Realistic or Modern Mad House.

[spectro]

"Oh." She could see he was hiding something that he didn't want to bring up. She wanted to ask him about it, but seeing as they had only been talking for a short time, he didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. She knew how that felt.


For now, she stayed quiet. It was his turn to make conversation; at least that was the excuse she was making for 'not knowing what to say'. It can be long until you're at school. You can just settle into your classes and you'll be fine.

 

[ChronosDesine]

After a while he saw Peter and Matthew walk towards him. ''Good morning'' said Aaron to them. ''Good morning'' responded Matthew and Peter at the same time. ''So do you have a date for the dance?'' asked Peter. ''Oh.. I'm not going'' Aaron stood up from the table and grabbed his books. ''Why not?'' asked Matthew. ''Well... I already have something'' They walked towards their classroom. ''Oh? Really? And what is that something?'' Peter raised an eyebrow. ''Well.. you know'' Some fancy ass party. ''Nothing important'' Aaron stopped walking to think. ''And it's not like you guys are going'' He raised an eyebrow at his friends. ''Well I am'' Aaron and Peter looked at Matthew. ''Well my sister is going and someone needs to look after her'' An oh sound escaped Aaron's lips and they continued walking to their classroom.

 

[Rise]

Ava crumpled the granola bar wrapper in her hand after she finished eating it. She had watched the other kids pass through in the hall to go to school from her seat in the armchair. She got up and stretched before going back to the kitchen to throw away her wrapper. I wonder what Ben's doing... It wasn't like she had anything better to do today and there was only so much she could do before she would go insane from boredom. So she left the kitchen in search for Ben. Maybe he could play me a couple of songs...

 

[Pine]

"So!" Nick blurted again, desperate to change the non-existent topic. Rather unfortunately, he had no idea what to say after that, so he remained silent for way too long after that, searching his mind for anything relevant to say. Flirting is so much easier. "Hopefully they don't screw your schedule up like they did mine. It's like they didn't even bother looking at my credits." Great conversational topic, he thought bitterly as the bus rolled to a stop to let more kids on. Give yourself a pat on the back.

 

[spectro]

"Yeah, hopefully." More kids marched onto the bus. Some started throwing papers and shouting. Childish. Fliss looked at the other kids, clearly getting enjoyment out of pelting younger kids with rolled up newspapers. A stray piece of paper hit her and she looked at it with annoyance. She kicked it under the seat in front of her and rested her legs on the seat next to her, pulling one up to her chest and the letting the other lay straight. "I hope all the kids aren't like this. That would be irritating, them throwing papers all the time." She crossed her arms, partly in frustration, partly because she was becoming a little cold. Nearly there.

 

[Pine]

Nick fell into silence, giving up on the small talk, since he clearly wasn't good at it. He looked over out the window, observing the street below as more of the kids came onto the bus. A sudden hail of paper began to soar across the bus, growing heavier as more of them came on. He sat up a little straighter in his seat, his interest piqued. That looks kinda' fun. Immediately following that thought, the new girl began to criticize them. Making sure that any hint of childish glee was wiped from his face at that moment, he forced a little scoff. "Yeah, who does that?" Nick's eyes widening, he rolled them over to look at the material on the seat. I never knew what this stuff was. I would say some kind of leather, but the way the texture is looks like those could have been paint strokes. I mean, obviously it isn't just paint or anything...


"Hey, I saw what happened in the cafeteria yesterday."


Nick lifted his gaze from trying to determine what makes a bus seat to make sure that statement was directed towards him. In the seat across from him now sat a girl with a head of teased hair that bumped up suddenly before being pulled back. Sloppy is the new attractive, supposedly. His fingers twisted a strip of the seat's material that was already ripped. Attempting to retain a neutral expression in spite of the discomforting feeling that was forming in his chest, he responded evenly, "Don't worry about it."


"Well, I just wanted to say I was sorry." The girl had a friend beside her who was casting him an equally concerned expression, the likes of which put her hand on the seat to steady herself as the bus jerked forward again. "I hope you beat him up real good, he totally deserved it. I mean, I knew Isadore was weird, but I don't think I've ever seen him acting like that." A scowl began to set on his face the more she talked. "Like, when we saw you sitting by him, we were totally going to invite you over and stuff but-"


"Let me rephrase that." Nick leaned forward a little, no longer bothering to conceal the vexation that furrowed his eyebrows and pulled his lips into a frown. "Shut up about what you don't know about, 'kay Bitch Cakes?" he sneered, his tone suddenly harsh.


