I woke up the following morning quite early to start one of my final essays. If I got it finished it meant that I could spend the rest of my holiday doing what I wanted. I could go into town and see my parents and buy some more DVDs. My sister, Holly still had the book I loaned her.

Getting up, I ambled round my room. I glanced at my phone and sighed. No way would Jake ever text me. He probably only took my number because he wanted to mess with me. I immediately regretted giving him my number.

I got dressed and grabbed my tooth brush. I opened the door and slipped out into the hallway. I couldn't hear many people. A few doors were open and I could hear voices. Some of the girls got up early to go to the gym.

When I got to the bathrooms, I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I'd have a shower tomorrow. I finished and left the bathrooms, saying good morning to Jenna as she strolled past me. She grinned, but she was obviously hung over.

I got back to my room and opened my laptop, starting my essay. My course was probably boring to a lot of people. I studied Biomedical Engineering. It was fun for me. I had chosen to continue with the course instead of branching into another area and my second year would start in September.

After an hour of typing I stretched and decided to get something to drink. I was about to get up when my phone buzzed. It continued until I decided to answer it. It was Shay, no surprises there. She often rang me after a night out.

"Hey gorgeous," She sounded hoarse and very sleepy.

"Hey Shay, how's the hang over?" I walked to my kitchenette and flicked the kettle on.

"Ugh, it's so awful. My mouth tastes like a bucket. I have make-up smeared down my face." She complained.

I laughed at her. Shay and I were very different, but we got on so well. She was always there for me.

"I texted Oli and he said you were talking to a guy for most of the night." She perked up like someone had injected Dr Pepper into her veins.

"Oh yeah, that was just Jake. We were," I paused, We hadn't been friends in school and I doubted he would text me. "We went school together."

"And now you've been reunited and love has blossomed." Shay giggled, causing me to roll my eyes.

I was about to tell her that he was a major jerk, but she stopped me. I heard her turning the tv off.

"Hang on, I'll come to you and you can tell me all about him," She said, laughing. "And how dreamy he is."

She hung up before I could respond. Sometimes she drove me crazy. I put my phone on my bedside table and saved my essay. I couldn't work with Shay here. She'd drive me insane. Someone tapped on the door and I frowned. Shay usually just barged in.

I opened the door and smiled when I saw Bret standing there. He smiled back. Bret was on the same course as me. We studied together a lot and often borrowed each other's notes.

"Morning, Kota." He looked more awake than usual. He probably didn't go out last night.

"Hey Bret, no hang over today?" I asked, and he chuckled.

"Nope, not today. Here's your notes back, by the way." He held a few papers out to me and I accepted.

"You're friends with Oliver Sykes, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, best friends since school, why?" I fumbled the notes around in my hands.

"Word on the street is he likes Hannah," He smirked.

Hannah? There were two Hannah's. One was a really sweet girl with long, black hair. She studied Fine Art and was known to be very creative and very friendly. The other Hannah studied Archeology and was known to be very stuck-up.

"Which one? There's Hannah Snowden or Hannah Blake." I wasn't one for gossip and I'd no doubt hear this all from Oli soon.

"Hannah Snowden. My friend Chad told me." Bret grinned.

With that he strolled down the hall and back to his room. I watched him go and shrieked when someone tickled my sides.

"Hey girl," Shay had arrived. She was wearing her My Little Pony onsie, clearly the hangover was too great. "Staring longingly after Bret Von Dehl, eh? He likes you, ya know."

I snorted with laughter. For a while now, Shay had become convinced that Bret harboured some sort of crush on me, which was stupid. We were just study buddies, but once Shay had an idea, there was no stopping her.

Shay made herself at home and flopped onto my bed. She looked surprisingly well for someone with a hangover. She rolled about, gleefully.

"Bret told me that Oli likes Hannah Snowden." I said, as I made us coffee.

"Well, duh," She said, exasperated. "So tell me about Jake. I want to know everything."

