Notice Me! (A Conor Maynard AU Fan Fiction)

Chapter 11 - Feelings and Alcohol

“You guys aren’t funny…” I said simply back. This is just another plan the popular people use to embarrass people like me. I’ve seen it happen so many times and my heart breaks for the person every time…

“For the first time in my life…” Sam began, getting up from the floor. “I agree with him. I don’t know about the numbers but I certainly know one person that likes you.” I turned round and looked at Sam with my eyebrows raised. His body language was awkward, like he was admitting something to me that he didn’t want me to know.

“I’m not falling for this one.” I shook my head and folded my arms.

“I’m being serious!” Sam said with an urgency for me to believe him. “Look, I don’t think you understand…  If you came to school in a dress tomorrow, you’d see the amount of people that notice you. You just wear your dark, long, baggy clothes.” I could feel my stomach tightening into knots.

“I’m not coming to school in a dress…” I said instantly.

“Come into school in a dress tomorrow and if I’m wrong and nobody notices you, I’ll give you permission to walk up to me when I’m with all my friends and tell me I was wrong…” Sam said, and I suddenly had nothing to fight back with. He was willing to put his popularity on the line to prove to me I could be noticed… I’ve always dreamt about people knowing me. I already felt like I was 20 steps forward just by talking to Sam and Conor… I may as well give it a go.

“O-Ok, fine.” I said, fighting in my mind about the pros and cons of it. I rubbed the back of my neck in anticipation for what they would say back, but instead Sam just smiled.

“Sam, I think that guy knows you.” Conor said trying not to move his mouth as much as he could. He didn’t want this guy to know he’d told Sam. I quickly followed Conor’s gaze to the guy walking towards us.

“Peter.” I said, copying Conor’s way of speaking so Sam knew who to expect without it looking like we told him. Peter was one of the people in Sam’s popular clique, however rumour was that Sam never wanted him in the group because he was inappropriate in more ways than one. He wasn’t great looking either; he was a skinhead, with evil eyes and he walked around with a frown. I barely ever saw him smile.

“Saaaaaammmmmm!” Peter said in his gruff voice, flinging his arm around Sam’s shoulders. “What you doing hanging out here?” Sam’s eyes darted around to think of something good to say. If there was one person you didn’t want to know, it was Peter.

“That coursework Miss Potter had given us.” Sam suddenly changed into this cocky, confident man. The tone of his voice was sharper as if to say no one should mess with him and he stood tall and proud. This wasn’t the Sam I was talking to mere minutes ago.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to bother with it? Let them do all the work?” Peter was blatantly trying to get Sam in trouble with us, but I wasn’t buying into any of it. I stood with one eyebrow raised and waited to see what Sam was going to come up with.

“I was but Miss Potter’s trying to catch me out, man. She wants me to fail this class so I have to take the whole year again and I aint doing it. She said every lesson she’s testing us on the work we did together…” Sam looked at us pleadingly to ask us not to say he was lying. We kept silent.

“She’s a bitch anyway.” Peter shrugged. “Well, as long as no one knows you’re hanging out with these losers instead of your own friends…” Peter’s sentence trailed off but it seemed Sam already knew and he shifted uncomfortably.

“Look, I was just leaving anyway. Wanna get everyone together for a quick drink so you coming?” Sam nodded at me and Conor as if to say bye and walked off with Peter. Part of me thought that was just a ploy to keep all three of us out of trouble in school because Peter was a loud mouth, but the other part of me thought he was glad to be away from us. I turned back round to Conor to see a huge smirk on his face.

“He’s going to have a lot to answer for with his friends…” He seemed to enjoy the idea of Sam getting into trouble with his friends.

“What’s your problem with Sam, seriously?” I asked and Conor tensed up, the smile quickly disappearing from his face. For a second we just stood there and he looked at me unimpressed, before a smile re-appeared on his face.

“I’ll tell you when I’m drunk.” He laughed. I couldn’t help but smile, but looked at the ground in the hope he didn’t see it.

“I’ve got alcohol in my house.” I shrugged, speaking before I thought. I regretted it the moment it left my lips but instead, Conor’s smile grew.

“Is that an invitation?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. My heart sped up and my breathing quickened.

“No… I mean- I- I- Hah.” I stuttered, unable to complete words let alone sentences.

“Well, come on then!” Conor grabbed my arm and pulled me back into my house. “Where’s the alcohol?” I stumbled behind him until he stopped in the kitchen. I pulled my arm from his grip and went into the fridge, pulling out the cocktails I had made for my friends earlier today.

“I made these for my friends, they were meant to come round today but I had to cancel for you guys.” I said with a hint of sadness in my voice. I wanted it to sound legitimate, instead of confessing Mandy called them up and then ran off.

“You cancelled on them for us?” Conor had to double check as he took one of the glasses from my hand. They were ice cold, my hand still tingling despite Conor having taken one. He took a sip and scrunched his face up as he swallowed it. “What the hell is in this?”

“Anything and everything, we like to have one really strong cocktail to last us a while.” I shrugged, trying to hide the smile that was slowly growing. I took a sip and the familiar afterburn of the alcohol set fire to my tongue. “Vodka, a lot of spirits, mixers… We randomly make them and even if they don’t taste nice we drink them!” Conor looked me up and down again before he downed the drink. Again, his face scrunched up as he finished.

“Your turn.” He said simply. I looked down at the large glass of drink and shook my head. He stood and urged me to, so giving up at the possibility he would tell me about him and Sam I quickly downed the drink. Within a few moments I could feel my gums getting number, my head becoming fuzzier and my brain thinking slower.

“You got anymore?” Conor asked, his hand held out. I got the last glass from the fridge and handed it to him, he quickly downed it and put the glass on the side. He nodded to tell me he liked it and I let out a laugh. “Come on then, let’s go to your room.”