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Chapter Three

I felt it again, stepping through the front doors of Kingsford High, that unsettling feeling that I was not wanted. It persisted as I tried to recreate my path from the first day, back to the admissions office. The school was no longer eerily quiet, as it had been that first day, and I now found myself lost in a crowd of students and loud chatter. As I tried to navigate my way through the somewhat familiar corridors I was filled with a sense that something wasn't right, though I couldn't quite figure out what. I tried brush those thoughts away, forcing my attention back to retracing my steps from my last encounter here, but the feeling of unease remained, a gentle nagging at the back of my mind.

After successfully finding the office and somehow surviving yet another dull meeting with the lifeless Brunettes, who were slightly less disgusted with my freshly dyed hair and matching blue eyes, I found myself back in the overcrowded corridors. I looked down at the stack of papers which had been forced upon me during the meeting, shuffling them in my hands until I had found the map directing me to my locker. Fortunately it wasn't far from where I had been standing and, after a few frustrating minutes, I was able to crack the code on the seemingly ancient lock. It was at this moment that I decided to take a moment to stop everything I had been doing and just observe.

I looked at all the other students standing around me. To my left was a duo of Greys, their dull eyes turned down to the floor and jet black hair falling in front of their faces. The didn't say anything. Directly ahead of me was a small group of Reds. They appeared to be locked in a passionate discussion about music, though I wasn't quite sure. It was difficult to hear what anyone was really talking about, all the words just blended into one another and all meaning became lost to me. I decided that I may as well retrieve the stack of papers I had dumped carelessly onto one of the shelves of my locker and use this time to figure out where all of my classes were.

Just as I had had turned away from the crowds I found myself propelled forward by a great force, thrown against my back. My face made contact with the cool metal door of my locker with a resounding crash and pain shot through my head like a bullet. I whirled around to see what was going on, which was a misguided action considering my current state, leaving me feeling dizzy and unbalanced. Looking down I saw a Brunette boy scrambling to pick up a mess of books scattered across the floor. Behind him a group of Blondes were laughing and high-fiving each other and it didn't take long for me fill in the blanks. My dizziness dissipated and the boy had managed to gather his books in his arms. He stood and offered me a brief, apologetic glance before rushing away.

I was hit by realisation almost as hard as I had been by the Brunette. Everything came into focus as my mind was able to finally comprehend the feelings of unease that had been nagging at the back of my mind. That brunette was the first student to look at me. I so often drew attention to myself by simply venturing out of my home and I had grown accustomed to the stares of passers by. I had always stood out in a crowd, whether I had wanted to or not, but now I was invisible. It was an unsettling change to say the least, all because of a silly little lens over my eye.

A loud ringing noise filled the air and the students scattered instantly, like startled bugs, heading in different directions to their individual classes. In a hurried gesture I swept up the papers sitting in my locker and searched through them until I found my class list. My eyes swept over it, scanning through the list of places I had to be. My morning class was Acting for Screen, located in the front building, studio A. Scrutinising the map, I attempted to make sense of the vast and confusing layout of the school grounds. Once I had gained my bearings I set off, heading towards where I believed I was supposed to be.