Chapter 6: The Common Life of Instability

“Lookin’ mighty fine today, Hayden.” I hear a voice say as I groan internally. I really am not in the mood to be dealing with this today.

I turn away from the coffee machine that I was trying to load more coffee beans in and at the tall boy at the counter, grinning in his navy blazer and shirt, unbuttoned at the top and hanging out of his dark trousers. His hair is messy as usual, like he’s dragged himself through a bush (no pun intended, of course). “How are ya doing on this fine afternoon?”

I give him a blank look. “Just tell me what you want, brat, and go away.”

“I’m not a brat!” He exclaims in indignation. “I’m only a year younger than you.”

“You’re in uniform,” I point out, “and to me, that’s an indication of your ‘brat-like’ status.”

“You were in uniform last year.”

“Yes, however the fact that you’re a moron is highly significant and therefore deviates from my previous situation.” I say simply.

“Huh?” He utters in confusion, but shakes his head. “I heard you were gonna get fired… not surprised, but how come you’re not anymore?”

I throw him an irritated glance. “It’s none of your business.” In fact, I thought I was fired until I wandered past the café in order to go to the supermarket, when Sophia came running out, asking where the hell I’d been. So, here I am. Unfortunately. “What do you want?”

“You.” He says. I roll my eyes at him and just turn away to quickly make a chocolate milkshake before shoving it in his hands and saying “here. Now fuck off.”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He smiles, but walks off anyway to a round table by the counter where I’m standing. I really think that he is retarded… severely so if he wants to stick around with me. Actually, maybe he’s just clinically insane.

He waves a hand in the air, but I just ignore it for several minutes until Sophia barks at me to “serve him”. So I reluctantly walk over to him and snarl “what?”

“Can you not call me brat?” He asks, relatively politely.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Would you prefer for me to call you dipshit instead?”

“Actually, I prefer Mark.” He says evenly. ‘Y’know, my name?”

I scowl at him, but don’t bother replying to him. He grins, not smugly, but genuinely happy… God, that kid’s just weird. He started to hang around this café about six months ago, a few months after I started; he never really came in with anyone and just sat by himself. I think he goes to the school a few roads down from the one I go to. Man, I hate that school; they always come down to ours with pocket knives and pistols and then make the police swamp the whole area, meaning that it takes me two hours to walk across the street cos I have to be searched and shit. Fucking sucks.

Anyway, he started coming in here just to revise and have a milkshake (don’t ask me why-he’s a weirdo). Then he started talking to me. Well, talking at me. Now he just likes coming in here every day after school to irritate me… he evidently has no life.

“Am I gonna see you at Janey’s again on Saturday?” He asks, grinning. I grimace at the thought.

“I bloody hope not.”

“Aw, come on; it’s only once a month.”

I glare at him. “I hate that place.”

“Yeah, sure,” he says with a sarcastic roll of the eyes, “that’s why I’ve seen you there every time in the past couple of months that it’s been.” The corner of his lips lifts slightly, causing me to cross my arms across my chest and cast my glare upon him more intensely.

“Lewis makes me.” I state.

This causes an unreadable expression to cast over his face as he mutters “well, if Lewis asks you to go, of course you’re gonna go.”

I frown at him. “I don’t follow Lewis around like a lost puppy, you know.”

“Yeah, whatever ya say.”

I throw a wet tea towel at him. “Fuck you.”

A little smile appears on his face as he catches the tea towel in his right hand. “Talking of fucking, who the hell fucked up your face like that?” Despite the smile on his face, his body’s tensed, his shoulders rigid as he stares at me.

“Just a couple of kids trying to act tough. It wasn’t anything really.” I turn away from him to set a couple of small espresso cups in the sink.

“It doesn’t look like nothing.” He shakes his head. “You sure you’re ok?”

I groan as I grab a dry tea towel and dry a few coffee mugs off. “Yes, I am quite fine. I’ve already heard all this worried crap from Lewis, you know.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” I hear him mutter.

I lie in the long grass by the oak tree, my hands clasped behind my head as I try and get rid of the crappy headache I’ve had since the fight at lunch.

“Nice bruise ya got there.” A voice claims overhead, causing me to sit up.

