Part 3 of Heart Beat: Chapter four

Chapter 4
Ignored

“Leah! What are you doing out here?” Tamsin said. We sprang apart. Tamsin had accidentally ruined the moment and she realised it, even if it was too late.
I looked away from them and blushed.
“Oh” was all she could say as she made sense of the obvious facts.
“I have to go.” Forrest told me. He got up from the boulder and walked away in the same direction Tamsin had come from.
“Oh my god! Leah I’m so sorry! I didn’t see him and then it was too late…” Tam continued mumbling
“It’s okay! Nothing was gonna happen anyways.” I assured her.
“Oh no, trust me, something was gonna happen”
“Whatever, just forget it and please don’t tell anyone!”
We walked back to camp and everyone was sitting next to the campfire, cooking smores. I didn’t see Gretchen or Forrest there so they must have been in their tents.
“Leah? Could you please get some more marshmallows from the closet?” The Park Ranger asked. I had no idea how he knew my name but I didn’t really care.
“Sure.” I got up and passed all of the tents until i got to the small wooden room at the edge of the camp. that the park ranger always got with him and assembled to keep all the food in.
I wasn’t sure where the marshmallows were so I closed the door behind me and switched on the light. It was dim and there were cobwebs everywhere. I jumped as I heard the door open and then close.
“What are you doing here?” Forrest asked coldly.
“I’m getting marshmallows.” I didn’t dare question why he was in there. His moods swings gave me whiplash like nothing else could.
“Whatever.” He was being so cold and I just couldn’t take it anymore.
“Do you a personality disorder?” I snapped at him.
“No!-“
That was when I heard the lock click and I rushed to the door.
“Great! We’re locked in here.” I said whilst twisting the knob as hard as I could. The cabinet might have been assembled by the skinny ranger but he knew what he was doing. This closet couldn’t have been broken down by a bear.
We sat in the closet for a few minutes waiting for someone to come open. He kept on looking at me with a frown on his face, like he wished I would disappear.
“Stop looking at me.” I said sharply. I just couldn’t take it and I couldn’t stand him.
He didn’t move he just moved his gaze from me to the floor.
“Stop it okay? I can’t take it anymore!”
“Stop what?” He seemed genuinely confused.
“Stop acting like you know me enough to judge me or hate me! You don’t know the first thing about me.” I stared at him straight in the face but he was trying to ignore me like I was some ineligible thing. I looked at him closer and his face seemed torn up in thought. “... Just look at me-“
And he did.
A second after our eyes met I heard a loud thump as he slammed my body softly to the other side of the wooden door. Our bodies were pressed against each other and his hands were all over my body, I pressed him tighter to mine and we were one. I felt my body heating up as the lights timer went off and we were left in complete darkness but we didn’t stop. The pressure was intensifying and nothing seemed to matter. The pressure could have made the room explode and I found myself gasping for air and Forrest wasn’t in my arms anymore so I reached out my hands to try and feel where he was even though I was so hot in the little cupboard. I couldn’t find him so instead I turned the lights on. The dim light made me shut my eyes until I got used to the new light but when I did I saw Forrest in the furthest corner from me. He wore an expression of pure shock but I didn’t know why.
“Stay away from me Leah.” Here we go again. Any time I got something from him or we made a connection he just pushes himself into an even deeper shell.
“But- You- You just kissed me.” I just didn’t know what to think.
“That is exactly why! When I’m next to you I’m just too weak. Forget it okay?” He turned around and reached for the door knob. I heard wood breaking and then he was gone.
On the floor there was a broken doorknob.
I stepped out of the closet and into the cold evening and made my way back to the campfire. The Askeys were missing but I didn’t take much care my thoughts were to scattered and I didn’t reply when Tamsin asked me something.

VPOV
He ran as fast as lightning and the frozen air slapped him but that didn’t bother him. He was running to where he knew his sister would be and when he found her he didn’t even pause to catch his breath.
