"we were both young when i first saw you
i close my eyes and the flashback starts"
No Perspective.
10th Year. (Freshman Year.)
I'm standing there, Harry thinks. If I'm standing there, that means she'll be here.
Harry's usually calm.
He doesn't usually pace around an empty classroom during free period, coincidentally the last period of the day. He doesn't usually create a premeditated plan that he's desperate to stick to. He doesn't usually get nervous about stuff like this.
Yet, here he is, in the empty classroom that will soon be filled with his maths classmates and teacher and all of these things are happening.
Today is a very unusual day for him.
What is today?
Well, today is the day he gets the results of his fourth maths test. But Harry's not nervous about that. No, he's always been rather good at maths. Exceptional, really.
Today is the day that Harry will find out if his plan has finally worked.
Today is the day Harry's hoping to receive his third failing test score. It's only been half a semester in the making.
At the beginning, it was hard for him. Not the maths class, that was easy. It was hard for him to purposefully do poorly on the assignments, quizzes, and tests.
He hadn't meant for this to happen. Really, he didn't. But when he overheard whispers that the girl who sat two seats in front of him was rather exceptional as well–the same girl that would make his palms clammy and stomach twist in knots whenever he looked her way–a plan had sprung from the deep of his mind.
Nadine's not naturally skilled in maths, she has to try really hard for it actually. She worked so hard that she slowly but surely became the best in the class. Everyone knew it, but especially Harry.
The bell rings and Harry practically leaps out of his skin. The first one to enter the classroom is Mr. Tartt. The leather over-the-shoulder bag Mr. Tartt has hanging from his person holds Harry's fate. The graded maths test.
Harry flies into his seat as the rest of the class starts to trickle in. Anxiously, his leg bounces up and down and he fiddles with the pen in his hands.
Cap on, off. On, off. On, off. On—
"Mate," Connor's voice pulls him from his own entrapment, "If we failed this one, we're fucked."
As Harry's best friend, Connor's made it his mission to be the voice of truth. And his truth today is that they're both in danger of not passing this class if they fail this test.
What Connor doesn't know is that Harry's purposefully failing. What Harry doesn't know is that Connor is accidentally failing. Either way, they're in the same boat.
"I know, I know." Harry feigns comradery and frustration.
Nadine crosses the threshold into the room, and the world stops for Harry. Nadine's keeps spinning.
Shoulder to shoulder with her best friend, she walks to her seat, the last row of desks near the opposite wall, two seats in front of the boy that makes her palms clammy and stomach twist in knots when she looks in his direction.
Harry watches her every move in a totally non-creepy way. She sits and Harry lets out a baited breath.
"Shit," Nadine can't seem to find her pen. She always comes prepared with multiple, so it's strange she can't find any today. "I lost my pen."
YOU ARE READING
the story of us |h.s.|
Fanfictionsingle mother nadine huron has lived in holmes chapel, cheshire all her life. it wasn't supposed to be like that, but when she found out she was pregnant, there was no reason for her to leave. she's spent the last four years busting her ass to give...
