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Chapter Two



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Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:34 pm
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Lofty says...



Chapter Two

Anna


“For the hundredth time, Anna, I couldn’t help it! We had to move! I wasn’t going to let you get twisted by that horrible man. You deserve better!” she tried to reason with me. I wasn’t giving in. How dare she say these things about him? The man she had once loved. The father I still loved. She had no right to uproot me from the only home I had ever known. Everything I had every known had been there, and she had taken everything away from me. Or rather, she had taken me away from everything. After my parents had divorced, my mother had made sure that I had no association with my dad. She didn't want me seeing him; no matter how much I protested.

“You had no right!” I screamed back. “If you were a better wife you wouldn’t have driven him away!” As soon as I had spoken, I saw her flinch visibly, and realised how hurtful those words could have been if they weren’t true. I had seen the crocodile tears before, and they weren’t going to fool me this time. “This is your fault, not his! It never was! You should have tried harder.”

“I’m not listening to this, Anna. Someday you’ll realise that I am right, and that he was a good for nothing liar! I’m glad he left! What he did was wrong. Why can't you understand that, Anna?” Her voice was getting higher, and I could feel the anger seething from her body. Every time she spoke about him, her voice dripped with malice. Why did she hate him so much? I didn’t blame Dad for leaving; I could barely live with her either. Every day was like a nightmare. A nightmare where I couldn’t wake up. “Anna, please. You have to listen to me. I am right. What he did was unforgiveable. I--”

I threw my hands up in exasperation. “I can’t listen to this anymore! You’ve been feeding me lies for my whole life!” I picked up the book nearest me and threw it wildly; it made a resounding crack as it collided with the bedroom door. I almost regretted it, it wasn’t the book’s fault. As quickly as I could in my burning rage, I grabbed the remaining books from the bed and crammed them into my bag, scooping the fallen book on the floor into my arms. Without a backwards glance, I stormed out of the room, slamming the door as hard as I could behind me. It clicked open again a second later, but I didn’t turn around. I heard my mother’s hurried footsteps behind me, but kept my gaze on the door.

“Anna!” I heard my mother exclaim. “Don’t walk away from me!” It had been a long time since I had been scared of my mother’s wrath; I was used to the arguments and the shouting now, and her incessant threats just seemed to bounce off me now. I sighed angrily, and pushed the front door of the flat open, letting it swing open and hit the wall. I was sure it would leave a nice mark to remind me of this chaos. Without bothering to turn around and shut the door, I stomped down the stairs, trying to calm myself down.

By the time I pushed the glass double doors open to reveal the damp morning, I had calmed down considerably. The walk to school was uneventful. Mum had made sure I knew the short way to school like the back of my hand. At the time, it had been patronising, but now I was feeling slightly grateful. I received curious stares from the other students as I walked through the school gates and towards the reception area, and a couple of the teachers I passed raised eyebrows at the blue highlights in my hair. I tried to ignore the attention I was attracting and kept my eyes forward. Upon reaching the glass curved desk and the woman sitting behind it, I waited for her attention. After a few long seconds, I sighed wearily and she glanced up at me. Her thin, arched eyebrows rose up past her scarlet glasses and into her fringe of dark hair, which had been tied neatly into a bun. Her red lips formed a smile as she asked me, “Waiting for Mrs Brady, I presume?”

Instead of speaking the sarcastic reply which formed in my head, I replied lightly, “Yes. Should I wait outside her office?” After receiving a reassuring nod from the receptionist and a perfectly manicured fingernail in the right direction, I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way over to the headmistress’ office. A minute passed before the door burst open, revealing a plump woman with bushy mouse-brown hair. After bending over with visible difficulty to brush down her too-tight skirt, she looked me fully in the eye and smiled at me. “Ah, you’re Anna McKenzie!” She said it as though I didn’t know my own name. For Goodness’ sake, I thought. Here we go. “Welcome to Headington Public School! I’m glad you’re going to be joining us here. Obviously, November is a little later than is ideal, especially at such an important time in your academic career…” I tuned out completely, nodding when it seemed appropriate. Once her incessant chatter had finally ceased for a minute or two, I agreed to be taken on a tour of the school.