Both of their eyes widened, completely taken aback by his unpleasant shift in demeanor. "Wow," the friend scoffed.


Evidently at a loss of words, the first girl whipped her head around then to begin a deep discussion of how 'like, totally rude' he was, to which the friend had to reassure her how 'he's so not worth any of [her] concern'.


Nick redirected his look of disdain to the floor below, the action of swallowing almost seeming painful to his closed chest. He made sure that his cold expression remained in case the new girl suddenly thought it was a bright idea to inquire. Ask me and I'm gonna' kick the seat.

 

[spectro]

Some girls on the opposite side of the bus started making conversation with Nick. He brushed them off pretty quick, but Fliss couldn't help but want to know what had happened yesterday and who Isadore was. She turned around, her mouth open ready to ask a question, but Nicks stare was about as grumpy as you could get.


"Do you read?" She tried to change the subject but ended up sounding a little weirder than expected. She looked at him intently, but before he could reply. the bus stopped and the kids were getting off in swarms. Fliss waited for everyone to leave and then hopped off, nodding a thank you to the driver.


She stood on the pavement and watched hundreds of kids talking and fighting and there were even some girls cheer leading. She pulled up her backpack, feeling suddenly faint. She had no idea what she was doing. She didn't know where she was going to pick her schedule up and her knees were beginning to shake. She felt they eyes of the girls who were questioning Nick stare at her and then they started laughing. Fliss rolled her eyes and straightened up, walking towards the school, but not really know where she was going.

 

[Pine]

Nick looked up at the girl when she spoke, but at the completely random topic, his eyebrows furrowed in a less unfriendly way. Before he could respond, the bus pulled to a stop in front of the school, and he just decided against answering. If she was some kind of book worm, which she very well could be, she wouldn't be able to work with his answer much, anyway. Nick filed off with the other kids, making a concerted effort to make the shift of weight to his other foot as subtle as possible, gripping the occasional back of a seat on his way out.


Oh, I should probably show her the office... even if it's obvious where it is. The boy scanned the crowd ahead of him as the swarm of kids began to populate the school, but soon found she wasn't anywhere among them. He paused for a short while off to the side of the double doors, and within moments, she had entered the building as well, looking somewhat overwhelmed. Nick approached her from the side and gently nudged her shoulder to get her attention. "C'mon, the office is just right over here." As he walked to it, the likes of which was off to the side of the entrance, he explained shortly, "Just talk to whoever is at the desk and they'll get you in with your counselor who'll give you your schedule and a stupid amount of papers to sign."


Luckily for him, upon entering the office, Bermuda was nowhere to be seen. Must just be for the class period. Nick was about to approach the lady at the front desk when he saw Mr. Maxwell in the hallway pouring himself coffee on a tiny desk. "So, have fun," he said unceremoniously before going straight to the counselor, already slipping his bag off of one shoulder to start pulling packets of paper, some of which were crumbled from the events of the day before.


Taking a sip from a tiny white mug, Mr. Maxwell noticed the boy approaching and gave a look of disapproval at the state of the papers. "Mr. Johnson, may I have a word with you in my office?"


No. However, with a long sigh through his nose, he relented, following after the man.

 

[spectro]

Walking into the school building, Nick bumped into Fliss who showed her where to go, which fortunately wasn't too hard to find in the first place. There were signs leading up to it anyway. The lady at the desk handed her a map of the school and schedule. She smiled politely but the woman called her back and told that she needed to meet with her counsellor, Miss Havstock. Havstock sounds like an old name, probably derived from an old, wealthy family. Maybe she'll understand me. "Hey!" A chirpy voice came from her left. She already knew she was going to hate her counsellor. "My name is Miss Havstock. But call me Meg!" She giggled and annoying giggle. She was wearing a striped shirt with a daisy in the middle and her hair was light blonde, tied into a pink ribbon. She wore flared jeans that had quirky patchwork here and there. "Come with me, I'll introduce you to our school policies and show you to your first class!" She smiled and walked into a small room just around the corner, Fliss followed.

 

[Sandra]

Raja froze. Did he really say that?! She smiled. "Um. So you wouldn't mind If I adopted you...?" She was ready. Raja was alone and depressed. But when she met Mick , he brightened her world.


