• [ c o u n t o f t h r e e ] •

♥ louisa ♥

AFTER SLIPPING INTO some nude pumps, I transferred my school things into a Louis Vuitton handbag before walking downstairs. On the hallway, I bumped into Maria, the maid that had been working at home since before I was born and by now, she was more or less family.

The 57-year-old woman had small patches of grey littering her brown hair and her ageing skin lifted at the sight of me. "Ah, good morning Louisa. Sleep well?"

Hardly with the issue of Gabriel tormenting me.

"Morning Marie! Yeah very well, actually," I paused contemplating whether to ask the question I was already pretty certain of the answer to.

"That's good, honey. Isn't today an inset day?"

"Yeah, it is but I needed to get some work done so I thought I'd go in anyway." That was code for I was failing History and needed to buckle up. There was an essay due on Friday which I hadn't even started. Today was Thursday. "Any news on when Mum and Dad may be back? Their visit here was supposed to be a few weeks ago now."

Her kind eyes softened in sympathy at the mention of them. "Yesterday, I had heard that your mother will be staying an extra week in Singapore however there has still been no news of your father. Julia said that she was watching television and overheard Mr Darling say on an interview that he was planning on remaining in India for another month, but he hasn't told us personally yet."

I forced a smile, nodding politely.

I doubt he would.

After a year, I was accustomed to finding out what my parents were doing from other people, considering they didn't trust me enough to tell me themself. I hardly blamed them, to be honest. "Thank you, Marie."

I felt a soft hand on my cheek as she looked at me with her hazel eyes. "Never give up hope, honey. Good things do come to those that wait. Your time will come too, I'm certain of it." With that, Marie smiled encouragingly before walking downstairs.

•••

"I'm going to give you till the count of three to get your ass down here," I hissed loudly, looking up at a smashed Gabriel who sitting on the roof of the Music building. He burst out laughing, dangling his long legs down as he sat on the edge of the very slanted roof.

I'd planned on getting to the Academy's Athena library early so I could finish up the essay that was due today. Yet as soon as I entered the empty school, I heard a very drunk Gabriel belting out my name at the top of his lungs, actually my surname, as he waved hysterically from a five-story building.

Not going to lie, I had considered turning around and pretending I hadn't heard anything but as soon as I saw him stumble, I had made the mistake of making eye contact with him.

It was 7.30 and within 15 minutes the teachers would start rolling in for teacher's training day.

He had passed the stage of being drunk. Considering how early it was, he must have been drinking through the night to be in a state like this.

I could not be seen with what was probably a raging alcoholic calling my name out.

He proceeded to burst out laughing, "How about no? The view of the city's so nice up here and- and..." He said the end of his sentence so quietly that there was no chance of me hearing it.

"Get down, right now! If the Principle sees you, you're gonna get expelled within the first few days of being here."

"Hah, that'd be a record!" Gabriel shouted before bursting into hysterical laughing again. I presumed it wouldn't be the first time he'd been kicked out of school.

A bitter chuckle escaped my mouth at the thought of him being expelled. "That would be more of a blessing than a curse."

I paused for a moment as an idea struck me, "Actually..."

It would be ideal. I cursed myself for not thinking of it before. There was no way Gabriel and I could be together for a second longer than necessary after everything that had happened. Although I couldn't leave Forteaux, it didn't mean he couldn't.

When I looked back up at him, I saw he was too busy making puppets out of his hands and talking to them, causing me to roll my eyes. His brown hair was wildly tousled to the extent of looking as if he's just had sex. To be completely honest, judging by what I'd heard, knew and remembered about him, I wouldn't be surprised if he had.

I laughed to myself, distinctively remembering how neat his hair was yesterday. That didn't last long. The old Gabriel was back.

After surveying him for a moment, I pondered whether I should sneak out whilst he'd forgotten about me and bring the principle.

Something seemed to stop me.

The past year had revealed to me what a real bitch I was so what difference would snitching make to that. My reputation was the only thing I had left. It was my lifeline. The only thing I hung on to nowadays. And I couldn't let the possibility of Gabriel remembering everything shatter that for me.

I tried to claw away the guilt I began feeling as I walked away reminding myself that getting kicked out of school wouldn't be anything new for him.

Besides he deserved it. He deserved a lot more.

So do you.

Crushing my conscience which argued that I was a hypocrite, I continued walking away until I heard him scream my name again.

I quickly turned around, noticing how it didn't sound like a drunken shout but a cry. In the time I had turned around, Gabriel's had stood up and begun stumbling around the rooftop swaying from side to side. He was nearing the edge of the far right side of the roof.

For a second I froze before exhaling sharply. "Fuck." Biting my tongue, I rushed forwards again. No matter how much I hated him, I couldn't let him do something reckless and no matter how much I knew I should walk away, I couldn't turn my back and let him fall off a damn building.

That would be ridiculous.

"Darling! Were you trying to run away?" He laughed, a rich velvet sound. His words were slurred tremendously. "That's what everyone seems to be doing nowadays but I can hardly blame them," I vaguely heard him say.

My heart began racing faster as I saw him approaching the edge. "Wait!" Of course, he ignored me and instead scrunched his face up at me, "Hang on a second."