“Why the hell did you do that Gretchen?!” He asked his sister for an explanation. She looked at him fiercely and stopped filing her nails under the moonlight.
“I thought it was what you wanted.” She said bluntly and rolled her eyes at him for being so dramatic. She picked up the nail file and tried to block him out but he was persistent.
“What I wanted? I could have hurt her or worse I could ha-“
“But you didn’t.” To her it seemed simple enough, like everything else in life. She saw everything as purely black or white, grey didn’t exist to her. Unfortunately her brother liked to dwell on ‘what if’. “Instead you got what you wanted didn’t you? And Forrest... you’re stronger than you give yourself credit, I just wanted you to know that too.”
He sighed exasperatedly in surrender. His older sister was right. He needed to know and now he did. He was speechless but there was only one thing they could do.
“Let’s go home Gretchen.”

It had been about three hours and everyone was about to go settle in their tents for the night but I couldn’t help but worry about the Askeys not showing up so before I went to my tent I went over to Ms.Case.
“I haven’t seen the Askeys around. Do you know what happened to them?” I asked trying to sound indifferent.
“They had some sort of family emergency so their dad picked them up” She told me as she got into her tent.
“Oh, thanks Ms.Case. Good night.”
That’s weird, what could have possibly happened that he couldn’t stick it out through another night? A kiss wouldn’t make him leave. Of course not! It’s just that he had seemed so bewildered in the closet...
When I was out of earshot, I moaned aloud. What was it about him that drew me to him! He was weird and secretive. There was something going on with him. I remembered the promise I had made to my mum, to stay away from the Askeys. Keeping that promise was going to be hard and I honesty doubted that I would manage to keep it. If only he’d let me get close to him! I just seemed to drift subconsciously into him.
My mental rant lasted until I got to my tent. The other two girls were already asleep but Tam was waiting for me inside.
“Did you just go talk to Forrest?” Tamsin asked me.
By this she meant: did you go and make-out with Forrest and I want all the details.
“Erm... no actually, apparently he had to leave. Something about a family emergency.”
“Oh.” Tamsin couldn’t hide how disappointed she was.
She had obviously been hoping for some gossip.
“I’m going to sleep. Good night.”
I didn’t wait for her to answer. I slipped into my sleeping bag and fell asleep.
I was one of the first to wake up and I helped everyone pack up and put away the tents. After I went and placed my things in my bag and helped Tamsin with hers.
Tamsin and I chatted casually as we waited for the buses to arrive.
“Did Kim text you? She was supposed to text me and tell me what happened on the date with Colin last Friday!”
Last Friday had been Kim and Colin’s two month anniversary and Colin had decided not to tell her what they were going to do. He had kept it as a surprise and everyone was dying to know. Kim had promised she’d text me on Saturday but my mobile had run out of battery and I couldn’t charge it in a forest.
“No. When I get home I’m calling her and she’d better tell me everything!” Tamsin hated secrets and she was desperately curious to find out what the surprise was.
“I hope Kim enjoyed it because he spent days working on it. It must be something really nice. You should go on a double date sometime. It could turn out to be fun.”
“Yeah, you would come as well, right? And Ash and Brady?”
As long as Ash would come it wouldn’t feel weird with Brady. I had thought that it might be cool if the two couples would spend some time together but it would be fun going out as a group to dinner.
“I’ll tell Brady today, he told me he’d call me. Don’t forget to tell Ash”
“I’ll tell her tomorrow at school.”
The two small buses turned the corner and a minute later they were already parked ten metres away. This time Tam sat next to me and we chatted for the entire journey.

I arrived home at nine and took a ridiculously long bath. I stayed in the tub long after my fingers became wrinkled. I wasn’t going out so I wore my old, patched sweats and a cotton T-shirt. When I was ready I did a small amount of homework on my small bed and went downstairs for some lunch.
I ate slowly but when I was done it was still one, so I decided to call Brady and tell him about going out for dinner on Saturday.