( @SpectroVector, can raja adopt Mick? I might not reply. Wifi is down and I'm using my moms phone because she has 3G... )

 

[spectro]

"So, if you'll just sign here to show you understand what I have told you today; you can get straight out into your first class." Meg handed Fliss a brightly decorated pen. I think I'm going to get a migraine if I look at her any longer. Fliss grabbed the pen and messily jotted her signature. "Thank you. Well, you can get started now. Have a look at your schedule and look at your first class. You'll be skipping homeroom today and spending it with me." She nodded and stood up, picking up her dyed yarn tote bag. Fliss looked down at her schedule and sighed at the though of spending any more time with this woman. Geography. Not my favourite subject, but it'll do. At least it isn't mixed up like Nick's was. She stood up and said goodbye but was interrupted with-"No, don't worry, I'll take you." But Fliss asserted her dominance, "No, I'll show myself." She grinned, trying not to look exasperated. Although she was worried about getting lost, the prospect of staying with Meg any longer nauseated her. She slipped out the door and walked down the first corridor. It was pale blue with tiled flooring. She remembered her last school; a boarding school. It was nothing like this one. It was a manor house, the only corridors there were scattered with 19th century art and were carpeted with lavish rugs. She got to a stairwell and found her class. She walked in, expecting to be stared at, but no one really acknowledged her existence. They just sat chewing gum and pretending to listen to the teacher. "Hello. Class, this is Florence." the teacher ushered Fliss into the classroom. "It's Felicity." Fliss muttered. "Oh, sorry. Felicity, everyone." She pointed to a seat at the back. Fliss got the feeling the teachers here would be dissimilar to the ones at her previous school.

 

[Pine]

Mr. Maxwell gestured for Nick to take a seat in the plush leather chair, slurping noisily on his coffee as he rounded the desk to sit on his own. "Ahh," the man relaxed, sinking back into his swivel chair, appearing significantly happier than he had the day before. "Someone broke the coffee machine yesterday, I don't know how I survived. It's something of a necessity at the beginning of the school year," he chatted on amiably, adjusting his spectacles that had also not been there yesterday, turning to his computer to type out something rapidly on the keyboard.


"Fascinating," Nick returned, making a point to sound as uninterested as he could. He leaned back in the chair, setting his knees against the desk after grabbing the stress ball. Well, not really a stress ball, per se, as it was in the shape of a star, advertising some company he didn't bother to read. Nick set the papers down on the desk before bringing the stress ball into his lap and, after fitting each of his fingers between the respective points on the star, began strangling is as viciously as he could, the air excavating the simply toy with a sharp hiss.


Mr. Maxwell turned from his computer with a sigh, perhaps irritated by the boy's sudden sarcasm, or his impulse to touch everything that was on his desk, or him pressing his legs up against it. Whatever the case was, he took another much needed quaff of his beverage before folding his glasses, setting them down, and pinching the bridge of his nose. "We should have everything with your schedule sorted out by the end of the day. Hopefully. I'll have your teacher e-mail you whatever assignments you'll need to make up, so try to pick up all your textbooks before the day is over. The library won't stay open long, especially since we need to make preparations for the dance this evening."


"Riveting." Oops. That one wasn't supposed to be said out loud.


Perhaps it was his attitude that made the man take another long sigh, but Mr. Maxwell simply shook his head. "Nicholas, it is my understanding that you didn't attend a single one of your classes yesterday, am I correct?"


Oh, you're sharp, aren't you? "I was having trouble finding my classrooms, so I just left."


"Well, I don't know how things were run at your other school, but here you can only have so many unexcused absences before there are consequences. If you have enough, you'll be counted truant." He paused. "Meaning courts and fines."


Wait, please explain it to me a little more. I'm a bit slow, you see. Nick released the stress ball for a moment, blinking. Was that rip there before?


More noisy slurping, even louder now that the cup was nearly drained. "Nicholas, I hope you know you can tell anything." The counselor finally seemed to arrest the boy's attention as he looked up from his lap, barely concealing the resentment on his face, causing Mr. Maxwell to exhale again. "We take bullying very seriously here, and if you have any problems at all-"


"I'm fine," he responded curtly, beyond agitated that the topic kept on coming up. I swear I'm going to punch the next person who tries to talk to me about that. Nick snorted in derision. Don't you know that school counselors became irrelevant after elementary school, old man? He blinked for a moment, finally wiping the grimace off of his face. Whoa, his nostrils are huge! Gross, I think I can see up them. In a hurry to take his eyes off of the counselor's nose, he went back to throttling the poor, defenseless star with all his might.


