Changes

Liv slicked the glossy wand across her plump lips as the bell went to indicate that period two would be starting in five minutes. She popped it back into her bag and fished around for a hair brush to run through her long curled hair in an attempt to tame it slightly. She dragged it through a few times before sighing and tossing it back into her bag with a sigh.

‘This is as good as it’s going to get…’ she thought to herself sadly staring at her reflection for a few more seconds and pulling her silk scarf around her neck. Her hair was wildly curling in all different directions and the extra little bit of shine from the gloss didn’t seem to do much either. Grabbing her bag she began walking back toward the languages building where she had spent the first thirty minutes of her day with the strict French teacher who had made them all sit in silence while she read through the school rules. But this time she walked a little faster, actually excited to be having a Spanish lesson in there because this time she would be with Harry. Her heart fluttered a little at the thought of spending a whole hour with her best friend, although for at least the last six months she had definitely been thinking of him as more than that.

She walked through the doors into a crowd of people in the small lobby, some coming, some going and some just getting in the way and all she could think is that she wished she weren’t so small. At five foot three she struggled in large crowds since other people didn’t seem to even notice she was there. A guy stepped back from his friend with a loud laugh and almost tripped over her but two hands gripped her elbows firmly and pulled her backwards and out of the way of the guy who was now laying on the floor, trying to get up.

“Watch what you’re doing, prick!” Harry hissed sternly at the guy who had pushed his friend from above her head. She looked up at him with a grateful smile as he rested his hands on her shoulders and steered her towards the staircase. She tried to pay attention to where she was walking, but having his hands resting so protectively on her shoulders was the kind of moment that she lived for. The electricity that was pulsing through her from his touch was so distracting she could just about register that she needed to climb the stairs. He stayed like this until they reached the classroom door, when he finally removed his hands and they stepped inside just as the bell to say that lessons had started rang out.

“You okay?” He asked her as they found some empty seats at the back of the class. Harry took the seat closest to the wall so that he could lean his head against the colourful year seven presentation on holidays in Madrid from the year before.

“Yeah, perks of being tiny!” She grimaced as she took her own seat. He grinned showing his dimples, making Liv melt a little inside. She loved his dimples.

“Perks of your best friend being over six foot, you mean?” He winked and she couldn’t help but grin at him in response. How did he do this to her.

“Definitely!” She laughed nervously as she turned away from him. She leant down to her bag next to her and reached in, pretending to be looking for her pencil case, when in reality she was just trying to hide the flush of pink that she could feel flooding over her face. It was ridiculous. She couldn’t even talk to him without him making her feel nervous anymore. After taking a few calming breaths and chiding herself for being so ridiculous she turned back to face the front as the Spanish teacher entered the room. He took his jacket off and threw it over the back of the office chair at the desk at the front before turning with a wide grin toward the class.

“Alright, hi guys, my name is Señor Lorenzo!” He said in a thick foreign accent, clapping his hands together enthusiastically as he moved across the front of the room and grabbed a stack of purple exercise books, “Take one each and write your full names, my name, ‘Spanish’ and ‘Year 12 Group 1’ on the lines please while I sort out a few other things that you need.” He placed a small pile at the front of each row of desks for them to be passed back. Liv was waiting patiently when she felt Harry poking her arm gently.

“Have you got a pen I can borrow?” He whispered. Liv pushed her fluffy pink pencil case across the table indicating for him to just take one as the books got handed back to their row. He rummaged around for a second, took one and then passed it back as she gave him an exercise book. Once she had written down the information she looked over at Harry and had to suppress a giggle. He had taken a pen with a large pink flower sticking out of the end and after writing on the book he had stuck it behind his ear and was now batting his eyelids at her like a little girl.

“You’re ridiculous, Haz…” She muttered watching him as he mimed flipping his hair over his shoulder. He winked at her with a small chuckle but didn’t remove the pen.

“Looks good on you, should wear your hair like that every day…”

Liv looked up to see that the brunette from the row in front had turned around in her seat to see what was going on.

“Considering it, I think it brings out my eyes?” Harry answered with a smile at the girl. Liv watched as he looked at her through his thick lashes, flashing his dimples at the girl and wondered if he did it on purpose as she felt the jealousy rising in her.

Harry had been a massive flirt as long as she had known him, that’s just the way he and Luke were when it came to girls. It hadn’t bothered her when they were younger, why would it? Since she had started liking him though she just wanted to kick him every time he even considered smiling at another girl, knowing what it could do to them… knowing what it had done to her.

She thought back to around half a year ago, back to the night she realised she liked her best friend more than she was supposed to. They had gone to a house party for someone’s sixteenth birthday and they had all separated to do their own thing. After a few drinks, she had found herself standing along with Joe, another guy in their year, who was drunkenly trying to flirt with her and not really taking no for an answer. She was politely declining his offer to slip round the back of the shed when Harry had appeared out of nowhere and put his arm over her shoulder.

