Chapter 9❤

Today, I was officially a senior at Westbrooke High School. I walked through those blue faded doors with my white converses, denim shorts, white tank top, and headed to my locker with Tommy walking beside me.

The same signature school colours of blue and gold were splashed around everywhere, from the lockers to the classroom doors.

I couldn't help but notice the whispers and giggles from almost every girl as we walked past them. I had no doubt that they were ogling Tommy- with his jeans swung low on hips and his white tee-shirt. My mother had given me the duty of staying by Tommy's side until he got his timetable and knew his way to each of his classes.

Tommy was, however, seemingly oblivious to the attention he was receiving from almost the whole of the school's female population (and some males)- of course excluding me. On the other hand, I was busy ignoring the glares and scowls being thrown my way as I led him to the student office.

"Stop looking so down Tammy." I heard Tommy say from behind me.

I snorted "Easy for you to say!"

I had been grounded, indefinitely. It turns out that Ms Chippy Chives had fainted at the sight of one of her flowers missing and had come close to having a heart attack. I really didn't understand how the woman could notice that a flower about the size of my thumb had disappeared through hundreds of other identical ones. Finally, I had come to the conclusion that she had some special sixth sense that could tell whenever a flower had been picked. Part of me felt sorry for her though, she was a widow, and her four children had left her years ago to fend for herself.

I had forgiven Tommy though... eventually, after he bought me a dozen boxes of cream cheese puffs and declared me the winner of the game. But that didn't stop him from constantly making fun of me for it.

"Do you want to go to Dunkin' Donuts after school, my treat." he said.

I hadn't even opened my mouth to reply before he beat me to it.

"Oh yeah, that's right you can't." he smirked.

"Stop it- otherwise I'll ditch you." I warned, stomping on his foot.

He put his hands up in mock surrender, acting indifferent to the pain I had just inflicted upon him, and then proceeded to continue following me in silence.

I was just about to turn into the door of the student office when:

"RA RA!" a voice shouted.

I turned around and my eyes widened at the sight advancing towards me. I was pulled into a hug so forceful that I fell backwards.

The weight on top of me was finally relieved and I sat back up. Luckily, this particular corridor was quite scarce, so there were only a few people to laugh at me- including Tommy and my best friend Lu Lu (Lucy).

"This is so not funny." I said from the floor, pointing an accusing finger in their direction.

A hand appeared and I saw Tommy offering to help me up, I took his hand gratefully.

"Thanks." I said stiffly.

"No problem Tam Tam." He said, with his signature wink.

I then turned to glare at my wonderful (note my sarcasm) friend.

"What was that for?" I snapped.

"I missed you?" she shrugged, her red hair moving with her shoulders.

I crossed my arms across my chest and looked in the other direction stubbornly.

"Fine, I'm sorry." She sighed.

"Apology accepted."

Her face lit up with relief.

"...for now." I finished.

The expression on her face dropped marginally, but her smile remained.

I saw Tommy standing to the side, idly playing with his fingers. Mentally slapping myself for my rudeness, I finally introduced him to Lucy.

"Tommy this is Lu Lu."

Seeing Lucy's glare, I corrected myself.

"I mean Lucy."

"Lucy this is Tommy, my housemate." I added unwillingly.

Lucy's eyes widened as she looked between me and Tommy.

"Get in there girly!" she exclaimed, nudging me in my side.

I thought she had finished embarrassing me, but she continued onwards.

"Soon enough, you'll be doing PDA and then you'll start with the hanky panky and then before you know it you'll be parents and I'll be the Godmother and--" I cut her off by placing my hand over her big fat mouth.

I blushed, while Tommy nervously chuckled. Grabbing Tommy's arm, I led him into the student office, bidding a goodbye to my crazy best friend. Before the door could shut, I heard her voice once more.

"Oh come on guys, you know I'm-"

The closing of the door thankfully drowned out anything else she was about to say.

