Chapter 5

The day went on as normal; Eliza didn’t mess about with her ability again. She wanted to wait and save it for later when she wasn’t surrounded by people she knew to test it out with a little more freedom. Eliza noticed she didn’t see Tiffany again that day but that didn’t stop everyone from talking about “the incident”. The school had become a huge game of Chinese Whispers and the truth had been exaggerated as much as it possibly could.
Eliza thought back to what she’d done, how a small thing had become so big and how embarrassed Tiffany must feel. She felt no regret for what she had done and no sympathy towards that awful girl. It was about time Tiffany got a taste of her own medicine and Eliza wasn’t sure she was done with her. She wished she could tell people without sounding insane, Tiffany had terrorised so many people she was sure she could get thousands of ideas on how to get her back from all of the girls at this school. The only reason she still had friends was because most of them were afraid of her and the rest were just as evil.

Eliza was brought back to reality when the bell rang for the end of the day, everyone else in her class had their stuff packed away already and they raced out the door in seconds. She made her way toward the tables and benches where she usually met up with her friends, from her classroom she trailed through the busy hallways and collected the lightest books she could carry out of her locker. Once she was outside she headed towards the back of the school where the benches were in front of the rows of cars badly parked by students.

Amelia sat on top of a table kicking her legs as they dangled off the side; the dark blue knee high socks she wore as part of her uniform were not up to the school’s standards. The left was pulled up to her knee but the right one found itself bunched up by her ankle. Her skirt was very short after, Eliza assumed, she’d rolled it up a few times. The way Amelia sat on the table, swinging her legs backwards and forwards made you almost able to see right under that skirt, she was either completely unaware or she just couldn’t care less. Eliza stopped where she was for a moment and watched her, her legs were long and smooth which was probably what made her skirt appear even shorter. Amelia took out her phone and began typing quickly on the touch screen, her fire red hair fell forward covering her face. She didn’t have her blazer on Eliza noticed, she was breaking yet another uniform rule.

Eliza didn’t realise how long she’d been stood staring at Amelia, everyone else seemed to have cleared from the school and the parking spaces under the cars became visible as most of them had driven away. For a moment she considered stopping time and getting a closer look at her friend but her own phone vibrated in her pocket and almost made her jump out of her skin. She squealed and Amelia’s head popped up hearing the noise.

“I was just texting you, how long have you been standing there?” She asked Eliza, raising her eyebrow.
“Oh I just got here” Eliza replied quickly “I just got caught up in class”
“Aw did something interesting happen? You always get to see all the good stuff” Amelia moaned
“Nope, nothing.” Eliza laughed "Girls randomly losing control of their clothing isn’t that common an occurrence Amy” Eliza joined Amelia but she sat on the bench, preferring to follow the rules rather than break them, it also gave her a much better view of Amelia’s legs, skirt and what was under it.
“Have you seen Sebastian anywhere on your travels?” Amelia looked past her phone for a second and at Eliza.
“No actually, he’s usually late but not this late” Eliza looked up expecting to see him on his way towards them with his runway model styled walk and perfect smile.
“Let’s just get in the car and I’ll call him again” Amelia jumped off the table she sat on, her skirt flicking completely upwards for just a moment and then they walked off to her car gossiping about trivial things that happened in their day.

Amelia’s car wasn’t the newest or in the best condition but it was cute and it was convertible so what more did she need? She flopped into the driver’s seat and Eliza hopped into the back, hoping when Sebastian did come he’d join her there. She stretched out along the backseat hoping Amelia would assume she just enjoyed the space.
Soon enough Sebastian strode around the corner looking as perfect as ever, he squinted at the girls using his hand to shade his eyes from the bright glare of the sun. Once he was sure Eliza and Amelia were the ones waiting in the car he ran over
“Sorry I took so long... Thanks for waiting actually. Amelia it’s so unlike you to be kind to me” He hopped into the back seat prodding Eliza to move over without even opening the door.
“Actually I painted my nails while waiting for you and they’re not dry yet, if they were we’d be long gone” You could hear the grin in her voice but she didn’t actually turn around to look at him.
“Lovely” he smiled and threw his bag at his feet, he said behind Amelia and to the right of Eliza leaning back in his seat and hanging his arm out of the side of the car.
“Hi Liza, you’re always nicer to me than that one” he nodded in Amelia’s directed and she turned to roll her eyes at him before starting the car up.
“Maybe that’s because I don’t know any better” Eliza
“Ouch Liza” Sebastian put his hand on his heart and a look of fake pain shot across his face.
Eliza closed her eyes for a second, trying to compose herself. Everything about Sebastian made her feel... well, made her feel inappropriate feelings she felt guilty for feeling. She took a deep breath and opened them again.
“Damn” Eliza whispered to herself.

She was speaking only to herself as everyone else was frozen; she needed to control her ability better. It seemed closing her eyes and taking a deep breath wasn’t just that anymore and she’d have to learn to keep that and pausing time separate. Sebastian was frozen in front of her and she couldn’t help but reach out and touch his face, she leant in toward him pressing her perfectly uniformed body against his. His stubble tickled her face and she smiled, she put her face closer to his and kissed him on the cheek, on his jaw and then his chin. He smelt nice, he looked nice and she knew she should stop, start time, go home and do homework or something a good girl would do but she really didn’t want to. She ran her fingers through his hair and her other hand down his chest...

“Why can’t you do this when he’s... live... Eliza. Fuck” she’s sighed and mentally scolded herself for being such a coward.
She threw herself back into her seat, secured her seatbelt and started time again.
“We better get going Amy” she said without any enthusiasm.
“Right” Amelia shouted back as she drove off what felt like a billion times faster than the speed limit.