I raised my head from my pillow, and then lowered it back down as a sharp blinding light filtered through my room. I turned around to check the time. 8:00am, not bad. Not too early, not too late. Just right, now if only I could stand up and go get a shower. I raised my right hand half-heartedly and then dropped it. A few seconds of shut eye, wouldn’t do any harm. Then I slumped back onto my beckoning bed. Real life could wait, dream land was calling.
“Scarlet,” A whiny voice called, shattering my dream into tiny myriads. Go away. Just a little bit longer. Then I rolled over and resumed my sleep.
“Are you sure, I should do it?” The voice asked. “Are sure she won’t be angry?” It questioned again. Shut up! I tried to mumble but I was unable to. I was far, far away in dreamland.
I felt a movement and then sharp blinding hot, pain across my cheek.
“Ouch.” I yelped for what felt like eternity, and clamped my right palm, across my cheek.
I turned around to see Goldie in her bowl perfectly asleep and Rogue staring at me guiltily.
“You evil little motherfu-cat,” I screamed. I grabbed her by the tail ignoring her cries and dropped her outside of my room door. “Stay out!” I ordered and then slammed the door. I turned to the direction of the clock, 8:45. Shit!
I raced for the shower, and stripped out of my clothes on my way to the shower, uttering obscenities and ignoring the cat standing at the door, which stared at me with judging eyes. It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t ask her to scratch my face, at 8 in the morning, she should know better.
I stepped out the shower, just as tired as I had been when I stepped in. Whoever said cold showers were invigorating had obviously never met me. Cold showers did nothing for me, neither did warm showers. Water is Water. I stepped into my room picking up items of clothes and hiding my modesty, with them. Who needs towels, when they had clothes strewn all over the floor? I’ll tell you who. Nobody, but weird people who don’t know how to improvise although being human, it should be their first instinct.
I stepped into my room only to find out that Rogue had gone for a walk, or as Goldie says it ‘The freaking cat is pms-ing’. I felt bad about Rogue I really did, I just didn’t have the proper time to feel bad. 8:55, the clock said, in all its glory. I grabbed a t-shirt (clean of course) a pair of jeans and my Nike airs (they were red and gold, and they resembled the high-tops) and started to yank them on.
“Look, when she comes back tell her to eat something okay.” I said to Goldie, who really wasn’t listening to me, although I owned him and whatever. Pompous fish, thinks he’s all that.
I grabbed my black satchel, which my mum had bought for my first day in a normal school. By normal I mean an English speaking school.
“Mum,” I called, and walked to her room, rapping my knuckled gently on the wooden door.
“What?” She growled.
“School,” I stated, and heard the commotion behind the door.
Bang
Crash
Clatter
Then the door opened to show a breathless mum that was fully dressed.
“Well what are you waiting for?” She asked and lead me to out red Citroen, I know. It’s not a Porsche or a Lamborghini or an Aston Martin or a Bentley but it was a nice car all together and it got us everywhere we wanted to go to. If there is one thing that was to be learned about my mother despite her voracious temper, it was to put on your seat belt. Unless you already had death wishes on your head.
I sat down rigidly as my mum’s ‘music’ spewed out of the radio like venom, killing every rain cell in my body. All night long the radio repeated till I felt like hurling myself towards a truck. Then she reached for the controls and changed the station.
There’s always going to another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it more
Always going to be an uphill battle
And sometimes I’m going to have to lose.
“Isn’t she the girl you like listening to?” My mum asked.
“No, there is a huge, colossal difference between Evanescence and Miley Cyrus.” I explained, with a slight roll of the eye. I liked this song, just a tiny bit though. Accepting to like any Miley Cyrus song was sacrilegious to all forms of music.
“Will I change it then?” She asked in a disappointed tone of voice.
“If you want to,” I replied, and returned to staring out the window in utter stiffness.
Time flew by and I was in front of North West High, my mother was silent all the way through and after Miley Cyrus came a Jonas Brothers song, which I also liked but …shh.
“Bye mum,” I called and stepped out of the car. “I’ll text you when I need to get home.” I said, in a tiny voice and I slammed the door. I was about to walk through the double doors when my hand, the one with the cut from the broken glass tingled. And a fresh drop of blood, dropped onto my makeshift cast.
So much for forgetting it ever happened.