Miss Penfold, the Head Teacher's assistant, smiled warmly and looked up expectantly at us as we stood in front of her desk. She was a lovely woman, married with twins, and was always happy to help anyone in need.

"Hello there Tammy," she said nicely.

I greeted her back and then saw her eyes level on Tommy who walked up behind me.

"Let me guess... you're the new kid?" she said.

Tommy just nodded his head in response.

"Here's your schedule, Tammy's parents, whom I presume you're staying with, called in and asked that you two share each of your classes, including homeroom, together." She handed him his schedule and he replied with a 'thank you'.

Of course my parents would ask for something like that, I didn't even know how that was possible!

I was to receive my own schedule in homeroom, of course Tommy had to go for his now since he didn't know where his was.

We said our goodbye's and exited the student office, then finally proceeded to homeroom. Thankfully, Lucy had not waited for us behind the door; I don't think I could have coped with anymore embarrassment.

---

"Thomas Cornwall." Mr Golby called from the register.

"Present." Tommy replied from next to me. None of my other friends were in my homeroom so I chose to sit beside him.

He looked up in surprise, obviously not familiar with his new student.

"Thomas, this is your first day here, am I correct?" he asked.

I could just imagine Tommy saying 'Well no sugar Sherlock!" whilst rolling his eyes, but of course he wasn't that rude... to teachers.

"Yes sir, it is." Tommy said politely.

By now over half of the class was looking in his direction, but if he did notice, it wasn't visible in his expression.

"Would you mind coming to the front of the class and introducing yourself."

It was one of those questions teachers asked that you knew you couldn't reply 'no' to.

All of the girls sighed, whilst the boys groaned as Tommy walked to the front.

"Well there's not much I can say about myself- but my name is Tommy, I've come from Washington DC, I was previously captain of the Varsity basketball team." He looked at me as he said the next words "Oh, and I live with Tammy Lovell."

That jerk!

Oh that's just perfect, now everybody was looking at me. My right eye began to twitch as I watched Tommy smirk at me. I hated being the centre of attention and began to bite my lip as I sank lower into my chair.

"Any questions?" he added innocently.

Annie Briskett raised her hand, as clichéd as this sounds, she was the school queen and also quite a 'loose woman' if you get what I mean. She was the typical platinum blonde, rich 'daddy's girl' who's bust was faker than her pearly white teeth.

"Why are you so damn hot?" she said giggling.

Tommy just gave her a flat look and answered the next person's questions.

I wonder where that cocky attitude of his has wandered off to...

"What's it like living in Toronto?" a guy asked.

"It's not too different from Washington, especially the city. I do miss home though." He answered thoughtfully.

"Are you single." Another 'loose woman' asked.

Tommy's jaw ticked in annoyance, but he still said:

"Yes."

A series of whispers fluttered throughout the classroom.

"That's enough class, calm down." Mr Golby shouted, but he didn't have to shout for much longer as the bell rang.

Saved by the bell.

I waited for Tommy outside of the classroom, ignoring the glares and not so quiet whispers from girls as they walked past me. When Tommy finally joined me, I could tell he was bothered by something, so asked about it.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing." He shrugged, walking away.

"Class is this way," I pointed out, indicating with my head the opposite direction.

Tommy wordlessly followed me, and I promised myself that I would find out just what had crawled up and died in his behind.

---

At lunch, Tommy had cheered up slightly, but still refused to tell me what was up.

The food in the cafeteria was terrible and I cursed myself for forgetting to pack my lunch at home. I watched as the grumpy lunch lady, with the resemblance of the Hunchback of Notre Dame crossed with a snake, piled green slop onto my tray.

"What is this?" I inquired, completely disgusted.

"Frog." The hunchback spat, I saw some of her venom land in the slop and disappear without a trace.

"You're joking right?" I asked, bewildered.

"No."

