"Hey, Ari! What homework did we get today?"

"English and history, I think," she replied.

"What do we have to do in English?"

"Write a stupid poem about something."

I heard a voice in the background, and Ari's voice suddenly went quiet.

"Jessi, I gotta go."

"Why? Are you busy?"

"It's just.. Something! Bye."

"No, don't g-"

But she already hung up. I pulled my phone away from my ear and stared at the screen. She hung up on me.

Ariana never left a call first. I'd always be the one to click the 'end call' button. Not her. Whatever the reason, it must've been very important because she wasn't acting herself. Not her cheerful, bubbly self.

I sighed and snuggled further under the duvet. It was Sunday night, just gone eleven thirty and I had suddenly wondered if we had gotten any homework I hadn't written down - plus, I just wanted a friend to talk to. And Ari was my closest friend.

. . .

"I assume you've all done your English homework, hmm?" Mr Trail raised his eyebrows expectantly. A low murmur of tired "yes" and several "no's" sounded throughout the classroom, causing Mr Trail to fold his arms.

"Detention for all the students who didn't do their homework. For now, you'll have to listen to the wonderful poems written by the pupils who did do their homework."

They groaned and slumped further in their seats.

"Okay, we'll go through register order and I want you to read your poem. If it's long, only read two verses. We'll start with..." He flicked through the register. "Rebecca Ann."

He went through the register, calling out names and listening to each person's poem. Some were good, some were awful, some were amazing. I read mine out in a loud, clear voice. I wasn't sure if mine was good or not, but I made sure to always read with confidence.

"...And the roses in the field,

Lay dead and wilted."

A quiet applaud went off as I blushed like a tomato. We went through several more poems before we got to Ariana's.

She read out her poem shyly, and we all listened closely. It was so good.

A short applause. Mr Trail smiled and said, "Very good, Miss Neal. Did you spend a lot of time on that?"

Ari blushed but didn't smile. "Mm... Not really?"

"Is that a question?"

"Is it a bad thing if I say it took me two minutes?"

What? How did she do that poem in two minutes when it was so... Real? Like she knew what she was talking about. Surely she's lying. Definitely. No other answer for it.

"Well, I did say spend at least thirty minutes on your poem... But if you're a natural writer then I suppose I was a little harsh on you. Never mind, it was excellent. Next person on the register..."

Ari sat down awkwardly, pushing her thick, dark hair behind her ear. I stared at her with a what just happened? face. She shrugged her shoulders and stared at the boy reading his poem. It was pretty rubbish if you ask me, but she had this massive crush on Charlie and thought everything he did was god-like or something.

"Boom, I hit the ball! It flies in the air and then starts to fall. It lands on the grass and continues to roll, before it hits the net and I've scored a goal."

The same, lazy applause returns, despite the fact this time Ari is clapping louder than anyone else in the classroom. I almost feel sorry for her - she's making it so obvious. Charlie isn't even the best pick in our year, there's loads of boys who have had a crush on her.

But if she wants him, I'm going to let her have him.

The bell clangs and we all start to pack up our things, even though Mr Trail hasn't told us to. He coughs. No one gets the message and continues to put their books and pencil cases into their bags. He clears his throat and crosses his arms. I stop after I've packed away my things and nudge Ari to stop fluttering her lashes at Charlie. He wasn't even watching her anyway.

"No one is going to break until I've talked to you."

Ah, that silenced even the chattiest of people. We all waited impatiently, eyeing up the door, trying to work out how far we'd get away if we suddenly made a dash for it. No one did, though you could see the look of want and desperation on their faces. Even mine, and I don't even mind English.

"I just want to warn you, we know someone has been committing inappropriate acts in the... Quiet areas of the school. We don't have completely solid proof, but we know it's happening and I'm warning you to stop. If you continue the acts, we'll find out and you'll be excluded. Clear?"

There was a low murmur as we replied.

"Clear?"

"Yes," we groaned. He finally nodded at the door and we all tried squeezing out at the same time. Well, let's just say I had to wait another five minutes for Ari and she didn't look very composed.

"I think Charlie touched me!" she squealed.

"That's great. Who do you think was doing the 'inappropriate' things?" I asked.

"Who? I want to know what. Do you think they were smoking? Or having se-"

"No! I mean... Well, maybe. Don't you think that's kind of unlikely? Who would risk getting caught in the middle of having it?"

We exchanged disgusted looks and hurried towards the canteen. If you were too late getting there you'd have to put up with having stodgy pieces of melon as a snack. And no one wanted that.

* * *

A/N ~ boom! There's the first chapter. Good? Bad? Thoughts? What do you think the story's about so far? Is it worthy of a vote and comment?

Thank you more than anything for reading this! Please share it with your awesome friends to get this book noticed!

Jadey❤