In Too Deep [BXB]

III

Dan

The fact that I was having to be tutored stung slightly. I knew that me failing maths was due purely to my laziness- and my lack of motivation when it came to school. However, it was still a painful reminder of the fact that I was indeed a little bit shit at school.

It was safe to say that out of my two sisters and I, I was the dumbest child. My older sister Ivy, who was year older than me, finished sixth form with straight A's to study law at university. It was something that my parents loved to brag about when given any opportunity at any sort of family gathering.

I did like to think that at the age of seventeen I was much smarter than Sian- my eight year old sister. But with the vast age difference I knew that that was an unfair comparison. And when I thought about and remembered all of the things my eight year old self was doing, I had to reconsider- whether or not I really was smarter than Sian.

After all, was climbing to the top of a tree, getting stuck, and deciding that the best way down was to jump down, a savvy idea?

I didn't think so.

My dad made sure to chop that very tree down the following week and had it cleared from the garden. Unfortunately I had a concussion and three too many broken bones to care about the missing apple tree.

My parents never held my lack of intelligence against me and I made up for it with football. But it was impossible to not see how much happier they always looked when reading my sisters' reports cards in comparison to mine.

My lips twisted downwards, a deep scowl settling on my face. I was supposed to be on my way home, far away from school as the day drew to a close. Because unless I had football practise, I never hesitated to leave school the moment school ended. As soon as the final bell rang I was always the first to flee through the gates.
So for me, to still be trapped in the school at three minutes past four- it was proof that something had gone terribly wrong.

Only through compulsion could such a thing ever occur, and it was safe to say I wasn't happy about the predicament.

I walked down the school corridors, tugging at the straps of my backpack. I wished in my mind there was a way to get back at Ms Jones for putting me up to it. But any ideas that came to mind would've led to either expulsion or a jail sentence, and so I scrapped any thought of revenge.

I trudged through the library doors, as I did my eyes trailed across the room.

My eyebrows furrowed at the sight of it all. The school library was an extremely foreign place to someone like me, and maybe that was the reason I was failing maths. But I had to say I was put on edge by the numerous desks and book cases and it's hushed atmosphere.

It also didn't help that I didn't know what the guy looked like. Ms Jones had probably assumed I'd know him based on the fact that we were in the same year, but I didn't have enough space in my brain to remember people's faces or names.

As my eyes searched the space, I began to wonder if the guy had even bothered showing up. The library was near empty, with only a few students occupying the single desks. I wouldn't show up if I was him. But as soon as my eyes fell on the brunet in the far corner the library, I knew it was him.

Sat at a table just big enough for two, he was crouched over a textbook, his phone placed on top of it. His position caused his dark brown waves to fall over his forehead in a way that meant that I couldn't make out his face.

Tentatively, I made my way towards him. I pulled out the chair, that faced his, from under the desk. The noise of the chair scrapping against the ground caused him to look up.