Louise's POV

I sighed heavily as I strolled into Chemistry ten minutes late. Stupid talk with Mr Gregory... Now I'm going to get shouted at for the millionth time today. My mum calling me up has already put me in a bad mood and I still have two lessons to go! I opened it and instantly the whole classes eyes were on me, staring into my soul.

"Finally decided to join us, Louise?" Miss Daniels, my most hated teacher said sarcastically. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. I stared at her wrinkly face and felt disgusted. Just don't say anything, Louise, or you'll end up back with Mr Gregory...

"I was talking to Mr Gregory." I said quickly as I walked to my seat next to Ross.

"Well, you're going to have to catch up with everything you've missed." She shrugged and turned back round to write on the board.

"What happened?" Ross asked, concerned.

"Conor and I were pulled into Mr Gregory's office. We're on a 'three strikes and you're out' thing." I shrugged.

"Three strikes?" Ross said, shocked. "Did that count as one?" I looked around the classroom, people were still staring at me so after a quick evil glare they turned back to face the front. I smiled at Ross.

"No. It doesn't." He looked at me as if to say 'continue'. "Conor stuck up for me and we managed to persuade Mr Gregory that it shouldn't..." Ross stared at me in disbelief.

"Conor stuck up for you?" He repeated. I nodded. "I never thought I'd hear those words in the same sentence!" He shook his head in shock.

"Oh don't worry, he told me then and there he only stuck up for me to get out of it... He wasn't being nice..." I laughed. "And-" I was suddenly interrupted by the fire alarm sounding. What the hell? I, along with every girl in the class, looked out of the window to see the rain pouring down heavier than it had for years. The rain sounded like it was going to crack the windows as it hit it, the wind forcing it to fly at the school at 70mph. The grumbles from the popular girls grew as they refused to go out in that weather.

"Everyone, let's go, come on, chop chop!" Miss Daniels said patronisingly. If there was one strike I'd be willing to get, it'd be for punching her in the face or throwing her off the end of the earth. I grabbed my bag, which I'd luckily not unpacked, and walked out with Ross and the rest of the class with my coat in my hand.

I swear this isn't rain, it feels more like hail, it's hitting me and it hurts. I threw my coat on quicker than ever before and put my hood up, suddenly feeling a little bit better about being stuck out here. It wasn't good at all, but at least I wasn't going to be entirely soaked. The thing with English weather is the unpredictableness of it. It's literally sunny and hot one minute and raining the next. Today it just rained...

"The reason we are all out here, you'll be pleased to know, is because someone pressed the fire alarm. So if that person wants to come forward to me at some point that'll be wise because we're gonna stand out here until that person comes forward." Mr Keaton shouted across the field we all stood in, the ground getting muddier and more difficult to stand in as time went on. "I'll happily wait until the end of school and later..." He added, scowling at every person looking up at him.

"Come on!" Numerous people shouted. "Just come forward!" "I don't want to stand out here all day!"

"Well, let's do the register and hope someone will eventually come forward. Stand in your classes in register order." The entire school moved into order. Each had a number and a letter. The number was the year you were in and depending on how many classes in the year, you'd have a letter of the alphabet. Not very creative I know!! Ross and I walked, well trudged, through the mud to our class's line, but something caught my eye. Josh. No, not in that way... He was bent down, tying up his shoelace, but he kept looking up at Conor who was walking to his class line. Before I could think any more about it, he grabbed a load of mud in his hands and threw it at Conor, it splatting across the back of his leather jacket. Conor shot round and the look he gave Josh sent tingles down even my spine. The whole school had stopped to look at them, ready for a fight to ensue. I on the other hand was worried about him getting expelled – yeah it would have only been strike one, but it means only two more strikes before he gets expelled! Then who would I look at? Who would I dream would notice me? I ran over and stood in front of Conor, his fists clenched, his breathing heavy. The school held their breath. It was silent. Was he just going to push me out the way and run at Josh, or wouldn't he? He doesn't hit girls, but does he push them?

"What are you doing?" He hissed at me.

"Stopping you from getting a strike." I said, folding my arms. I could tell the school were still holding their breath waiting for Conor to shout at me. The rain continued to lash down but it seemed no one cared any more.

"Look, just get out of the way." He huffed. The rain falling onto his face and softly running down the contours.

