Wednesday and Thursday passed without drama, and louise even dropped the Mr Cartwright stuff. On Friday Morning I headed downstairs to grab a banana from the bowl before going to catch the bus, however to my surprise my parents were sitting at the table, the smell of blueberry pancakes meeting my face as I got to the bottom of the stairs.

“You’re here?” I said, shock evident in my voice

“We’re leaving soon, to go away for the weekend… remember? I texted you on Monday morning” Mom said flippantly, as if texting your 17 year old daughter to advise of a holiday was a completely normal form of contact. “Pancakes on the table honey, we’ll drive you to school if you like?” she continued, patting a seat next to her.

My mom was everything I wasn’t. Elegant, beautiful and stylish. Her dark red hair was long and straight and her face was immaculately made up. I strode across the room and sat down. A proper breakfast at home…. Didn’t have to ask me twice. I glanced over at Dad who was sipping on a cup of coffee, he looked tired, which wasn’t surprising considering the amount of sleep they got each night. He looked up and over at me

“You’ll be okay over the weekend, won’t you?” he asked, genuinely concerned.

“I’ll be fine, Lou and Ryan are coming over tonight and we’re going to play Xbox and watch movies. You guys have fun… You work way to hard” I replied honestly, They deserved a break, they really did… I just wished they would realise I deserved them. I grabbed a pancake and drizzled some maple syrup over the top.

“Thank you for shopping on Tuesday night Elliot, I’ve left the credit card on the bench if you need anything while we are away.”

“Thanks…. Um about he scooter… the brakes kind failed when I went to go out on Tuesday night and I crashed it” I said, surprised they hadn’t noticed or mentioned it themselves. Mind you they were probably dead on their feet when they got home anyway. Both mom and Dad shot their heads up to look at me, concerned and shocked…. Although I wasn’t sure why they were shocked…. It was bound to happen eventually they looked at each other and then back at me

“You should have called the restaurant! Are you alright?” Mom gushed, turning to me, her hands checking my head, arms.

“Mom, I’m fine, I grazed my knee and the new neighbour across the road helped me. I am without transport now though”

“We’ll look into a car for you after the weekend Elliot, sorry about the scooter” Dad said ruefully.

After breakfast my parents drove me to school and for one morning at least we were like a normal family. I saw Ryan and Louise in the distance so I said goodbye to my mom and dad and hopped out of the car.

“Wow, the parentals dropped you off” ryan said, as shocked as I felt.

“Yeah well they’re going away for the weekend. So they didn’t leave at the crack of dawn” I shrugged

We walked to lockers gushing about the nights events.

“Xbox, beer, chips and girls” Ryan laughed grabbing his book for his first class “Sounds like my kind of night”

“Girls?” Louise and I said at the same time, amused and curious

“Well… you two are a breed of girl are you not”

“Lou is…. Pretty sure the jury is still out on me” I remarked looking down at my jeans and t-shirt attire.

The rest of the day went painfully slowly. Each class more horrible and draining that the last. By the time Music rolled around I had all but given up on concentrating. The teachers kept to the same format. Had out a packet, do the work, finish the work, do another packet. Even though music was more practical, the severe lack of a 21st century spin made me resent being there. When the bell rung I was almost excited for Science, Matt had kept true to his word, he had tried to make Science interesting every day and had been promising us a day of experimenting today. I strode in to the class and walked over to my seat.

“Afternoon Elliot” Matt called out looking up from his desk

“Afternoon Ma… Mr Cartwright” I said, catching myself before I called him Matt, I looked around the class to make sure no one else had heard. Luckily it seemed no one had so I relaxed and looked down at the lab table and waited until Louise and Ryan came in before I looked around the room. Because knowing me, I’d say or do something stupid otherwise.

Once the class had filed in, Matt stood at the front of the class and held out a pile of papers.

“Alright, as promised class, today we’re experimenting. I thought we’d start of by testing something we all used everyday all day any ideas what this might be?”

“water?”

“Toilet”

“Body?”

“Pheromones” (that one got a few yips and yahoo’s from the boys)

I put my hand up in the air and Matt pointed to me.

“Oxygen?” I guessed. Matt smiled and nodded

“Oxygen, alright, since you won Elliot, you can hand out the instructions while Louise Ryan and I hand out the tools and ingredients needed.”

