School

noun – 1. an institution for educating children. 2. a day's work at school; lessons. 3.any institution at which instruction is given in a particular discipline

Whoever wrote the dictionary needs a serious reality check.

I had the stitches in my forehead taken out the day before Mum sent me back to school. It left my skin strangely bumpy with a scar running across my forehead.

"Well, there go my dreams of being on a Clearasil advert." I muttered sarcastically to my mother when we got home and I had a chance to look in the hall mirror. I pulled my fringe over the disfiguring mark. "I still look presentable I suppose."

Xandrell suddenly rushed down the stairs, ran up behind me and threw his arms around me. "You still look beautiful, my love!" he chirped happily.

I glared at him in the mirror. I heard my mother sigh as she walked away into the kitchen. "Xandrell, you're even annoying my mum now." I told him sternly.

"But what does she know of our love, my darling?" he said passionately.

I sighed. I was not getting rid of him any time soon. "Couldn't you just lay off the whole loving thing a little?"

He looked down at me shocked. "And not spend every single moment showing you how much you mean to me? Never, my love!"

There was really no losing this guy. Eventually, I pushed him off of me and ran off to my room, slamming the door. I knew I wasn't really pushing him out, but I could at least feel like I was.

I pressed my back against the door and slid down until I hit the floor. What did this guy want from me? I wasn't pretty, or cute. I knew I was being really horrible to him, but it was the only way I could think to try to get him to leave me alone. I curled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, ignoring the annoying twinge that shivered through me as I touched the bruises on my legs and torso. This boy wanted, maybe even needed to love me, apparently. And somewhere deep inside me, there was a girl who I'd never let to the surface, and did all in my power to never let her out of her cage when I was trying to be strong for my family. The girl that cried long into the night, wondering if she'd ever find someone who loved her more than anything... I had found someone beyond that girl's wildest dreams... I felt my shoulders heave once and suddenly, tears began to run down my face. I whimpered and wiped at my damp face. I heard him knock on the door and call my name softly. For all of a heartbeat, I considered opening the door and letting him in...

...but the part of me that dominated my being didn't want, and didn't need him... this was the part that pushed him away and said such horrible things...

I clambered up, locked the door and went and laid down on my bed. He continued to knock on the door, calling my name forlornly.

'Stupid boy'. I found myself thinking as I cried myself to sleep.

I don't remember falling asleep, but all through the night I was tortured by nightmares, none of which I remembered when I woke, but whenever my eyes snapped open and I found myself lying back in my bed in a cold sweat, my heart racing, there was always his face floating in front of my eyes. For the first few rude awakenings, I believed he was there and groaned, lashing out at his face, but when my hand sliced straight through his flesh, it took me still a few moments more before I realised that this Xandrell was only in my mind. I forced myself back into a world of nightmares again and again until finally, my alarm clock rang beside me. I rolled onto my back and rubbed at my face. "Thank God!" I moaned.

I pushed back the bedcovers and glanced around... he wasn't there...I frowned before climbing out of bed. My head spun with tiredness as I walked slowly across the room and unlocked the door. Before I had a chance to open it, it was thrown open and I was stood looking up at a happy bouncy Xandrell, as per usual. "Good morning, my love!" he sang.

I groaned and pushed past him, striding towards the bathroom. "Just never gets old, you saying that, does it?"

"Nope." he said happily, hopping along behind me. "I just want you to know it, my darling." As he said the final two words, I winced and slammed the bathroom door in his face. "I'll wait out here then shall I, my beloved?"

I didn't answer, turning on the shower and stripping off my bedclothes before stepping under the warm beads of water.

"Sweetheart?" called Xandrell from outside the door. "Have I offended you, my treasure?"

"Can you stop with the constant nicknames?" I exploded. Seriously, I'd had enough of his 'My Love'-ing and such. "My name is Amy! Use the word from time to time!"

