Falling by Paige Cunningham (ebook reader library .txt) 📖

was more than just a blush; this was the huge sign of utter embarrassment. I pictured what we must have looked like to her, his hand on my face, gazing intently into each others eyes, there seemed to be no one else in to world. She would never understand that I wasn’t interested, that I was doing it to get away from him faster or that the only relationship between us was that, coincidentally, we were in the same classes.
She raised her eyebrows in a way that said oh my god! What was that? I just gave her a look that said Leave! I’ll tell you everything at home. Our ability to have a silent conversation was a skill acquired through years of practise. Any sisters that were as close as we were could know what the other was thinking with just a look, this talent really came in handy in situations like these.
After taking the time to eye up Matt, not very discretely might I add, she gave me a smile of approval and then waved goodbye. She drove away and the burning I felt seemed to vanish like I had pressed an icepack to my cheek. I turned back to face Matt, he seemed amused by my embarrassment. I would have slapped him for laughing at me if I wasn’t so worried he’d take it the wrong way and think that I was just trying to find an excuse to touch him. Instead I simply said “Umm, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I rushed into my car, not wanting to let him say something that might turn into a conversation. I just wanted to go home, where I could explain to Rose that there was absolutely nothing going on.
Driving out of the car park it suddenly dawned on me how I had sounded when I said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’. I said it like a question, like I wasn’t sure if I would see him tomorrow. I really didn’t care if I saw him or not so I couldn’t understand why I would have asked. I realized that I must have sounded desperate, asking him if I’d see him tomorrow. I had only known him for a day and he must have thought that I was some kind of stalker who needed to know his whereabouts and his plans on attending school. It wasn’t even like I could pretend like I was asking if I’d see him in any of my classes because by now I knew that he was in all of my classes. There was however a bright side to him thinking I was a stalker, maybe he would leave me alone now.


