Next To You

Heather woke up and looked at the time on her phone, she had overslept. She quickly got out of bed and dressed in her uniform as fast as she could. She was late for her student leadership meeting. Her chauffeur, Connelly, already had the car parked in front and was waiting on the front steps of her grandparents' manor. Connelly chuckled as he saw her running down the steps, pulling her messy hair back in a pony tail, "I was starting to wonder if you were awake at all, Ms. Heather." He bowed with a smirk on his face, "as always, Ms. Heather, am I dropping you off at the usual spot?" "Of course, you know how I hate it when you drive in view of the school." He dropped her off a block away from the school, it looked like her friend Mya had already gone to the meeting, but she didn't expect the club president to be late for her own club meeting. She looked down at her phone and saw that she had a bunch of text messages from Mya, asking where she was. Heather ran as fast as she could, passing a group of upperclassmen on her way through the halls. "Whoa, who was that?!" one of them exclaimed. She burst into the club room, "I'm here, I'm so sorry I'm late!" Mya shook her head at her, "what happened to you this morning? You're never late!" "I know, I know.." she then lowered her voice, so that only Mya could hear her, "that thing last night went a little late." They were already a month into school, Heather and Mya were both in the 11th grade, but had known each other since they were 13 years old. Mya had always been in private schools up until high school, but Heather was home-schooled from 6th to 8th grade, and before that, had lived in the countryside with her parents and had attended a small elementary school. Mya was her first best friend since she had left the countryside, after her mother's passing and her father's disappearance. She had been left with her high-society, multi-billionaire grandparents, and Mya was the only one who knew. Heather made it a point to keep her personal life and her relatives a secret. She didn't want to be treated differently just because of her situation. "Are you ready for the test in English today?" Mya asked, as they finished their meeting. Heather grabbed her bag, "yes, you know how I am." As they turned a corner, a tall young man with dark red hair came barreling through, almost knocking Heather down. "Excuse me! We're walking here!" she raised her voice at him. He turned around quickly and waved, "sorry, I'll try to be more careful next time!" Mya watched him jog off with deep interest, "do you even know who that was?" Heather laughed sarcastically, "no, should I?" "That was Eoin Flannery, one of the most popular guys in school." "Well good for him, but that doesn't interest me in the least" Heather stopped at her locker and grabbed a text book from it. "You don't have to say it like that Heather, it makes you sound like a snob." Heather sighed, "alright, I'm sorry. Do you have a crush on him or something?" Mya giggled, "no, nothing like that, but I heard he's actually really nice. Most girls do like him though, and really, who can blame them?" Heather just smiled and shook her head, "sounds a little shallow to me, but who am I to judge? I'm sure he's very nice, but we can't concern ourselves with stuff like that." "You mean you can't concern yourself with stuff like that?" Mya was known for her brutal honesty, she always told it like it was. Heather supposed that was why she had become such good friends with her. She appreciated Mya's honesty, even if it hurt a little sometimes. Heather was constantly surrounded by people who would lie, cheat, and use people as they wished in her grandparents' world. They would always get away with it, and that's what she hated the most about it all. "You're right, Mya, you know I don't get wrapped up in all the gossip and drama of the popular kids, I'm thinking about the future." Mya rolled her eyes, "yeah, college, career, blah, blah, blah. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy high school, I'm just saying." "You think I'm boring, don't you? Good thing you have lots of other friends," Heather closed her locker as she finished making her point, "I know you think I'll be upset if you hang out with other people, but I assure you, I won't." A couple of days later, they were putting up some fliers for a fundraiser. Eoin Flannery walked briskly around a corner and collided into her, making her drop all of her fliers onto the floor. She knelt down and quickly started picking them up. Eoin knelt down next to her and started to help her pick them up, "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you." Heather glanced over at him, "it's okay... wait a minute! You're the guy who almost trampled me the other day!" Eoin looked up at her apologetically, but suddenly found himself staring at her. She