Preface

As I felt the wind raise goose bumps across my bare arms, legs and neck, I knew that this was wrong, so wrong. Something about this wasn't right. He wouldn't do this to me. He couldn't do this to me. Could he?

Chapter One

Megan

My mum was calling me from downstairs. Why couldn't she just leave me alone? Why did she have to wake me up so early in the morning? Was she crazy? I thought so.

“Megan, get up now or we’re going to be late!”

Oh poop. No, she wasn't crazy. She was up late as well. I sat bolt upright in bed, and as I did so, I felt a wave of vertigo rush through me. I lay back down, and then slowly sat up. What time was it anyway? What time could possibly make her sound so, well, urgent?
I leaned over to look by the side of my bed, and my phone beeped in irritation that I hadn't put it on charge yet. Damn it. As the screen lit up, I saw the time. Quarter to eight. Anyone who knew me, knew that it was almost impossible for me to get ready in under twenty minutes. I didn't know the meaning of the word 'rush', according to my mum. I had to give her that one.
I jumped out of bed and hurriedly got dressed. Then I shot down the stairs like a bullet, nearly landing in the dirty washing basket. Oops. I hated being late, because all I would hear when I got downstairs would be, “Hurry up you're going to be late”, like I didn't already know that! As I got downstairs I ran into the kitchen and got my breakfast. Great, another busy morning. What I always wanted.

***

When we eventually got out of the house, I realised that I was missing something. Crap. My train ticket. I told my mum that I needed to go to the toilet before we went to catch the train, and after a disapproving look, she let me go. I ran up the stairs, and instead of turning left to go to the bathroom, I went straight ahead into my bedroom. It was obvious to anyone that I was half asleep when I got ready this morning, because my ticket was lay on the end of my bed. Right there in my view. I was such an idiot.
When we got to the train station, I saw my two friends, Lucy and Tia, sat on a bench waiting for me. As much as I loved my 'bestie mates', they didn't half get on my nerves in the morning. Always so loud and bouncy, never quiet and still like I was. It was strange actually, our friendship, like we were just sort mashed together at the beginning of year seven and just stayed that way. It helped that we shared a dorm in our school.
It seemed like they were buzzing about something, I didn't doubt that I would find out what it was within three minutes of walking up to them. I was right.
After all of the squealing and hugging and jumping up and down had died away, they started chattering about whatever had the, so worked up.
“Oh my god Megan, you won't believe who's coming to our school!” Lucy buzzed.
“Yeah! It's so cool that you actually know him Luce!” Tia practically shouted.
“Tia, keep it down big gob, and we’re in Sixth Form now, not school Luce.” I noticed that I was being particularly short with everybody today. Lucy and Tia flinched, and I realised that they had noticed too.
“Jeez Megan, what's up with you today?”
“Yeah, there was no need to bite our heads off.”
“Sorry, I guess I'm just...”
“...in one of those moods again, we know.”
“Sorry.”
“Don't worry 'bout it.”
I sat next to them whilst we waited for our mums to finish gossiping as well.
“So, what's the big news?”
“Ohmygosh, there's this totally fit boy moving near you, and he's coming to OUR school!” Lucy looked at me and arched one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows, as if she was daring me to say anything.
“When she says fit, she means, FIT.”
“And you know them Luce?”
“Yeah, they're like, my Dad's brothers kids or something. Which is a shame because that means that I won't get to, ahem, get close with him, shall we say.”
“Do you mean your cousin Luce?”
“Yeah!” We laughed together and then Tia piped up.
“Yeah so that means that it's only us two chasing after him Megan...”
Tia trailed off as she looked at me and realised that it actually meant that it would just be her “chasing after him”.