I placed a cup of coffee on my bedside table for her and she blew me a kiss. I sighed, not wanting to go into too much detail so I'd tell her the main aspects of what happened.

"Well our Mum's were best friends. They had been friends since they were in school. They thought Jake and I would be friends too." I started, and Shay rolled onto her front, propping herself up on her elbows.

"The first time we met I was six and he was eight. He put a huge wad of chewing gum in my hair. My Mum had to cut it out. It was absolutely awful." I grumbled.

"Kids stuff." Shay laughed. I glared at her. "Continue."

"In year four he put a huge spider down the back of my uniform." I shuddered. Spiders still creeped me out.

"Ha, classic." Shay laughed. She shut up when I narrowed my eyes again.

"When I was in year seven I was forced to hang out with him by Mum. We went to the park and I had to stay while he and his weird friends drank and made fun of me." I hated that memory the most.

Mum had noticed I spent a lot of time in my room, watching anime and reading. She set it up with Jake's mum, Carolyn. Jake didn't seem to want to spend time with me and he dragged me to a local park where he and his friends would drink. I hated his friends too.

I spent most of the time trying to figure out a way to escape. Andy Biersack had smuggled some beer from his Dad's garage fridge and they all got drunk. When I got home I had told Mum I had had fun. She never set up another day like that again, thank goodness.

"He was friends with Ashley Purdy," I grumbled. Ashley was seriously annoying and I was still forced into his company at times as he lived in the dorms down the road.

"Oh I know Ash. We made out in The Loft last Halloween." Shay giggled. "The things that boy can do with his tongue."

"He's awful though." I whined.

"Nah, he's so sexy." Shay disagreed, waggling her eyebrows. "Besides, you've never made out with anyone."

I glared at her and she laughed. Shay drained her coffee and set the cup down. She rolled back onto her side and stood up.

"Well, I'm going to get dressed and I'll nip by later. We can watch Gossip Girl, or something." She sauntered towards the door.

"I don't wanna watch Gossip Girl though." I replied, pouting.

Shay cackled and left the room. I heard her say something to Taylor and my door shut. The noise was shut out and I sat back down again, continuing my essay.

After a while my stomach began to gurgle and I was forced to admit defeat and get some food. I pushed the chair back and rolled into the kitchenette. I was the right height to open my fridge, but had to tilt my body down to search for food.

I had a pot of sauce so I could make pasta. Yeah, that would do. I skated over to the cupboard and opened it. I set about heating water and stirring the sauce. The sound of buzzing disturbed me.

It had to be my phone and it was probably Shay, or more than likely, Oli. I pulled myself over and grabbed my phone. It was a mobile number, but not one I recognised. I answered it anyway. My sister was always borrowing her boyfriend's phone so it could be her.

"Hello," I tried to sound confident, but my voice cracked.

"Hey Kota, it's Jake." I bit the inside of my cheek. He had actually rang me. Why was I so over excited by this development?

"Hey, I didn't expect you to call." I fumbled slightly, hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Were you expecting someone else?" He chuckled. "Didn't realise you were so in demand."

"Real funny. So, what do you want?" I couldn't help but smile.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" He asked.

"Not a lot. Maybe finishing this essay and watching films, why?" I stood then, checking my dinner.

"Boring. Meet me tomorrow on the steps. We can catch up, like old times." He replied. I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Unlike some people I focus on my work," I found myself laughing a little.

"I focus too. Are you implying I'm lazy?" He laughed too.

I suddenly remembered who I was speaking too and cleared my throat a bit. I was still unsure around him, but perhaps meeting tomorrow would help us get to know each other.

"So, shall we say, noon at the steps?" Jake spoke, making me jump.

"Yeah, that'd be great." I smiled again. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Kota." He said, and then he was gone.

The way he said my name still echoed in my ear and I had to remind myself who I was talking to. I drained the pasta and poured it into a bowl, adding sauce.

Tomorrow would be very interesting. Part of me was excited and another part was very nervous.

Notes