had strawberry blonde hair that fell past her shoulders, and had the most beautifully unique blue-green eyes he had ever seen, and was captivated by them. Before he could say anything else, she irritably grabbed the fliers from his hands. They went to stand up at the same time and accidentally bumped heads. Heather groaned as she rubbed her forehead. "ugh, seriously? You should really watch what you're doing, you could really hurt someone with all that recklessness." She walked to the other end of the hallway, still holding onto her head, and he stared after her. After a moment, he glanced at his watch and hurried off to the cafeteria for lunch. When he got his food, he sat down with his buddies, Connor, Tierney, Devon and Ivan. "Do any of you know a girl with reddish-blonde hair and bright blue-green eyes?" Connor and Tierney shook their heads, Devon shrugged, and Ivan was stroking his chin, deep in thought. Ivan suddenly snapped his fingers, "yeah, that's Heather Shannon. I used to volunteer in the library with her. She helped me with my student body campaign last year actually. Why do you want to know?" "Well, I keep running into her, literally," Eoin laughed awkwardly, "I'm afraid I haven't made a very good impression with her." Ivan smirked, "doesn't seem like it, but I really doubt she's obsessing over it." Connor butted in, "is she cute?" Tierney shook his head, "is that all you ever think about it?" "Pretty much. What? We were all thinking it, I'm just the one who had the guts to ask," Connor grinned mischievously. Eoin did think she was cute, but for some reason, he didn't want to say it. Ivan felt the same way. "Yeah, like I'd tell you Connor, you'd just harass her, and then you'd get your butt handed to you," Ivan smiled smugly. Eoin raised an eyebrow, "well, it is Connor, but why would he get his butt handed to him?" Ivan stretched his arms and grinned, "let's just say Heather Shannon is in a league all her own. You seem to be very interested, Eoin, perhaps I should let you find out for yourself." "Hmm, that's not a bad idea. Where would she be right now?" Eoin was intrigued. The bell rang to end lunch. Ivan shrugged at him and walked off. Eoin walked to his locker to get his bag. He glanced over and spotted Heather at the bulletin board next to the main office. She was putting up another flier for the student leadership club. He quickly closed his locker and started walking toward her, but a group of girls stepped into his path. Honora Kelly, one of the most popular girls in school with a mean streak to match, along with the other popular girls, Deborah, who was Devon's twin sister, Bethany, Anna, and Rachel. They started tugging at his sleeves and flirting with him. He smiled politely as they chattered excitedly to him about a big game that was coming up. Heather glanced over and walked right past him. He tried to call out to her, but the other girls were too loud and surrounding him. Heather walked into the gym after changing into her gym clothes. She stood next to Mya as the gym teacher, Mr. Hanna, started taking attendance. Eoin came jogging into the gym just as Mr. Hanna called his name. Heather felt his eyes on her and avoided his gaze. Everyone started stretching and warming up, getting ready for the day's activity; Basketball. They were assigned to their teams, boys against girls. "Well this hardly seems fair, we're going to lose," their friend Melody pouted. Heather tightened her pony tail, "with that attitude we will, come on, we can do this. Those guys are pushovers." Mya clapped, "I believe we can do it, besides, we have Heather." Honora pushed through with Bethany and Deborah behind her, "and you have me, you think this hot bod is just for show. Heather has always been freakishly boyish, and not even in an attractive way." Heather smirked sarcastically, "thank you, Kelly, always a pleasure, can we please work together this time?" Honora Kelly was notorious for her mean girl reputation, and was aggressively competitive, she had to win at everything. She always gave Heather and her friends a hard time, constantly bullying them and making them feel horrible about themselves, but there was one girl Honora could never break, and that was Heather. Heather was always there to stand up for her friends, and she never let Honora's harsh words or mean tricks get to her. Not wanting to be on the same team as her, like always, Honora complained to Mr. Hanna. "I don't want to cause problems with this, so we'll mix it up," Mr. Hanna chimed. Honora was smug, she always seemed to get the teachers to do what she wanted. Mr. Hanna mixed the teams, and Heather ended up on the same team with Eoin. Honora was furious, which just fueled her competitiveness. So far, Heather's team had been winning, then Eoin got a hold of the ball and made too big of a shot. It bounced off the hoop with