When Summer Ends

by Isabelle Rae

  Olly’s mouth dropped open as he whipped his arm off of the back of my chair. “I wasn’t feeling her up,” he replied innocently.

  Will made a scoffing noise in his throat. “Mr Hawk, I know it’s hard to keep your hands off of a pretty girl when you’re seventeen, but try and restrain yourself, at least on school property. Otherwise it’ll be lunchtime detentions for the next month,” he snapped, walking back to his desk. I watched his back in stunned silence.

  Amy was giggling quietly behind her hand. A quick glance over to Olly told me that he was grinning too, looking like he was trying not to laugh. What the heck is funny about that? Will just made me look like a slut in the middle of his class and they both find it funny? I ducked my head, blushing like crazy. Please, please, please let this class finish soon! I didn’t look up for the rest of the time and at half past two Will announced that we were to head to the hall for the assembly with the Principal.

  I packed my bag quickly not wanting to be in the classroom any longer than necessary. “I’ll see you there, I need the bathroom,” I muttered as I practically ran out of the room trying not to cry from embarrassment and anger. I headed to the nearest bathroom and locked myself in, slamming my hand against the side of the cubicle in frustration. How dare Will do that to me in front of everyone! After a couple of minutes I took a few calming breaths and unlocked the door. As I stepped out I almost screamed when I saw someone standing there leaning casually against the wall. Will’s grey eyes were alight with concern, but I could also tell by the set of his jaw that he was angry too.

  “What do you want? Don’t you know these are the girls’ toilets?” I snapped angrily as I headed over to the sinks to wash my hands.

  “I need to talk to you,” he muttered, passing me a paper towel to dry my hands on.

  “Are you going to apologise for embarrassing me in front of everyone?” I hissed, glaring at him.

  “Embarrassing you? What the hell is that about? You were the one letting him paw you in class,” he retorted accusingly.

  Paw me? Is he kidding me right now? “You really are an asshole sometimes, you know that?” I shouldered my bag preparing myself to storm off dramatically.

  He snorted. “For what? Why am I an asshole? For telling that kid to get his damn hands off my girl?” he shouted, throwing his hands up in exasperation as he looked at me intently, his eyes boring into mine.

  I looked at him in disbelief. Did he just call me his girl? Oh my God, is he jealous of Olly? Was that what that little scene was about? No, no way, he can’t be jealous. He’s with Miss Teller. He’s just saying this now because… because… But I had no idea why he would say it, I couldn’t think of a single reason for those words to come out of his mouth.

  “I’m not your girl,” I whispered, feeling my eyes fill with tears as I said the words.

  He sighed and turned away from me, releasing me from his intense gaze. “I know that, I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant…” He shook his head but didn’t continue.

  “What?” I asked, needing him to finish the sentence.

  “It’s just weird seeing it. I should go. I don’t even know why I’m in here talking to you. I need to go,” he mumbled as he grabbed the door handle ready to leave.

  I gripped his arm stopping him from walking off; he turned his head back to look at me. “Why did you come here then, Will?” I asked quietly, not trusting my voice to speak properly.

  He gulped and looked at me apologetically. “You looked upset. I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I embarrassed you in class, I didn’t mean to. I won’t do it again.” He frowned and pulled the door open, walking off quickly, leaving me standing there for the second time watching him shocked.

  I stood there for a full minute wondering if he was jealous because he still wanted me, or if he was just annoyed because Olly had his hands on something that he’d had. I honestly didn’t know the answer to that question, but I wasn’t going to let myself start thinking about it again. He’d just had the perfect opportunity to tell me that he still wanted me, he’d had numerous opportunities before too, but he’d blown it every single time.

  I turned on the cold tap and splashed some water on my face, trying to slow my breathing before I headed to the hall where the assembly was already underway. I hid at the side and listened to the end of what the Principal was saying. Something about voting with the social committee and then they would arrange the trip. I scanned the room for Amy. She was sitting next to Nick, both of them were grinning animatedly so whatever we were to vote for was obviously something good.

