If only I could love you

chapter 1

First day of the new school term... First lesson of the first day of the new school term... Dan couldn't concentrate on what Mr Andrews was saying. The September morning was bright and unusually humid for Britain. Mr Andrews was rattling on about something wholly uninteresting, GCSEs over... they must work even harder for AS Levels... then A Levels... then of course they would be expected to move on to University, then they would work in some boring office for the rest of their miserable lives. He had heard this all before. Dan tried to think of something else. the summer had gone by too quickly. But wasn't summer meant to have been slightly exciting? This year hadn't been. It was just party after party after party after-

"Daniel, do you know the answer?" Mr Andrews's gaze was bearing down on Dan. Of course he didn't know the answer.. answer to what? What lesson was this? Who cares?

"Sorry, sir, but can I close the blinds? The sun is so bright today," Dan blinked several times to emphasise the strain on his eyes. A few female members of the class giggled.

"Daniel, were you even paying attention? I asked you a question." Mr Andres was not Dan's favourite teacher.

"Well, sir, I cant answer the question until the blinds have been closed," obviously Dan could, but he liked to annoy the teachers. He found it very difficult to get on with them, and he would usually do whatever it takes to get out of doing work.

"I will not close the blinds until you have answered the question, Howell," Dan hated it when the teachers called him by his surname, "I'm sure you don't want to begin the new term with such a bad start. Don't repeat your mistakes from last year." Mr Andrews sighed.

Ah yes, last year. Dan had been caught bunking off school, smoking weed in the woods behind the school playing fields. He would have been expelled had it not been for his father, a respected teacher at the school. Still, he was suspended for two weeks. But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining, every student in the school was talking about him, Dan had not been more popular in his life. He had gained a reputation as the "bad boy" of the school. No one dared to mess with him or his friends, people parted like the red sea when he and Zoe, his girlfriend, walked down the corridor. And this was a reputation, that he had to uphold. Dan stood up and walked towards the windows. the class was silent.

"Daniel, I told you to answer the question. Please sit back down." Dan ignored the teacher and, once he had reached the window, he grabbed the cord for the blinds, and began to pull. As the blinds descended, Mr Andrews stormed over. "Get back to your seat, Howell." He was getting angry.

"DON'T call me Howell," Dan raised his voice, not moving from where he was standing. He wasn't afraid. What could the teacher do to him? Nothing. The class began to whisper amongst themselves, secretly hoping for a fight to break out, for a little excitement to colour their boring lives.

"Go back to your seat, or get out." Mr Andrews was tired of Dan already. Dan was tired too. He glanced over to Zoe, who was sitting in the corner. She glared at him. She hated it when Dan deliberately held up the class like this. He looked at her apologetically, and then pushed past Mr Andrews and left the classroom.

Dan picked up the pace as he headed down the corridor, he didn't want any other teacher to find him and direct him to his class. What class was it anyway? He paused for a moment and turned to reach into his bag. he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. Maths. Thank god for that. Dan, despite his rebellious behaviour, was extremely good at maths, so missing it would not hurt his grades. His grades were a constant worry, although he generally got good marks, he didn't want his friends, or people around the school to know that he cared so much about them. He was supposed to be the school "badass". He HAD to keep up his reputation. Hearing a door opening down the corridor, Dan sprinted to the left and burst out through the front school doors. he knew exactly where he was headed. The bike shed. There was no CCTV footage around there, although there should be, there were so many bike thefts. Behind the bike shed was where Dan went when he was bunking from lessons, or wanted to smoke a cigarette. It was where he liked to go when he wanted to be alone. As he turned another corner, he saw the shed. he jogged over to it, and slowed to a steady pace when he reached it. He walked around the shed, and when he reached the back, he stopped dead in his tracks. Someone was already there...