Suddenly, a hand reached over and snatched the stress ball from out of his grip. "That will be all, then, Nicholas."


Took you long enough. Nick pushed back back from the desk and wandered out of the office. Cheers to a completely useless day of school. Nick scratched the back of his head aimlessly before pushing out of the office doors. I think I can afford skipping one more day. I can just grab my books and go. I guess I wasn't about to go with that chick job hunting anyway. With that in mind, the boy tried to recall where he had bumped into the library the day before, ignoring the bell that rang through the halls to indicate the beginning of the school day.

 

[ChronosDesine]

Aaron looked out of the window from the classroom. He got distracted by the cars driving past the school. Some drove fast, like they tried to beat Death in the race of life. They most likely ended death if they kept up that pace though. Some drove slow, like they were trying to imitate a snail. Other than cars, and the occasional truck, not that many people were outside.


There were enough birds outside though. One bird, two birds, three birds, four birds, five birds, six birds, seven birds, eight birds, nine birds, ten birds, eleven birds. Before Aaron knew it he started counting every bird that he could see. After a while he didn't just counted them in his head, he started counting them out loud. Five minutes later he stopped counting birds and started counting cars instead.


''Mister Mayor, if you could stop counting cars and pay attention to the class'' Aaron didn't look at the teacher and still counted the cars. ''Mister Mayor!'' Miss. Donovan lost her cool. She walked to him and dropped her books and a note on his desk. ''Principals office. Now'' she said while looking him in the eye. Miss. Donovan wasn't known for patience. Aaron sighed and gathered his things, when he saw the note he knew he had to take that with him. When he walked outside the classroom he realized that he didn't know where the principals office was.


So Aaron decided to just walk around. Lucky for him he saw someone else in the hallway. When he walked towards him he saw that it was that new kid from the orphanage. Aaron swallowed his spit and decided to just ask him. ''Euhm.. Hey do you know where the principals office is?''

 

[Pine]

The hallways were largely empty, save the occasional kid that was half-jogging to the nearest bathroom with a reddened face. Rather, that was the only boy he saw, and he really didn't want to know why he looked that way. Nick took his time carefully trying to figure the school out, as he was better at seeing things for himself than trying to discern a map. Clearly his little sprint yesterday and the exploration that followed had not served to help him figure this place out whatsoever. This school was just way too big.


After circling the what looked like the art hall, the walls splashed with paintings, amazingly enough, he was about to try the other corner of the building when he saw a second boy heading down the hall towards him. It took him a while to register his face, as he hadn't seen much of him since their encounter two or so days ago, but he finally recognized him as the boy he dumped on the couch. I still don't know his name. I'm pretty sure he never introduced himself.


Still, he did recall the little nickname he had earned from him. This boy wasn't the best to tease, as he had only proved to quietly accept everything thus far, so the ongoing joke in his head was simply more amusing to himself than to anyone. Nick flashed a charismatic smile at the boy's inquiry, though he couldn't help but wonder why in the world he didn't know where the principal's office was. "Good morning, Princess! Get caught napping in class?" He chuckled a little as he passed the other boy by. Finally answering the boy's question, he waved for the other boy to follow. "It should be just down here in the main office. Y'know, the same office you pass every day on the way in."

 

[ChronosDesine]

His face turned as red as a tomato when he heard the dumb nickname. He hoped that the princess nicknames would be a one time thing. But no.. apparently he had done something stupid that earned him a stupid nickname. ''Euhm.. It's Aaron and not really'' he said with an embarrassed tone while looking at the note miss. Donovan gave him. What is it with people and giving him stupid nicknames? Aaron isn't a difficult name. He still followed the other to the principals office though.


If you want to know why he doesn't know where the principals office is. Well it's simple, he never had to go to the principal before. Aaron wasn't a person that got in trouble. And even if there was something important Natasha would say it to him or deal with it. And that almost never happened. Maybe once in a blue moon.

 

[Pine]

Nick quirked an eyebrow at the other boy. Well, maybe the nickname bothered him, but obviously this boy wasn't excitable at all. Nick couldn't tell if that made it better or worse. He wouldn't even defend why he was going to the principal's office. My, what a fine specimen: the social butterfly. Nick gave a somewhat exasperated sigh, the wide grin he had wore vanishing rather quickly. "Okay, whatever. Do you at least know where the library is?"