“Yeah, what of it? Thinking of adding to it?” I drawl, narrowing my eyes suspiciously at the four tall guys standing just to the right of where I’m sitting.

The guy that was talking earlier chuckles, dragging a hand through his mid-length, wavy, dark hair. “No, nothing like that at all.” He smirks. “Saw you fighting earlier; quite a spectacle, actually. Would never have thought a year seven would even dare take on a year nine.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I say disinterestedly. “It’s not like I had much of a choice; the idiot asked for it.” The guy snickers at my comment, nudging the others before saying in a murmur; “I like this kid.”

“I’m no kid.” I glare at him as his grin broadens. “What year are you in anyway?”

“Eleven.” The guy at the front replies before gesturing around to the rest of his group “Nick, Greg, Paul…” he places a hand on his chest. “And I’m Jasper.”

“Hayden.” I say simply.

“Hayden” he says, almost purring as he smiles, “nice name. Wanna hang with us?”

“Not particularly.”

“Come on; it’ll put some more fun into our dull lives” he pleads, a dark lock of hair obscuring his pale blue eyes.

“Alright.” I say reluctantly, following them out of the school gates.

“Hayden!” I hear a female voice shout amongst the blurry surroundings around me. I glance up to see Sophia, her hair roughly tied up in a ponytail as her eyebrows knit together in something akin to worry. She then frowns. “What are you doing sleeping during the middle of your shift, and in the kitchen no less?”

I shake my head in confusion and press a hand to my forehead, where I can feel a slight groove in my skin where I’ve been leaning against the marble tabletop. “I guess I just drifted off…”

The frown stays imprinted on her face. “Well, I guess it was a slightly slow service today…’ Something seems to alert her and her eyes widen. “Are you sweating?” She demands.

If I were more than half awake right now, I would be really pissed off at her by now. But instead, all I do is run my fingertips down my neck, which seem to collect small, salty drops on my tips. “Guess so…” I comment in a slight daze, causing her mouth to twist her mouth in concern. I should be shocked about this revelation, but I’m busy gripping my hair with my hand, trying to wake myself up.

“Maybe you should go home early and get some sleep…?” She says; hand on my shoulder, before quickly taking it away. “Then you can do an extra hour tomorrow and help me clean up to make up for it.” I roll my eyes, causing a small smile to appear on her hard, stiff mouth. “That’s more like it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I smirk at her, trying to gain composure before walking out.

I must have fallen asleep after Mark left… which is weird because that’s never happened to me before. I just really wish I’d stop having those stupid ‘memory dreams’; there’s no point in looking at the past because you can’t change it. Ugh, it just irritates me so much that I even think about what happened still. Even when Jasper’s not here, he fucks with my head, and out of all the things, that really pisses me off.

“What the hell you looking at?” I bark at some teenager who’s staring at me as I walk by the corner of the road he’s standing on.

“Nuffin’, mate, ya just look pretty doped up.” He drawls, eyes widened by my demanding tone.

“Well, fucking find something else to stare at or you’ll have and imprint of my knuckles in your gums instead of your teeth.” I glare at him, teeth grinding as I walk off. He seems stunned, but swears out at me once I’m a couple of metres away from him. I grab my box of Marlboros and pull one out, shove it in my mouth and light it with trembling fingers.

How can someone continue to haunt you when they’re not even there anymore?

“Hayden, are you ok?” My mum asks me as soon as I get in through the door, biting her lip lightly after lifting her head from reading The Independent. “You’re still continuing with your football, right?”

“Yes and yes.” I say impatiently, striding past her and through the kitchen to my room, shutting the door. I fall back onto my bed and stare

“Are you sure you’re ok, Hayden?” My mum calls through my door, worry edging into her voice as I can tell that she’s leaning slightly against my door.

“Yes, I’m fine.” I snap. “Do I have to explain every bloody thing to you in elongated sentences?” As soon as it pops out, that feeling of guilt slithers out, but I can’t bring myself to apologise. A minute passes before I hear her footsteps echo away from the door, leaving me to bring my hands on top of my eyes and mutter “fuck” to myself amidst the silence (discounting crashes and banging from next door).