"No.  The whole school is watching and the head teacher is just waiting for a reason to expel you!" I whispered. He looked around, seeing Mr Keaton observing our every move.

"What do you care anyway?" He asked, confused. I shrugged. "Josh... you're literally this close from being sent to hospital!" He aimed his fierce words back at Josh, holding his thumb and first finger only a millimetre apart. "Why throw mud at me?" The whole school's gaze moved to Josh.

"Cos you punched me in the face! Both of you!" He said, sniggers grew in the crowd. "So, if anything, I need to even it up!" He said, quickly grabbing some more mud and throwing it directly at me, it hitting me in the face. A cold, stinging sensation begin to grow on my cheek.  I put my hand to my face and scraped as much of the mud off as possible.

"Sorry, Josh, I must have missed the part when you said you wanted me to hit you again..." I snarled, my fists clenching. I darted at him, stood shocked by my comment, and tackled him to the floor. I threw a few punches, each making a perfectly hard-hitting sound as they connected with his face. It seemed like forever before he even fought back, grabbing my hands or hitting them away to avoid the humiliation of the whole school watching him get beaten up by a girl. Eventually he gathered the energy to throw me to the side, his fist raised and ready to make a connection with my face. It swung down and I shut my eyes, the impact of his fist against my cheek send vibrations through my head. He let out a cheer as if he'd achieved something by finally hitting me back; I rolled to the side, holding one hand to my face.

"Not as hard as you think, are you?" Josh laughed, but seconds later the crowd of school kids gasped and a bone-cracking sound echoed across the field. I looked round to see Conor towering over Josh, Josh covering his face, blood trickling between his fingers. Mr Keaton and Mr Gregory ran over and pulled Conor back, Mr Keaton then ran over to Josh and pulled him up I assume to walk him to the 'First Aid Room' where he would call an ambulance just like he did when I punched Frank.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I could hear Mr Gregory shouting at Conor.

"Oh I dunno, he threw mud at me? He's been a dick for ages? He's been waiting for this to happen. He wants me to get expelled so he can be number one!" Conor exclaimed. "And he punched that girl." He said in a lower tone, hoping I wouldn't hear. "And no man should hit a girl..." I felt my heart flutter as it had done when we spoke at the same time. My stomach dropped but at the same time I had butterflies; a feeling I had never experienced before but felt like I knew all too well.

"Louise, a-are you alright?" Bringing me back to reality, Ross was standing over me – a worried expression plastered on his face.

"I'm fine." I said quickly. Please stop talking, I want to hear Conor talking about me!

"You just got punched in the face and you're alright?" It was only when he said it I even remembered this had happened. The replay in my head of the impact suddenly made the stinging sensation appear again.

"It hurts, but I'll be alright." I said loud enough for Conor to hear. I could sense his eyes were on me, so I played on it. "I can't believe him! After everything, Josh still thinks he didn't get what he deserved! I was happy to hit him again, hopefully we've knocked some sense into him!" I kept eye contact with Ross, but he kept glancing over to where Conor and Mr Gregory were stood.

"With any luck." The familiar deep voice said, sounding like music to my ears. I turned my head to see Conor stood next to Ross, his hand held out to help me up.

"If not, I may have to try again!" I laughed as I took his hand. I must have looked like an idiot, grabbing his hand but delaying standing up but my head was spinning, my hand felt numb yet tingly, a grin was desperate to appear on my face but I used all my energy to hide it and look normal, my stomach was now doing its own version of 'Gangnam Style' and I couldn't help but stare at the fact we were holding hands. I needed a mental image, I wished for Ross to understand this pause and sneakily take a picture of this moment but he didn't and before I knew it I was standing up and his hand had let go of mine.

"You may wanna try in a less muddy place next time..." He said, eyeing me as he did when we were outside Mr Gregory's office earlier – only this time I was covered in mud.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" A familiar nagging voice rang my ears. "I give you a chance, I managed to convince Mr Keaton to get rid of that strike and a few hours later you go and cause a scene in front of the whole school?!"

"He deserved it." I shrugged. "Did you not see it?"

"Nobody deserves to get punched..." Mr Gregory tried to tell me, like he had done so many times.

"He did." Conor shrugged. "If you ever looked at the whole situation, you'd know he did." Mr Gregory shook his head.

"You guys, my office... NOW!"