Thank you for your patience concerning this story, it's pretty hard to write. :)


At school the next morning, Jack wasn’t in tutor. It made things rather boring, but it also made Will talk non-stop. He was still intent on finding out everything about Jack, and why he was there. Of course, Laura and I wouldn’t answer his questions. On the scale of popularity, he was miles lower than us, which meant we did not answer to him. Will, unsurprisingly, wouldn’t listen. I ‘accidentally’ kicked him in the shin to shut him up.



I was sitting with Laura and Benjie at lunch time, when I felt arms around my waist, and a person pressed against my back. Laura bit her lip to stop from giggling. I didn’t need to turn around to know who was wrapped around me.
“What?” I smiled, pretending to moan. Jack laughed behind me, and I laughed with him. Benjie and Laura discreetly moved a safe distance away, allowing Jack to say what he had to say. Instead of talking in his normal voice, Jack leant in, and whispered close to my ear.
“We are still on for Friday, aren’t we?” I giggled, feeling like a six-year-old.
“Is that a yes?” He laughed with me. Nodding, I agreed. Jack walked around from behind me, and sat opposite me. Benjie and Laura took this as a signal to return to the conversation.

Chapter 2 – Dreaming Is Believing

Friday night came around in a blink. I met Jack outside the cinema, and I was almost speechless. Almost. His hair seemed darker in the dim evening light, and he was leaning against the wall, staring into my eyes. Unwillingly, I found myself smiling nervously. My heart skipped a beat when he took my hand, and led me inside.   

Everything looked black and white in the dusky twilight, like a badly edited photo. It was only just edging towards evening, but the sun was already long gone, disappearing behind the clouds. The sky had twisted itself into piles of angry-looking storm clouds. I laid myself down on a gnarled log, and watched the castle in the distance. With every passing second, it seemed to move slightly closer, until I could make out windows; empty, darkened windows.

Ignoring the birds that were noisily squawking above me, I focussed on the rolling waves. Each one crashed into the shore with force greater than the last. The pebbles that the foaming waves brought in scraped against one another, creating a sound more unpleasant than nails on a blackboard.

The scene was so beautiful. But unnerving. It was loud, but still silent. The castle, drifting silently closer to the shore, had got so much closer. I grasped a branch of the tree trunk I was laid upon. The noise cut out. The birds shut their beaks and disappeared from the scene. Each wave stopped in unison, the ocean suddenly still and unmoving. In an instant, everything was much scarier than it had been. And it was deathly quiet.

After a long conversation with Jack, and an argument with my teacher about me using my phone, it turned out that I was going out with Jack that Friday night. As I walked out of the class with one of my friends, Jack grabbed my hand, and he wouldn’t let it go. I tried pulling it out of his grip, but as soon as it was free, his hands reached around my waist. This position was slightly harder to escape. I twisted around, and ended up about three inches from Jack’s face. My eyes were straight in line with his lips. They were set in a smug smile.
“So, you’ll meet me at the cinema on Friday?” His voice came out as a sweet whisper.
“Will I? I don’t know.” His grip tightened around my waist, pulling me closer, so my forehead was pressed against his mouth.
“Do you want to?” He asked, knowing I wouldn’t be able to say no. I slowly nodded my head while Jack’s smile widened. 
“Good,” His shoulders shook lightly, he was laughing. I looked up, and pulled a sulky face at him, which only made him laugh harder. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Now, I would love to stay, but I have a bus to catch. See you later.” I tried to detangle myself from his grip, but his hands stayed firmly in place. Instead, he lifted me off the ground, only by a couple of inches, but it brought me eye to eye with him. He winked, and kissed my nose.
“Bye then.” He winked as I began to walk away. I sighed.

