The next thing Jack knows it's morning, and he's been woken up by the loudest alarm clock he's ever heard. Worse yet, it's coming from her room. It's not like he can press the snooze button and get a few extra minutes. He gets up to try to look across into her room. He didn't bother to close his curtains but she did. They're open again now letting the morning light in, and now allowing him to look right in. He can see that her bed is made, and she's not even in her room.
'Why is that damn clock so loud? She's not even in her room.' He can't take the annoying loud beeping much longer. He takes a quick look again to make sure there's no one in her room, and then he jumps across the gap landing sort of okay-ish on her floor. He gets up checking the room again to make sure it's empty before turning off the alarm.
"What do you think you're doing in my room?"
The sudden sound of her voice makes him jump but he recovers quickly enough to start forming something smart to say. He turns around, remarks ready, but he's just as quickly shut up. This has something to do with the fact that Iona is standing there in little but her towel, and more to do with the fact that she looks like a squirrel who's just had its nuts taken away from it. And if that didn't make sense, just picture a really angry mess of wet wild squirrel that looks like it's about to attack.
She doesn't attack him though. Not really. This could be because she's just gotten out of the shower. There is a lot of yelling though. Lots of yelling. Jack leaves...he's convinced to leave. Iona rushes to get ready for school, but her brain's are now replaying the past few moments on repeat.
'Shoot.' She hurries downstairs. 'Thanks to him I'm late for breakfast, and would you look at that, I'm going to be late for school. I'm going to have to take my bike.'
"Morning, Mom. Thanks for lunch. See you tonight, love you. Bye!" She calls as she grabs her lunch off the counter with an extra packet of biscuits for breakfast for when she gets to school.
"Bye Darling. Have an awesome day!" She calls as Iona rushes out the front door carrying her gear.
'Dammit' She's turning the key again and again hearing the bike coughing as it struggles to find life. 'This is the worst day ever, I'm already behind schedule thanks to my super annoying neighbour, and now my biker won't even start.'
After her joy ride yesterday she's run out of gas and is just about to run back into the house and beg her mom to please take her to school. Now just hold on. Before you start asking questions like where's her dad and her brother, or why didn't she go to school with them, just wait. Yes, she could have, but she was asleep. There has been a hard and fast rule in their house for the past while now that if she's not up and ready to go school in time then she has to get there herself. When Nick is old enough to get himself to school too the same rule will apply to him. Like I said they've always made a point about being fair parents. This morning in particular her dad had to go in early for a staff meeting, and Iona was still fast asleep when they left the house.
Now normally this would have been fine, however Iona forgot to fill up after her joyride yesterday. Hoping and praying for fumes at least to spark the engine back to life for even a second she sighs defeated. It's just not going to be her morning. She takes her helmet off again in a temper and ruffles her hair in frustration. 'Okay let's give this one more try.'
"Having a bit of trouble there?"
It's Captain Obvious, himself, standing on the front porch looking across at her. Looks like he's going to try to beat the bell by riding as well. It makes more of a difference to travel time than you'd think, even if it is only a short distance.
"I think I'm out of gas. I forgot to full up after I got home yesterday." Her voice is laced with annoyance as she gets off her bike and moves closer to her front door, her brain complementing her eloquence. 'Wow is that really the best you can do right now? Well yes inner, me voice, I'm tired, I'm late for school, and I'm not in the mood to talk to the person whose fault all this is.'
Nice blame shifting there, she's forgetting that she chose to go out last night all on her own, and it was her who forgot to fill up. Poor Jack only happened to be out at the same time, but she's conveniently overlooking this so that she can blame him and have a reason to avoid him. After all, she's convinced herself that he doesn't seem to be the type of person she should be around. Not if she's going to stay focused on school.
He's looking at her as if she's the strangest thing he's ever seen before tilting his head to the right so he can look her up and down. "Want a ride to school then? I mean you are already geared up and it's not like I don't know where you're going. So what do you say, Princess?"
He walks over to where he parked his bike last night with an almost certainty that she'll follow him. Which she does. As much as she hates to admit it, he has a point.
'Besides I can't be any later than I already am, so why not?' She walks up to his bike in the gap between their houses putting her helmet on. He's already started the engine and is holding it steady for her to climb on.
"Hop on." He signals for her to get on behind him, "Come on Princess we don't have all morning. Besides I'm always careful, you saw yourself."
"Okay," She sighs, not entirely happy about the butterflies swarming in her stomach, "let's go."
She moves her visor down, and adjusts her bag on her back so that she can sit comfortably. She climbs on and after a second of hesitation she slides her hands around his middle, and holds on tightly. She squeezes a little bit and lets go again so that he knows they can get going. He starts to pull out of the gap onto the road checking for cars before pulling away. She's not used to being a passenger on a bike. In fact she's only ridden on the back of a bike three times before today. Needless to say it's a bit odd for both of them at first. Iona needs to remember that she's not in control and Jack quickly learns that she's not used to this.They're lucky they're only half way down a straight street.
Jack's getting frustrated that she's trying to steer, but after a moment they work out a wordless agreement. By the way he's moved he lets her know that if she wants them to arrive at school alive and in one piece she's going to trust him. She takes a deep breath and relaxes her grip. Letting go of the control she was trying to hold on to, he changes gears and takes the first corner. Then just like that they're flying. He speeds up moving to get them there on time. Moving in perfect sync, they ride through every turn, every corner as one. 'I've never felt this close to anyone before.'
She can't help noticing how well they fit together. The butterflies begin to rise up again, uncontrollably flapping their wings. 'We're going so fast now, it's incredible, it must just be motion sickness since I skipped breakfast.' Iona not knowing why her stomach is feeling like this discounts the swells to having not eaten yet.
She closes her eyes trying to control her breathing. Her head now racing to explain the emotion while her body notices that they've slowed down. They've come to a complete stand still. Jack turns off the engine. He steadies the bike before setting it down on the stand. They've arrived sooner than she expected, or more accurately she was hoping that the ride would last a little longer than it did. She's also now all too aware of how tightly she's been hugging him, and that at some point she had started resting her head on his back.
She quickly moves, releasing her grip from around his waist and climbs off his bike like it's on fire. She lifts her visor a bit letting her tongue run the words off in one long sentence as she hurries away, "Thanks for the ride, got to run, don't want to be any later than I already am."
'I can't believe that I just did that. Man that was the best ride I've ever had. Can't wait to ride home with him. Wait what...no that's not right. Okay...I just need to get my head straight. It's just the lack of sleep and food getting to you. That's all it is.'
"Anytime, Princess. See you later," he calls after her.
"Whatever weirdo," She walks away just slow enough to not be able to call it a run. She's almost at the front door by the time she allows herself to finally look around to get an idea of just how late she is.
To her surprise there are still quite a few students milling around, and it's only after she's finished packing her booking into her locker that the bell even rings. She's even made it her free study period ten minutes before the teacher even gets there. So she does what every responsible student would do. She takes out the homework she didn't finish, answers a few questions, then she takes out her phone and starts reading a new book.
She doesn't get very far though when the sudden hush causes her to look up. She quickly locks her phone and hides it in her jacket following the rest of the class as they stand up to greet the teacher. She still hasn't looked up yet. Now that she does, the first thing she sees is the person sitting next to her.
'It's him! Everywhere I go he's there, and now lucky me I'm stuck in the same form as him.' Before she can protest the teacher has reached his desk.
"Good morning class. My name is Mr. Teak," a short, fat man who appeared to be in his late fifties addresses her new class, "I'll be your form organiser."
"Good morning Sir." The class chants.