I clutched on to the cast and walked in through the double doors with my head held high. I was scared, terrified….so scared I thought that I might to something like fall flat on my face, on the way to the Principal’s office. People kept staring at me, more than they would stare normally, and I didn’t know why. Well, not till I glanced down at my cast, which was covered in blood. Of all the times to start to bleed everywhere, it had to be today.
I knocked sharply on the door.
“Come in,” I walked in to meet someone who was definitely the human version of Muriel in Courage the Cowardly Dog. No offence, but it was freaky. I half expected Johnny Bravo to saunter in.
“Hello,” I greeted, my throat was suddenly parched. “I’m Scarlet Adamson, the new student.” I said. Muriel looked up from her stacks of papers, to flash a very toothy smile at me.
“Ah, we expected you a little bit early.” She said, and turned back to her documents.
“I’m so sorry.” I apologised. “My mum set the clocks in our house to the wrong time, and so I woke up late.” I lied fluidly. It was my fault I was late, but what was the use in having these people who build us for life if we don’t blame them for something.
“It’s okay, hun.” Muriel said smiling, the ultimate granny smile at me. She opened her drawer, and began to rifle through it with determination. She raised her eyes and smiled politely again. “Here, we go.” She said in a shrill voice, and she handed me a book and a sheet of paper.
“Here is your timetable, and your homework journal. You are in the Diamond Class. A classmate of yours will be on their way.”
“Okay.” I answered shortly, “……” I saw her looking at me expectantly as if waiting for some witty commentary, but I had nothing. I just sat down in the big armchair and counted the ceiling tiles.
1, 2, 3, 4, I looked down from the ceiling to see the door open and a head pop into the room.
“Diane have you seen her?” The person asked glee infused in their voice.
“Um….” Diane/Muriel look alike said gesturing to a slouching me.
“Oh.” The girl replied, realisation dawning on her.
“Hi,” She said. She had dark blond hair that she twirled with her index finger as she stared at me guiltily.
“Hey,” I said in reply.
“Um…My name is Annie and I will be your sheepdog for the week.” She said with a smiled glued to her face.
“Okay.” I answered and stood up. She gave Muriel-I mean Diane a look and walked out dragging me, well practically tearing my arm off.
“This is the computer room,” She announced pointing to the door that was clearly marked computer room.
“No way, I would never have noticed that.” I muttered spitefully.
“What did you say?” She asked.
“Nothing and where is the Science lab?” I said feigning interest in whatever deluded tour she was taking me on.
“What do we need the Science Lab for? We have class in the Computer Lab.” She said.
“Oh.”
She pushed the door open and walked through the mahogany door. I stood outside the doors unable to walk through; I was scared, very scared. I just stood outside the door like a stupid idiot.
“C’mon.” She said and used her unnatural strength to drag me into the class.
“I will take it from here Annie.” The teacher said.
And it went downhill from there because I couldn’t hear a word anyone else said so I just nodded dumbly and got sat next to some weirdo who wouldn’t stop grinning at me.
And that was how my few hellish hours at school went.
I stood up after class had ended and Annie was there –giant grin in place- waiting for me.
“What do we have now?” I asked.
“Check your timetable.” She said and walked away.
“Err….Art” I guessed as I ran after her.
“No,” She said and then muttered something that wasn’t very nice. “Home economics and seeing as you don’t have a partner, you will have to be with him” She said angrily and tearfully.
“Him? Who is he?”
“Josh Sotheby, hottie extraordinaire. If you weren’t new here, I would be offended that you didn’t know him.” She said going on a complete description of his hotness. She even wore his old armband which I found vaguely stalker-ish, but it was probably normal to act like this in school.
“So, you’re peeved off that I get to sit with him and not you.”
“And the last piggy gets to the finish line.” She replied to my comment.
“What?”
“Never mind, just don’t take him away from me no matter what you do, because you will pay.” She said straightening up and glaring at me. “In ways you could never imagine.”
“Right….” I said and ran headfirst into my Home Economics class. As I ran in, I felt my self get suspended into air and onto someone’s lap.
“Oh, my God! I am so sorry.” I babbled and turned to see who I had fallen upon.
Oh no! Jeez, of all the luck in the world.
“Hey, aren’t you the girl who broke my aquarium?”
“……….”
-This chapter is uneventful because i wanted the readers to get to know Scarlet better-
Thank You For Your Time.