All of us got put in isolation for a day for being outside when we were supposed to be in class. With other kids, they would have got away with just a detention. My friends and I had been caught out of class so many times, and Jack and Benjie were just always in trouble. So they ended up in isolation with us. The problem with putting so many kids in isolation is that we all get cramped in one room, and a small one at that, and they haven’t got enough tables to sit us separately. I ended up sharing a single desk with Jack, and, although we all had work set for us, nothing got done. Which is how we all ended up in isolation for a second day. The second day, we got even less done. Jack held my hand through the whole of the afternoon, and he literally would not let go. I tried to wriggle free numerous times, but he was many times stronger than me, and I was no match for him. So I sat, with his pleasantly warm hand clasping mine tightly. Since I didn’t do anything that day either, Jack and I ended up with another day. That day, though, there were enough tables free to sit us at opposite ends of a room. Jack sat and stared at me for a couple of hours, and I kept working. I’m pretty sure that he knew I was playing hard to get.  

When I got home, my mum was sat at the table. She had that expression on her face that told me to be very careful with how I proceeded.
“What?” I asked. She shook her head. My mum is a single mother, and I’m her only child. The man who must be my dad ran out on us when I was six. I can remember him, but the only memories I have are of him hitting my mum and coming home drunk. Just after my sixth birthday, he and my mum had a huge argument and he left. Mum kept telling herself that he would come back, but he never did. She dated for a while when I was about nine, but she never found anyone else. Nervous, I kept walking towards the door. I flinched as Mum said my name. The tone of her voice made it very clear that I was in trouble.
“I got an email from school. You were in isolation? For three days, and you didn’t even mention it?” Usually, Mum was really laid-back. I had always been a really good kid, and I hadn’t ever really got into much trouble. Mum looked at me as a spun around slowly.
“And? I was late for class and my head teacher is a bit of an absolute cow” My mum raised her eyebrows, but I ignored her and walked off. She stared after me, and I kept walking.

I called Jack that night, and he told me that he had another day in isolation. That meant that the only time I would be able to see him would be at lunchtime. I wasn’t best pleased, but he didn’t have to know that, so I kept my mouth shut. He just made sure that I was coming on Friday, and then I said my goodbye and hung up. As I walked towards my room, I grinned a secret smile to myself. That night, I dreamt of Jack.

The next day, a Tuesday, I walked into my tutor group classroom, Room 56, in the maths block. I was very late, and chatting to Laura (who was also very late). Mr Williams, our tutor, looked at us, but didn’t say anything. I smiled innocently up at him, and he rolled his eyes. I turned around to take my seat, to find Jack Brown in my chair. Next to him, my normal partner, Will, was looking terrified out of his skin. He knew about Jack’s reputation. I went over to him, every eye in the class on me.
“That’s my seat.” I said to Jack. He looked up at me, blank.
“So?” He asked. I looked over at Laura, and I could see that she was trying not to laugh at the situation.
“So, I need to sit down. So move.” I spelt it out, like he was four years old. He looked up at me innocently, eyes wide.
“Get this guy to move, Jen. Then you can sit there.” He was trying to win. Will was terrified, and I could see it on his face. I could feel myself going red with anger.
“My name is Jenni.” I said, and Jack’s innocent smile disappeared, replaced by a smirk.
“Will, move.” I added, turning to him. Will, scared, gathered all his stuff, and got up, letting me sit down next to Jack. Frantically, Will ran to a spare seat on the other side of the classroom. I took his seat, dropping my handbag (which, against the rules, I was using as a school bag) on the floor next to me. Paying no attention to Jack, I got out my phone, and began to text Laura, who immediately got out her phone and started typing. I was painfully aware of the whole class staring at Jack and me, but I carried on ignoring the elephant in the room.

Minutes passed with the whole class in utter silence. Eventually, they got bored, and began to quietly chatting between themselves. Jack turned to me, and broke the silence between us.
“Jenni? You gonna even speak to me?” I put my phone down on the table, and turned to him.
“What are you doing here? Why are you in my seat? What did Belle say to you? Why do you hate me?” I shot at him, rapidly. I turned back to my phone. Laura had texted me.
‘Nice.’ I glanced across at her, and she was sat a sarcastic expression on her face. Jack turned to me.
“Number One, I have to come here in the mornings because I got kicked out of my tutor. Number Two, I thought no-one was sat here, since you were so late. Number Three, Belle told me that you were taking our seats on the bus, and that you were flirting with Benjie, and that I should stay right away from you. Number Four, I don’t hate you. Not at all.” For a couple of seconds, we just stared at each other. I was trying to retain all the information he had given me.
“I’ll try and remember that.” I grinned; we had a truce, an unspoken truce.