A moment later an empty bottle of alcohol came flying towards me. "You left me in the middle of fucking nowhere yesterday! Do you know how difficult it was for me to find my way around with my phone out of battery?"

I shrieked, dodging it just in time and it smashed beside me. "Are you fucking insane?" Biting my lip, I took a sharp breath in and remind myself that he way beyond drunk and didn't have a clue what he was doing.

Narrowing his bloodshot eyes, he tapped his fingers on his chin. "I mean, probably." Seeming to find that incredibly funny, Gabriel started laughing again, throwing his head back and looking at the sky above.

And I thought I was dysfunctional.

Noticing that he'd sat down again, I exhaled rubbing my forehead.

Time to try a new tactic.

"Okay, sweetheart. I know exactly what you need. I'm gonna come up there and give you a big kiss, okay? Just stay where you are for a moment, yes?" I cringed for a second before concealing it with a huge fake smile. I sounded like Lexi. And that was saying something.

God, this was dreadful.

Yet it seemed to work.

His head piped up, and his eyes widened in hope. A moment later, a smirk was back on his face as he winked at me, "Damn, I was right. I knew you couldn't resist me."

My heart skipped a beat.

Sure, Gabriel has definitely stolen the title from Logan as the most attractive guy at Forteaux but I'd made that mistake once and I most definitely wouldn't make it again.

I forced a laugh, "Haha, you got me! Now stay put, I'm coming up."

"Course, babe."

Gritting my teeth, I looked at my watch. 10 more minutes. The stairs to the roof were located behind the building and unfortunately, nude Louboutins were not the best choice for 5 storeys. Sighing, I clenched my fists as I reached the top before wiping at the sheen of sweat I felt on my forehead. Exercise at 7.37 in the morning was not for me.

Unclenching my hands, I sat down next to him on the roof making sure to keep a good distance between us. I couldn't believe I was doing this.

She'd be so disappointed with me.

Just as I was about to go on a tangent about how stupid he was acting, he cocked his head to the side locking his eyes on mine. My blood began pumping as I tried hard to suppress the memories.

Why did he have to be so damn attractive? I was certain I wouldn't be feeling the same if I'd met some bald, unappealing guy that day instead of him.

The swirling grey storm in his iris was the complete contrast to my dark brown eyes and seemed to be fully glazed over. Little red veins littered the white part of his eyes making them look extremely bloodshot.

My eyebrows furrowed incredulously as my mouth opened slightly. "You're high, too?" I snorted.

A smirk grew from the corner of his mouth, that Gabriel utterly failed at trying to hide. "Course not babe, I would never."

Clasping my hands, I stared at him until he broke eye contact and looked at his brogues dangling down from the building. "Maybe a bit- Fuck, don't look at me like that. Fine, maybe a bit more than a bit."

Pulling my legs out from under me, I hung them down next to his, careful to stay as far as possible. "Jeez Gabriel, it's not even eight a.m. yet." Instead of an explanation, he simply shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and ran his hand through his hair for the umpteenth time.

A brief moment of silence passed before I remembered that I needed to get down before I too got caught sitting on the roof. Gulping quickly, I looked back towards him. "Gabriel?"

I didn't get much of a response apart from a weak "Hmm?"

"You need to come back down now before someone sees you. And clean yourself up fast and go home. It's inset day today in case you didn't know so you don't need to be in," I added, whilst standing up and dusting my dress off.

My phone buzzed and my eyes briefly scanned over it. It was from Ashlei asking if I wanted to go to the Mall since it's an inset day.

I bit my cheek.

I had told Talisa I would be in school today but had forgotten to tell Ashlei.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Gabriel roll his eyes but nod reluctantly. "Well, you aren't gonna leave me alone unless I do so I guess I have no choice."

I gritted my teeth. Was he that unaware of how much I wanted to leave him here and get the hell away or did he just want a reaction? He knew exactly how to wind me up.

"Gimme a hand up." Biting my tongue, I took his hand and attempted to pull his 6-foot height up and I was surprised when he didn't budge.

Surely I wasn't that weak. I was pretty tall too. 5 foot 9. He started laughing and I realised he was deliberately making himself as heavy as possible to annoy me.

Scowling hard, I dropped his hand, pushing him away. "Gabriel, what the fuck?" Throwing his hands up in defeat, he laughed and murmured an insincere apology before standing up.

His severely hazy dark eyes tried to focus on his surroundings as he lifted his hands to the side in an attempt to gain his balance. As he rocked from side to side unsteadily, I begrudgingly grabbed his arm to lead him towards the stairs.

"You know, I still haven't forgotten about that kiss you promised-"

"Louisa! Is that you?" A deep familiar voice called suddenly from below, causing my heart to speed up drastically. Trembling, I quickly dropped my hand and attempted to shove Gabriel to the floor so he couldn't be seen.

Oooh, who do you think it is? I really enjoyed writing this chapter so feel free to let me know what you thought. Also, in case any of you don't know, inset days come around once every term and is a day off school.

I threw in loads of hints as to the past in this chapter so hopefully you spotted a few ;) Also thank you so much for getting this to 500 reads! It means a lot!
KiwiAndKoalas x

♥ 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫! ♥