Contagious Chemistry, Sian Webster [good beach reads txt] 📗

/> That was until I heard someone behind me yell, “Hey! Where do you think you’re going, girly?”
I turned around and cursed – it was the deputy principal.
“Come on, Absidy!” Jeremy called. I nearly called him crazy for speaking out but then I realised he didn’t want me getting in trouble on my own if I didn’t get over before the deputy got to me.
I climbed as the fence as quickly as I could and jumped down the other side when I reached the top, slipping slightly on the pebbles scattered over the ground. Jeremy helped me regain my balance before he grabbed my hand and we ran. We ran faster than I had the day before to get to the bus stop in time, and found shelter at a little park three streets away from the school and collapsed on the swings to catch our breath.
I started laughing – I couldn’t help it. Jeremy joined in too and slipped off his swing which made me laugh even harder. It looked like it hurt but he didn’t seem to care – he was still laughing along with me. After a while he paused.
“What exactly are we laughing about?” He asked me.
I stopped. “I have no clue.”
We were quiet for a while after that.
“So,” I muttered. “What do we do now?”
“Do you have a change of clothes?” He asked.
“In my bag? No. I didn’t think I’d be ditching school.” I told him.
“Is anyone at your place? If we’re in our uniform whilst ditching we’re bound to get caught.”
“Not unless Mum or Dad have gone home sick.” I said.
He gave me a questioning look.
“Which I highly doubt.” I assured him.
“Come on,” He said, standing up. “Give me directions to your place and you can get a change of clothes and we can go into town or something.”
“Ok, give me directions to your car.” I joked.
He just rolled his eyes and motioned for me to follow him.
6. Awkward Ice Cream

“And turn left at those lights and it’s second on the right.”
Jeremy slammed the break on as the lights turned quickly from green to red and scowled. “Trust me to be the only one to hit a red light.”
I looked behind us and he was right – we were the only people waiting. “They altered these lights a couple of weeks ago.” I told him. “Now they tend to only let one or two cars go through at once. It’s stupid.”
“Why do they do that? Do they have some kind of mental problem?” Jeremy joked.
“Not that I know of, they probably just thought ‘hey, let’s make the lights let only two people through at once! That way people will get where they want to faster!’ Or something like that because everyone on the council is old and stupid.” I said as the lights changed and he parked across the road from my house.
“This it?” He asked me.
“Yep.” I nodded. “I’ll be right back, I promise.”
“Ok, I’ll wait here.” He smiled.
I smiled back and hopped out of the car. There were no cars in the driveway which was good because it meant no one was home. I crossed the road and unlocked the door with the spare key from the key safe next to the door. I looked around the empty house – it was actually quiet for once; no news playing on the TV, no loud music coming from my bedroom, and no clattering about in the kitchen. I walked up the stairs and into my room, closing the door behind me. I wanted something that I could wear under my school shirt so that when I got on the bus you wouldn’t be able to tell I had ditched. I didn’t have to change my shorts; they didn’t have the school logo on them or anything. I rummaged through my draws and pulled out my red You Me At Six singlet which had ‘stay with me’ written across the front of it in swirly writing. Perfect.
I had just got it on when I got a call from Jeremy.
“You might wanna get out of there.” He told me. “Fast.”
“Why?”
“A car just pulled into your driveway.”
“You serious?” I asked him, but it sounded like more of a squeak. I looked out my window and sure enough, there was a car in the driveway. I saw Jeremy in his car across the road with his phone in his hand. I thought about waving but didn’t.
“They’re walking up to the front door now so you can’t get out that way. I think it’s your mum.” He replied.
“How the hell am I meant to get out without using the front door?” I asked incredulously.
“The back door?”
“Downstairs and makes a loud squeaking noise when you open it.” I told him.
He cursed. “Your bedroom window?” He asked carefully.
“My room’s on the second floor!” I squeaked, hearing the front door open and close.
“You wanna get caught ditching? By your Mum?”
I sighed. “I hate you, Jeremy Taylor.”
I hung up before he had the chance to reply.
“Hello?” My mum’s voice called from the bottom of the stairs.
I didn’t answer. Instead I looked around for a place to hide. There wasn’t many places in my small room, so I had to resort to hiding under my bed like a three year old. I heard Mum start walking up the stairs and I shuffled further under so my back was against the wall and I quietly dragged one of the boxes under my bed in front of me, but left a gap so I could still see.