I quickly noticed that my new school was a lot smaller than my previous one. Two buildings compared to the previous six that I was used to in my old London academy made me feel instantly claustrophobic. As Mrs Brady rambled on, I tried to look enthusiastic, or at least interested, in what she was saying, whilst I stared at my new surroundings. Although I couldn’t supress the frustration that was nagging at the back of my mind. I breathed deeply and tried to think more positively. My day can’t get any worse. Honestly.

Moving my eyes quickly over the seemingly endless displays of English studies on Shakespeare, History essays and GCSE Art work, I tried to take in the layout of the school. It might be small, but I still didn’t want to have to walk around with a map in front of my nose for the rest of the day. The class rooms seemed good enough, and the teachers smiled at me; that was probably just because I was new. Mrs Brady finally showed me to my tutor room. It was about time. “And this is your new tutor room Anna! Obviously, when the bell goes, you can take a seat wherever you wish, but you should probably wait for the rest of the class before you decide. We don’t want to interrupt your peers’ school life, do we?” She rambled. “Your form tutor is Miss Rowe. She is also new to the school this year, so she knows exactly how you feel, I am sure. Any problems, and you can go straight to her! I can assure you, she is a very well respected member of staff, even this early in her career as a teacher.”

I hardly noticed the door swing open. Standing at the front of the classroom, I only realised that someone was standing uncertainly in the doorway when Mrs Brady ceased her chatter and glanced over. Following her gaze, I took in his dark, wet hair and cold eyes. His skin was pale, but I guessed that was from the cold, damp morning. I couldn’t help but notice that he looked pretty good. Maybe he was going to be my Heathcliff – attractive, but cold and dark, unloving and unfeeling. Well, maybe my imagination was running away with me, but the thought made me grin, and I directed a smile towards him. He acknowledged Mrs Brady with a nod of his head, seeming uninterested in what she had to say as she introduced me. His brown eyes swept over me, but he didn’t seem to be interested in me either. I winked, and then turned my eyes back to Mrs Brady. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him move towards the back of the class. “Well, thank you ever so much for showing me around Mrs Brady. If I need anything, I will let Miss Rowe know! Goodbye!” My voice was unnaturally sweet, but I couldn’t be doing with her now. My farewell was a signal for her to leave, and she seemed to get the message.

“Yes, yes. I hope that you enjoy your first day at Headington Public School, and don’t forget to report to reception at the end of the day!” She waved cheerily and walked out of the room. I wondered if anything would ever dampen her irritatingly good mood. Now that she was gone, I decided to go and talk to… Jamie? I think that was his name. I walked over confidently, putting on another smile. I stopped by his desk, waiting expectantly. After a minute or two, he glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. My smile broke a little. He was definitely a Heathcliff. He would take a lot of work to get through to, obviously. He obviously realised what my intentions were, because he pulled out the chair next to him for me to sit down on. As I sat down, I tried to take it all in. He really didn’t seem at all interested in me. Instead of trying to push any conversation, I waited quietly, hoping that this would be a better tactic. Sure enough, and to my surprise, it paid off.

“Anna?” His voice was unsteady, as though he wasn’t sure how to approach me. My surprise echoed on my face, as I egged him on. “I’m sorry if I seem to be… a little awkward.” He looked into my eyes, and I felt a little uncomfortable. It was an intense thing. “Socialising isn’t one of my stronger assets, I’m afraid.” He was a strange character. Maybe less of a Heathcliff than I had thought. Appearances can be deceiving, and he seemed earnest in the way he spoke.
An awkward silence ensued, so I tried to be friendly, rather than pushy. I grinned at him. “That’s alright…” I thought of what to say next. “It must be hard for you.”

I wasn’t prepared for the reaction this created. He shocked me when he turned to face me and snapped: “Who told you? Who told you about me?” As quickly as this turn of emotion had come on, it disappeared. He turned away from me, looking at Miss Rowe, who I hadn’t notice enter the room.

I was angry at how he had snapped at me. I didn’t know what he was suggesting, but I was confused, and lashed back. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best thing to do. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was simply suggesting that meeting new people is hard, for everyone. All I know about you is that your name is Jamie, you live in Oxford, and your tutor group is 10B at Headington Public School. Happy?” I looked at him sceptically. “I’m sorry if I seemed to have suggested something else, but I was just making an observation.”