The phone rang twice before someone picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
I recognised the voice. It was his fourteen year old sister, Serena, who had answered.
“Hey Serena, is Brady home?”
“Yeah Leah, gimme a sec. Lemme call him for you.”
I heard her call her brother and telling him that I was on the phone asking for him. It took him a couple of seconds to stop what he was doing and pick up the phone.
“Leah! I’ve been waiting for you to call. What time did you arrive home?”
“At nine, but I had to wash and eat! Two whole days without a proper bathroom. Ugh it was horrible.”
I heard him chuckle at what he’d call my ‘”girlness”. Guys just didn’t understand the reason behind not wanting to smell like old, mouldy socks.
“Did Colin tell you anything about the mystery date? I’ve been dying to know and Tamsin is probably on the phone with him right now.”
“C’mon Lee-Lee! I haven’t heard anything so stop asking. Colin has his phone switched off and he’s not home so Tamsin and Ash have called me like a million times today. You girls are so curious! Besides you know Kim would just love to tell you herself!” He acted like he meant to be annoyed but I knew he didn’t mind at all.
“Don’t call me Lee-Lee! And fine you’re right I wouldn’t want to ruin Kim’s fun. Anyways…Tamsin and I were thinking about getting the group together and going out to a formal dinner. Will you come?”
“Ugh! Formal? As in with a tie?”
“Yup. Come on it’ll be fun. You’ll see”
I was pretty sure that he was just playing hard to get to but it obviously wasn’t working, I knew a won battle when I saw one.
“Do you mind picking me up at around eight? I’m lending my car to my mum, she has to service hers.”
I hope it didn’t sound like I was asking him on a date but I really needed a ride and he lived closest to me.
“Yeah no problem. Where are we going?”
I realised that I hadn’t even mentioned the name of the restaurant.
“This fancy place called Spotlight. I’m not exactly sure where it is but Tam is gonna give me a map with directions tomorrow at school.-”
“-Get off the phone Leah, I want to talk to Serena.”
I heard someone moan next to Brady and I heard him shoo someone away.
“Serena wants to talk to Chloe, can she?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Anyways, do you mind if I come over to your place? We can play some board games.”
“Do you even have to ask? What time?”
“I can be there in fifteen minutes”
“’’Kay. See you in fifteen mins then”
I rushed to my bedroom and chose some casual clothes. I put on my faded jeans and a plain white top. I heard the door open and close so I assumed that Chloe had probably gone over to Brady’s or Niel’s.
I heard a light knocking sound on the door and I hurried to open the door for Brady.
“Hey Lee, I got us some DVDs and popcorn. They only had cheddar flavour, hope you don’t mind” He told me as he came inside.
Brady hadn’t waited for me to invite him in. He’d been here millions of times and treated my place like his own. He placed the small duffle bag on the bag and started ruffling inside it, placing DVDs and other things on the table. I sat down on the chair next to his and I skimmed the titles of the five DVDs he’d gotten. The Exterminator, The House of Walls, Codex, The Forbidden Chamber and The Perfect Murder. Five horror movies…he knew me well. I wasn’t the type of girl to be scared easily and I loved horror movies.
“Serena wouldn’t let me take any of the board games because her friends were coming over but I got some movies instead. Which one do you want to watch first?”
“Whichever, I don’t mind”
I walked over to my sitting room, closed the curtains and switched on the TV and DVD player. Brady joined me a few seconds later and he placed the disc in the DVD player. Brady sat down next to me on the comfortable sofa as the room was engulfed by darkness. He had chosen Cortex and it was about to start. Brady and I huddled under a blanket and ate the popcorn.
* * *
A few hours later the ending credits rolled on the TV screen announcing the end of the second film.
“What’s the time?” I asked him sleepily.
He yawned before answering.
“Lee-lee there’s a clock hanging on the wall in front of you! It’s seven.”