I rub my temples lightly before shoving myself off my bed and sliding onto the window sill, lifting the window open, causing a light breeze to tug at my t-shirt. I drag a hand through my hair before slipping a Marlboro into my mouth, turning away from the window to light it before turning back and allowing the smoke I inhaled to curl out of my lips in wisps.

The floorboard in my room creaks behind me, causing my head to whirl around to see Mark, still clad in his uniform, but missing his tie and blazer. “What the hell are you doing in my room?” I snarl, snubbing out my cigarette on my sill and flicking it out of the window.

He isn’t fazed by my language, yet seems slightly apprehensive, his smile gone from his face and merely appears uneasy. “I went back to the café earlier to see how you were, but Sophia told me you left because you were unwell…?”

I roll my eyes. “She always exaggerates; I’m fine. I just happened to fall asleep during work-wait, how do you know where I live?” I demand.

He ignores my question and takes a few steps forward. “I don’t believe you.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “I am absolutely fine. Now, how the fuck do you know where I live?”

He shrugs. “Seen you walk home before.”

“You followed me?” I say in disbelief. “I can’t believe my mum let a stalker into my room.”

“I didn’t follow you,” he comments, the side of his mouth crumpling into a smile, “I observed your walking habits on the way back to your block of flats. I was merely intrigued as to what someone of your character does after work.”

“Someone of my…” I echo, eyebrow raised, “what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

He lifts his shoulders once again in an irritating gesture. “You’re just an interesting person.”

“Interesting?”

He waves his hand in a round-about gesture. “Different. Weird. Bizarre. You know the rest of the synonyms.”

“How am I weird?” I ask, grating my teeth together.

“Well, the way how you insult everyone you see is kind of an indication. Most people at least try to get on with people.” He explains, smirking slightly when he sees my expression.

“I don’t insult everyone I see.” I claim indignantly, causing his face to drop slightly.

“Yes, not everyone. Not Lewis anyway.” He says bitterly, confusing me slightly; why is he acting like Lewis annoys him so much?

“No, not just Lewis. Other people too.”

“Like?”

“Uh-”

“Exactly.”

I throw a glare at him. “You didn’t even let me say anything.”

He crosses his arms. “But I was right, wasn’t I?”

“It’s none of your business who I’m nice to and who I’m not nice to.” I snap.

His smile tightens. “I guess that’s true. See you at Janey’s party.” He then strides off out of the door, leaving me confused. Well, I guess there’s a first for everything.

“We’re sharing a room.” The deep, arrogant voice filters into my ears and causes me to grimace, my upper lip curling lightly in immense irritation. I wish the fucker would just leave me the hell alone. I actually can’t stand to be in his presence; he makes it his point to sit next to me in Geography and irritate the hell out of, just because he knows he can.

“Get out of my line of vision now before I verbally throw up on you.” I growl as he slips into his chair, his grin growing ever so wider.

“Hm, sounds tempting.” He winks at me. “I’m into anything bizarre, as long as it includes hard, sweaty sex.”

I stare at him pointedly. ‘Who said anything about sex?”

He smirks. “I could read it from your face as easily as I could lick chocolate off a strawberry.”

I turn away from him, sighing. ‘You do realise that people that talk like that are sexually deprived?” I glance towards Mr Burton, scribbling something onto the whiteboard in a lime colour. “Could you go and toss yourself off? Preferably on a very tall and unstable bridge. Your demise would bring me a lot more pleasure than your dick ever could.”

“Aw, how mean,” in the corner of my eye, I see Jude grinning, my words having no effect whatsoever. “However, I must conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me; I shall choose to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense.”

I raise my eyebrows, my eyes still fixed on Mr Burton’s whiteboard pen. “I can’t believe you just quoted Pride and Prejudice… and that you just admitted your likeness to Mr Collins.”

“Well,” he shrugs nonchalantly, “we’re both incredibly sexy men.” He says, lowering his voice.

“I think by ‘sexy’, you actually meant the antonym.” He grins at my comment, causing me to frown and give him a side glance. “And by the way, I’m not sharing a room with you; bungee jumping with the cord around my neck would be less painful than that.”

He sighs as Mr Burton taps the board with the back of his pen before writing something just above the diagram of a hill. “You are so mean to me, Hayden! However will I ever be able to live with such derogatory remarks?”