  When everyone started filing out I waited off to one side for Amy. She skipped to my side happily. “This is going to be awesome, what are you going to vote for? I bet you like the sound of the horse sanctuary right?” She rolled her eyes jokingly.

  Horse sanctuary? What exactly did I miss? “I didn’t hear any of it, what horse sanctuary?” I asked confused.

  She squealed and jumped up and down. “You didn’t hear it? Oh my days, you’re going to love this!” She grabbed my arm and started leading us down the hallway towards our lockers as she talked non-stop, giving me a word for word recount of everything that I’d missed.

  Apparently because of the volunteer work that our year had done at the environment agency planting trees and picking up trash from the streets, we were being rewarded with a certain amount of money that was to be used towards a day out of our choice in a month’s time. There were three choices that we had to all vote on. The one that had the most votes would be booked for one Saturday next month. The choices were: visit a horse sanctuary and ride and groom the horses, a day at a theme park, or paintballing.

  I stated to get excited. I loved horses, but I knew there would be no chance that people would vote for that. My second choice would definitely be the theme park - even though I was a little scared of rides. The only thing I wouldn’t want to do would be the paintballing. I wasn’t into any sort of sports or activity that involved running, hiding, or getting dirty.

  Nick grinned excitedly. “I am so voting for the paintballing.”

  A load of boys all cheered and started talking animatedly about who was going to shoot who, they started shoving each other around playfully. I rolled my eyes and headed to my locker silently praying that there was some way we could get out of it and do something fun that wouldn’t involve me falling over, breaking my ankle, and making myself look like an idiot.

  Chapter Seventeen

  An arm slung around my shoulder. I smiled and rolled my eyes thinking it was Nick, but when I turned around it was Olly’s smiling face that greeted me instead of Nick’s. I resisted the urge to shrug his arm off. It was different when Nick did it because I knew it didn’t mean anything, but with Olly I knew there was a motive behind it. That motive made me feel a little uncomfortable.

  “Want a ride home?” he offered.

  I flicked my eyes to Amy. I always rode home with her so maybe she desperately needed me to go with her or something, I couldn’t help but hope. She smiled excitedly, and I mentally groaned. I should have known she wouldn’t help me!

  “Thanks, Olly, that’d be great,” I lied, smiling back.

  He waited patiently, talking to one of his friends from the swim team, while I grabbed my books from my locker. When I couldn’t put it off any longer I turned towards him, plastering on a fake smile as he held his hand out to me again. I forced myself to slip my hand into his and he led us towards his car in an uncomfortable silence. Well, it was uncomfortable for me anyway; he didn’t look like he felt that at all.

  On the way home we made small talk about the day out. In typical boy fashion, he was going to vote for paintballing. I told him that I’d be voting for the horse sanctuary, and about how I used to go riding when I was a little girl but gave up a few years ago because it didn’t fit in with my school schedule or going out.

  I stole little glances at him on the way home. I had to admit, he was actually quite
handsome. His blond hair was kind of messy and sticking up everywhere but looked nice like that. I’d never actually dated a guy with blond hair before; usually my type was brown hair. I guess there was a first time for everything.

  When we pulled up outside my house I smiled gratefully, expecting that to be it. But much to my utter horror he turned the engine off and looked at me hopefully. “Think I could come in or something? Or we could go out and catch a movie?” he asked nervously.

  I flicked my eyes to the house. My parents wouldn’t be home yet; we had another hour and a half before they were due home from work. I guess I can invite him in, that’s the type of thing you do when you want to get to know someone, right?

  “Sure, come in we can watch a movie.” I pushed the car door open and walked towards the house, feeling a little sick. Is he going to kiss me? What do I do if he does? As quickly as those thoughts formed, I dismissed them again. He’d said we could take it slow so he couldn’t be expecting much today. I hoped not anyway.

  He grinned sheepishly as he stepped over the threshold. “So, are your parents home or…” he trailed off, looking around nervously.

