I'm still sitting on the floor crying when I hear a voice on the other side of the door.

"Dude, can you hear crying?"

Then I hear another voice.

"Yeah, it sounds like it's coming from in there."

Crap I thought everyone would be in class by now. The last thing I need is for people to see me like this.

Suddenly the door opens, I look up and see a face look through the small gap before it shuts again.

It's Ricky Dickson, a lot of the girls call him Rick the dick, not because of his name but because he's such a jerk. I think he's a friend of Skylar's actually.

"Dude, it's that chick from this morning."

Nice, the doosh can't even remember my name even though we've been at the same school for like six years.

"What chick?" Says the other guy.

"The one you were talking to in the office."

Aw crap, the other guy is Skylar.

"You mean Maddie?"

"If that was the girl in the office then yes."

"Dude we've been going to the same school for years and you don't even know her name!"

"Whatever, like I care about some emotional loser crying in a cupboard."

"Shut the fuck up man, she'll hear you!"

"Like I give two shits!"

Wow, I think calling him Rick the dick is being generous, more like Rick the total asswipe!

"Piss off, I'm going to talk to her," Skylar tells Ricky.

"Why?"

"Just get lost, I'll catch up with you later."

"Fine, whatever dude, but don't say I didn't warn you. She may be hot but girl's like that are way too needy."

I hear his footsteps as he walks away, stupid jerk!

Then Skylar knocks on the door before opening it.

"Hey, you ok?"

I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Sorry about Ricky, he's a fuckwitt!"

That makes me smile.

"Just a bit," I say.

He comes inside, closes the door and crouches down in front of me.

"So....i was asking if you're ok?"

I nod, then shake my head.

"You wanna get out of here?"

I look around me, do I?

"I don't mean the cupboard, I mean school," he explains.

My mum will be super pissed if she finds out I skipped the first day of school, but on the other hand, I don't think I can face the rest of the day here either.

"Are you sure, won't we get in trouble?"

"Trust me when I say this wouldn't be the first time, it's only the first day of school, it's not like we'll be missing much."

True.

"Your right, let's get out of here before I change my mind."

Skylar grabs my hand and slowly leads me out of the cupboard, down the corridor and outside.

"Just act like we're meant to be here."

He says pulling me back through the courtyard and past the office. Luckily our confident walk gets us through the gate unnoticed.

Once the adrenaline of my rebellious actions wears off I notice Skylar is still holding my hand.

His hand is soft and warm and I find myself enjoying the feel of it in mine.

"Thank you for rescuing me, I promise I'm not some total basket-case who cries in school cleaning cupboards all day long."

"Never crossed my mind," he says, smiling at me.

"So now that we're free, where would you like to go?" He asks me.

"Ummmm, I think I'm in desperate need of my most favourite place in the whole world."

"And that would be?"

"The beach, it's my therapy. It's the one place I feel the most comfortable."

After my Dad died, I spent a lot of time sitting on the beach, watching the waves crashing, the wind blowing the sand, people watching and most of all, I'd talk to my Dad. I like to imagine he's sitting next to me and we're just chatting away about anything and everything.

I haven't done that much lately, maybe I need to start doing it again, I found that it helped me get through my grief, helped me heal. Like I said, it's my therapy!

We walk to the top of the dunes and I pull him to a standstill.

"Let's sit here."

Its a nice little spot in some long grass that looks out over the beach. I can see right down the beach towards Mt Maunganui from here.

We both sit with our arms resting on our knees fiddling with our fingers.

It's a little awkward at first but then Skylar starts telling me about his summer holidays and his little brother hassling him about his hair and slight tan and the reason for said tan. He's been helping his dad fix a car in their driveway for most of the summer, in hopes that once it's fixed he can drive it. He doesn't ask me about earlier, which I must admit makes me like him more than I did already.

Before we know it it's after lunch and I'm starving.

"You hungry?" I ask.

"Finally! I'm beginning to fade away here," he laughs.

"I was really enjoying spending time with you, I didn't want to ruin it by bringing up my almost dying from hunger," he adds with a smile.

"Haha, it's nice to know you're dying to get to know me.......no pun intended," I say, then crack up laughing at myself.

"Can...barely...function...need...food!"

"Ok ok, we should be fine to go back to my place, mum put a bunch of leftovers from the cafe in the fridge yesterday and she should be at the cafe all day today."

"I forgot your mum owns a cafe, beautiful and rich," he says to me with a sexy smile.

"Ha! Hardly. I'd say slightly above average and definitely not rich, wait till you see our house."

"Let's agree to disagree on the average comment and I'd love to see your house, can't be any worse than mine."

When we get to mine we sneak around the back and I peak through the kitchen window to make sure the house is empty, mum's car isn't there but it's better to be safe than sorry.

We stuff our faces and then stay at my place for the rest of the day. I introduce Skylar to Miranda which has him rolling on the floor laughing.

When 4 pm comes round Skylar tells me he has to go.

"Thank you," I say to him as he stands in the doorway.

"What for?"

"For being just what I needed today and not asking any questions."

"Well it's none of my business and I must admit I had a really nice time."

"We should hang out again," I say.

"Although maybe not during school hours, I think I've hit my quota for rebellious actions lately."

He raises his eyebrow at me.

"It's a long story."

"Right, well I better go, I'll see you round Madison," he says to me with a smirk.

"Cool, I'll see you around." I smile to myself as he turns and walks away.