I leaned back in my chair, unsure what to make of the situation. I couldn’t make sense of what had just happened. What was such a big issue to him that it had caused him to turn on me like that? He was hiding something, and I was going to find out what it was.

Miss Rowe turned to the class and spoke. “Class, I would like to introduce you to Anna McKenzie. She has joined us from London, and she will be in our tutor group from now on.” She smiled at kindly at me, before she continued. “Anna, if you go to the school reception, the secretary, Miss Hebble will provide you with your timetable for this year and a map of the school. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to talk to me.”

I stood up quickly; glad to leave the room after how Jamie had just acted. I still couldn’t get over it. He didn’t apologise, or even turn to acknowledge my leaving the room. How horrible could one person be, within five minutes of meeting someone?! He was a Heathcliff after all. And I was going to be Cathy. No matter what.
Last edited by Lofty on Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
  





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Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:02 pm
davantageous says...



Overall, a wonderful story; cannot wait for the next chapter.I fixed the misspellings for you.



For the hundredth time, Anna, I couldn’t help it! You had to move! I wasn’t going to let you get twisted by that horrible man. You deserve better!” She tried to reason with me. I wasn’t giving in. How dare she say these things about him? The man she had once loved. The father I still loved. She had no right to uproot me from the only home I had ever known. Everything I had every known had been there, and she had taken everything away from me. Or rather, she had taken me away from everything.

“You had no right!” I screamed back, “If you were a better wife you wouldn’t have driven him away!” As soon as I had spoken, I saw her visibly flinch, and realized how hurtful those words could have been if they weren’t true. I had seen the crocodile tears before, and they weren’t going to fool me this time. “This is your fault, not his! It never was! You should have tried harder.”

“I’m not listening to this, Anna. Someday you’ll realize that I am right, and that he was a good for nothing liar! I’m glad he left! What he did was wrong. Do you think that his leaving us was the right thing for him to do, Anna?” Her voice was getting higher, and I could feel the anger seething from her body. Every time she spoke about him, her voice dripped with malice. Why did she hate him so much? I didn’t blame Dad for leaving; I could barely live with her either. Every day was like a nightmare. A nightmare where I couldn’t wake up. “Anna, please. You have to listen to me. I am right. What he did was unforgivable. I--”

I threw my hands up in exasperation. “I can’t listen to this anymore! You’ve been feeding me lies for my whole life!” I picked up the book nearest me and threw it wildly; it made a resounding crack as it collided with the bedroom door. I almost regretted it, it wasn’t the book’s fault. As quickly as I could in my burning rage, I grabbed the remaining books from the bed and crammed them into my bag, scooping the fallen book on the floor into my arms. Without a backwards glance, I stormed out of the room, slamming the door as hard as I could behind me. It clicked open again a second later, but I didn’t turn around. I heard my mother’s hurried footsteps behind me, but kept my gaze on the door.

“Anna!” I heard my mother exclaim. “Don’t walk away from me!” It had been a long time since I had been scared of my mother’s wrath; I was used to the arguments and the shouting now, and her incessant threats just seemed to bounce off me now. I sighed angrily, and pushed the front door of the flat open, letting it swing open and hit the wall. I was sure it would leave a nice mark to remind me of this chaos. Without bothering to turn around and shut the door, I tried to calm myself whilst stomping down the stairs, muttering to myself as I went.

By the time I pushed the glass double doors open to reveal the damp morning, I had calmed down considerably. The walk to school was uneventful. I received curious stares from the other students as I walked through the school gates and towards the reception area, and a couple of the teachers I passed raised eyebrows at the blue highlights in my hair. I tried to ignore the attention I was attracting and kept my eyes forward. Upon reaching the glass curved desk and the woman sitting behind it, I waited for her attention. After a few long seconds, I sighed wearily and she glanced up at me. Her thin, arched eyebrows rose up past her scarlet glasses and into her fringe of dark hair, which had been tied neatly into a bun. Her red lips formed a smile as she asked me, “Waiting for Mrs Brady, I presume?”