  I chuckled. He was probably scared of my dad. “My dad’s upstairs, he’ll be down in a minute,” I joked, nodding towards the stairs. His back straightened as he gulped, looking at the stairs with wide eyes. I burst out laughing and shook my head. He is too easy to tease! “I’m kidding, Olly, you’re safe. They’re both at work.”

  He laughed nervously and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. “That was cruel,” he scolded, but smiled at the same time.

  An hour later and we were sitting watching a movie. I hadn’t put on anything too romantic, not wanting to give him the wrong impression, so we settled for a comedy. The Hangover part 2. At the start of the movie Olly had sat himself close to my side and had his arm resting across the back of my seat. The whole time my heart was beating just that little bit too fast because I was just waiting to see what he would do next.

  About half way through I turned to ask him if he wanted another drink or anything, only to see he was already looking at me. I smiled nervously and his arm moved to my shoulders, his hand playing with the back of my hair. He smiled, and I couldn’t help but smile back. He had a really cute smile. It didn’t make my stomach flutter like Will’s smile, but it was cute nonetheless.

  His eyes flicked down to my lips and my breath caught in my throat. “So, would it be moving too fast if I kissed you?” he whispered.

  Oh crud. I guess I need to take the plunge sooner or later, so maybe it’s best just to get it over with! I shook my head, not really trusting my voice to speak; he grinned and instantly started inching his mouth towards mine. I held my breath as his lips pressed against mine softly. I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. I kissed him back, and after a couple of seconds, he pulled away, smiling at me tenderly before he pressed his lips to mine again.

  When his tongue traced along my bottom lip wanting to deepen the kiss and take it further, I squeezed my eyes shut and opened my mouth, secretly wishing I hadn’t said yes. Olly was actually a really good kisser but my head and heart were screaming at me that everything was wrong, that I needed to push him away and call Will to apologise.

  Olly’s arms wrapped around me pulling me closer to him, crushing my chest against his as he kissed me passionately. He moaned into my mouth as I looped my arms around his neck. He moved slightly forward, trying to make me lay back onto the sofa, but I kept my ground refusing to take it further than a kiss. When one of his hands trailed down my back towards my butt, my eyes snapped open in shock and I pulled back, breaking the kiss.

  Groping me isn’t exactly taking it slow, Olly! “I’m sorry; this is too fast for me.”

  He smiled his cute dimpled smile. “Okay, that’s okay.” He brushed the hair back from my face.

  I smiled gratefully at how sweet he was. “Thanks.”

  “So was it the kissing or the hands?” he asked, grinning sheepishly.

  I blushed and couldn’t help but laugh uncomfortably. Both actually. “The hands,” I admitted, biting my lip at how stupid and childish that made me sound.

  “So if the kissing was all right, maybe I could sit on my hands?” he suggested, laughing.

  I laughed nervously. “Maybe we should just watch the rest of the movie,” I suggested.

  He grinned and nodded, turning in his seat and taking my hand, watching the movie as if nothing had happened.

  Ten minutes later the front door opened. Olly jumped away from me like a bomb went off, and I giggled at his concerned face. My mom and dad both walked into lounge talking about their days. My dad stopped walking and frowned at Olly menacingly as soon as he spotted him. Olly shrank back into the sofa a little more, seeming to squirm under my dad’s accusing glare.

  Hmm, I wonder if he’ll pass the dad test. A couple of boys I’d brought home a year or so ago dumped me after meeting my dad, he liked to test them and behaved like this for a couple of meetings to see if they were serious about me. Luckily Nick had passed the test with flying colours so my dad now liked him. Olly just needed to get past this little glaring stage, and then he’d start treating him nicely.

  I bit my lip nervously as I glanced at Olly who looked like he was trying to make himself breathe. “Dad, you remember Olly from the other night?” I asked, trying to keep the amused smile off of my face as my dad went for his bad cop routine.

  Dad nodded slowly. “How could I forget? Nice to see you again, Olly. So what exactly are you doing here, unchaperoned, with my daughter?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

  “Er… We were just… er… watching a movie?” Olly stuttered, making it sound more like a question.

