Illicit [Harry Styles]

Chapter 4

"Here she is," my mum teased as I dragged myself down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was twelve PM and as usual I'd spent the entire night previously on my laptop until the early hours of the morning. My mum and Niall were sat at the dining table eating their lunch as I poured myself some cereal for my very late breakfast.

"Even Niall was awake earlier than you today, this is a new record!" she added as the two of them laughed. I rolled my eyes and sent them both a sarcastic smile as I sat down opposite my brother to eat.

"Today's my last chance for a lie in and I'm making the most of it," I defend myself as I spoon the cheerios into my mouth.

"What about Sunday?" Niall chimes in.

"I need to try and get my sleeping pattern back on track, so I'm going to try and wake up early-ish and get some last minute work and preparation done for school," I explain and he nods with an amused smirk on his face to which I roll my eyes at once again.

"So what are the two of you doing on your second-to-last day of freedom?" my mum asked as she sipped her steaming tea, a grin peeping over the rim of the mug as she eyed us. Niall shrugged and I told her that I was meeting Mckenzie later on.

When I'd finished eating I went back upstairs and took a shower. I continued to get ready by drying my hair roughly, getting dressed into jeans and a jumper and applying the smallest amount of makeup before brushing my teeth and heading out the door at just after one-thirty.

I was even early for once in my life, reaching my friend's house at one-fifty-five on the dot. I knocked on the front door loudly and through the thick glass of her front porch window I saw her skipping down the stairs to greet me. 

"Hey stranger," she giggled as she swung the door wide open. I had to admit it'd been almost two weeks since we'd seen each other so she was right to call me that.

On paper, Mckenzie and I were practically opposites but I think that's why we get on so well. Her brown hair was long and shimmered healthily under the light, while mine was a dirty blonde colour and more on the short to medium side. Mckenzie cared a lot about how she looked and her hair and makeup was always done perfectly, whereas I wasn't so concerned most of the time. We're even quite different when it comes to personality: she's bubbly and loud and likes to party a lot, however I'm more laid-back and I prefer to keep to myself. But despite all our differences and occasional disagreements we get on like a house on fire and we'd been good friends for around five years.

She edged over from the door frame and allowed me to step inside. I slipped off my grubby trainers at the door as she closed it behind me and I jogged behind her up the stairs to her bedroom. We both fell onto her neatly made bed and she resumed browsing her laptop.

"So, are you looking forward to going back to the hell hole?" she grinned jokingly, referring to our school.

"Obviously..." I sarcastically remarked and we both laughed at one another.

"You never know, there might be some cute new boys," she winked at me and I groaned at her obsession with trying to set me up with a countless number of her friends even now I have a boyfriend.

"When will you stop!" I scoffed as I hid my face behind a decorative pillow from her bed. "I doubt it anyway, who's going to want to join Applemore half way through sixth form? We're going to be in our second - and finally - last year."

"You never know!" she repeated with her eyebrows raised, but still staring at her screen. "So how did your court thing go?" she asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"God, the minute I actually leave my house and do something every person I know wants to hear about it! Even my dad stopped by to find out!" I laughed.

"Well it is rare to see you out of your house these days!" she poked fun at me. "But in all seriousness: how was it?"

"It wasn't anything too exciting, I kind of wish people would stop asking," I mentioned playfully and she was the one rolling her eyes at me this time.

"Come on! I wanna know all the details, what happened?"

"Ugh, fine! Did you hear about the barn fire near here recently? It was one of the guys that started that. Blah blah blah he was found guilty but he got a suspended sentence which means he doesn't have to actually go to prison unless he commits another crime in the next year."

"Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that! Guys? Was he young?"

"Kind of," I shrugged uninterested. "Eighteen? Nineteen? I don't know exactly."

"Really? What did he look like, was he cute?"

"Mckenzie!" I gasped and swatted her arm. "We are not discussing this. This is a criminal we're talking about."

"He was, wasn't he! He was cute! Tell me about him," she yelped, slapping my leg in excitement.

"Shut up, no! He wasn't anything special. I don't know; curly hair? That was all I noticed really," I fibbed. I noticed a lot about him but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. Technically it was the truth, anyway; I wasn't too fussed about what he looked like I was just interested in his careless demeanour.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're even a girl. Do you need lessons or something? Are you gay?" she teased with a serious expression that eventually faltered and she pursed her lips to stifle her laughter but failed miserably, throwing her head back and laughing hard. I screwed up my face in offence before laughing along myself.

We spent the day chatting and enjoying each other's company, watching film after film, and by the time the sun started to go down we were making ourselves dinner that consisted of chicken nuggets, chips and green beans (which was about all we knew how to cook). At eight it began to get dark so I walked home quickly and spent another evening consumed by the depths of the internet until midnight.

Just like I'd promised myself, I got up at the slightly earlier time of nine on Sunday morning and spent the day revising, completing homework at the last minute with frequent procrastination/TV breaks, and getting myself ready for school the next day.

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Thankyou for readingggggg. Please vote and comment! What do you think is going to happen next? ;)