I blinked, then she blinked, then I blinked again and moved along, waiting for Tommy to collect his slop.

Without any hesitation, I walked to the rubbish bins and emptied my food (if you could even call it that) into the bin. Spotting my friends, I walked with Tommy over to their table. Their conversation halted as they spotted Tommy behind me.

"Hey guys, this is Tommy, he's new here."

Lucy was the first person to speak up.

"Hi, I remember you."

Tommy still hadn't said anything so I nudged him in the side.

"Oh erm hi, me too. Do you mind if I sit with you guys?"

A series of 'no's' and 'go for it's' followed his question, and he took this as his cue to sit down.

I then began to introduce him to everyone.

"So... Tommy this is Max." I said, pointing to a boy with a short afro and hazel eyes.. " and Jasmine." A girl with brown curls and grey eyes.

Tommy smiled at them both as I identified them. I skipped Lucy for obvious reasons.

"So how were all your holidays'?" I asked.

"England only consisted of numerous tours, and the weather- don't even get me started on that. It was nice to be across the world though." Jasmine replied.

"I went to LA, my aunt's house is huge- but it wasn't the same without my Lucy." Max said, landing a kiss on Lucy's cheek.

"Hawaii was so hot, I've tanned like crazy!" Lucy held up her arm to show us how much she had burned, but her face was still red from Max's comment- If you hadn't realised yet, they were dating.

"You guys are so lucky, I just had to stay at home with this guy." I complained, pointing to Tommy.

"And to think I thought you enjoyed our time together." Tommy said, hanging his hand on his chest with mock hurt.

Before I could give a retort, a shrill voice cut through the cafeteria.

"TOMMYKINS."

We all looked over, only to see Annie frantically waving her arms about, as if beckoning him to come over.

But Tommy just looked in the other direction and pretended that he didn't see her. I laughed as she pouted and sat back down with her arms crossed.

I tapped Tommy's shoulder, and he turned to look at me.

"Why did you ignore her?" I asked him curiously.

Any normal guy would jump at the chance to sit with Annie, but of course I should have know by now that Tommy wasn't just any normal guy.

"I don't like her type." He replied shrugging.

I looked down at my lap, smiling to myself.

I didn't either

----

The day was finally over and Tommy and I were walking out to the car park. Most of the school had rushed to leave, so their were only a few cars left outside.

We walked in silence, until we were finally seated in his car.

Tommy put his key in the ignition, before turning to ask me a question- a question that formed an evil smirk on my face.

"Want to get McDonalds's?" He was just trying to be annoying again.

My response was delayed for a moment, before I began to rub my hands together deviously.

"Sure, I'll just tell my mum I'm in the library."

His eyes widened, obviously in surprise. He wasn't expecting me to reply like that.

"Seriously?" he asked, awaiting my comfirmation.

"Do I love cream cheese puffs?" I smirked, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Yes..." he trailed off, his answer immediate.

"Then there's your answer Tommy Boy." I replied, sinking back in the chair.

After finally realising that I was being completely serious,Tommy rolled his eyes started the engine. He opened a compartment behind the gear stick, and pulled on a pair of Ray Bans. I directed a flat expression towards him.

"What?" he shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's not even sunny outside!" I exclaimed with disbelief, pointing to the grey, cloudy sky.

"Your point is..." he looked at me, as if I was I was the one missing the point.

"Fine, but I get to wear glasses to," I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I-"

"Nope, I know you have another pair in there Mister." I interjected sassily.

"Alright, alright." He gave in, getting another pair from the compartment.

He reluctantly handed them to me.

"Thanks Tommy." I replied, jokingly blowing him a kiss.

"Don't mention it babe," he retorted, jokingly blowing me a kiss back.

"Just drive." I chuckled, running a hand through my wavy hair.

He didn't even wait for five seconds before we were speeding out of the car park.

Like the bosses we were

----

Votes and comments are very much appreciated guys *hint hint*