“One; I’m too tired to lift my head up. Two; did my mum come home from work yet? And three; DO NOT CALL ME LEE-LEE”
I still hadn’t moved my head since the movie ended. I heard him chuckle. He insists to call me Lee-Lee to annoy me. I’m not sure why I hated the name so much, but it might have something to with the fact that it sounded like the name a mother would call a three-year old.
“Your mum came home at five she’s in the kitchen cooking. By the way, your mum invited me for dinner so you’re stuck with me for a bit longer."
“At five? How could I not have noticed...?”
“You were practically unconscious Lee.” He cut me off. “I think the food’s ready”
We got up from the sofa and walked into the kitchen. The air was filled with a delicious aroma that I recognised immediately. My mum had cooked egg fried rice, one of my favourites.
“Hey mum. How was work?” I asked her. My sleepiness was faltering.
“It was good. Did you have fun at the camping trip?”
“Fun wouldn’t be the right word, it was kind of…” I struggled to find a word in my vocabulary that described it, I couldn’t. “…Bizarre, in a good way”
“Erm…that’s good… I think”
Brady was sitting in silence as my mother and I asked each other about trivial things that had happened while I was away. It didn’t take long and Brady soon joined the conversation. We ate the remaining rice on our plate in silence and Brady broke the silence when he finished his.
“I better get going, it’s getting late.”
I finished off my last spoonful and walked him to the door. He opened it and turned around to hug me. It was a casual friendly hug.
“See ya tomorrow, ‘kay?” I told him.
“’Kay.”
He walked out of the door and to his car without looking back. When he drove away I closed the door and walked upstairs.
“Mum, I’m going to go outside for a bit. I won’t be long, I have a Bio test tomorrow and I want to study in the morning. Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Okay, sweet dreams hun”.
I went to my bedroom and grabbed my pyjama then I went to the bathroom to change and brush my teeth. I wore a jacket and grabbed my blanket, which was folded neatly on my chair. I grabbed my ipod from on top of my bed-side table and went outside. I sat down on the swing and swung slowly. I started listening to some songs at full volume as I looked at the sky in front of me. After a while I got up from the swing, sat down on my blanket but sleep was taunting me and I gave in…
I found myself walking in the forest again but this time no one was following me. Instead I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I hurried to get closer and the feeling of longing grew and grew. I still wasn’t sure what I was looking for when I turned around, what felt like the last, tree…
I woke up just before I could figure out what it was that I longed for more than the oxygen that gave me life. I remembered falling asleep outside so my mum must have taken me back inside. I wondered about what the thing in my dream could be as I took off my rose-coloured pyjamas. I wore my usual faded jeans, a top and my white jacket. The dream was weird and creepy but I decided to forget it. It hadn’t been the first weird dream and it probably wasn’t going to be the last.
I grabbed my schoolbag and went downstairs. I poured some milk in my bowl of Chocos and placed it on the table. I placed my biology book carelessly on the table and studied whilst I ate. Studying in the morning was my routine for any day that I had a test on. When I was done I brushed my teeth, packed my books and grabbed my bag.
When I arrived at school it was still early and the only person at out table was Ash. I smiled at her as I sat down and placed my bag next to my chair. I didn’t talk to her, everyone knew that she was always cranky in the morning and liked to sit in silence until everyone showed up. I automatically turned my head towards the Askey table where I knew they’d be. I spotted Forrest immediately. He looked at me briefly but turned his head away as soon as our gazes met. He looked annoyed again and it was the same expression he had given me when we were waiting for the buses to come and take us to Waking forest.
I could not understand him. He wasn’t like any guy I’d met and it always felt like he was hiding something. I usually ignored this feeling because there was always a greater feeling screaming inside my head not to ask.
I suddenly remembered the plans to go to Spotlight on Saturday and I couldn’t resist getting a confirmation from Ashley.
“Ash! Put on your nicest dress because everyone’s going to Spotlight on Saturday! You’re coming right?”