I throw him a blank stare. “I’m still not sharing a room with you on the Geography trip.”

“You know, it isn’t healthy for you to deny your true desires.” He winks at me, his tongue darting out to swipe at his bottom lip.

A weary look passes over my face. “What I’m denying is a ‘worst-case’ scenario.”

“…Because you’re afraid your temptation will be too great that your body will subconsciously gravitate towards mine and hence, our two bodies will become one.” His white teeth contrast against his tanned skin as he pretends to swoon.

I glance at him, disgust prevalent on my face. “That is the most stupid analogy I’ve heard in my life.”

“You may think it stupid however; it is the truest, is it not?”

“… Why are you talking as though you’re from a different time period?” I ask, raising an eyebrow before sighing and picking up my pen again. “Could you please stop talking to me? I’ve got work to do.”

“What? Geography?” He mocks, smirking. “I had no idea that you were an undercover nerd, Paretski.” He props his elbow up on the desk and rests the side of his face on his palm, his eyes stuck on my face. “So what’s ya codename? 69?” He guffaws at his own joke, leaving me staring at him, unimpressed.

“Actually, I’d like to pass this A Level, unlike some who can afford to spend Daddy and Mummy’s money.” I snap before shifting my gaze back to my notebook below me and jotting down some notes.

He exhales a deep breath, but doesn’t say anything more and goes back to his work, surprising me slightly, but not enough to make me want to break it. After all, I might actually be able to get some peace this lesson. For once.

The peace had actually lasted for about five minutes before he began bugging me once again with completely irrelevant statements and questions. By the end of class, my eyes are practically bulging out of my sockets in anger, my teeth nearly ground to little stumps as I head to Mr Burton’s desk. Thankfully, Jude had been called by the other stupid people he hung out with outside the classroom, so disappeared fairly quickly.

“Ah, Hayden…” Mr Burton breathes out as he glances up from his paperwork, his sharp silver eyes obscured by his ebony, wiry, glasses, “what reason graces me with your presence after class hours?”

“Is it true that I have to share a room with Jude Theroux on the trip?” I bite out, my mouth twisting as if I’ve just sucked on a lemon.

He grimaces as his eyes tilt upwards. “I knew this would happen.”

“If you knew this would happen, why the hell’d you room me with him?” I ask icily.

“Now, Hayden…” He tuts admonishingly, “you shouldn’t talk to teachers like that. Now, as for why I roomed you with him… well, there was no one else that I could put you or him with-everyone had already picked who they wanted to share with, apart from you. Moreover, Mr Theroux was adamant about sharing a room with you, and I felt there was no reason why not-”

“I think him being a complete and utter prick is as good a reason as any.” I mutter bitterly.

He raises his eyebrows. “Well, hopefully you’ll be more mature and get over these small differences.”

“Small differences is a bit of a light word to use.”

He shakes his head, turning back to the papers he was marking before, the black ink covered sheets of white paper scattered with scarlet crosses, ticks and circles. “Anyway, you’ll have to live with it, Hayden, because you’re not changing rooms, I’m sorry to say.”

I give him one last long, murderous look before storming out of the class, my thunderous features compiled with my raging, clenched fists at my sides causes everyone to jump out of my way. It’s not hard to realise that I am severely pissed off.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lewis asks softly, eyebrows knitted in evident worry.

My jaw locks onto the shiny green apple in my hand as I bite savagely into it, a white crevice formed amongst the emerald sheen. I violently swat at the juice leaving out of the right corner of my lips. “No.” I grunt.

“Are you sure? I mean, you seem pretty upset…”

“I’m not upset; I’m angry. Furious.” I reach into my back, get a hold of my English literature text book, and fling my bag a few metres away from us. Lewis stares at me, puzzled.

“Why did you do that?”

“What?” Another grunt.

“Throw your bag halfway across the field.”

“Dunno. Felt like hurling something, and I didn’t think that you’d appreciate it if I did that to your pencil case.” I nod at his small, navy, zip pencil case, a few pens sticking out over his scribbled notebook.

He sighs as I flip open the lemon-coloured text book to a page and begin writing about the Marxist way of criticizing texts. He grabs my elbow, immediately causing me to stiffen. “Why won’t you ever tell me anything, Hayden?”

