Before you go.

Chapter 1: The English assignment. [HAZELS POV]

The first day back at school was busy. Even busy would be an understatement, it was packed.

Everybody streamed into school, The sound of chatter passed me by as I made my way further down the hallway. I could hear snippets of some conversations. Most people were gushing about how excited they were to start a new year of school, some people were sad break was over, but I didn’t care what they thought.

I turned round the corner and jumped slightly as a shrill shriek reached my ears.

“Hazel!” I looked up and saw my bestfriend Sophia hurrying over to me. She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me into a firm, warm hug. I laughed and leaned into her embrace for a moment before pulling back.

“Hey Soph, how was Paris?” Soph started rambling on about her trip, when I suddenly spotted Ben, Sophs boyfriend, creeping up towards her from behind. He flashed me a goofy grin and held a finger to his lips as he crept even closer. I stifled a laugh and waited.

“Yeah, and then we visited…” Soph kept rambling on, unaware of what was awaiting behind her.

“BOO!” Ben grabbed Sophs shoulders and she yelped in surprise. I doubled over on the floor with laughter, while passers-by gave us strange looks. Soph angrily slapped him on the arm, but Ben & I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face, it was priceless!” Tears started rolling down my cheeks as I gasped for air, my stomach now cramping from all the laughter. Soph frowned down at me and lightly slapped my arm.

“You *******! Did you know about this?!” I nodded frantically as the laughter just kept coming out, Soph sighed and pulled me up from the floor. I wiped the tears from my eyes as the laughter died down, and turned to Soph sheepishly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just couldn’t ruin it.” I giggled as Soph looked back to Ben again. He wasn’t laughing anymore, but you could tell from the look on his face that he had also found it hilarious.

“I can’t believe you did that.” Ben laughed and slung an arm around her shoulder. Soph tried to play it cool and shrug him off, but the slight smile tugging at her lips gave away her true feelings. Ben pulled Soph into a kiss while I stood there in silence. It went on for a full 2 minutes before the bell rung. Thank god, 2 more minutes of watching this and I would’ve puked.

I said my goodbyes to Soph & Ben and pulled out my schedule. My first class was English with Mr Evanson. I grabbed my English supplies and made my way over to class A-10. I recognised a few familiar faces in the class, but nobody that I personally knew. My gaze wandered around the classroom before stopping on a boy sitting in the back reading. I couldn’t see his face clearly, but I don’t think I had seen him before.

I made my way over to his desk and sat down next to him. The thud of my books hitting the wood desk startled him, and he quickly looked up at me with a glare on his face.

“What’s your problem, can’t you see I’m trying to read?” I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and looked into his eyes. They were a deep brown, almost hazel. He noticed me gazing at him and clicked his fingers, causing his curly hair to bounce slightly with the movement of his shoulder.

“Hello? I’m talking to you.” I snapped out of my trance and cleared my throat. He seemed bored, but put his book down to listen to me.

“Sorry… I’m Hazel, I just wanted to introduce myself and say welcome to Willowdale high!” The boy stared at me blankly, I waited patiently for any kind of response. Suddenly, he grumbled and slammed his book down hard on the desk.

“Seriously? We’ve been in the same class since year 8, Lucas Gibson?” I felt my cheeks burn a deep red and I looked at my feet in embarrassment. I couldn’t believe that I had forgotten who he was. Suddenly, I heard Lucas chuckling. I looked up to see him laughing hysterically, book back in hand.

“What?” I looked at him quizzically and he turned to look at me, the look of amusement slowly growing on his face.

“I’m just messing with you, it’s my first day here.” I suddenly felt a weight lift off my chest in relief, but that relief quickly turned to anger.

“Seriously? You’re an *******.” I angrily grabbed my books to move to another seat, which is when Mr Evanson walked in. He looked straight at me and set his laptop down on the teachers desk.

“Hazel Spencer, where do you think you’re going?” I tried to walk over to an empty desk, but Mr Evanson just pointed down at the one I was at with a stern look on his face.

“Sorry Hazel. You’ve chosen your desk. I’m afraid that’s your assigned seat for the rest of the year.” I huffed and slammed my books back down at the desk, Lucas was still chuckling in the seat beside me, but I blocked him out.

I sat down as the lesson begun and tried to listen to what Mr Evanson was saying, but all I could think about was Lucas. What an ass. If I hadn’t got distracted talking to him, I wouldn’t be stuck here. If he makes one more smartass comment, I swear I’ll-

“Hazel!” I snapped out of my daydream and looked up, Mr Evanson was standing in front of my desk with a sheet of paper in his hands.

“Here’s your English assignment, you’ll be working on it over the term. Your partner is whoevers seated next to you, if you were paying attention you would’ve already known this.” I took the sheet from him and he moved around the class handing out the assignment to everybody else. I sighed and slowly turned to look over at Lucas, he was frowning and looking at the assignment quizzically. I sighed and put down the paper, which caused him to look up at me.

“So, I guess this makes us partners then.” Lucas leaned back in his seat and huffed, clearly bothered by the thought of working with me.

“Seriously, who hands out an assignment on the first day back?” Mr Evanson fixed Lucas with a glare, and cleared his throat loudly.

“Me, and you’d better get used to it Lucas. Just because you’re new doesn’t mean you get to slack off.” Lucas muttered swears under his breath and kicked his feet up onto the desk. He turned his attention to the window, and didn’t realise that he had just kicked his assignment off his desk. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his assignment before it could fly onto the ground.

“This is important Lucas, look, why don’t we meet after school and discuss more about the assignment?” Lucas just laughed and grabbed his assignment back from my hands.

“I’m good, and if I were you, I’d spend less time worrying about stupid things such as English assignments.” I sighed and went to respond when the bell suddenly rang, and everybody started making their way out of the class.

Lucas quickly grabbed his bag and shoved his stuff into it. He lazily pushed in his chair, and made his way out the classroom. When he reached the door, he turned around and glared at me.

“You’d better find a new partner, I work alone.” He slung his bag over his shoulder and opened the door.

I stood helplessly as I watched him walk off, I couldn’t believe that I had gotten paired up with such a tool. it seems like this year was going to be a long and painful one.