Instead of speaking the sarcastic reply which formed in my head, I replied lightly, “Yes. Should I wait outside her office?” After receiving a reassuring nod from the receptionist and a perfectly manicured fingernail in the right direction, I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way over to the headmistress’ office. I tapped my knuckles on the white door three times, and then dropped my arm limply by my side, waiting for a response. A minute passed before the door burst open, revealing a plump woman with bushy mouse-brown hair. After bending over with visible difficulty to brush down her too-tight skirt, she looked me fully in the eye and smiled at me. “Ah, you’re Anna McKenzie!” She said it as though I didn’t know my own name. For Goodness’ sake, I thought. Here we go. “Welcome to Headington Public School! I’m glad you’re going to be joining us here. Obviously, November is a little later than is ideal, especially at such an important time in your academic career…” I tuned out completely, nodding when it seemed appropriate. Once her incessant chatter had finally ceased for a minute or two, I agreed to be taken on a tour of the school.

I quickly noticed that my new school was a lot smaller than my previous one. Two buildings compared to the previous six that I was used to in my old Cambridge academy made me feel instantly claustrophobic. As Mrs Brady rambled on, I tried to look enthusiastic, or at least interested, in what she was saying, whilst I stared at my new surroundings. Although I couldn’t suppress the frustration that was nagging at the back of my mind, I breathed deeply and tried to think more positively. My day can’t get any worse. Honestly.

Moving my eyes quickly over the seemingly endless displays of English studies on Shakespeare, History essays and GCSE Art work, I tried to take in the layout of the school. It might be small, but I still didn’t want to have to walk around with a map in front of my nose for the rest of the day. The class rooms seemed good enough, and the teachers smiled at me; that was probably just because I was new. Mrs Brady finally showed me to my tutor room. It was about time. “And this is your new tutor room Anna! Obviously, when the bell goes, you can take a seat wherever you wish, but you should probably wait for the rest of the class before you decide. We don’t want to interrupt your peers’ school life, do we?” She rambled. “Your form tutor is Miss Rowe. She is also new to the school this year, so she knows exactly how you feel, I am sure. Any problems, and you can go straight to her! I can assure you, she is a very well respected member of staff, even this early in her career as a teacher.”

I hardly noticed the door swing open. Standing at the front of the classroom, I only realized that someone was standing uncertainly in the doorway when Mrs Brady ceased her chatter and glanced over. Following her gaze, I took in his dark, wet hair and cold eyes. His skin was pale, but I guessed that was from the cold, damp morning. I couldn’t help but notice that he looked pretty good. Maybe he was going to be my Heathcliff – attractive, but cold and dark, unloving and unfeeling. Well, maybe my imagination was running away with me, but the thought made me grin, and I directed a smile towards him. He acknowledged Mrs Brady with a nod of his head, seeming uninterested in what she had to say as she introduced me. His brown eyes swept over me, but he didn’t seem to be interested in me either. I winked, and then turned my eyes back to Mrs Brady. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him move towards the back of the class. “Well, thank you ever so much for showing me around Mrs Brady. If I need anything, I will let Miss Rowe know! Goodbye!” My voice was unnaturally sweet, but I couldn’t be doing with her now. My farewell was a signal for her to leave, and she seemed to get the message.

“Yes, yes. I hope that you enjoy your first day at Headington Public School, and don’t forget to report to reception at the end of the day!” She waved cheerily and walked out of the room. I wondered if anything would ever dampen her irritatingly good mood. Now that she was gone, I decided to go and talk to… Jamie? I think that was his name. I walked over confidently, putting on another smile. I stopped by his desk, waiting expectantly. After a minute or two, he glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. My smile broke a little. He was definitely a Heathcliff. He would take a lot of work to get through to, obviously. He obviously realized what my intentions were, because he pulled out the chair next to him for me to sit down on. As I sat down, I tried to take it all in. He really didn’t seem at all interested in me. Instead of trying to push any conversation, I waited quietly, hoping that this would be a better tactic. Sure enough, and to my surprise, it paid off.