There was a long silence from the other side of the door. I took advantage of the silence and began rubbing shampoo into my hair.

"I'm sorry." came his voice, much quieter, and humbler this time. "If I've offended you, I'm desperately sorry... but Amy, I've never felt like this for anyone... please understand..."

I frowned. This was new... definitely new... before it was like he was forcing himself onto me, but now... now it felt like he was actually asking for me.

I washed the suds out of my hair and turned off the shower before peeking around the shower curtain. Not there... wow, we were making progress. Not there when I'd woken up... with any luck he'd wait outside when I was getting dressed too... ok, maybe I'd started asking for miracles there, but still...

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. "Xandrell, close your eyes." I called. This would be a real test of whether or not I'd trained him.

"Ok, they're closed." he called.

I eased the door open and peeped out. He was stood there eyes squeezed shut, still with that silly smile on his face. I smiled and gave myself an imaginary pat on the back before running to my room, holding tightly on to the towel. I locked the door and quickly dressed in my school uniform. By the time I was pulling a brush through my damp hair, he was back outside my door calling for me again. I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing, before crossing the room and letting myself out of the room.

He hopped along behind me as I grabbed my schoolbag and hurried out of the front door. "Where are we going?" he chirruped happily, not taking a blind bit of notice of my stony expression as we walked along the road.

"School." I muttered.

He frowned for a long moment, finally stopping the dancing. For all of a second, I thought I'd finally put a damper on his constant annoyingly happy mood. Then his face broke into another eager smile. "We're going to learn, right?"

"Wrong." I sighed, looking defiantly at the floor. Seriously, how weird was this guy? Had he never been to school in his life? "We're going there to be judged and put into social groups, and be separated from everyone else by the way they treat us."

"Is there a social group for the insanely beautiful girls?" he asked, looking expectantly at me.

"Yeah." I sighed. "That's the popular kids."

"And these 'popular kids'..." he said the word with a lot of emphasis. "You're one of them, right?"

"Wrong again." I said, getting slightly peeved now. "In case you haven't noticed when you've looked on the TV or anything, but I'm not pretty. In fact, I'm far from pretty! I'm a geek!"

He frowned down at me. "And these 'geek' people..." he said slowly. "They have a higher social standing than the 'popular kids' right?"

"No!" I cried. "Look, forget the whole social standing thing, it'll come with time. Just concentrate on getting through the day without annoying me."

"Very well, my sweet." I narrowed my eyes at him and he winced at his mistake. "...Amy... my sweet Amy." He covered up quickly.

I rolled my eyes. "It's going to be a long day isn't it."

"No longer than any other day." frowned Xandrell, looking very confused now. "Why should it be any longer?"

"I mean it'll feel longer." I explained.

"Why would it feel any longer than usual?"

"Because it just will!" I told him angrily.

We rounded the corner and began to walk slowly down the road. The school stood at the end of the road, looming above us, like some kind of monster, ready to just take a bite out of our heads or something. I felt like a little girl on my first day of school... I wanted my mother. Without thinking, I reached out and clutched Xandrell's hand. He glanced down at it, and then looked up at me, his face elated.

"It means nothing." I told him sternly. "I'm just nervous."

"Ok, sure." he said happily, but as he turned away from me to look up at the school, I saw the smug smile on his face.

"Amy! Hey, AMY!"

I turned around and grinned as I saw Sophie and Tasha running towards me, their hair flying out behind them. "Hey guys!" I called, grinning and waving.

Sophie threw her arms around me and I winced. "Oh my God, sorry!" said Sophie, immediately releasing me and looking at me in a concerned way. "Did I hurt you?"

"Yeah, it doesn't matter." I said, grinning again.

"We've actually missed you so much!" said Sophie enthusiastically. "School hasn't been the same without you, has it, Tash?"

"It's actually not!" said Tasha, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Is 'actually' the new 'in' word or something?" I asked.