At break time that day, Jack arrived while I was in the middle of talking to Benjie and Laura. He joined our little group and smiled at me. Laura looked on, confused; Benjie looked amused, but still wary.
“Hey, Jenni.” Jack put emphasis on my name, referencing our argument earlier. I smiled, and stuck my tongue out at him. Benjie grinned and carried on our conversation.
“Now, Laura, what were you saying?” Laura wasn’t listening, though, she was staring at Jack. I looked at Jack, and he was staring at me.
“What?” I asked. He shook his head, dismissively.

Jack showed up almost every morning in tutor, and Will always got kicked out of his seat. Everyone could tell that Mr Williams wasn’t best pleased, but he didn’t do anything about it. Laura had taken the seat in front of us, along with another of our friends, Charlie. The kids in front of us moved without a murmur. We ruled the place. When Jack wasn’t there, Will plagued me with questions like: “Why’s he here? Why are you friends with him? Why do I have to move? Why doesn’t he wear a blazer like normal people? Why don’t you wear your blazer? Why does Laura have to sit right near us?”  At the end of his torrent of questions, I told him to shut his blabbering mouth or I would tear his lips off his face. He didn’t say another word. I wonder why.   

A few weeks passed, and every day, Jack and I became closer. He would always laugh at my jokes, and would sometimes meet me outside my classes. I found that I had a slight crush on him. Every time he was around, I was constantly fiddling with my hair, and fluttering my eyelashes. I don’t know if Jack noticed, but Laure and Benjie definitely did, and they confronted me about it one lunchtime, when Jack was in a detention. Apparently, he threw a book at his French teacher! I found it hilarious (his French teacher did not).

As soon as I got out of my lunchtime detention, Benjie and Laura grabbed me and took me aside. Laura looked me in the eye, and said
“Do you like Jack?” I stared at her, pretending to have no idea what she was talking about. I simply answered,
“He’s my friend.” Benjie rolled his eyes at me, and said,
“No, you idiot. Do you like Jack? All you ever do is flutter your eyelashes and twiddle your hair.” I stared at him, playing stupid.
“He’s my friend,” I repeated. Laura and Benjie exchanged a look. I sighed and said to them,
“I promised I would meet Jack outside his detention. It ends in five minutes. Bye guys.” I walked off. Outside Room 5, where I knew Jack was having his detention, I leant against the wall. After a couple of minutes, people started trickling out of the door. Jack was, of course, the last out. He saw me, and grinned. I blushed as he grabbed my hand and led me out of the building. Just outside the building, Laura and Benjie were waiting for us. We stopped dead as they stared at our interlocked hands. I thought that Jack would drop my hand as soon as they saw, but he didn’t. He just gave it a squeeze and started a conversation with Benjie. I literally couldn’t speak when he held my hand. Benjie was talking to Jack, and Laura kept staring at our hands. Jack was still holding my hand as the four of us walked over to where we usually sit. There were so many people sitting around our table, that I didn’t have a seat. Jack looked up and saw me stood awkwardly behind him. He took my hand again, and pulled me onto his lap. I sat there, his arms around my waist, holding me upright. Instead of eating the sandwich I had in my bag, I sat there, talking to Laura, who sat next to us. This time, it was Laura who carried on talking while Benjie sat there, staring. I saw him staring, and merely shrugged in his direction.

It didn’t take long for the bell to ring. Laura and I began to walk away, but Jack wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back against him.
“Where you going?” he whispered in my ear. I shivered, and said,
“Math?” There was a questioning note in my voice.
“Not yet you’re not.” He held me tightly against him. I was left breathless.
“Where am I going, then?” I asked him, spinning around in his grasp. My movement brought our faces just inches apart. I gazed up into his eyes, and he gazed down into mine.