4.
I pulled into my driveway and I felt instant relief, after the day I’d had I was so happy to be home. I look at my house, taking its familiarity and I immediately felt at home. I know it sounds obvious that my own house would feel like home and to be honest I felt a bit stupid thinking it but the welcoming feeling I got when I stepped out of my car could only come from this house because this house was home. I loved everything about this house. It was only three miles away from the school but it was completely alone.
We didn’t live on a street of semi detached houses like most people; we lived about ten minutes away from our neighbours. We didn’t live that far out in the country and we were only about twenty minutes away from the town.
Our house was beautiful; it was made of the same orangey-brown bricks that most British houses were made of but it was unique. A vine of ivy grew up the side of the house, twisting and winding upwards and stopping just before the roof. It was two stories. Our roof comprised of grey, slate tiles. We had a petite garden in front of the house where my mum was growing flowers. Evergreen shrubs bordered the house and the grass that made up the acres of land around it was still a lush green. The verdant land created a magnificent landscape.
I loved nature and therefore could really appreciate the astounding beauty of it; Rose however, only noticed the few insects that entered our house and the mud and dirt that our shoes would get covered in on a rainy day. Due the little downside to nature, she detested it. I’m sure that she thought that the landscape was pretty but I don’t think that she ever really took in its sheer beauty. It was a shame that she would rather shop than take a stroll along a country lane and it meant that if I wanted to go, I had to go alone.
I walked down the gravelled pathway towards the house. I prepared myself for all of the questions that Rose would bombard me with as soon as I stepped foot in the door. I opened the door and sure enough, as soon as she heard the door she rushed to the hallway to greet me. I grimaced when I saw the expression she had, it was saying spill the gossip, right now!
“So, did you have a good day?” She was dying to ask what about what had happened in the car park, I could hear it in her voice and I wasn’t in the mood for all of the small talk.
“Is that really what you want to ask me?” She smiled even wider before taking hold of my hand and dragging me into the living room. She threw me down onto one of our leather sofa and then flopped down next to me.
Our living room was surprisingly modern for a country house. We had wooden flooring, half because it looked nice and half because it was too hard to get mud out of carpet. The walls were cream which would be extremely boring if it wasn’t for the colourful artwork on the walls. There was a wide screen TV in the corner, two black leather sofas, one against the opposite wall and one against the wall next to it. On our glass coffee table was a mug of tea and a selection of magazines, all of which belonged to Rose.
“Who was he? What were you two doing? Are you two together? When did you meet?” She paused for breath but I knew that if I didn’t intervene now then she’d only ask more questions.
“Whoa, slow down. One question at a time. His name is Matt, he’s new and because of some unfortunate mishap with our class timetables, he’s in all of my classes. There’s nothing going on between us and I don’t know what you thought you saw in the car park but you’ve got it all wrong.” I hoped that this would be the end to the subject. I hoped that my answers would be sufficient and she’d leave me alone. But I knew that my hoping was pointless, Rose was never one to let things go easily. She always wanted to know every single detail.
“I know what I saw and it didn’t look like nothing to me.” Here we go, I thought. She was going to argue back no matter what I said.
“Trust me, it was nothing. Believe me, I couldn’t be more uninterested, in fact he annoys me. I can barely stand having to put up with him in all of my lessons let alone anything else” I said it seriously so that she would understand that there really wasn’t anything going on but I knew from her accusing expression that she wasn’t satisfied.
“Yeah, I would be really annoyed if a cute boy looked at me like that,” I hated her sarcastic tone and her words bothered me.
“What do you mean? He didn’t look at me in any special way,” I bet he looked at all of the girls that way. Well, all of the girls that he targeted, because that was all I was to him, an easy target.
“Someone’s in denial,” She said it in a patronising manner. She hopped up and headed towards the door. She glanced back and shook her head and I knew exactly what she was thinking, He’s so into her and she’s too delusional to see it. I wasn’t delusional; I knew what I was talking about. Rose wasn’t used to players like Matt; she didn’t understand that people like me, ordinary, average girls, don’t get the good looking boys. It just wasn’t done, it just didn’t happen. Of course, Rose being Rose, she always got the guy she wanted. I, on the other hand, know when something’s too good to be true and Matt was undoubtedly too good to be true, therefore there was only one answer to his interest and that was that either he lost a bet or that he wanted to see how many girls he could have at one go.
There was a knock at the door. I knew who it was even before I answered it. Michael came over nearly every day. I thought it was quite sweet how even after spending the whole day at school together they still insisted on meeting after school every day as well. Their relationship was so strong; I was quite envious of them. As much as I liked Michael, I didn’t want to stick around and see them snogging on the couch. Awkward or what? So, after I answered the door and made enough small talk to be able to go upstairs for the rest of the night and not seem rude, I climbed the stairs and went straight to my room.

My room wasn’t what you expected a normal teen’s room to look like; my walls weren’t plastered with posters of bands or half naked men, my clothes weren’t thrown across the floor and there was no hint of rebellion in sight. My room was neat, tidy and organised. Next to the large window that looked out onto the country landscape was a mauve futon. At night I would lie there and stargaze. The stars in the country were unbelievable beautiful, they shone brighter than in the city. The moon illuminated the darkness and I would stare at it for hours. It was indescribable, I looked at it and I felt calm and relaxed. It was truly amazing, it was like magic. My bed was pushed up against the back wall and my wardrobe was in the corner. I had a mahogany desk that I used to study. On the desk were my laptop and a desk lamp. The walls were lilac and my bed sheets matched. My room was all colour coordinated, the furniture, the accessories, everything was purple.
Some people might think that my room was boring, too grown up for a teen. The thing is that I wasn’t just a normal teen, I didn’t throw tantrums, I was good in school, I was sensible and I did what I was told. Rose joked with me about it; she said that I was born at the age of forty five. I would just laugh along with her but I honestly did thing that there was something