1000 Words

Samantha- 17

School started back up for me again today. Mum is still in the hospital, Dad is still going to work everyday so each afternoon and most of the night I have the house to myself. Nothing in my life is normal, and I have that gut wrenching feeling that it never will be again.
I walk over to a group and join my friends. At school I'm not shy, I know everyone and let them all into my personal business. I don't know why, I just think that if a secret is already out there you have no need to worry about anyone finding out.
"Where were you? You weren't here for days!" Asks Sally a little worried.
"I have a lot to tell you." I say.
"What!?" Asks Sally excited. She is always the one who wants to know the most and is always the first one to find out.
"I'll tell you later." I say wearily. She'll probably think I'm crazy with everything that's happened but she will always do her best to comfort me no matter what.
I think of Darcy, and where he might be. What happened after I dropped him off at his house last night.
"Well your lucky," Darrel cuts into my thoughts midway. "Cause you missed out on a stack load of homework and a few assignments. The teachers have been driving us all crazy from the work they are giving us. It's like three times the amount we are normally given! Even Ellen is struggling to keep up and she told us in person!"
Ellen is the smartest girl in our grade, she can do pretty much anything and recite all the numbers to pie. She's also arrogant and would like never admit to a soul that she was finding something hard.
"Hey, where were you?" A figure runs towards me. It's Alice.
"Oh, hi. I was sick for a few days." I answer. I completely forgot all about Alice for no reason. She calls out to someone who's a few metres behind her.
"Hey Avery, come here a sec. There's someone else I want you to meet."
She looks at me and talks quietly so no one else can here but us.
"Her name is Avery, she's new and came here on the first day you were away. She's really quiet and she doesn't even look seventeen but early twenties. She talks like she owns everyone she's really weird."
Alice turns around and smiles at Avery. "Hey, this is Sam. The one I was telling you all about."
I smile at her, "hi." Alice was right, she does look like she is a few years older than the rest of us and doesn't even talk. She just stares at me for a few moments with a frown on her face, and then she snorts.
"Nice to meet you to!" I say with dry sarcasm in my tone.
Suddenly it's like she's woken up from a dream and smiles politely at me. "Hi, I'm Avery."
"Yeah... I know." I'm too bothered to be nice to her at the moment.
"So what happened to you?" Asks Sally. She won't let it drop till I tell her.
So I do tell her and everyone else around me including Avery the whole story. Avery is the only one who really keeps asking me questions. She's not laughing along side the others thinking the whole think is stupid and made up. But she actually believes me.
It was bizarre really. I was laughing along with everyone else, eventually giving up on trying to get them to believe me.
The bell rings and we all head for class. The day zooms by quickly. A few people come up to me and ask why I was away for so long, but other than that I barley even talked for the rest of the day.
Everyone I told including Sally thinks I'm a total nutcase, but Avery clearly doesn't think so.
The whole fiasco that's happened over the past couple days invades my thoughts while I sit in English. I can't help but wonder off, leaving my education far behind me.
A knock on the door sounds and that wakes me up from my dreaming. The door opens and a guy I've never seen before steps in.
The teacher looks at him confusingly for a moment, then the boy speaks up.
"Uh, I'm David." He says a little nervous. "I'm new here."
"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" Mr. Tick looks at him smiling. Obviously pleased with himself for at least trying to be funny.
"Um, I did." Says David quietly, but not quiet enough so you can't hear him. Mr. Tick looks up at him with raised eyebrows stating that the comment was unnecessary. But I thought it was funny.
"You can take a seat next to Avery," says Mr. Tick bluntly. "It is also her first day here."
Avery raises her hand so David knows who it is. Avery stares David down, almost looking like she's going to pounce on him and rip his throat out or something. David gives her an icy glare in return. They clearly don't like each other.
He takes a seat next to her which is behind me on the right corner. I turn around and discreetly take my time to examine him for a minute and take in his features.
Brown hair, fairly pale skin, and is way shorter than me. It's probably his stumpy legs.
After what seemed like forever, the lesson eventually ended. I walk out with Sally towards my car. Just as I open my door to get in, a voice comes running up towards us.
"Hey! Sally, Sam. Wait up!" It's Avery. She stops right in front of us. "Do you mind if I catch a ride home with you?" She pants.
"No, not at all," Sally answers for me.
Avery looks at me, wanting not just Sally's permission, but mine also.
"Yeah, sure." I say.
And so we all get in the car and drive away.