By the end of class, I was no longer feeling hateful towards school Matt’s class had been fun and I wished that they could all be that way. Ryan, louise and I left school together and Ryan drove his car to my house. We set up the xbox in the lounge, it hadn’t been in there since the holidays had ended, as I’d told myself to take school seriously this year. However, I missed the distraction the fun of blowing up pixels on a huge screen. We set up the drinks and chips and then I booted up the xbox. Louise sat texting her Mexican beau while Ryan and I played vs each other for a bit. Around 5pm I logged on to COD 2 online.

“BBBEEEELLIE!” One of my online friend called excitedly

“Sup Gboy” I replied, flicking the sound to come through the tv.

“It’s been a long week without ya chick, you ready for a run?”

“More than, lets load in yeah?”

We logged into the lobby and a few regular names came up, including one I’d not seen for at least five months.

“MadsCientist? You went AWOL?” I called out, genuinely excited to see him in the lobby

“Yeah, uh, been busy moving” came the reply, the voice sounded familiar somehow, but I brushed it aside given that I’d spoken to this guy almost every night for ages a few months back.

“Well your presence has been missed, glad to see you back!”

We played for a while until around 10pm when I was far to tipsy to concentrate to play well.

“Sorry guys, I’m out… screen is getting a little blurry!” I giggled sipping another beer… my fifth I think.

“Hope to catch you again Ellie” MadsCientist said

“You too Madsci. Ellie OUT” I called signing out of the lobby.

“that Mad guy totally digs you!” I heard Louise coo from beside me

“What?” I almost choked

“well he said he hope’s to catch you again, and well he sounded HOT!” she giggled

I shook my head and turned the Xbox off.

“You think everyone is hot Lou lou” I laughed sipping on my drink

“Not everyone…. I don’t think Ryan is” She joked, Ryan looked hurt and Louise walked over and tickled him

“I’m joking you ninny, in fact I think your actually kind of cute, so relax” She said shyly, her face blushing. I realised then she had a crush on him, even though she’d not even told me. I was surprised I’d managed to pick up onit considering I was a bit of a dunce when it came to romantic stuff, however after the past week, the feelings and the amount of times I’d yelled at myself silently for thinking inappropriate thoughts about my teacher, I figured that maybe picking up on those vibes wasn’t that hard…. Then I worried that maybe my vibes were coming off me like a bad odor.

I slipped out of the lounge and left Ryan and louise alone for a little while. I walked outside and sat on my door step with my beer. The cool air brushed against my face and I closed my eyes. I felt tired, this plan to drink to stupor and act the goat was really as exciting as I’d hoped it would be. I opened my eyes lazily and poured the remainder of my drink over the rose bush beside me.

MadsCientist… why did his voice sound familiar… Familiar like I’d heard it recently. He hadn’t been online in months. M…. C, in to science… maybe it was matt?

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tapped in to it.

MadsCientist huh? – Ellie 10.30

Elliot? – Matt 10.32

Yes… and u must b MadsCientist – Ellie 10.32

Well that didn’t take you long. – Matt 10.33

What can I say, I have a brilliant mind. – Ellie 10.34

You guys alright over there? No comatose teens for me to worry bout? – Matt 10.35

We’re fine. I think my best mates are hooking up though…. :/ - Ellie 10.36

Too much info….. um throw water on them maybe? – Matt 10.36

I put my phone away and walked inside, I peeked in the lounge and found sufficient proof that would mean both Mexican boyfriend was history and that if that was still happening in 8 months both of my best friends would have to be naked under their graduation gowns, given the technicality of not being allowed to take one of us as a prom date. I left the kissing duo and walked up stairs to my bedroom and flopped on to my bed. So tonight hadn’t gone exactly as planned, drinking didn’t liberate me as much as I had intended and my best friends had begun making out with each other on my sofa. I had however found out that I’d known Matt much longer than the few days, at least in the virtual sense and it amused me that the world suddenly seemed, that much smaller. I lay my head down and let sleep take me away.

It seemed like I had only been asleep for minutes when there was a knock at the door, My eyes flung open and it was still dark… I had only been asleep minutes. I pulled myself out of bed, the alcohol catching up with me finally and making me feel groggy. I peeped out the window, and saw a police car in the driveway. My stomach dropped… had someone called in about us drinking? Matt? Suddenly my mind was very clear and I got out of bed and hurried down the stairs. There was another loud knock before I got to the door and I heard Louise and Ryan whispering in the lounge. I flicked the porch light on and unlocked the door.

Before me stood two officers, sullen faces and their hats were on their chests. A rush of goosebumps came across my entire body and I suddenly hoped we’d been dobbed in for drinking. I knew why cops show up in the middle of the night, I knew why they held their hats like that, I’d seen movies, I’d seen them say what I was about to hear and my heart just couldn’t take it.