“Anna?” His voice was unsteady, as though he wasn’t sure how to approach me. My surprise echoed on my face, as I egged him on. “I’m sorry if I seem to be… a little awkward.” He looked into my eyes, and I felt a little uncomfortable. It was an intense thing. “Socializing isn’t one of my stronger assets, I’m afraid.” He was a strange character. Maybe less of a Heathcliff than I had thought. Appearances can be deceiving, and he seemed earnest in the way he spoke.

An awkward silence ensued, so I tried to be friendly, rather than pushy. I grinned at him. “That’s alright…” I thought of what to say next. “It must be hard for you.”

I wasn’t prepared for the reaction this created. He shocked me when he turned to face me and snapped: “Who told you? Who told you about me?” As quickly as this turn of emotion had come on, it disappeared. He turned away from me, looking at Miss Rowe, who I hadn’t notice enter the room.

I was angry at how he had snapped at me. I didn’t know what he was suggesting, but I was confused, and lashed back. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best thing to do. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was simply suggesting that meeting new people is hard, for everyone. All I know about you is that your name is Jamie, you live in Oxford, and your tutor group is 10B at Headington Public School. Happy?” I looked at him sceptically. “I’m sorry if I seemed to have suggested something else, but I was just making an observation.”

I leaned back in my chair, unsure what to make of the situation. I couldn’t make sense of what had just happened. What was such a big issue to him that it had caused him to turn on me like that? He was hiding something, and I was going to find out what it was.

Miss Rowe turned to the class and spoke. “Class, I would like to introduce you to Anna McKenzie. She has joined us from London, and she will be in our tutor group from now on.” She smiled at kindly at me, before she continued. “Anna, if you go to the school reception, the secretary, Miss Hebble will provide you with your timetable for this year and a map of the school. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to talk to me.”

I stood up quickly; glad to leave the room after how Jamie had just acted. I still couldn’t get over it. He didn’t apologize, or even turn to acknowledge my leaving the room. How horrible could one person be, within five minutes of meeting someone?! My perception of Jamie had quickly changed. He was a Heathcliff after all. And I was going to be Cathy. No matter what.
Davantageous
  





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Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:18 pm
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IcyFlame says...



I'm gonna quote here, just so it's easy for you to see. :)
Lofty wrote:
Chapter Two

Anna


“For the hundredth time, Anna, I couldn’t help it! You 'We' surely? had to move! I wasn’t going to let you get twisted by that horrible man. You deserve better!” S shouldn't be a capitla here he tried to reason with me. I wasn’t giving in. How dare she say these things about him? The man she had once loved. The father I still loved. She had no right to uproot me from the only home I had ever known. Everything I had every known had been there, and she had taken everything away from me. Or rather, she had taken me away from everything.
Whoot, bit of an info dump here my deary! Just expand it out a little.

“You had no right!” I screamed backperiod. “If you were a better wife you wouldn’t have driven him away!” As soon as I had spoken, I saw her visibly flinch I would swap theses two words around. Matter of opinion though. , and realised how hurtful those words could have been if they weren’t true. I had seen the crocodile tears before, and they weren’t going to fool me this time. “This is your fault, not his! It never was! You should have tried harder.”

“I’m not listening to this, Anna. Someday you’ll realise that I am right, and that he was a good for nothing liar! I’m glad he left! What he did was wrong. Do you think that his leaving us was the right thing for him to do, Anna?” This contradicts a little. Here's what I'm getting from it: She is glad he left because he did someting wrong, yet in the last sentence it suggests that leaving is what he did wrong, which is odd because she is glad that he did this thing, even if it's wrong? Either that, or it looks like she asking Anna genuinely, which seems odd considering she clearly knows her view on this matter! That was a long ramble, but I hope I made sense!Her voice was getting higher, and I could feel the anger seething from her body. Every time she spoke about him, her voice dripped with malice. Why did she hate him so much? I didn’t blame Dad for leaving; I could barely live with her either. Every day was like a nightmare. A nightmare where I couldn’t wake up. “Anna, please. You have to listen to me. I am right. What he did was unforgiveable. I--” Maye she could consider the fact that she should have begged to go with him?