“Saturday?” She asked me, the word managing to sound like a moan. “I promised my mum I’d hang out with Jodie and Kyra. I’m taking them out for a movie and I have to go. I already told them and they’re really excited.”
Kyra and Jodie were fourteen-year old twins and Ashley’s siblings. The three got on great together and I knew that they had been bugging Ashley for ages about not hanging out with them.
“No, no, no, no! Ash, you have to come. It isn’t a choice! Please?” I begged.
“I really can’t. What’s going on with you anyways?”
It wasn’t like me to get so upset about someone not being able to come. It wasn’t the first time someone couldn’t come.
“You don’t understand! I asked Brady to come with me and it’s gonna be us and another two couples! How do you think that’s gonna look?”
“O-M-G! You’re going on a date with Brady? But he’s like your brother!”
She was right. I was closest to Tamsin but that was probably because she was a girl. Brady had been my first friend and also my best friend. Our parents had been friends and Brady and I had ended up hanging out a lot. We might not be as close as we were young but we still treated each other as family.
“It’s not a date! But that’s what it’s gonna feel like. Please you have to come!”
“If it makes you uncomfortable, why don’t you come out with me and my sisters? I’m sure they won’t mind.”
“I planned the whole thing; it would be a bit daft if I didn’t show”
“Look, Brady just arrived, he’s parking.”
I looked through the cafeteria window. She was right; he was parking and would be coming through the door in a couple of minutes.
“Ok, I guess I’ll just go but if you change your mind in the last second –“
“- Don’t worry, I know where the restaurant is.” She cut me off.
Brady had parked and had almost reached our table. When I looked at him he smiled at me and Ashley.
“Hey guys. Did anyone else arrive?”
“No, I arrived about fifteen minutes ago, it’s still early but I’m going to go to the Biology lab. I have a test and I better revise”
“Did you study this morning?” Ash asked me and shot me an accusing glare.
“Yup” I told her as I hurried out before she could lecture me against studying the morning before.
I arrived in Biology Lab three a few minutes later. The big classroom was still empty. Class started at eight-thirty and there were still another fifteen minutes left. I wondered when Forrest would arrive. Maybe he would come up early to revise. I doubted that he would. He had gotten one hundred percent in all three previous biology tests and knew every single question the teacher had asked him. I pushed Forrest to the corner of my mind and started to go over my weakest topics.
I was startled when Forrest took his seat next to me. I hadn’t been paying any attention to my surrounding but as I looked up I realised that the class was almost full. Forrest had been staring at me but when I looked at him he looked away.
“Hi.” I told him, hoping to start a conversation.
“Hi.” He replied coldly and looked away.
That was weird; I had the impression that we might have become friends during the previous camping trip. I might have been hurt but I considered myself lucky that I even managed to spend a whole day with him. My hand brushed the crescent shaped scar on my neck. There was something going on and I was going to find out what.
Ms.Case walked in the classroom just as the last student sat down. She didn’t waste any time and handed us a test sheet each.
“Students, you have exactly fifty minutes for this test, you may begin as soon as I hand you the paper and good luck.
She handed me the paper and I flipped threw it quickly. I paused for a second before I started writing. From the corner of my eye I saw that most of the students had already started, except for Zach, who hadn’t even bother to open the paper and left it exactly how Ms.Case placed it on his desk. The questions weren’t that hard but there were a couple I didn’t know. The first two pages were multiple questions and then we had to write two essays about two experiments.
Forrest finished after thirty minutes and didn’t bother to check his work. I finished ten minutes before the time was up and decided to go through it again.
“Times up, please put away your pens and place your paper on my desk.”
I heard someone moan that hadn’t had enough time to finish. Forrest was the first to place his paper on the desk. Just because he was way out of my league didn’t mean I couldn’t l stare at his perfect face and body. My face drifted for another second to his compelling green eyes but I looked away before I could make it too obvious. I wondered how much more dazzling his eyes would look if the sun shone on them. That was not a probability since the sun only shone about once a month, if we were lucky.
