The rest of the holiday passed painfully slow, but I wasn't gonna let that spoil today. I am probably the only kid in the world who is excited to go back to school. Come on be honest if you say you get excited about school, I know you get equally excited for the holidays. Me, I hate the holidays. Harry Potter and I have that part in common. I had seen Aden about here and there, but I ignored him. I was polite to his Mum and Dad though when I saw them.
Dad and I patched things up, or rather I said sorry, I had been upset from something else and didn't mean to take it out on him. He just shrugged his shoulders, gave me one of his best dad hugs and told me not to worry about it. Dad was cool like that, he didn't hold grudges, well mostly, and he could be very understanding.
I laughed at George as he tried to wear his breakfast before kissing Mum on the cheek and making my way to school.
My best friends were waiting for me at the gates. Hannah Abbot was the athlete of the group. Tall, blonde and the best dancer at the school. Lucy Phillips loved fashion, Thomas Rook was the computer geek/whiz and then Matt Matthews. Yeah, his parents were just as cruel as mine, after all, they named their kid Matthew Matthew. He was the artist of the group; the boy could paint. Thomas had the typical look for a computer geek slim, gangly with next to no muscles, but Matt was lean, tanned and drop-dead gorgeous, remember the boy I talked about before that asked someone else to the dance instead of me, ta-da here he is. I have had a crush on him for years, everyone knows but him.
"Georgia!" they all called as I walked up.
I gave everyone a hug, Matt a bit longer than the others before they started telling me about the amazing holidays they had. They asked me about mine, but I opted out of telling them about Aden. I didn't want to change my happy mood, that almost happened when Matt started talking about a girl, he had seen on his family trip to Jamaica.
We were all sat in English when my happy mood vanished. Just before the lesson started in walks Mr Cooper, the headteacher that tries to be hip, with Aden. Both Hannah and Lucy plus the rest of the girls in my class sat straight up. I can't blame them he is a very good-looking guy until he opens his mouth.
"Good morning class, we have a new student. This is Aden Fenris, he and his family have just moved to Borington. I expect you all to make him feel welcome. Where is Georgia Adams?" he asked. I shrunk in my seat as all eyes including Aden's move to stare at me.
"Ah, Georgia, Aden's parents said that you two already know each other, so you can show him around, yeah?" I could feel every girl's eyes boring into me as I nodded. There was a spare seat next to me, so Aden was told to sit there. Mrs Brown, my English teacher, turned to me and said.
"Georgia why don't you go show him around now, we are just gonna talk about the homework. Your friends can catch you up with that." Again, I nodded and felt everyone's stares, well the girl's at least, as I got up and left with Aden. I was a little upset as I glanced at Matt whilst I was walking out, he didn't look at all bothered that I knew Aden.
Outside the classroom I turned to Aden 'might as well get this done quickly,' I thought.
"Give me your timetable," I asked.
"Not even a hello Aden, how are you doing Aden, nice to see you again Aden. You thought my manners were bad, yours are just the same," he teased with a chuckle as he handed me his timetable. I glared at him
"I would have said those things if I actually wanted to know the answer to any of them," I looked at his timetable and I almost groaned out loud.
He had all the same classes as me. Aside from the usual, we have to have i.e. English, Maths and Science. I was taking an extra English class, IT, mainly because Thomas had begged me to take it, so he had someone to sit with and Art. Though I was only taking Art to be with Matt, that was the only lesson we had together without the others. It was like Aden had copied my exact timetable.
"Why do you have the exact same timetable as me?" I accused. Aden smiled.
"Blame Mum for that, when she said that I knew you and then I said I wanted English as an extra class. Mr Cooper said that he will give me the same timetable as you so that I had someone I knew in every class," he explained.
"What about IT and art?" I asked, my alone time with Matt and Thomas was in danger, well it wasn't for the same reason, but I liked hanging out with Thomas too. Aden shrugged.
"He said I could change them, but I didn't want to." I stared at him open-mouthed. "Wasn't you supposed to show me around?" he asked with a smirk on his face.
I must have looked like a fish as I opened and closed my mouth to say something, but nothing came out, a quick flashback to the dream. I quickly turned around and walked off.
I showed him around as quickly as I could, only speaking as minimally as I could. The tour took almost an hour, he wanted to see everything. We made it back to English in time for the end of the first lesson, but I had another hour to go and Aden too. Hannah and Lucy were waiting for me at the door.
"You can go inside," I said as I stopped to talk to them. Once he was out of earshot, they pounced on me.