“Y’alright Liv? Been looking for you all night!” She remembered looking at him confused as he had sat down on the back of the couch she was standing next to and taken her hand.

“I’m good, why’ve you been looking for me?” She had answered, turning away from Joe and toward Harry. She had wondered how drunk he was as he had wrapped his arms around her waist keeping her facing him and pulling her a little closer.

“Because Liam told me that you had raisins?” He said as he looked deep into her eyes and the corner of his mouth had turned up. She remembered noticing how green his eyes were and being surprised at how they had sparkled despite the lighting being so low in the room.

“Uh, no?” She frowned once she realised what he had said. This only made Harry smile wider though, the dimples in his cheeks deepening. He reached up and pushed a long curl that had fallen in front of her face gently to the side.

“No?” He pulled her even closer and she could smell the aftershave he always wore mixed with the sweet smell of whiskey on his breath, “How about a date then?”

She had looked at him shocked for a second. Harry had just given her his smouldering eyes and asked her on a date. Then she had noticed how her palms had gone sweaty and how loudly her brain was screaming for her to just lean forward and touch her lips to his. She caught her breath as suddenly it was like he had flipped on a light and she could see: she liked him. She had been about to answer when he had dropped his hands and leant back slightly with a smile.

“You looked like you needed a little help getting away from him,” He said as he picked his drink up from the table next to them, “We’re convincing, you almost had me believing that you were about to kiss me! Don’t think Connor would have been too happy…” He added with a laugh.

She remembered how flustered she had felt when she looked next to them and saw that Joe had moved onto some other girl across the room. He had only done it to get rid of him for her. He hadn’t meant any of it. But she had. She had a boyfriend at the time, but that look was the most truthful look that she had ever given anyone.

Now, six months later, she was single and she had been silently willing her best friend to feel it for real every time they were together as she watched him flirt with other girls, completely oblivious to how she felt. She looked at the giggly girl and tried not to scowl. The girl was pretty, slim, blue eyes with a smooth complexion and small plump lips. She had pushed her chair back to get closer to their table, and could see that the girl was wearing a short tight skirt, one glance at Harry’s face said that he had probably seen it too. She swore she could see the hunger in her eyes as she introduced herself, batting her long lashes.

Jealousy taking over, Liv reached out and took the pen from behind Harry’s ear quickly, pulling at his hair a little as she did, distracting him from his conversation.

“Ow?” He moaned questioningly as he rubbed the side of his head.

“Sorry, my pen ran out.” She answered with a quick innocent glance in his direction. She noticed that the blonde girl was glaring at her since she had stolen Harry’s attention.

“You have like a million spares in your pencil case, and even if you didn’t, you can ask for the pen without making me bald!” He said with a frown. She started to feel a little guilty about pulling his hair intentionally. She pressed her fingers to her lips, planting a small kiss on the tips and then pressed them to his head, above his ear. The girl watched, her eyes going wide before leaning back and making a move back to her own table.

“Better?” She asked with a small smile, hoping that he would forgive her. Instantly, El noticed the corners of his mouth twitching as he tried to keep up his frown.

“Maybe…” He said, finally letting his grin escape before taking a new pen and turning to his book to copy the syllabus that had been written on the whiteboard into his exercise book. The girl seemed to have gotten the message that Harry was secretly off limits as she turned to the front of the class.

Liv had forgotten all about the incident with the pen and that the girl in front had even spoken until the bell went and she and Harry began packing away. She had turned to speak to him, but he was still facing the front.

“Hey, Jess?” He said as he piled up his books and the blonde girl turned around, “I forgot to mention before, my twin and I are having a birthday party tomorrow night if you want to come?”

“You’re a twin?” She asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, we’re not identical though… Name’s Luke, blonde, six foot four… you’ll know he’s in the room if the teacher is already worn out before the lesson has started!” Harry nodded making the girl laugh.

“I’ll keep an eye out…” She smiled sweetly, “Sure, I’d love to come… can I bring a friend?”

“Depends.” He answered as he shoved the books into his backpack. She raised her eyebrows again, encouraging him to continue.

“Don’t want a massive cock fest and its pretty ladies that we’re lacking…” He said with a grin as he swung the backpack over his shoulder. Liv turned and looked at him, trying to hide the hurt at what she was hearing. The girl giggled and blushed as she grabbed his phone off of the table and typed in her number.

“Funny. Text me the address, me and Soph will be there!” Then she and the girl she had been sitting next to gathered their bags and scurried from the room leaving Harry and Liv alone. Once the girls had left, Harry looked at Liv and frowned.

“Are you still not packed away?” He asked looking at Liv’s books that were still sitting in front of her in a pile. She gritted her teeth angrily but didn’t speak as she scooped the books off of the table and threw them into her bag. Aware that something was wrong he reached out and rested his hand on her arm.

“Stroppy much! What’s wrong?” He asked, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. She just frowned and shook his arm off of her.

“Nothing, I’m going to be late. I’ll see you at lunch.” She said and strutted away, leaving Harry watching after her confused at what he had done wrong.

Notes