I threw my hands up in exasperation. “I can’t listen to this anymore! You’ve been feeding me lies for my whole life!” I picked up the book nearest me and threw it wildly; it made a resounding crack as it collided with the bedroom door. I almost regretted it, it wasn’t the book’s fault. As quickly as I could in my burning rage, I grabbed the remaining books from the bed and crammed them into my bag, scooping the fallen book on the floor into my arms. Without a backwards glance, I stormed out of the room, slamming the door as hard as I could behind me. It clicked open again a second later, but I didn’t turn around. I heard my mother’s hurried footsteps behind me, but kept my gaze on the door.

“Anna!” I heard my mother exclaim. “Don’t walk away from me!” It had been a long time since I had been scared of my mother’s wrath; I was used to the arguments and the shouting now, and her incessant threats just seemed to bounce off me now. I sighed angrily, and pushed the front door of the flat open, letting it swing open and hit the wall. I was sure it would leave a nice mark to remind me of this chaos. Without bothering to turn around and shut the door, I tried to calm myself whilst stomping down the stairs, muttering to myself as I went. Try to limit some of the description here, it's a bit of an overload.

By the time I pushed the glass double doors open to reveal the damp morning, I had calmed down considerably. The walk to school was uneventful. How does she know the way? I received curious stares from the other students as I walked through the school gates and towards the reception area, and a couple of the teachers I passed raised eyebrows at the blue highlights in my hair. I tried to ignore the attention I was attracting and kept my eyes forward. Upon reaching the glass curved desk and the woman sitting behind it, I waited for her attention. After a few long seconds, I sighed wearily and she glanced up at me. Her thin, arched eyebrows rose up past her scarlet glasses and into her fringe of dark hair, which had been tied neatly into a bun. Her red lips formed a smile as she asked me, “Waiting for Mrs Brady, I presume?”

Instead of speaking the sarcastic reply being? which formed in my head, I replied lightly, “Yes. Should I wait outside her office?” After receiving a reassuring nod from the receptionist and a perfectly manicured fingernail in the right direction, I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way over to the headmistress’ office. I tapped my knuckles on the white door three times, if she is 'waiting' would she knock to go in? and then dropped my arm limply by my side, waiting for a response. A minute passed before the door burst open, revealing a plump woman with bushy mouse-brown hair. After bending over with visible difficulty to brush down her too-tight skirt, she looked me fully in the eye and smiled at me. “Ah, you’re Anna McKenzie!” She said it as though I didn’t know my own name. For Goodness’ sake, I thought. Here we go. “Welcome to Headington Public School! I’m glad you’re going to be joining us here. Obviously, November is a little later than is ideal, especially at such an important time in your academic career…” I tuned out completely, nodding when it seemed appropriate. Once her incessant chatter had finally ceased for a minute or two, I agreed to be taken on a tour of the school.

I quickly noticed that my new school was a lot smaller than my previous one. Two buildings compared to the previous six that I was used to in my old Cambridge academy made me feel instantly claustrophobic. As Mrs Brady rambled on, I tried to look enthusiastic, or at least interested, in what she was saying, whilst I stared at my new surroundings. Although I couldn’t supress the frustration that was nagging at the back of my mindperiod. I breathed deeply and tried to think more positively. My day can’t get any worse. Honestly.

Moving my eyes quickly over the seemingly endless displays of English studies on Shakespeare, History essays and GCSE Art work, I tried to take in the layout of the school. It might be small, but I still didn’t want to have to walk around with a map in front of my nose for the rest of the day. The class rooms seemed good enough, and the teachers smiled at me; that was probably just because I was new. Mrs Brady finally showed me to my tutor room. It was about time. “And this is your new tutor room Anna! Obviously, when the bell goes, you can take a seat wherever you wish, but you should probably wait for the rest of the class before you decide. We don’t want to interrupt your peers’ school life, do we?” She rambled. “Your form tutor is Miss Rowe. She is also new to the school this year, so she knows exactly how you feel, I am sure. Any problems, and you can go straight to her! I can assure you, she is a very well respected member of staff, even this early in her career as a teacher.” Is she starting at the beginning of the year, or what?