I look at him in bemusement. “I do tell you things.”

He stares at me sadly. “No you don’t. You keep everything locked inside of you and instantly prick anyone if they come too close.” He gives me a small, sad, smile. “In that respect, you really do resemble a Hedgehog.”

I raise an eyebrow and scoff at him, tearing my arm out of reach from him. “I’m only pissed off, and it’s hardly my biggest fuckin’ secret why.”

Lewis shakes his head, his locks of golden hair flowing with his movement. “I’m not only talking about this; I’m talking about everything. I mean, I’m supposed to be your best friend, yet we barely see each other out of school and whenever I do try and meet you out of school, you always dodge it at the last minute. The only time I ever really see you is at school, at the café, and at parties I make you go to. Even then we barely see each other.” His eyebrows are pushed towards each other at the base, frown lines appearing close to them as his mouth twists in concern.

My eyebrow quirks up as I turn a page over in my text book and scribble something down. “That’s not my fault. Most of the time you’re all over some other guy, practically gagging to have their cock shoved down your throat.” As soon as the words leap out of my mouth, I know that I’ve completely overstepped the mark. Lewis’ face crumpled as he abruptly stands up and hurriedly gathers all his things scattered on the grass and clumsily shoves them into his bag. My mouth bobs open and closed, the words of apology getting lost on my tongue as I glimpse at the tearful, look on his face before he trudges away back to the red brick building. I clench a few grass blades before tearing them out of the soil.

I really am such a shitty friend. If you can even really call me that.

AN: And so Mark enters the web... Anyhow, on other news... I'm back from my holiday! I weirdly have a tan, despite only going to Dorset and spending the entirety of my time on the beach under an umbrella with a beach towel draped over my legs... needless to say, I hate the sun (yeah, I know I'm a weirdo... it gives me headaches, alright?...)

Anyway, replies to all those lovely people who comment (I really do love you people :))

-runaway sheet-Thank you! And yeah, Hayden's not really a girly guy; he wouldn't ever really be into, I don't know, flower arranging (I know-bad example) or something. He's be more likely to decimate the flowers than arrange them. I laughed at your comment about Jude; everyone seems to find him so annoying! I know what you mean, though; I find him incredibly irritating, and I created him! It's just that whenever you read some romance fic, you always read about some popular guy who's flirty and very good looking, falls for the main character and is generally the perfect guy (not necessarily saying that Hayden will end up with Jude, just using that as an example). When, in fact, most guys that are popular, good looking and flirty are actually arrogant pricks. Which is what Jude is :). Though, he can be sweet. When he wants to (which isn't very often). And sorry to disappoint you, but Jude's gonna stay flirty until chapter 9ish :S Sorry, he's just like that -shrugs- And thank you! My holiday was ok, though it rained half the time I was there :( Hope yours is going well! And yes, it did give me more ideas! Just finishing a long one shot which I've been writing for three months (yeah, I know-I'm so slow at writing!) and I'm piecing together a new fic, so yeah! All good!

-xXxEscape The FatexXx-Yeah... Hayden's intelligence may be high, but his common sense is a very round zero ^_^ Thanks for reviewing!

-CaseyBear-Lol, yes I do live in England-London, actually :) Where are you from? And you are so random, lol, but thank you once again for commenting :)

-kosmich-Yay :) I get really happy when people say they like Hayden; it's like saying they like my brother or something, haha. And I'm glad you think that way about Jude and Hayden; I was trying to portray them both as having flaws, as well as them both being relatively interesting (despite Jude being slightly irritating). And I'm happy you don't find them boring!

-Poptart Guava Kid- woop!

-Sunny Optimism- Kind of, kind of not. He's just... I guess the word's... intrigued by Hayden, cos he's so different to himself. It's like he's just met an alien or something and keeps poking at it. Thank you for the review!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READS MY STORY! I REALLY APPRECIATE ANY COMMENTS, BE IT CC (don't be too mean though!) OR SOME AMAZING COMPLIMENT (not saying I deserve it or anything). I'M TRYING MY HARDEST TO GET THE CHAPTERS OUT AS FAST AS I CAN, AND YOUR COMMENTS REALLY SPUR ME ON TO DO IT! ^_^