She poked her head inside my door and I held my breath. She looked around and spotted something. She walked into my room muttering about me leaving stuff everywhere and wondering why it got lost or broken. She moved something off my desk and put it in my wardrobe before walking out again. I let out my breath and shuffled out from under my bed as I heard her put the kettle on and the TV started blaring out.
I opened my window and looked out of it. Shit. I thought. Two storey drop. It didn’t look very fun at all. I shoved my school shirt in my bag and dropped it out of the window before sitting myself on the window sill, my legs hanging outside. I took a deep breath and pushed myself off. I didn’t think; thinking would make me stop myself from doing it. I would’ve chickened out and somehow got downstairs without Mum seeing me and climbed out of a first floor window.
I felt the wind against my face as I fell, thankful that my hair was blocking my view or I would’ve probably had a heart attack. As I hit the floor, a sharp pain flared in my ankle and it took all I had not to cry out. I limped over to my bag and slung it over my shoulder before walking two blocks down the street and signalling Jeremy to drive over to me.
“You ok?” He asked me as I got in the car after limping around to the passenger side.
“Yeah,” I smiled. “Think I twisted my ankle though.”
“That’s not really ok, Abby.”
“Hey, I’ll live!” I defended myself. “It’s not everyday I jump out of second storey windows, you know.”
He laughed. “You sure you’re ok?”
“Yes! I’m sure!” I reassured him.
“If you say so…”
“I do!” I laughed. “Come on, I know this really cool ice cream place on Market Street and right now I really feel like ice cream.”
He laughed. “Everyone knows the ice cream place on Market Street.”
“I know. It just sounded cooler the way I said it.” I pointed out.
“Since when have you been one to act cool?” He asked as he pulled away from the curb and started driving into town.
“Since never.”
“Then why start now?”
“Just because something sounds cool in my mind, doesn’t mean it is in other people’s.” I told him. “Like the popular kids’ minds for instance.”
“You mean popular kids like Alex?” He inquired.
“I suppose,” I sighed.
“I’m sorry.” He said. “I should’ve known better than to bring him up.”
“No, it’s ok.” I told him. He was quiet for a while.
“Do you want the radio on?” He asked.
“The radio? Nothing good’s on the radio.” I pointed out.
“True.” He laughed. “Go in the glove compartment. There’s some CDs in there. You can choose.”
“Fair enough,” I smiled. “As long as there’s no mainstream.”
“You expect me to have mainstream?” He asked incredulously.
I laughed.
“No way. Killjoy all the way, girl.” He said, referring to the My Chemical Romance fan club.
“There are bands I like that aren’t My Chem.” I told him as I opened the glove compartment and pulled out the CDs he had mentioned.
“Same with me.”
I looked through the CDs and read the titles aloud. “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by MCR, Cardiology by Good Charlotte, Dirty Work by All Time Low – you listen to All Time Low?”
“Yep.” He said, popping the ‘p’.
I smiled and continued. “Mayday Parade’s self titled, D.R.U.G.S by Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows – good band,” I put in, “The Black Parade Is Dead by MCR, Anywhere But Here by Mayday Parade, What Are You So Scared Of by Tonight Alive, Punk Goes Pop volume 4, and Soundwave 2010.”
“Anything you like? Other than My Chemical Romance of course,” He winked.
“All of them.” I smiled. “Especially The Black Parade Is Dead, though. ‘Cancer’ live in Mexico is absolutely amazing.”
“I like the live version of House of Wolves.” He told me.
“All the live versions are amazing.” I said, putting all the CDs back in the glove compartment but one; Mayday Parade’s ‘Anywhere But Here’.
“Mayday Parade?” He asked.
I nodded. “Yep. ‘The Silence’ was the first song of theirs I heard.”
I put the CD in and skipped to that song. It only got to the second line of the chorus before we got to the ice cream parlour.
“Oh.” I muttered.
“Do we have to stay in the car until this song finished?” He asked me, trying not to laugh.
“Nope. I want ice cream.” I told him, hopping out of the car. Surprisingly my ankle didn’t hurt anymore. Maybe it was just a jolt. I thought to myself.
Jeremy rolled his eyes and got out of the car too, and we walked into the ice cream parlour. We walked up to the counter and a little old lady was working. We told her what we wanted and she decided to keep