“Why are all of you still out here?!” a voice interrupted from behind me. Jack wouldn’t let go, so I had to manoeuvre to turn around. It was our head teacher. Jack still wouldn’t let go of my waist. I could see the head taking in the image of a Year 10 with his arms wrapped around a Year 8. It wasn’t the first time that the absurdity of my situation hit me. Suddenly, I so badly wanted to laugh, but I knew that that wouldn’t go down well. Our head teacher looked at the group of us, obviously expecting us to go to class. I expect I would have, if Jack wasn’t still wrapped around me. Instead, I stood there, protected by Jack, and biting the inside of my cheeks to stop from laughing.

Our head teacher had us all put in a lunch time detention the next day, and told us all to get to class. Even after getting caught and told off, Jack still escorted me to my math class. I went in, and I was really late. Laura wasn’t in my class, so I had no-one to hide behind. My teacher just looked at me, and I grinned back at her.
“Where have you been?” she asked. Jack appeared behind me, and said,
“With me.” Something about the look on his face must have scared her. Jack’s tall, and broad. I must have looked tiny in front of him, but I kept a straight face, and innocently looked up at my teacher. She backed away, and Jack whispered to me.
“Go and sit down. Call me if she says anything.” With that, he slipped a piece of paper into my back pocket and left the room. I looked around. Everyone was staring. I slipped into my seat in the back corner, and decided I didn’t care if everyone stared. I just sat there while my teacher blabbered on about something about algebra. I remembered the paper in my back pocket. Discreetly, I pulled it out and unfolded it. It said,
“Text me, we’ll go out sometime.” I blushed, and folded it back up again. The girl next to me was staring at me and the folded note in my hand.
“Are you going out with him?” She asked. I shook my head, and then started to think about it. The note was, essentially, asking me out. Discreetly, I got my phone out under the table. I

entered the number and sent Jack a text. He texted straight back.

Jennifer's Dreams

I’ll never forget the summer I changed. I wasn’t trying to. OK, I was, but not that much. I was moving to a new school, and it seemed like a big step. It was. I wanted to completely reinvent myself. I didn’t want to be that shy, teachers pet any more. I could change; no-one knew me, or what I was like before that school. On the very first morning, I vowed to myself that I had to change. I wanted to be a confident person, comfortable in her own skin. One of those people who can always say Life Goes On. I am now, but it was a very long road to get to where I am. It took a year, but it felt like a decade. Anyway, the road that I had to go down to get here is a winding, twisted and rough lane. I changed from ‘Jen’ to this girl I named ‘Jenni.’ Jenni. That’s me. I think…

 

Chapter 1 – Seeing Is Deceiving

On my first day of my new school, I thought everything through, kept my head high, and walked into that first registration session. My tutor put a boy called Cody in charge of showing me around. He had dark brown hair that swept across his forehead, and olive skin. He turned out to be the most irritating person I had ever come across. Despite his annoying nature, I had to start somewhere. Immediately, everyone in my tutor group knew I was someone who was not to be messed with. That day, I wasn’t the old Jen that wouldn’t even answer a question in class for fear of looking stupid. I was Jenni, the new, confident, comfortable girl.

 

During that first break time, a girl came bouncing up to me, and started telling me about how the school works. Not the regular rules that they tell you about in assembly, the ones about cliques, and the zones each year is confined to (the unofficial ones). She then went on about every person in our class. She was named Laura, and she was quite obviously one of the popular kids. With blonde, straight hair, kept up in a stylish bun, and a slim physique, she was beautiful. To tell the truth, I was glad to have some guidance. I definitely didn’t want to get in the way of the Year 11’s.   

