Maddox Academy: Grievous Beginnings - Wattys 2022 Shortlister

Chapter Thirty-Nine - A Kiss by The Lake

The end of term came all too quickly.

For the final few weeks, we were subjected to countless information about the O-Levels and how they were going to work. The longer our teachers talked, the less attention people paid to what was going on. It got to the point that one of our teachers could have dropped a ruler and scared us all half to death. None of them wanted to test that theory so instead, they just ranted to a room of sleeping fifteen-year-olds and said nothing on the fact we weren't listening.

Mrs Maddox came to me at the start of our final week, declaring that her investigation into Victoria's accusations came up empty. There was no evidence I had done anything, with Katie and Jo baking me up on our trip to the village and even Emma, Rose and Barbara stepping in to say they hadn't seen anything. Despite that, Mrs Maddox said I was on my final warning if I came back next year, but at least I wasn't in trouble.

By the time the last Friday of the year came around, the school was practically buzzing. It almost sounded as though someone had released a swarm of bees into the school and they had invaded every inch of the place. Still, the teachers had given us the last three days before we were due to leave off for packing purposes. However, Katie had other ideas. She had promised a trip down to the last with just the two of us once the presentations were done and, on the Friday before we were due to go home, she acted on that promise.

She had prepared a picnic, courtesy of the kitchen staff, and that morning we had walked beyond the village to the lake. The lake itself was huge. I couldn't see the other side from where we were sitting, and the entire area was surrounded by trees. The leaves and grass were a bright shade of green, the sun bouncing off each individual blade of grass. I could see the reflection of trees in the lake and the small fish that swam about just beneath the surface. It looked like a good placed to go for a swim. If I could swim that it.

We had spread a blanket across the grass and eaten an array of different sandwiches and miniature cakes. It had been one of the best days since I started at Maddox, especially as it was just Katie and me in the summer sun with no one around to disturb us. I wished we could have had that moment before the last day of term. We could have had many other moments together like this if we hadn't been so afraid of telling the other how we feel.

"What does that cloud look like?" Katie asked, gesturing aimlessly to the sky.

"I don't know, a sheep without legs?"

"Flick," she wined.

"It does! Sheep are just clouds with legs. The cloud looks like a cloud, so it's a sheep without legs."

"You are so annoying."

She reached behind her and grabbed the cushion from under her head, turning to face me and smacking me with it. I rolled onto my side, pulling my legs into my chest and forming a very small ball as she continued to whack me with the cushion. When she stopped, I reached out and grabbed my own, rolling back as fast as I could and attacking her back.

Katie shrieked and rolled over, dropping her cushion and trying to crawl away from me. I dropped the cushion and looked at her, watching the way she squinted at me despite the cushion no longer being in my hand. She tilted her head at me, her eyes moving between me and the cushion that sat in front of me. Before I could do anything, she grabbed her own and threw it at me, watching as it hit me square in the face.

I stared at her, shocked that she had just thrown a cushion at me when I had abandoned my assault on her. Rather than say anything, she burst out laughing. The silence that had encased us all day, was broken by Katie's laugh. She collapsed back against the blanket, still laughing, wiping tears out of her eyes.