a loud bang and somehow ended up hitting Heather in the head. She fell back and Mya rushed to her side, "Heather! Are you okay?!" Honora and her friends snickered behind their hands, Heather just stood up and brushed herself off. Eoin hovered over her with concern, "I'm really sorry, are you okay?" "I'm fine, let's just finish this," she adjusted her ponytail and got into position with everyone else. Eoin couldn't help but watch her as they played. He wasn't sure how she had taken a hit like that without being too effected by it. Honora scowled and ended up breaking a nail, making a huge fuss over it. Eoin was amused by the situation, and so was everyone else. After class, he tried to catch up to Heather, but she had already left for her next class. He spotted her friend in the hallway. "You're Heather Shannon's friend, right?" He said to Mya. Mya looked up at him in surprise, "uh, yes. You're Eoin Flannery, but why are you talking to me?" Eoin smiled, "I wanted to make sure she's really okay, I don't know if she's the kind of person who pretends she's fine or if she's some kind of invincible." Mya smiled back, "yeah, she's fine. It would take a lot more to bring someone like Heather down, she's a tough person. I do wonder about her sometimes though, I know she can't be invincible." "That's great, I was really worried for a moment there, I don't want to be responsible for giving her brain damage or anything. What's your name?" "Mya Song, Heather's best friend." "How long have you two known each other?" "Three years, we pretty much do everything together," Mya pulled out her phone and showed him her screen's background. It was a picture of them from the freshman fair they organized, which she explained to him was the one she liked the best, out of all the pictures they had taken together. Mya had an energetic, excited smile on her face, Heather's was more reserved. He had yet to see her smile, but he could tell it wasn't a genuine one. "Does she always smile like that?" Mya bit her lip, unsure if she should be talking to him about Heather, "most of the time, not a lot of things make her smile genuinely, she's very serious, but sometimes life does that to people." "Oh... Has she had a difficult one?" Mya checked the time, feeling uneasy, "actually, I should get to class now, I'm sorry I have to rush off, maybe we can talk another time? Bye!" She hurried off, clutching her bag tightly. Eoin was left feeling confused and wanting to know more about Heather Shannon. A week later, he remembered Ivan had told him she volunteered in the library. At lunch time, he went in there, hoping to find her. He walked down all the aisles, then he went to the second level to get a better view. As he was walking and looking over the railing, he bumped into a book cart. Some books fell, and the sound of someone being knocked over was heard. He bent down to help retrieve the fallen books, "I'm dreadfully sorry, are you alright?" Heather cringed at the sound of his voice, "of course it's you. How many times are we going to do this?" He looked over at a familiar pair of mystical blue-green eyes and his face turned red, "ahem, hello there, I was actually just looking for you." Heather stared him down, "and why were you doing that?" "I just wanted to talk to you.." Heather shook her head, "I'm afraid I don't have the time to chat, Flannery, I have a mess to clean up." "Let me help you, I feel really bad, about everything," Eoin pleaded. Heather returned all the books back to the cart, "I don't need your help. You may leave." "As you wish, Ms. Librarian." He left, but felt he had made things worse, he couldn't bring himself to just let it go. Later on, he asked Ivan which days she worked there. Ivan chuckled and shook his head at Eoin, "she won't give you the time of day, so you've resorted to stalking her?" Eoin laughed awkwardly, "I know it sounds bad, but in no way was that my intention. I just can't stop thinking about her." "Sounds like psycho talk to me, that is, if I didn't know any better. That being the case, you must really like her," Ivan teased him, as they walked down the hallway together. Eoin blushed slightly, "am I really that obvious?" "I'm afraid so, bud, and I really do wish you luck with that," he responded with a complicated smile on his face. Eoin caught it, but wasn't sure what it meant yet, though he had a feeling he'd find out sooner, rather than later. Eoin went there on the days she was there, pretending to study. He watched her work the desk, help people on the computers, and put books away. She would never glance his way, but he felt the tension whenever he was near her. He decided it was best to back off, not wanting her to hate him. One day, he had to go get a book from the library, and it happened to fall on a day she was working there. She ignored him like she always did, but he actually