"Are you going to introduce your friends to me, Amy?" asked Xandrell's voice behind me.

Both Sophie and Tasha's eyes went wide as they looked at Xandrell. I could just imagine it from their point of view, one of their best friends is off school for a week after some kind of horrific accident apparently, and when she comes back she is being followed by the hottest guy in the world.

"This is Tasha and Sophie." I said pointing to each girl respectively. "Guys, this is Xandrell."

Both of their mouths hung open as they looked from me to Xandrell and back.

"How... when... what..." stuttered Sophie.

"Let me explain." said Xandrell slipping his arms around my waist.

"It's probably better if you don't." I growled. It was the sort of voice that most people would pick up as 'say a word and I'll kill you'. Indeed Sophie and Tasha glanced at each other, curious.

However, Xandrell is not most people, and after my words, he simply chuckled and held me a little tighter. "I love Amy. She's my only love, my only life and holds the key to my heart."

I rolled my eyes. How typical of me to get one of the few poetic guys obsessed with me.

Tasha looked at me seriously. "You two are going out?"

"No!"

"Yes."

"What?!" I rounded on Xandrell, which was awkward when he was clasping me tightly in his arms. "We are not going out!" I told him angrily.

"We're not?" he said curiously. "But you let me kiss you, and watch you sleep..."

"I was in hospital! Everyone was watching me sleep and none of them are calling themselves my boyfriend!"

"... and we're living together..." continued Xandrell as if I'd said nothing. "...and you held my hand..."

"That's a favour to you, and I was nervous!" I told him furiously.

His face crumpled into a slightly sulky face. "You still let me kiss you."

"I was lying in a bloody heap! I wouldn't have had much choice even if I had known you were going to kiss me."

"Maybe we ought to change the subject." said Sophie delicately.

"I think you're right." I told her, wriggling out of Xandrell's arms and moving over to my friends. Xandrell quickly following, clutching my hand again.

"So you're still single?" asked Tasha moving to my side. I glanced at her before answering but I noticed her eyes were not on me.

"I wouldn't if I were you." I told her quietly. "He's obsessed with me. You're more than welcome to try, but I seriously doubt he'll ever cotton on that I don't like him back."

"Hmm." said Tasha quietly, before she shook her head. "No, he's yours, Amy. I'd be a really bad friend if I tried to steal him."

"I wouldn't mind..." I said. "Really!"

Tasha just laughed. "So when are we going prom shopping?"

"Whenever you want, as long as you don't mind him coming."

"I thought you weren't going out."

"We're not, but you try to get him away from me for five minutes!"

She frowned for a long moment before shrugging. "Can't hurt to try."

I struggled through the lessons that day with people asking me if I was alright now, and then muttering when they thought I couldn't hear them about Xandrell following me around. As if this weren't enough, in our lessons, he asked whoever usually sat beside me, if it wasn't Tasha or Sophie, to move. He then sat throughout the lesson trying to put his arms around me and such, and only comprehended at the end of the lesson that this was not the time for hugging... however he thought it only applied to one lesson and, therefore, in the next class, the whole procedure began over again. I prayed for break time when I could run down to the music room and see Charlie and James. Hopefully, if I could get Xandrell interested in something with Tasha and Sophie (fat chance) maybe I could get a few moments alone to talk to my two favourite guys. After explaining this to Tasha and Sophie, they both agreed to help me, and so after a maths lesson which involved trigonometry, something about numbers and Xandrell constantly trying to hug me, I finally put into action 'Plan: Get Xandrell away long enough to escape.'

"Hey Xandrell..." I said at the end of the lesson. "I have to go do something. How about I meet you..."

"Ok, cool." Xandrell was picking up the teenage language quickly. "I'll come with you."

"No, seriously it's kinda personal, and guys aren't allowed in there."

"Ok, I'll wait outside."

"No really..."

