I tiptoed into the assembly hall, weary of my surroundings. The hall was buzzing with noise, eager new pupils looking around as scared as I was. I stumbled in, searching for the nearest possible seat, hunting for somewhere to disappear into the background and observe.
I took the nearest seat I could find, carefully sitting down, placing my bags on my knee and throwing my umbrella to one side.
“Hi, I’m Chloe” A girl spoke with a soft and confident voice, her bright red lips painted her mouth where her genuine smile and set of perfect white teeth shone through. She was slim with a long face matched with high prominent cheekbones extenuated by a perfect tone of blusher. Her eyes were brown and wide, sparkling with delight, then her hair was short, cropped and styled – a dark brown which made her resemble a pixie. She didn’t look like anyone else I had met – rude and abrupt. Yet she oozed confidence even though I knew Chloe was in the same boat as me, just wanting to make friends.
“Hey, I’m Ebony” I said, returning the smile.
“Your necklace is lovely, where did you get it from?” she asked eagerly, I glanced down to my neck to see my silver necklace hanging from my neck, the sapphire stone shining brightly in the middle.
“Oh, I got it in Africa.” I replied, holding it limply in my hand.
“Oh, I’ve been there on holiday before, when did you go?” she asked me politely, trying to keep the conversation flowing.
“I lived there, we came to live here about six weeks ago” I replied, my hands wrapping tightly around my bag strap.
“Wow! No wonder you are so tanned, is this your first time in England then?”
“Yes, yes it is” I replied, suddenly feeling very exposed.
“Well, I’d be happy to show you around the wild streets of London sometime, it’s great despite the people, loads to do, things to see, it’s dead easy to make friends round here” she said warmly, delivering me another genuine smile.
“Thanks, I’d appreciate it”
“Oh it’s no bother; you’ll have to tell me all about yourself at break. I love meeting new people with a story to tell, what you studying here?” she spoke like she wasn’t afraid of anyone, with ease and control. She seemed so happy and free, not a care in the world. I needed someone like Chloe now, someone to make me feel free again.
“Double Photography and English” I replied, I loved photography and art ever since I was a small child. In Africa Mica, Ray and I used to spend hours in my room painting, or sat in the grass sketching the animals or taking pictures of the vast surroundings. We planned to take Art and Photography together, then we were going to travel, become flatmates and do whatever we wanted with life, us three together. We all knew it was a dream, and dreams don’t come true, dreams aren’t real. My parents didn’t approve of my choices, they thought they were too easy, and when I entered ‘the big wide world’ they wouldn’t get me anywhere. I argued with them, telling them I didn’t want to enter ‘the big wide world’, telling them I was staying in Africa with Mica and Ray. They wanted me to become a vet, to be just like them. According to them, my grades were worth more than scribbles on a page and photos on a wall. According to them, Art was a hobby, a past time, certainly not a lifestyle.
“Oh brilliant, I’m doing biology, maths, further maths and psychology” she laughed, “I’m such a geek!” I didn’t know quite what to say, so I just smiled as she laughed happily to herself.
“Right, first years!” A man at the front called to us, he was tall and matched with a grey suit, his hands tied behind his back as he looked down on all our worried faces with an examining look on his face. “I am Mr Richards, and I run this college, some of you will recognise me from induction day or talks at your secondary school. I’m here today to explain to you how things run at Mayfair College, I’ll make it brief and to the point so you can all get on with your first days.” He was a figure of authority; no one even breathed a word as he spoke with his upper class tone. Something as simple as calling himself Mr Richards showed that he was a man to be respected, considering that we could call all the other teachers by their first names. We all shuffled in our seats as he paced up and down the hall, scanning the audience.
“Now, as you know, Mayfair College is highly respected, with the best grades in the county. So don’t think for one second you can get away with unruly behaviour just because you have left secondary school. Mayfair college will not tolerate foul language towards fellow pupils or a member of staff, Mayfair college will not tolerate bullying of any kind, and Mayfair college will certainly not tolerate the ‘skiving’ or ‘bunking off’ any lessons. Granted, we do not expect you to turn up to this college in a uniform, but I would hope you would have the maturity not to arrive here with offensive slogans on your t-shirts, also, I will not be afraid to send home females who think it’s appropriate to wear belts for skirts, or to wear unsuitably low cut tops.”
Everyone’s faces were bright red with embarrassment as we all looked down at ourselves to see if we were dressed to Mr Richards standards, he sure scared the living daylights out of me, with his hair neatly combed back and spectacles hanging on the end of his nose.
“I hope I have made myself clear to you all, now don’t be late for registration after your break, you will all receive your individual timetables. I hope you all enjoy your time at Mayfair College and I will enjoy getting to know you all.” He said cheerily, making everyone appear confused. Chloe rolled her eyes at me as we hurriedly put all the chairs away, people disappearing quickly from the hall.