needed her help this time. He cleared his throat a few times as he walked up to the desk. He stopped directly in front of where she was sitting, "I promise I'm not here to bother you, I need help finding a book." Heather had been sitting at the desk, stamping books. She slammed one shut and set it on a cart next to her, forcing a polite smile, "how may I help you, Mr. Flannery?" He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and held it out to her, "my teacher wrote it down on here." She grabbed it and their fingertips brushed against each other, Eoin felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. She felt it too, but pretended not to notice. Beneath the teacher's handwriting, she wrote the aisle and shelf where it was located, then handed it back to him cautiously. "Here, you should be able to find it easily." He thanked her, then went in search for it. When he returned, she checked it out to him. "Good day to you," after she handed it back to him, she got up and pushed a book cart away, and started to put books away again. He stood there and watched her for a moment, then put his head down and left. The next day, Eoin was running up a flight of stairs, once he turned on the landing, he bumped into Heather, again. She almost fell back, but grabbed the railing to save herself. "Seriously? Why don't you ever watch where you're going?" Heather glared. Mya and her friend Melody were walking behind her. Mya covered a giggle, "wow Eoin, are you sure you're not doing it on purpose?" Heather frowned and turned to her, "of course he isn't, what a ridiculous notion." Melody was too shy to say anything, she stood behind the fuming Heather. Heather shook her head and stepped around Eoin, Mya and Melody followed after her. Mya exchanged looks with him as she passed him, then shrugged. That day, after school, he spotted Mya sitting in the courtyard, "hey, Mya. Heather is pretty annoyed with me, isn't she?" Mya looked up from her notebook and folded her hands on top of it, "well, she's not sure how you never see her." "I don't know either. Actually, that's all I've been thinking about since it started happening, if it were any other girl, they would just tell me no problem, and even purposely bump into me in return, as a flirt, but with Heather, she just refuses to have anything to do with me." Mya raised an eyebrow, "I get that you're popular and girls love you, but you sounded really conceited just now, and that's what Heather dislikes. She knows you just expect people to like you. Arrogance is an unattractive quality and not something she looks for in friends, or boys. That's why her and Honora Kelly don't get along." Eoin cringed at the mention of her name, "what's going on between them? I get that Honora is an aggressive girl, and a bit territorial, but how did it start between them?" "I guess it started freshman year. There was this guy that Honora really liked, but he didn't like her, he liked Heather. She's also a bad sport, and she bullies all of us, but Heather isn't afraid of her like the other girls are, and if she can do anything about it, she will. Honora is spoiled and used to getting away with things. Anyway, they've had this intense rivalry ever since." "So this guy, did Heather date him? I'm just curious if I know him, that's all," he put his hands up as Mya shot him a suspicious look. Mya smirked knowingly, "no, Heather doesn't date. She says she doesn't have time for it, but I think it's because she hasn't found a guy yet that she's liked enough. In my opinion though, she's out of their league anyway." "I had been told she was in a league of her own." Mya looked surprised, "from who?" "Our class president. I asked him if he knew her, and he said he did, and that's what he told me about her. But none of my other friends know her," Eoin put his hands in pockets, deep in thought. Mya brushed some hair out of her face, "they wouldn't, your friends are more center-stage, Heather is more backstage. She's the one who keeps things running smoothly. Sorry, but I've got to get going, I've got a meeting to get to." As Mya left the courtyard and headed to the club room, she saw Heather turn a corner. She waved to her and they paired up. Mya linked arms with her, "Eoin Flannery has been asking a lot of questions about you today." Heather sighed, "and what have you been telling him?" "Nothing in particular, but it sounds like he's pretty good friends with your friend Ivan Tanner, so don't think it'll last long." "Ivan won't tell him anything, if I know him as well as I think I do, he'll shrug it off and let Flannery do his own dirty work," Heather smirked to herself. Mya caught it, but kept it to herself because they reached the club room and it was time to start their meeting. She found herself constantly looking in Heather's direction, wondering what was going through her mind.