SEVEN

It had been a week since Simon Minter slept in Cleo's shed and he and his friends were returning to school today after their week of exclusion. She walked along the corridor with Vik, Tobi and Sapphire by her side.

"What do you think about the arseholes coming back today?" Sapphire asks no one in particular.

"I'm not looking forward to it," Vik mutters, he looked worried to the core.

"Don't worry Vik, JJ will have your back if anything happens," Cleo says, giving the boy a heartwarming smile.

"I heard your brother isn't coming back?" Tobi turns to Cleo.

Cleo gulps, her brother wasn't coming back to the sixth form- he hadn't been expelled or anything, but his parents had told him that he was going to stop his A-Levels and seek an apprenticeship. Harry wasn't impressed at all, he hated the idea of not being around his best friends but he agreed all the same- he didn't have a choice.

"He's not coming back, he's going to do any apprenticeship...With my dad, in the offices and stuff," Cleo explains.

A silence falls over the corridor as Simon Minter walks through the crowds which parted like the red sea did for Moses. He walks through, Ethan and Josh behind him.

"Oi Lewis, wheres your coward brother?" Ethan calls and Simon glares towards Ethan.

"Shut the fuck up man," Simon says and Ethan rolls his eyes.

"Fuck you Simon, you've grown into a right pussy," Ethan says and Josh fails his attempts to stop Ethan from walking away.

"Hey Cleo," Simon says and she looks up at him.

"I'd like to say...I'm sorry about Harry, but its for the best, innit," He says and Cleo just nods.

"Thanks, Minter," She says and Simon nods, glancing at the nervous looking friends that stood behind the brown haired girl.

"I'll see you in class then," Simon says, a half smile on his still bruised lips.

"Sure," She replies and he nudges Josh and they continue down the corridor towards their lesson.

The whole corridor erupts into whispers, talking about Simon Minter and Cleo Lewis.

"What the fuck was that?" Tobi asks, his voice sharp.

"I don't know," Cleo lies and Tobi just looks at Vik with a worried look on his face.

"We're going to lesson, ain't we Vik?" Tobi says and he grabs Vik's arm and pulls him along.

"That was not cool," Sapphire says, her voice was filled with rage.

"Maybe he's going to change," Cleo shrugs towards the other girl.

"Are you a total idiot? No one that evil can change. He's a fucking psychopath you dumb bitch," Sapphire says and Cleo feels her fist ball.

Sapphire sees it and steps away, the fear evident in her eyes.

"You're turning into him, into one of them," Sapphire says and Cleo shakes her head.

"There is no them. There is not a separation," Cleo says and Sapphire pulls her bag over her shoulder.

"Goodbye Cleo," She says and she scurries away to her lesson.

Great. Cleo had lost all her friends.

She heads to her lesson where she finds herself zoning out. She, the smartest girl in her class, was making mistakes in her work, she couldn't think up comprehendible answers. She was lost. She was going crazy about a lethal human being and she didn't like the way her mind was ticking. She almost lashed out at her best friend before the lesson.

"Cleo Lewis," She hears and her eyes flicker towards the teacher.

"Are you going to do the work or not?" Mr Fletcher asks.

"I'm not feeling too well," Cleo says and Mr Fletcher rolls his eyes and looks at the girl.

"You're dismissed...Go to sick bay and get a message to your parents," Mr Fletcher says and Cleo nods.

She gets up, collects her things and heads out the classroom.

"Miss Lewis?" She hears and she looks round at Miss Maybell.

"Yes, miss?" She asks and the woman looks her up and down.

"Where are you going?" The teacher asks and the girl sighs.

"Sick bay," She replies and Miss Maybell nods.

"Hurry along then," Miss Maybell smiles before continuing to walk along the corridor.

Cleo heads to sick bay and as she walks the corridor she happens to glance outside and see the boys football team having a training session.

She pauses by the window and watches Joshua Bradley kick the ball towards Callum Airey. Her brother should have been out there, he was one of the best football players on the team. She breathed a sigh and continued on down the hallways.

Cleo arrives at sick bay and tells the woman at the desk her issue. The woman nods and tells her to take a seat on a bench just down the corridor. Cleo does as instructed and waits silently, she could hear the teachers chatting in the staff room.

After about 5 minutes she watches a familiar face come walking down the corridor with an ice pack pressed to his head.

"Hey Joel," She says, her eyes scanning over him.

"Hey, Cleo, how're you?"

"I'm just feeling sick, how're you?" She replies and he shrugs.

"Josh Bradley kicked a football at my face when I asked if I could join the football team," Joel says, flopping down on the bench beside Cleo.

"God sake, I thought they might get better after having a week away from here...I knew it was too good to be true," Cleo whispers and Joel shrugs again.

"Chip is coming down in a minute, said he managed to get himself out of his lesson the lucky git," Joel says and Cleo laughs.

"So, have you talked to anyone? About anything? About what happened?" Cleo asks and Joel shakes his head.

"Theres nothing to tell," Joel says and Cleo nods.

"I guess you're right," Cleo sighs and Joel looks up as Chip walks towards him.

"You alright mate?" Joel asks and Chip nods.

"Got myself out my lesson, didn't I?" Chip laughs and Cleo rolls her eyes.

After a few minutes chatting the receptionist comes to pick up Cleo.

As she walks down the corridor with the receptionist Simon Minter walks towards her, he was in his football kit and he gives Cleo a soft smile. She can't help but smile back.

"Where are you going?" Simon asks and Cleo looks at the receptionist.

"Home, I feel sick," Cleo says, "Headache too,"

"Oh...Well, feel better okay, can't have you missing days, I don't know what I'd do with myself," Simon says and Cleo looks into his eyes.

"I'll be back in tomorrow, don't you worry," Cleo laughs and Simon smiles.

"See you later then," Simon says and Cleo nods.

"See you later," She replies before turning away and leaving Simon to watch after her.

_______________

There you go!

I know this chapter didn't really have much to it but I kinda wanted to show you the consequences of the fight and also of Cleo and Simon getting closer.

Thank you for reading!

~KatnissBajanCanadian❤