 

[spectro]

Jodie woke up on her bed and looked at her alarm clock. Her eyes shot open and she realised that she had dozed off a second time. She got up and didn't even bother to look at her hair and ran straight downstairs. She shouted for Ava, but it seemed like she wasn't up either. Today was the day of the dance, and she needed a new dress. "AVA!" She yelled. She needed advice. School could wait a few more hours while she bought a dress, right?


The bell for second period rang and Fliss walked out the door. Geography wasn't bad, it was just an hour of talking about the position of Brazil and what region it was in. Pretty standard stuff, but boring. Fliss squeezed into the student filled corridors and folded her arms tightly. She had looked at her schedule and her second lesson was P.E. Boy was she not excited. The thought of jumping around and doing a pointless exercise made her sick to the stomach.


Fliss walked into the changing rooms and awkwardly put down her bag. She hadn't brought her kit and knew she would have to borrow a dirty, sweaty used one. The extremely rotund teacher stormed in the room yelling instructions to the girls nearest to her. They were along the lines of 'TAKE THE EQUIPMENT INTO THE GYM!'. A whistle dangled from her neck and she blew it, a shrill noise cancelling out all the gossip. She started throwing around random instructions until her eyes landed on Fliss. Oh God. "And why are you not in correct uniform?" She galumphed closer to Fliss. "I don't have any yet." Fliss basically whispered.


"Then you better borrow some!" She turned around and practically threw a kit at her. Fliss picked it up and went into a shower cubicle around the back, so she wouldn't be seen. Fortunately, the kit wasn't too dirty, but it was a little big. Just as Fliss thought things were going good, she lost balance putting her shoes back on and fell back onto the shower tap, forcing the water out of the shower head and drenching her, and the kit. She let out a shocked hiss and burst out of the cubicle. The girls who were being debriefed on the lesson burst into hysterics at the sight of her. Fliss held her hands into fists and noticed that the girls were pointing at her chest. Oh no, what else. She looked down and noticed that her spotted bra was showing through her soaked top. She brushed her hair back with her hand and started unbuttoning her shirt, which made the girls laugh more. She spotted the girl who was laughing at her this morning and as she pulled off her shirt, she laughed at her and threw the soaking garment in her face. It made a satisfying slap noise as she did so. The other girls shouted things like 'Lesbian!' but Fliss didn't care. She just looked up at the teacher, her chest rising and falling and her necklace lay on her pale skin. She stormed over to her bag and threw on her original clothes over her damp skin. Some girls continued to laugh, some yelled abuse at her, but it all went in one ear and out the other. She picked up her bag and walked out the door, the teacher trying to catch her, but it was no use. She's too fat anyway.


Fliss needed somewhere she could go. Somewhere where she was at home. The library came to mind although she hadn't the slightest clue where it was. She noticed a sign at the end of one of the locker ridden corridors and walked towards it, pushing open the doors, trying to be as quiet as she could. The librarian was asleep, so she tiptoed around the corner and into the fiction section. She pulled out a random book; she was open to new ideas; and sat down. She tied up her saturated hair and wiped her eyes. Great first day.

 

[ChronosDesine]

Aaron looked at his right, because if he didn't he would probably glare at him and that isn't very nice. ''Down the hallway to your left. It's the door with 'library' on it but that should be obvious'' he said. He looked back at the boy with a poker face. No need to chit chat with people right? And he needed to be at the principals office as soon as possible. He probably won't get into trouble, considering the fact that everyone knows that Donovan was unreasonable, but he still wanted to have it done as soon as possible. When they got at main office he placed his hand on the door handle. ''Thanks'' he said with a complete emotionless voice and poker face. Aaron knocked on the door and opened the door. Once he was inside he closed the door and walked to the principals office's door. He knocked on the door and a voice told him that he could enter.


''Euhm.. I got send by Miss Donovan'' said Aaron while walking to the desk. The principal sighed and stopped typing.


''Can I get your note'' He reached his hand out and Aaron gave him the note. The principal raised an eyebrow at Aaron who just shrugged in return. ''Just go to your next class. Don't worry about it'' Aaron nodded at that and turned around. ''But next time, if you want to count cars. Just do it in your head'' The principal smiled at him and Aaron smiled back. He left the room and looked at the clock in the main office. He still had five minutes to go to his next class.