“Do you know where you are going?” Chloe asked as we walked along.
“I have no idea” I said, laughing following her closely.
“Thought not, just hang around with me” she said sweetly, linking my arm “Do you have money for your lunch?” she asked
“Yeah, I remembered that. So, what made you come here?” I asked inquisitively.
“Oh well, my secondary is just round the corner so it was the easiest option I guess, and like the demon headmaster said – it’s a bloody good college. So my brother says anyway”
“You have a brother?” I asked, thinking of Oliver and how he was getting on.
“Yeah, he’s left now though, he’s off in Uni, he came here though” she replied “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“I have a little brother called Oliver, it’s his first day in year four today.” I said, smiling.
“You’re his idol I take it then?” she laughed, looking at me.
“I do my best to look after him, how about you and your brother, are you close?” I asked, as we sat down with our hot chocolates.
“Yeah, I love him to bits, I hate it when he’s away” she said, staring down at her feet.
Across the dining room I saw the girl I met in the morning, strutting across the canteen like she owned the place. Everyone practically dived out of the way, avoiding the clicking of her heels and her stone cold face frightening everyone in her destructive path.
“Chloe, do you know who she is?” I said, signalling over to her.
“Oh, that’s Stacie” she said quietly “she used to go to my secondary - scary character, year above us she doesn’t talk much, doesn’t really have many friends. I mean, she’s dead pretty, but every ones too scared to approach the girl. Why did you ask?”
“Oh, she spoke to me this morning; she showed me where reception was.” I replied with my eyes still transfixed on her.
“I’d keep away from her if I were you” Chloe said, scanning the dinner hall. “Oh you see that girl there?” Chloe almost shrieked, pointing out a girl stood with a boy, she looked like a pretty normal girl, brown hair that tumbled down her back, bright blue eyes and freckles dotted over her face.
“Yeah, what about her?” I asked, slightly curious.
“Her names Felicity James, no Felicity Fletcher now I think. She had to come to my school to do her GCSEs, she left her other school, or she was kicked out, I don’t quite know.” She said, shrugging.
“Oh my god, why?” I said, trying to think why any school would kick out a pupil so close to exams.
“She was only sleeping with her drama teacher wasn’t she?” Chloe shrieked and I almost spurted out my drink.
“She did what? Oh god, he must be sick, you get some strange people in England.” I said, almost repulsed by what I heard.
“Apparently he was gorgeous, love of her life, so I’ve heard anyway, he’s in jail now though. I’ve never spoken to her before, I think the lad she’s with is her new boyfriend though, Ross his name is.” I couldn’t believe it, it could just be harmless gossip, but in Africa it’s something that would be unheard of.
Spoiler
This is a reference to my other novel Love Drama Love You, I became a little attached.
In the corner of my eye, I could see Stacie; she was deep in conversation with a guy opposite her. I couldn’t help peering over to see who she was talking to. He was hunched over a mug of coffee that was held between his two hands, they were stained with what seemed to be black ink, or chalk of some sort. His head was hung as he seemed to be staring intently at the contents of his mug. His hair was relatively long and flopped over his face; it was dark and messy with no particular style. He turned around, scanning the room and I caught sight of his bright green eyes, the widest and most amazing eyes I have ever seen. It was as though for those few short seconds my world had stopped as I studied him and only him, his nose was thin and long, which matched his unbelievably perfect high prominent cheekbones. His lips were full, smirking almost with an eyebrow raised as though he was humouring the girl I had an encounter with and for some reason it filled me with joy, a longing hope. His sharp chin was decorated with stubble, a face I yearned to reach out and touch, the thought of his pale smooth skin near mine made me shudder with delight. Yet all too quickly he turned around again, his hair flopping back over his face. His leather jacket hung loosely over his body that was still hunched over his cup; his legs spread like a true man covered in dark jeans two sizes too big so that his boxers were on full show making my stomach dip and turn.
When I finally managed to pull my eyes away from him I looked up to see that Stacie’s face was crumpled with what seemed to be complete exasperation, her fists clenched on the table. It happened all too quickly, before I knew it this mystery boy had stormed out of the dinner hall, slamming the door for full effect behind him. Everyone turned to look over to see what the commotion was, staring at Stacie who now had her head buried in her hands.
“Don’t you have anything better to do with your insignificant lives?” she shouted to the numerous onlookers, before flouncing off in the opposite direction.
“Jet.” Chloe said simply, “an absolute psycho path” she sighed.
“How do you know him?” I asked, etching closer to her.
“He was in my brothers year, failed at everything so he had to stay back a year, that guy needs help”
“Oh, right.” I said, suddenly feeling very curious.
I was thinking you might want to add in a new setting as your character, Ebony, is walking everywhere. I might sound unclear...but I mean as she walks, where is she going exactly... If she saw Stacie, How much of a distance away was she? 
, you can use this suggestion.
Great!