 

The people in my class (with the exception of Laura) were scared of me. To some extent, the teachers were scared of me. I had a blonde bob, with plenty of black eyeliner and mascara. My shirt was never tucked in, and my skirt was really short. Since I didn’t care what the teachers had to say, they couldn’t do anything to stop me. Laura and I ruled the place. I hardly knew what I was doing, I just did it. I acted, and then thought, not the other way around. Sometimes, I was scared of me!

 

A couple of weeks in, I got bored on the bus. So, on the way home, I got together with a few of my friends (not Laura, she took the train home), and went and sat at the back of the bus, where the Year 10s and Year 11s sat. We didn’t know it was ‘unacceptable,’ which is how Belle, a Year 10, put it, when she came to make us move. We wouldn’t. Her and her friends tried to make us move, but, after failing, they sat on the seats in front of us. We began to celebrate, and we were rudely interrupted.

“You wait until Jack Brown comes. He will kill you if you sit there,” came a smooth voice from the seat in front of us. I just rolled my eyes, and carried on celebrating our victory with my friends. What were they going to do? I wasn’t scared of the teachers, and I definitely wasn’t afraid of them.

 

I was sat with one of my friends from Year 10, Benjie. It was morning break, and I had just got out of a detention. Benjie had waved me over, so I dragged Laura over with me, and we sat down with him and his friends. They were the kind of boys that wore hoodies instead of their blazers, and were constantly in detention. Actually, that’s how I met Benjie; he had a detention in history at the same time as me. We were sat there, and conversation turned to Jack Brown. From what I gathered, he was the leader of their little ‘gang,’ and he was off for a broken arm. The rumours said that he broke it in a fight with one of the town’s biggest guys. Everyone said that Jack was not to be messed with. One of the guys was saying about how tough Jack was, and I was beginning to worry that he might hate me, and want me out, when Benjie leant over and whispered in my ear.

“Don’t stress about Jack, you can take him.” Was it that obvious that I was worried? Benjie grinned knowingly at me. I smiled back. Laura poked me in the back, and raised her eyebrows at me.

 

Although Laura wasn’t hugely pleased about it, we ended up sitting with Benjie and his friends almost every day. Our friends in our own year were too scared to come with us. We may be the tough kids in our year, but put up against the tough kids in Year 10, we were nothing. And even the girls with dyed hair and hoodies, or the guys with hoodies and trainers wouldn’t go near them. But compared to Benjie and co, our friends were, to be honest, boring.

A few weeks passed in perfect routine. I sat at the back of the bus, had a small fight with Belle (which I always won), got detentions through break and lunch, sat with Benjie, got told off for my uniform, did nothing to change it. Then I got back on the bus, had a small fight with Belle (which I, again, won), and went home again. Life actually did go on for a while. Until Jack Brown turned up, that is.

Laura and I were sat, as usual, with Benjie and his mates, when one of the guys came up with another boy. The new boy was tall, broad, with hair sweeping across his face. His smile was mysterious and cheeky at the same time. Benjie mouthed at me,                                                                                                              “Jack Brown, be cool.” I gave him a withering look. Teachers didn’t scare me; I was definitely not going to lose my cool over some guy I didn’t even know. Jack turned to me.
“You’re new. Who are you?” it wasn’t rude, but it wasn’t especially friendly either.
“Jenni Jones. And you are?” I wasn’t rude either, but I was slightly sarcastic, with a sickly sweet smile, making it very clear that I knew exactly who he was.
“Ah, you’re Jenni Jones. I’ve heard about you from Belle White.” His slight smile faded, and his eyes turned hard.
“Fantastic,” I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm. Benjie tried, with signs and looks, to get me to calm down, seeing that I was getting angry.  Benjie was friends with me, but he was also friends with Belle, which meant he wouldn’t talk smack about her in school. We just avoided the subject in general. Anyway, Jack didn’t accept me straight into the group like the others had, but he didn’t make me leave.

Hi there. At the moment, I am writing a story/novel type thing called Jennifer's Dream. I'll post a bit of it every time I can. Please do leave a comment, but if you hate, I will know about it. And I will delete it. Thanks guys!!!