The rest of the second biology lesson passed by in a blur only halting momentarily when I looked at Forrest and his perfect features. I could stare at his pale face and never get bored. If only he’d talk to me! I have no idea what went wrong after the camping trip and why He was ignoring me.
Forget it; I chanted to myself, you don’t need him, if he doesn’t want to be my friend why should I care? But I knew that I couldn’t stop wishing he’d like me, at least just enough to be my friend.
The bell rang and I hurried to get to English and talked to Tam. She had saved my seat at the back of the class.
“I told Ash about Saturday but she can’t come.” She told me as soon as I sat down.
“I know, I told her about it in the morning.”
Mr.Allen walked in but didn’t tell us anything. The poor guy was simply a push-over but I told Tam to stop talking because I felt a bit sorry for him.
Another fifty minutes and break, can’t wait, I was starting to get hungry. I paid attention to most of the lesson and made sure I didn’t think about Forrest again. In my opinion, I was starting to get a bit obsessive.
The school bell rang and I hurried to pack my things. Tam was still putting all her things in her bag when I finished.
“Hurry up!” I urged her
I helped her pack up the rest of her things and we stopped by our lockers to dump our books there.
“What are you going to wear on Saturday?” I asked her trying to start a conversation as we walked slowly to the cafeteria.
“I’m not sure yet. I think I’m going in my short black dress but I haven’t decided yet. What about you?”
I knew which dress she was talking about and it looked lovely with her dark complexion.
“I’m going to wear the black dress I bought two months ago when we went shopping.”
We didn’t continue talking because we could see the cafeteria doors and hurried to get inside. The topic seemed to once again fall on the topic that I had been trying to constantly avoid in my thoughts
“Have you even seen the Askeys talk to anyone? It’s been two month since they moved here” Kim asked.
“They talk to each other, but never to anyone else” I told her.
Only Tam knew about the friendship that lasted for a day, between me and Forrest and I planned to keep it that way.
“Maybe they’re the loner types” Tam joined in.
“They’re weird” Ash commented.
Everyone in school had noticed the weird emotion they brought with them. It wasn’t something strong but if you were paying attention you’d easily realise something was off, and now everyone tried to avoid them rather than talk to them.
Brady saved me by saying something about a computer game and the guys lost interest in what we were saying, while the rest of us started talking about make-up, hair, homework and boys. Tam and Kim never gave up the opportunity to talk about their marvellous dates. Kim also told us about the mystery date. I had all but forgotten it, but I remembered and my curiosity was aroused.
“It was amazing! He took me to this little beach and we had a romantic dinner. He brought the food with him and everything was still warm. Afterwards we went for a walk and this huge wave came in and we got all wet. It was so much fun.
Break finished and I went for my fifty minute sessions of another English class, Religion and French.
I found myself in my car driving to pick up Neil, in no time. His mum had asked me to pick her son up from school. When I parked in front of the almost-empty school, Neil was already waiting for me. His black hair was spiked upwards and he ran to my car.
“Hey Lee Thanks for picking me up today. Would you mind if you picked me up next Monday as well? My mum has to work again.”
“Sure, no problem.”
I had been picking Neil up from school most Monday so I expected it.
I parked in my drive way and we both got out of the car.
“See you next Monday Neil.” I waved him off.
I wanted to get away from the biting cold so I went inside. My mum was already home and was cooking a quick dinner of fish and chips. I started today’s homework, Maths and English. I finished English in no time but I was finding it hard to concentrate on maths so I went downstairs to eat.
Kim called me and we spent almost an hour on the phone. It was seven when I finally told her goodbye.
I could concentrate better after that and I finished my Maths homework in half an hour.
I wanted to wash and go on my laptop. I had an assignment due for Wednesday and I wanted to start it. I hadn’t done any homework last week so I had to get as much done today as possible.
I went to bed at eleven and when I finally drifted to sleep I had the same nightmare that I had had yesterday.