Acceptance of Fire

Chapter Two

I check the time and it's time for me to leave. It takes me half an hour to walk to school.

On the way, I hear a mouse scuffling in the undergrowth in the woods nearby.

I glance over to the woods and my eyes pick out the mouse. It's sitting under a leaf and nibbling a nut.

Oh yeah, my 'difference' gives me heightened senses. I don't know why but it does, and sometimes that's a real nuisance.

I'm still looking at the mouse when a chill passes me in the air. Oh no.

Sure enough, a slight darkness is floating over the road, shimmering slightly. It gets to the other side and disappears into a bush behind the mouse. I stop.

This isn't going to end well. For the mouse.

Soon after The Presence disappeared, the bush moves.

The mouse sits up and looks behind it.

A fox sticks its head out and eyes the mouse.

The mouse starts to run but it's too late. The fox pounces then turns back into the woods with the squeaking mouse in its mouth. Oh, okay, The Presence is obviously in a bad mood today.

I turn to carry on walking, feeling a bit worse than I did when I woke up. I'll admit that although I try to put on a strong face, I feel lonely and, well unwanted. Is it too much to ask for one person to notice me? To have one friend?

I jog into school, realising I'm a little late, my red hair bouncing and swinging along behind me, my thin arms and legs doing the best they can.

I'm a pretty good runner.

You wouldn't expect someone like me, freakishly thin, very tall, not particularly sporty, to have bucketful's of stamina and be able to run for ages.

But if there's one word that describes me, it's unexpected.

When I reach the door of my form classroom I check behind me for what I know will be there. And there it is, a slight darkness hovering in the air and a slight shimmer. I shiver and push open the door.

The class turn to the door but almost immediately turn back around, uninterested and bored with my appearance. I pass Kimberly the airhead, rich, snob. Her dad gives her whatever she wants; she's got a Bentley and she hasn't even passed her test yet. I suppose she's a decent person, once you get past her expectance of you to drop down at her feet and give her what she wants.

The door opens behind me and a boy that I don't know steps through. I reach my desk in the corner and as usual, the seat next to mine is empty. I sit down and look back towards the door, the boy is still standing there and he makes eye contact with me and smiles. I narrow my eyes back at him. This has got to be some sort of joke. The boy turns away and heads towards our form teacher who is smiling broadly. "Hi Miss, sorry I'm late, I've just been sent here from reception."

"Oh no, that's completely alright. Why don't you introduce yourself to the class? I'm sure they're looking forward to getting to know you!" she gestures to our class, still beaming.

"Well," he turns to face us, "Hello, I'm Liam, um, I'm sixteen and I've just moved here from Wolverhampton."

"Do you like football?!" one of the boys shouts.

"Yeah, I do." smiles Liam. This answer makes all the boys in the class, who are sitting in a big group at the front of the classroom, in front of me, grin at each other and nod approvingly. "Any other questions?" Liam smirks, a hint of amusement in his eyes. The class laughs and Miss Edwards stands up.

"Okay, go and find a seat and if you need anything, I'm certain anyone in here would be happy to help." There are a handful of spare seats around the room and the boys point at the empty seat that's amidst their group, but Liam walks past them.

For a moment I think he's going to sit by Emma, she's quiet, smart, shy, but from what I can tell, she's friendly enough, but he walks past her.

I glance around, there are no seats left on this side of the class except- Liam plonks himself down in the seat next to me.

The class gape and Miss' mouth hangs open but I'm sure I'm the most shocked. He smiles placidly; acting like he hasn't just shaken the entire class down to its roots. He turns to the front, still smiling, and waits for Miss to start talking. It takes a minute but eventually, Miss starts talking and the attention is torn off me and my unexpected neighbour.

I start to breathe normally again, that was probably the most attention I've got in my life since I was four and my parents left. Liam turns to me and smiles his warm, friendly smile. "Hi, I'm Liam."

"Y-yeah, I know," I reply in a whisper.

"Err, what's your name?" he asks, also whispering. I turn to look at him, very confused as to why he was paying attention to me. No one else does.

"Why?" I finally ask. He looks confused.

"Because that's what people do when they first meet," he replies, starting to frown.

"Right..."

"So?" he urges.

"Oh. I'm Imogen Walters, but Imy is fine." I reply. He grins and picks my hand up.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Imy," he says, shaking my hand. I giggle at his politeness and the bell rings. "So what do we have first?"
.
A/N

YAY!!! Liam is here!!!

Sorry it took me so long. I just kind of avoided updating for some reason.

Hope you like it :)

I'll be doing a double update later this week bc I'm going to be away for most of half term.

It would be nice if you guys could comment and vote if you like it? Thank you to @kissyouhoran for already doing that!!!

Anyways I love you guys:) Bye!!

-Sleepyboobear xx<3