  I rolled my eyes and stood up, taking Olly’s hand and pulling him to his feet too. “Leave him alone, Dad, we were just hanging out.”

  “Yeah well two teenagers ‘hanging out’ can lead to trouble,” my dad replied, “and if you get my daughter in trouble, Olly, then you’ll have me to deal with.”

  I blushed profusely because he was obviously talking about sex and pregnancy.

  Olly shook his head fiercely. “No, sir, absolutely, I wouldn’t ever get Chloe in trouble, I mean we’re taking it slow and…” he trailed off, swallowing loudly. I sighed. My dad had just been pushing his buttons. Olly wasn’t holding up well at all.

  Before the situation could get any more embarrassing I walked out of the room, pulling Olly along behind me as I marched to the front door. I chuckled at his pale face. “He’s trying to get to you. Just ignore it, he’ll stop soon,” I promised.

  His eyes flicked over my shoulder as he nodded slowly. “Damn, he’s scary. He’s not like mafia or anything is he?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

  I laughed. “No he’s CIA, but he’s not allowed to torture anyone under eighteen so you’re safe until your birthday,” I teased.

  He laughed quietly. “Well that’s a relief,” he mused, rolling his eyes. “So I’d better get going. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” He tugged on my hand making me step closer to him as he pressed his lips against mine softly again just for a split second. He smiled before turning for the door but stopped with his hand on the door knob. “I forgot, um, I was wondering… I wanted to ask you earlier during the movie but I chickened out… so, well… I know you said take it slow, and we can wait if you want to but… er…” he frowned uncomfortably.

  I grinned at how adorable he looked when he was nervous. He’d had girlfriends before, most of the time serious ones too, because his last girlfriend he was with for a year and I hadn’t heard about him seeing anyone since her.

  I stepped closer to him, raising one eyebrow playfully. “Are you trying to ask me out, Oliver?” I teased.

  He frowned and winced. “Yeah, sorry I’m not doing a very good job at it.”

  I laughed. “You’re doing fine, just relax, and by the way, the answer’s yes.”

  His nervousness faded instantly as a grin s
plit his face. “Awesome!” he chirped. “Well I guess I should go before your dad comes out here and threatens me some more. I’ll text you later, I do better by text, it covers up the nerves,” he joked. I was grateful that he didn’t try to kiss me again before he walked out of the door.

  I breathed a sigh of relief and leant against the doorframe, mentally congratulating myself on getting through it. I waved as his car pulled out and sped off. I smiled sadly to myself and closed the door, leaning against the wood, thinking about Will. What would he think of me just agreeing to be Olly’s girlfriend, and more importantly, why did I still care what he would think?

  The following morning Amy and I were gossiping by our lockers about the Daniel Masters concert. I’d told her on the phone last night that my parents had managed to get tickets as a surprise. She was so happy she’d actually cried with joy, she’d cried so much that I couldn’t understand what she was saying so she had to call me back when she’d calmed down.

  Suddenly an arm went around both of our shoulders. “So, girls, who are we talking about today?” Nick asked, looking around the hallway discreetly.

  “Daniel Masters,” Amy breathed dreamily.

  “Oh, over-rated gay singers,” Nick replied, nodding as if he wanted to join in. Amy gasped and elbowed him in the ribs making him laugh and move his arm from her shoulder. “Ow.” He groaned, rubbing it roughly.

  “Aw did the poor baby get hurt by a big bad girl?” she mocked.

  From the corner of my eye I saw someone waking towards us. I forced a smile when I realised it was Olly. We’d text back and forth last night for about an hour, luckily my parents got me a contract with unlimited texts because otherwise he’d be costing me a fortune. He was right though, he definitely did do better by text.

  He smiled back, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. His body seemed a little tense as he stopped in front of me and took my hand. I smiled weakly and interlaced our fingers. When he pulled me forwards gently making me move closer to him, Nick’s arm dropped off of my shoulder.