Chapter Two

For once we arrived at school on time, and Tia and Luce bounced of the bus that we had caught from the train station.
“Hurry up Megan, we’ve got ten minutes before registration and I want to meet him!” Big Gob, oops, sorry, I mean Tia, shouted at me.
“Yeah...I’m coming.” Saying that I wasn’t looking forward to this was an understatement. I walked through the sliding doors that led to the very big (and very posh), reception area. As usual, Tia and Lucy were being stopped by one of the members of staff, and I wondered what they’d had done this time.
“I told you last time I saw you Miss Flynn, either pull yours downs or buy a new skirt! And Miss Brooks, lose those ridiculous things hanging from your ear lobes that you call ‘earrings’.” Mr Banks did the quote thing with his fingers, and I decided that it was time to intervene and save my friends from sharpening all of sir’s pencils at lunch.
“Ah, Miss Brady, right on time, and looking smart as usual. Girls, this is an example of a perfect stu-”
“Oh, sorry about this sir, we all slept round mine last night so that it would be easier to get to the train station this morning. We were in a bit of a rush this morning because my...my cat was at the vets last night. She nearly got run over by a speeding car…” I tried to look sad, and if that didn’t convince him, my spotless record did.
“Well...alright then, Miss Brady, if that’s what happened then I'm sure we can make an exception. Just pull them down a bit please girls.”
“Yes Sir.” Mr Banks scurried away and my friends looked at me.
“What?” They were looking at me like I was some sort of freaky species of animal they’d just discovered.
“Wow.” Lucy stretched the word out, and Tia nodded in agreement.
“I know Luce. It’s weird isn’t it.”
“Mmmhmm. Do think our Megan’s still in there somewhere, or do you think the aliens ate all of her.”
“Not sure Tee. It’s possible, but then again...aliens might like nerds.” They were grinning now, and I smiled back.
“You can thank me later, but now we actually do need to go and unpack before we get eaten by THE alien, the ever so lovely Mrs Pannell.”
“Aww do we have to Meg? We really want to go and find this new guy.” Luce whined at me.
“Well, unless you want to carry them bags around, you can do that later. This is more important.”
“Well, actually, don't you think that helping a member of your family is more important than unpacking?”
“Not when the only reason you want to help him is because he’s so fit.” Their gazes drifted from my face to behind my shoulder, and from the expressions on their face, I knew that whoever they were staring at was, in their opinion, ‘well fit’.
I was right. Standing before me was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. He was quite tall, about 5”9, with short, inky black hair, and he had muscles that some professional boxers would be jealous of. His white t-shirt was straining around his chest shoulders, and his arms were huge. He had a black leather jacket slung over his shoulder, and his jeans were slung low around his hips. Black boots were on his feet, the kind that look sturdy but fashionable.
He was dangerous. I knew from the first glance that he was, even though he’d never said a word to me.
“Oh my…. That is one fine creature!” Lucy said in awe.
“Yummy.” Tia agreed. They were talking in murmurs loud enough for me to hear, but I didn't really register what they were saying. I was too busy staring at the god like creature that had just walked into my suddenly shabby-looking school. He walked up to us, and I was suddenly very aware of my surroundings. What a place to meet such a gorgeous guy. It wasn't just his body that was beautiful, his face was amazing as well. He had amazing green eyes, set underneath perfect eyebrows. The rest of his face was perfect and straight. His skin was, unlike most boys I knew, clear, and I knew that people would give anything to have skin like his. Whilst my internal babbling had been going on, he was in front of me asking a me question, that I didn’t hear. Oops.
“Sorry, what did you say?” I asked him.
“I just asked if you tell me where the office is?” He turned the end of his reply into a question.
“Oh, sure! Do you want me to tell you or show you?” Urgh, I was being overly perky, and my mouth was speaking without asking my brain first!
“Erm…” He looked a little confused.
“Oh, don't worry about Megan, she’s a little...doolally.” Thank-you Tia. I didn't want him to think I was the crazy girl that hung around with the two hot ones, so I decided to put him straight.
“What she means is, I’m just stressing about my exams, I am not ‘Doolally’.”
“Ha-ha I figured. You too pretty to be crazy.” Oh. My. God. Totally-hot-guy just called me (I know, me!), pretty! I was trying not to hyperventilate, when I realised that I was acting exactly like Tia did when Ben Hughes (who she had a MASSIVE crush on, by the way), said hi to her in the corridor one day. In other words, I was acting like most other 16 year old girls would. So not like myself at all. I briefly wondered if aliens had eaten my brains.
