being held in Bristol” he explained, tossing a packet of cigarettes between his hands. “It’s being held for Year 12 students and you three were chosen to take part. The school will pay all expenses and it’s only for a weekend so I’m sure this would be an exciting opportunity for you three. The main prize is one hundred books for the school library and one thousand pounds for the winner. You’re parents have already been contacted and they are quite happy for you to take part so, would you like to?”
I didn’t care much about the books for the library as hardly anyone [except the geeks] ever went there, but I had wanted a new bike, and a new phone and a load of other stuff. “I’ll do it Mr Peterson, but umm… we’re only in Year 11” said Nicole speaking up. Me and Matt slowly nodded our agreement.
“Ah yes, the competition is next year though” he exclaimed, grinning at us all and shoving the packet of cigarettes into his pocket before checking his watch and standing up. “I have a meeting to attend now but I expect to see you three in here after school at 3:00 so I can give you more details”.

“Come in, come in Miss Gerard” said Miss Price in her thick French accent. I took my seat beside Hannah, Robin and another girl named Charlotte at the back of the room.
“We’re watching a film” Charlotte whispered to me as I started to get my exercise book out.
“Thanks” I said, dropping the book back into my bag and turning to face the front. Miss Price was struggling to make the DVD player work and was swearing in French under her breath, oblivious to the fact that we all understood what she was saying. The screen flickered into life and a picture of the Eiffel tower appeared on the screen. A man at the bottom right of the screen began talking in French about how and when the Eiffel tower was built. I don’t really enjoy French much but I managed to understand enough of what he was saying so that by the end of the lesson I knew the architect was Gustave Eiffel, it was made of steel and it took 3 years to build plus a few other details. I had also added a few extra French swear words to my vocabulary. 
“Continuing with French Architecture, there will be a test on the information provided in that video” Miss Price said, turning off the TV, “I expect you to revise sentences to describe the Eiffel Tower from these sheets”. She handed out the sheets then went back to her desk and sat down, “Well, it’s lunch time now so au revoir”.
“Au revoir” everyone repeated. She nodded and we stood up to leave.

Once we were outside the classroom, Hannah and Robin started their questioning. 
“So, what did Old Peterson want then?” asked Hannah.
“Well,” I said slowly, “I’ve been entered in a poetry contest”.
They both glanced at each other and then started to laugh.
“Guys” I muttered, as those near-by turned to stare, “can we discuss this in my room?”
They both nodded and together we hurried towards Block B, Robin and Hannah suppressing their laughter the whole way, and ran into mine and Hannah’s dorm. We shut the door behind us, aware of the fact that boys weren’t allowed in the girls dorm, and jumped onto Hannah’s bed.
“Ok, enough with the laughter” I said, giving them a moment to shut up.
“You’re in a poetry competition?” asked Hannah, who was currently forcing her self to stay calm, “but that means you have to write a poem”.
“I know, I know” I muttered, “but there’s a huge amount of prize money and I thought I could give it ago”.
“Ok Holly” spoke up Robin, “good luck with that”. They both burst into hysterics again. “
Is it that ridiculous that I’m supposed to write a poem?” I mumbled. “I’m ok with writing short, simple stories. I don’t think they’re that different”.
“Umm, Holly” said Robin, “poems have to rhyme”.
“Well, no, actually they don’t” argued Hannah, “but the sentences have to have a certain rhythm to them I think”.
“Well, maybe you two should ask to enter instead of me” I said, standing up and walking out the room to get lunch on my own. Why did they have such little faith in me? I could do this… I would do this. I’d enter just to prove them wrong.

The lunch hall was rather crowded today and so it took me twenty minutes of queuing just to get my lunch. It was mashed potato, peas and tomato pasta with chocolate ice cream for pudding that on any other day would have looked absolutely delicious but today it just looked like a colourful blur on my plate as I pushed it around with my fork. Hannah and Robin had followed me into the lunch hall but though they kept trying to start a conversation with me, I continued to ignore them. We sat at our table in silence until Robin finally spoke, “Holly, we’re really sorry. We just found it funny at the time but we’re behind you all the way if you really want to enter”. 
“Well, they’ve already asked my parents if I can and they’d be so disappointed if I dropped out of ‘such a great opportunity’” I finished, using my fingers to quote. Hannah and Robin both grinned that I’d finally spoken to them again, “and…” I continued, “I want to see if I can do it. I want to prove it to myself, really”.
“I see” said Hannah putting her arm around me, “well, we believe in you”.
I snorted, and we all burst out laughing.
“Anyway, my parents are expecting me to enter I suppose, though it would be nice if they got in contact with me once in a while. They’re off working in Canada at the moment I think, doing some research on animals there”
“You missing them?” asked Robin.
“Kind of, they missed last parent visit and I got a letter a few months ago saying that I’d have to stay at school for this summer holiday as they’re going to be away. Hey, they care about animals more than their own daughter” I replied, clenching my teeth and taking a deep breath.
“Hey, cheer up Holly” Robin said giving me a hug, “we’re staying too”.
“Yes, but that’s your own choice” I laughed, “and your parents will be visiting”.
The bell rung, signalling the end of lunch and we quickly gathered up our plates and placed them on the washing table. 
“It’s Chemistry next” Hannah said, staring at her timetable “then we’ve got ICT”.

After putting up with Dr Grey’s long description of atoms and Miss Robinson’s voice droning on about safety in the ICT suite, the bell at the end of the day was a welcomed sound. 
“I’ll see you guys later” I called to Robin and Hannah as I made my way to the Principals Office at 3:00. As I passed reception, a young woman’s voice called my name. I turned around to see the blonde receptionist hurrying towards me, clutching something in her hand.
“Holly Gerard isn’t it?” she said, smiling.
I nodded, wondering what she wanted.
“I’ve got this here for you,” she said, handing me a letter then hurrying back to the reception desk without waiting for a reply. I turned it over in my hand so I could read the address on the front. The school’s address had been written in smudged black ink but my mother’s curly handwriting still stood out.