"Xandrell, hi!" said Sophie, popping up behind him, dragging Tasha along behind her. "So listen, Tasha just told me this hysterical joke, wanna hear it? Shall I tell it Tash?"

Tasha mumbled something and nodded. I gave Sophie a thumbs up, mouthed 'thank you' and ran from the maths rooms.

I sprinted down the stairs and out of the maths block. Typically, it was pouring with rain. I pulled my blazer over my head and ran full pelt towards the music room where my friends and I usually hung out. Somehow, even under the shelter of my blazer, I managed to get soaked through in the short run between the two buildings. I pulled open the door to the music room and let my blazer fall back around my shoulders before shaking my now sopping hair out of my face, the way a dog shakes out its fur after swimming in a lake.

"AMY!" I was suddenly winded and gave a tiny gasp of pain as Charlie threw his arms around me. It was so weird that he was the one I'd developed a motherly complex towards. I only came up to just under his shoulder. He looked down at me as I gasped. "Oh my God, I've missed you so much! Have you missed me? Are you ok now?"

"Let the poor girl breathe Charlie!" called James's voice from somewhere behind Charlie. Charlie immediately released me and James stepped into view. "Hey Amy. You look... good..."

"I bet you say that to all the girls." I asked raising an eyebrow meaningfully. Turning everything into an innuendo seemed to be a common pastime with my friends.

"Shut up!" James laughed. "You know I meant well. You look well."

I shook my head at him. "Don't lie to me James, I know I look like the bride of Frankenstein."

"No, you really don't!" cried James earnestly. "Really... I mean it's just a few bruises isn't it."

"Just a few bruises and stitches." I shrugged. "Had them taken out now thank god."

James frowned at my forehead. He winced when he saw the mark running across it. "Poor Amy." he murmured. "Poor, poor Amy."

"Yeah, poor, poor me." I groaned. "I'm so sick of people saying that now."

"Ok, ok, sorry." said James with a smirk.

"Still, I'm back here now, to keep you two in check." I said grinning up at them both. "Have you been good while I've been gone? Done any drugs or robbed any banks?"

"No, that's the plan for next week." sniggered Charlie. "We intend to frame you."

"Thanks." I muttered, attempting to look like I cared. They both snorted with laughter.

"I wish you could've seen your face just then." James sniggered, before giving me a light friendly punch on the arm. I winced as he hit one of the bruises.

Suddenly from out of nowhere, a figure leapt forward and punched James hard.

"Don't you dare hit my Amy!" bellowed Xandrell, pulling back his fist to hit James again. "Don't you dare hurt her!"

"Xandrell!" I yelped grabbing his hand just before he sunk it into James' face.

Xandrell looked around at me shocked. "But... but he hit you!"

"It wasn't like it hurt or anything!" I cried. "James is one of my best friends!"

Xandrell blinked looking thoroughly confused. "He still hit you. I was trying to defend you my love."

"What have I said about the 'my love'-ing!?" I yelled, feeling seriously annoyed by this point.

"Uh, Amy, who or what the hell?" said James glowering at Xandrell, rubbing at the side of his face where he'd been hit.

Xandrell put an arm around me and glared straight back at him. "I'm Xandrell. I'm Amy's boyfriend."

"No you're not!" I snarled, pulling out from under his arm. "Xandrell, how many times? We are not going out!"

Xandrell looked at me for a long moment, before his eyes flicked to James and Charlie and back to me. I knew what was coming next. "Then why did we kiss?"

Charlie's eyebrows shot up under his fringe while James continued to glare at Xandrell, then slowly his gaze moved to me. "You didn't..."

"I was lying in a bloody heap in the mud!" I cried incredulously. "I didn't get much of a say!"

"YOU WERE ROLLING AROUND IN THE MUD WITH HIM?" yelped Charlie. "WHAT THE HELL?"

"You're not helping, Charlie." muttered James. "I think I've heard enough..." And he turned and stormed out into the pouring rain.