Fourteen

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My hand clutches the tiny scrap of paper inside my pocket as I head towards the school gates. Only now do I realise what the hell just happened. He gave me his number. That's got to mean something, right?

Hannah, Aria and Dani are waiting for me, each hugging their bomber jackets close as the northern breeze picks up. From this distance, they look like clones, myself being a fourth.

"I hope they've got a table for five indoors. I'm not sitting outside in this fucking weather." Hannah grumbles, briefly looking up from her phone to glare at the dreary grey sky. As we begin our walk to the Kafe, I hear thunder softly rumbling in the distance. Fantastic.

"Uh, five?" Dani asks. I double-check the number of identical ponytails and pairs of white trainers around me. Yep, there's definitely four of us.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Charlie's joining us." Hannah mutters, jabbing at the keyboard on her phone.

"What? How come?" Dani protests. She looks almost as annoyed by this news as I am.

"I asked him after the match."

"Does he know there are no other guys coming?" Dani asks, "He'd rather chop his own leg off than listen to us talk about girl stuff."

"That's what I thought! But I mentioned y/n was coming too and he practically begged me to let him come."  Hannah says, finally looking up from her phone to grin at me.

"Oh, well... that explains it then!" Aria adds, flashing me a similar look and squeezing my arm. "I knew it!" She whispers excitedly.

I laugh nervously, then mouth a silent fuck when Aria's not looking. The next hour is going to be hell.

As if on cue, Charlie appears from around the corner. He's changed into a black Adidas tracksuit, his short blonde hair hidden under a matching baseball cap. He looks like the epitome of a human teenager, and he smells like one too. The scent of cigarette smoke and deodorant is so strong I can practically see it wafting towards me as Charlie swaggers alongside us, lighting yet another cigarette.

Eventually, the pavement narrows as we travel down the backstreets. The three girls walk in front, leaving me side to side with Charlie.

"I missed you on Friday," He says after a while.

Creep.

"So I've been told" I reply, immediately regretting it. I need to stop accidentally flirting.

"What if I ask whether you're going to Hannah's party, are you gonna let me down again?" He asks, flashing me a grin between puffs.

"I guess I'll have to think about it," I say, refusing to look him in the eye. Nevertheless, I sense him smirking beside me, and I feel an immediate surge of annoyance. I quickly shove my hands in my pockets when I realise the living agitation beside me is causing me to vein up. Thankfully he's too busy trying to make smoke rings to notice.

I manage to squeeze myself between Aria and the edge of the pavement for the rest of the journey. She happily babbles away about what she's planning to wear on Friday, unaware that I'm only half listening.

We reach the Kafe just as it begins to rain, and dread strikes through me when I realise that I'm stuck here until it stops. The group settles into the nearest booth, and I volunteer to order purely so that I can stay away from Charlie for as long as possible.

"Y/n! Hi, how are you!" Katrina greets me as I reach the counter. She's wearing a primrose yellow dress and matching headband, which almost as visually assaultive as the rest of the decor in the small cafe.

Strangers▪ Matei Covaci imagineजहाँ कहानियाँ रहती हैं। अभी खोजें