“Oh...uh...thank-you.” I guess. “So, um, the office.” My mind had gone utterly blank. Just one of the many reasons my behaviour was abnormal for me. My mind didn't go blank. Not normally, anyway.
“Yes.” He looked less worried and more concerned. It was probably because of that strange noise that was coming from somewhere near me, like someone was gasping for breath. I looked away from his eyes for the first time, and whilst I wasn't looking at him, I tried to find that odd noise. It was then that I realised that the noise was me. Hyperventilating. Tia and Lucy were looking at me too, concern in their eyes. For a second their faces went all wobbly, and then disappeared. I looked up to find his face very close to me, and then I felt his arms around me, holding me like he had just caught me. With a start, I understood that he had caught me, because I’d fallen over. What was wrong with me?
“Oh my God, are you okay? You look kinda pale...i should take you to a nurse.” God no, not the nurse! Every time I went she jabbed me with something, either a needle or her finger. Both hurt.
“No, I’m okay.” He started to disagree, so I cut him off. “No, really I’m fine. I just didn’t...erm...have anything for breakfast this morning.” A lie.
“Well...okay then. You really should eat breakfast you know. It’s the most important meal of the day. Do you want me to let you go?” NO!!!
“Yes, thanks for catching me, and yeah I do know. I normally have it but obviously not today. Ha-ha.” He grabbed one of my hands that was curled between our bodies, and took his arm from around my back. Still holding my hand, he carefully helped me up, holding his other hand out to steady me. I liked this ‘damsel in distress’ stuff.
“Are you sure that you’re okay?” I looked into his eyes, and I saw genuine concern there, and that shocked me into giving him the truth.
“Yes. I’m okay now.” I am now you’re here. The words whispered through my brain, and I shoved them out. This wasn't me. It wasn't normal.
“So...the office. Um, I actually need to go there as well, so I can take you if you like?” Well, I needed to go there now, anyway. Seriously, what was wrong with me?
“Yeah sure.” I picked up my bags, and turned to look at Tee and Luce. I realised that throughout the whole of my mini drama, they had just been standing there, staring at me and...what was his name? I turned back toward him, but kept my eyes safely on the floor.
“So, uh, I didn’t catch your name before.” I tried to look nonchalant, but I didn’t feel it.
“Oh, yeah, that’s because I didn’t say. But I’ll tell you anyway.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and couldn't resist the urge to see if his smile was as perfect as his face. It was so much better. My eyes weren’t very eager to stop staring at his mouth, but when I eventually drew them away, I was lost in his eyes again. They were the colour of emeralds, and reminded me of when I was little and would lay down on the comfy mossy floor of the forest at the back of our garden, and gaze up at the never ending leafy green canopy above me.
“I’m Oscar Williams.” he hadn't noticed that once again I was practically drooling over him. I broke his gaze and turned back to my friends.
“Hey, uh, you two coming?” I asked, hoping that they would say no.
“Oh, um…” Tia looked at Lucy with a huge question mark on her face. Lucy glanced at her and then quickly turned her eyes back to me.
“No, we’re fine thanks. We’ll just go and….” She trailed off, and I wondered if they could make it any more obvious that they were trying very hard to think of an excuse.
“Unpack our bags!” Tia burst out, looking and sounding very pleased with herself. And that’s why I love my friends, because they know that it’s not very often that they catch me staring at a complete and utter hottie like I’ve lost my mind. Actually, I don't think it’s ever happened before, and so they gave me a little gift; time alone with an amazing guy.
“Okay then.’ I turned to Oscar and looked around his feet. ‘Speaking of bags, where are yours? Or are you a day-boarder?”
“No, my...um...friends are waiting outside with my stuff. I’m starting today, obviously, and I was told I needed to sign some paperwork and collect my timetable.”
“Okay then’, I said, turning to the girls, ’I’ll see you two later then, I guess.” They looked at me, and I it was a look that I knew well. They wanted details when I got back, and lots of them. Great. The pair of them turned and walked away, dragging their own cases behind them.

Chapter Three

Oscar

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 15.03.2011

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This book is for all of the people that said i couldn't. Well, i can. Ha.