"Are you kidding me? We asked you if anything exciting happened to you over the holidays and you fail to mention the super-hot guy that moved in next door," Hannah accused. I groaned.
"Ok fine, I could have told you about him, and yes he is hot, but he is a complete jerk ok. I will tell you more later I gotta go." I escaped into the classroom before they could say anything more.
Aden was sat next to me with that same smirk on his face that I wanted to wipe off. I normally loved English especially the second half. Only half the class remained for the second lesson, the first was the basic stuff Mrs Brown had to teach and then the second part was more specific.
However, Aden Fenris had managed to spoil my day again. No matter where I went, he was there, Hannah and Lucy gushed over him and asked ten billion questions at break and dinner. Matt and Thomas joined in too, only they weren't as interested as the girls.
The last lesson of the day was looming, normally I looked forward to it. A full hour of art with Matt, now it was a full hour of art with Matt and Aden. I took my usual seat with Matt, but unlike the other classrooms, Mr Richards had the tables set out in a horseshoe shape so everyone can see the middle of the classroom. Which meant that Aden sat on the other side of me.
"So, Georgia you any good at art?" asked Aden. I glared at him.
"Oh yeah mate, you should see her sketches she has skill," said Matt.
I blushed at his praise; I mean I was ok, but I was nothing compared to him. Aden looked at me a little too long for my liking, he seriously needs to stop staring at people, it's rude.
"I guess I will have to have a look," he said.
"Oh yeah, you should. Honestly mate, Georgia is one of the best artists in this school." Matt placed an arm around my shoulders as he leaned towards Aden.
I blush again and leaned in a bit towards him until I caught Aden watching me. I gently pushed Matt off laughing.
"Give over Matt, I'm ok nowhere near as good as you. If you wanna see art Aden, you should look at Matt's work. He designed the new display we have at the reception."
Matt had designed a community themed wall mural, which was brilliant if I must say so. Aden stayed silent, luckily, we were all forced to stop chatting when Mr Richards walked in and started the lesson.
When the final bell rang, I walked with Matt and Thomas to the bus whilst Hannah and Lucy walked behind with Aden. As I said goodbye to my friends, Aden was called over by Mr Cooper. I waited for the bus to go as usual and then I looked to see if Aden was still busy with Mr Cooper, thankfully he was so I quickly left.
I had hoped to make it home before he could catch up with me, but no luck. I hadn't made it to the end of the street before I heard his footsteps.
"Hold up!" he panted as he slowed to walk next to me, I sighed.
"What do you want Aden?" I asked. He didn't speak as we walked past the shops and through the streets towards our street. Once we got to my house, I said bye and didn't wait for a response. I know it was rude, but he had been rude to me first and still hasn't apologized yet.
"Mum, George I'm home!" I called, no answer.
I looked in the living room the gate was open, and George's toys were all tidied away. That wouldn't be if George was in. I walked into the kitchen and noticed a note on the counter.
'Hi honey, me and George are next door. If we are not back by the time you come in just pop over if you want to, love Mum. X'
I sighed no way was I gonna 'pop over' as Mum said. I decided to instead go for a walk to my favourite little forest. I quickly got changed out of my uniform and headed off past the Fenris house. I could hear George laughing as I passed.
'Least he is allowed in the garden there,' I chuckled to myself.
My favourite little forest was only a ten-minute walk away. At the end of our street stretched a big long field and in-between that field and the next was a little forest. Some years ago, some kids built a little treehouse, it was very run down when I found it. I fixed it up with Dad's help and it was now my little den.
Dad made me promise never to go there if it was too dark, which was ok. I usually only went after school for a few hours and sometimes during the middle of the day on the weekends and holidays. As I neared my den, I felt something behind me, I turned and screamed.
"Woah! It's just me," Aden said as he held his hands up. I placed a hand over my racing heart.
"You scared me!" I said trying to breathe normally.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he said.
Once I was calm enough, I looked at him.
"Oh, so you know that word do you," I said as I started walking again.
"What word?" he said as he followed me. I stopped and glared at him.
"The word 'sorry'. I didn't think you knew it," I said. He sighed.
"Ok, I deserved that," he said.
"You think?" I said sarcastically. He was the one to look like a fish now as he opened and closed his mouth. I sighed.
"What are you doing here Aden?" I asked. I wanted to get to my den, but I didn't want company.
