When We Were Younger (you me at six)

The Rock Show

Just a quick note to say the title of the chapter will always be a song, or song lyrics. It might be something to do with the chapter or it might just be whatever song I'm listening to at the time :)

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Sunlight streamed in through my window and I groaned. Rubbing my eyes tiredly, I fumbled around for a minute until I found my phone. Squinting at the screen, I tried to focus my still half asleep eyes on the time. 8:12. Shit, I had overslept.

I could hear my mum banging about in her room, which was across the hall from mine. I walked across and pushed her door opened slightly. She was hopping about in her underwear, trying to find some suitable clothes to wear to work.

"Fuck, mum why didn't you wake me up earlier?" I moaned, still rubbing my eyes.

"Because I've only just got up myself. I forgot to unpack my alarm clock last night." She grinned sheepishly at me and I rolled my eyes. She was so dottery. "Hurry up and get ready and I'll give you a lift to school, can't have you being late on your first day, now can we?"

"Thanks mum," I shouted as I dashed into the bathroom and turned the shower on.

I squealed as I stepped under the freezing cold water and started quickly scrubbing my hair and body.

"Ah shit!" I yelled. Like always, I had managed to get shampoo in my eyes and was blinded while I searched for a towel.

"You alright, Hayls?" my mum shouted.

"Yeah mum, just got shampoo in my eyes. Again." I heard her laugh and I mentally rolled my eyes. Good to hear she's concerned about my safety, I thought.

That thought was interrupted by a loud bang. I opened my eyes to find myself staring at the sink with my head almost in the toilet.

"What did you do this time?"

"I fell. Again," I groaned and attempted to stand up. Clumsy wasn't really the right word for me. Gravity was not my friend. The second I could stand, I started falling over. There wasn't a day that went by without me ending up on the floor somehow.

Wrapping a towel around myself, I made my way out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. Picking an outfit was never a particularly difficult task for me. My wardrobe consisted of skinny jeans, band t-shirts, vans, converse, and not much else. Typically, the day I started a brand new school would be an own-clothes day. I would be judged enough without having to worry about my taste in fashion being assessed as well.

I grabbed a pair of dark skinnies, a Blink-182 shirt and my purple converse. I plugged in my straighteners, allowing them time to heat up while I hopped around my room, attempting to pull on my clothes.

My hair was still soaking but I didn't have time to blowdry it. I grabbed the straighteners and winced as my hair sizzled.

"Hayley, move your butt! I'm leaving in two minutes, with or without you," my mum shouted from downstairs.

"Just coming!" I yelled. I quickly applied some eyeliner -I couldn't live without that stuff- and ran downstairs, grabbing an apple and my school bag. "Ready," I said through a mouthful of apple.

She rolled her eyes at me and started walking towards the door. Following in her footsteps, I made my way outside and over to the car. I had my driver's license but as we only had one car, and it was my mother's, I doubted I would need to use it much.

"I FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL AT THE ROCK SHOW!" I sang along to the radio at the top of my voice as we made our way through the streets of Weybridge. My mum laughed and attempted to join in.

We pulled into the school car park and I breathed in deeply. This was it. "Have a good day sweetheart. Hope it doesn't suck too much being the new kid." My mum smiled at me apologetically. I nodded and grabbed my bag before opening the door and making my way into the reception.

I walked up towards the desk and smiled at the lady sitting behind it. She glanced up at me and smiled kindly. "Let me guess, you're our new student. Miss Phillips?"

"Yup, that's me."

She smiled at me again and pulled out a few sheets of paper from her desk. "I have everything you need right here. Your timetable, your locker combination, a map of the school and forms that you need to get your teacher to sign at the beginning of every class. Just bring those forms back here at the end of the day and that's it. Have a good day."

She handed over the bundle of paper and I thanked her. I turned around and began to walk towards the door. I was staring intently at my map, trying to decipher where the hell my locker was when I ran into something. Something hard and distinctly human shaped.

"Ah fuck! I couldn't even make it five minutes without falling over," I groaned from my position on the floor.

"Shit, sorry. I didn't see you there. Let me help you. I'm Matt by the way." He reached a hand down towards me and I gladly grasped it. Once I was upright again, I turned and smiled at Matt. He looked pretty cute.

"Nah, it wasn't your fault. I'm a tad clumsy," I grinned sheepishly at him and he smiled.

"You're new here, right? Where you from?"

"Yup, just moved here from Glasgow. I'm Hayley."

"Ah, so you're Scottish? I thought your accent sounded weird." He grinned cheekily at me.

"Well to me, you're the one with the weird accent."

"Touché. I like you." He grabbed my timetable from my hand and studied it intently. "Sweet, you're in my registration class. You can meet my friends then. You'll like them. C'mon let's go, I'll show you around the old place."

I smiled warmly at him. Maybe today wouldn't be too bad after all.