I hardly noticed the door swing open. Standing at the front of the classroom, I only realised that someone was standing uncertainly in the doorway when Mrs Brady ceased her chatter and glanced over. Following her gaze, I took in his dark, wet hair and cold eyes. His skin was pale, but I guessed that was from the cold, damp morning. I couldn’t help but notice that he looked pretty good. Maybe he was going to be my Heathcliff – attractive, but cold and dark, unloving and unfeeling. Well, maybe my imagination was running away with me, but the thought made me grin, and I directed a smile towards him. He acknowledged Mrs Brady with a nod of his head, seeming uninterested in what she had to say as she introduced me. His brown eyes swept over me, but he didn’t seem to be interested in me either. I winked, and then turned my eyes back to Mrs Brady. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him move towards the back of the class. “Well, thank you ever so much for showing me around Mrs Brady. If I need anything, I will let Miss Rowe know! Goodbye!” My voice was unnaturally sweet, but I couldn’t be doing with her now. My farewell was a signal for her to leave, and she seemed to get the message.

“Yes, yes. I hope that you enjoy your first day at Headington Public School, and don’t forget to report to reception at the end of the day!” She waved cheerily and walked out of the room. I wondered if anything would ever dampen her irritatingly good mood. Now that she was gone, I decided to go and talk to… Jamie? I think that was his name. I walked over confidently, putting on another smile. I stopped by his desk, waiting expectantly. After a minute or two, he glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. My smile broke a little. He was definitely a Heathcliff. He would take a lot of work to get through to, obviously. He obviously realised what my intentions were, because he pulled out the chair next to him for me to sit down on. As I sat down, I tried to take it all in. He really didn’t seem at all interested in me. Instead of trying to push any conversation, I waited quietly, hoping that this would be a better tactic. Sure enough, and to my surprise, it paid off.

“Anna?” His voice was unsteady, as though he wasn’t sure how to approach me. My surprise echoed on my face, as I egged him on. “I’m sorry if I seem to be… a little awkward.” He looked into my eyes, and I felt a little uncomfortable. It was an intense thing. “Socialising isn’t one of my stronger assets, I’m afraid.” He was a strange character. Maybe less of a Heathcliff than I had thought. Appearances can be deceiving, and he seemed earnest in the way he spoke.
An awkward silence ensued, so I tried to be friendly, rather than pushy. I grinned at him. “That’s alright…” I thought of what to say next. “It must be hard for you.”

I wasn’t prepared for the reaction this created. He shocked me when he turned to face me and snapped: “Who told you? Who told you about me?” As quickly as this turn of emotion had come on, it disappeared. He turned away from me, looking at Miss Rowe, who I hadn’t notice enter the room.

I was angry at how he had snapped at me. I didn’t know what he was suggesting, but I was confused, and lashed back. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best thing to do. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was simply suggesting that meeting new people is hard, for everyone. All I know about you is that your name is Jamie, you live in Oxford, and your tutor group is 10B at Headington Public School. Happy?” I looked at him sceptically. “I’m sorry if I seemed to have suggested something else, but I was just making an observation.”

I leaned back in my chair, unsure what to make of the situation. I couldn’t make sense of what had just happened. What was such a big issue to him that it had caused him to turn on me like that? He was hiding something, and I was going to find out what it was.

Miss Rowe turned to the class and spoke. “Class, I would like to introduce you to Anna McKenzie. She has joined us from London, and she will be in our tutor group from now on.” She smiled at kindly at me, before she continued. “Anna, if you go to the school reception, the secretary, Miss Hebble will provide you with your timetable for this year and a map of the school. Why didn't she get given that when they were up there originally? If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to talk to me.”

I stood up quickly; glad to leave the room after how Jamie had just acted. I still couldn’t get over it. He didn’t apologise, or even turn to acknowledge my leaving the room. How horrible could one person be, within five minutes of meeting someone?! My perception of Jamie had quickly changed. Again. He was a Heathcliff after all. And I was going to be Cathy. No matter what.


Good chapter! I knew it would be! If I had a suggestion for you though it would be to maybe have some differentiation between what Anna says and what Jamie says happened, just so we can establish their different take on things. Now go start chapter 3! :D
  








It's like being in love, discovering your best friend.
— Elizabeth Wein, Code Name Verity