 

[Rise]

Ava nearly jumped out from her skin from Jodie's screaming her name. "Where's the fire...?" She muttered with a huff as she put a hand over her heart. Taking a breath, she went to look for Jodie. Ben wasn't anywhere to be found, which disappointed her a bit.


What is up with everyone screaming my name? I can hear just fine...

 

[spectro]

"AVA!" Jodie sprinted up to Ava's room. She walked into her door and sighed with relief. "We have to go dress shopping! It's dance day!"

 

[Rise]

Ava stared wide eyed at Jodie. "D-dance?" She never had been to a dance before, let alone ever worn a dress. She didn't remember if she even wore a dress once in her life.


"I don't know if I'm allowed to go to this dance, but I'll be happy to help you go dress shopping, I guess..." She said with an unsure tone in her voice, while she rubbed the back of her neck. Shopping wasn't high on the list of things she'd like to do, anyhow.

 

[spectro]

"Oh no. Ava, you're coming. Even if I have to hide you in a bag and carry you, you're coming. You can't let me go by myself!" Jodie lifted her hands and dropped them by her side. She needed Ava to come. She had to have atleast someone there that she liked!

 

[Rise]

Ava chuckled at how Jodie described how she was going. It's not like she had a choice to this matter and she nodded her head.


"Alright, I'll go, but don't expect me to be of much help when it comes to dresses," she said with a smile as she slipped on her sneakers. "And you'll have to help me do my makeup because we all know I don't know how to apply it."

 

[Pine]

Nick narrowed his eyes, looking back at the other boy when he spoke. Was that a comeback from earlier, or was he just rambling? He contemplated a punch to the shoulder, but in the end, he refrained himself, as it was too soon to tell. Maybe if he didn't look so blank all the time. I bet he can feel pain, at least. A bitter smile crossed his face, cracking his knuckles as a silent warning for good measure. "Yep" was all he said in return before turning down the hall to the library.


Having been distracted by the stairwell previously, he supposed now that it was sort of evident where the library was, and he had just been confused by the events from yesterday... but it still wasn't half as obvious as where the principal's office was. Maybe it was just because he had been frequenting the office so much, but he didn't want to give Aaron that much credit.


Upon entering the library, he was fortunate enough to see the textbooks on a cart right in front of him. Nick ran a hand over the textbooks, attempting to pick out which ones were which. Ugh... is this just regular physics are AP physics? They really need to mark these things better. Textbook in hand, he glanced over at the front desk, if only to see the librarian where he face planted in some papers. You've gotta' be kidding me. A school nurse that doesn't go to school, a guy with a bunch of toys on his desk that he doesn't like sharing, now this.


With a somewhat frazzled sigh, he approached the desk. A frown crossed his face. This would be a perfect time for my pig mask. That's depressing. I really should have packed more. Nick blew a bubble into his cheek, he pondered all the creative ways he could wake her up, but all of the ideas were too malicious, considering he didn't know how she could take a joke. Probably not well at all, if she's sleeping on the job. Finally, Nick tapped her on the shoulder and sharply cleared his throat.


The woman awoke with a snort, her head lifting suddenly, if only for a paper to be suctioned onto her cheek. "Huh, what?" she asked, comically swinging her head around. Nick had to suppress the fit of laughter that was bubbling inside of him, instead just smiling down at her. She took a few moments to recover, supposedly, but in moments, her face was reddening and she was peeling the paper off of her face. "Yes, young man? May I help you?"


"Yeah, how can you tell the difference between the textbooks? Like, I can't tell if this is for regular or what."


Dragging her hand down her face to get the sleep out of her eyes, she removed herself from the chair in a most lethargic manner to start helping him.

 

[spectro]

"Come on! You'll be fine! If you're extra nice, I'll even allow you to drag Ben along!" Jodie sprinted to the door and tugged on her denim jacket. She put her Chuck Taylors on and waited for Ava to be ready. "Come on, come on come onnnnn!"


After reading a thriller book called Closer than Blood, Fliss heard voices. Please shut up. She couldn't tell who they were yet, but she waited for them to pass. She hid her face with her book, hoping it wasn't the P.E teacher coming to find her. She slid down in her chair and tried to read the book, but the voices were too distracting. At once, they stopped. She sighed and sat back in her chair, properly, reading her book still.


She wondered if what she had done in class today was classed as something bad. Perhaps she would get a detention. She tucked a piece of damp hair behind her ear and carried on reading. God, I miss my parents.