"I saw you walking, and I was wondering what you were doing. Plus, your brother is wreaking havoc in my garden, so ...." He explained. I gave a small laugh at the thought of George running around the garden pulling the flowers. "You have a nice laugh," he said, I quickly stopped laughing and blushed. "So ...." He said as we continued to stand there.
"So?" I said with a small smile.
"Where are you going?" he asked again. I looked at my den, I could just about make it out from here. I looked back at him.
"Come on," I said as I turned and started walking.
The den looked like a big shed but inside it had a writing table, a sofa and a bookcase. There were two big windows to let natural light in and some battery-powered lamps for when it was too dark, not that I used them much. An old rug of mine was laid on the floor making it feel comfy.
"Wow!" Aden said as he looked around. I suddenly felt nervous. "This place is great; did you do this?" he asked as he took a seat on the sofa. I nodded.
"Yeah, I found it and Dad helped me restore it a bit," I explained. I had a good collection of books here, away from George's hands.
"What do you do here?" he asked, I shrugged as if it was no big deal.
"I read or write depends on what I'm in the mood for and I sometimes sketch too."
"Can I see what you have drawn or written?" he asked. I thought about it.
"You can see my drawings; my stories aren't ready to be read by anyone yet," I said as I collected my sketch pad.
I sat down next to him and passed him the book. He carefully looked at each picture, there were landscapes, buildings and some animals. After a while, he finally spoke.
"These are amazing Georgia. I can see what Matt was on about," he said. He looked at me so warmly that I blushed even harder.
"Thanks," I muttered as I put the book back and sat back down.
"Georgia?" Aden said I looked at him.
"Yeah?" I said.
"I am sorry, you know for that day," I smiled.
"Thanks, Aden."
We stared at each other for a while until I broke away. He stood up and went to look at my bookshelf.
"Pick one to read if you like," I said as I stood up and went to the desk.
"The Wereling?" he said as he picked up one of my books.
"Oh, that's a good one. It's about a boy that gets kidnapped and turned into a wolf, so he can mate with this wolf family's daughter, so she can turn. Whose completely against it by the way. Only when he turns, he's not a bloodthirsty monster like they are." I explained. "It's by Stephen Cole and it's a trilogy." He nodded and went to sit back down with it.
"Do you really think werewolves are bloodthirsty monsters?" Aden asked after a while. I stopped writing and looked at him. "I mean if they existed," he added. I smiled.
"I think if they were real some could be like that, but others might not be. It's like magic, it is neither good nor evil, it all depends on how it's used. So, someone that has the ability to turn into a wolf is neither good nor bad, until they do something," I said. Aden looked a little relieved at my answer, then he smirked.
"So, you believe in magic?" he asked. I blushed.
"Well yeah, just because I can't see it doesn't mean it isn't real. I mean lots of cultures have legends and stories about people with powers." I suddenly started feeling like I was acting childish in front of him.
"I should probably get back, Mums most likely returned by now," I explained as I looked at my watch, stood up and started to leave, but he stopped me. His hand was holding mine, I looked at him in shock. I wasn't in shock because he was touching me, ok yes that was surprising. It was more because his hand was hot, like high temperature hot.
"Aden you're hot," I said. He smirked.
"Thank you," he said, I blushed again.
"No, I mean well yes you are…... No! I mean you feel like you have a fever. Are you feeling ok?" I asked concerned.
I touched his forehead, it felt just as hot as his hand. My hand lowered to his cheek and he closed his eyes, I swear he leaned into my hand too. I left my hand there a moment longer before pulling back, his eyes opened slowly they looked darker than before.
"Are you sick?" I asked needing to break the tension. He smiled.
"No, I'm not sick. I don't know why but I always run a little hotter than most people, Mum and Dad too. They had a doc look at me, you know to be safe since their parents didn't check them. They couldn't find out why, but they said that it wasn't causing any damage," he explained. I nodded, and he smiled at me.
"Next time you come here, can I come too?" he asked. I wanted to say no, that this was my place but that's not what came out of my mouth.
"Sure, I come practically every day after school and for a few hours a day during the weekends and holidays," that actually came out of my mouth. I wanted to kick myself. We walked back in silence until we got to his house.
"Good night Georgia, see you tomorrow," he said as he waved.
"Good night Aden!" I called as I walked to my house.
"Georgia!" he called, I stopped.
"Can I walk to school with you tomorrow?" he asked. I blushed.
"Ok!" I called back before going inside.
My heart was racing, I felt lightheaded but happy and I knew tomorrow would be a good day.