Mum decided it would be better for me if we moved somewhere different. I was depressed. My grades went down at school, I hardly ever ate properly. I had no friends and zero confidence. There were tonnes of rumours going around school that I had actually slept with Will, that I was some kind of slut. So we decided to pack up and leave to live in Brighton.
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My eyes fluttered open as I felt the car jolt. I lift my head up from the window sill. Raindrops are scattered across the window and the skies are grey. We’re on the way to Brighton. Mum is driving. She must be exhausted, we had to wake up super early so that the delivery men could take our furniture away. I check my phone. It’s 3:00pm. I haven’t seen our new house properly, Mum drove up to see it. I’ve only seen photos. It’s way bigger than our tiny apartment back in London. Dad doesn’t live with us anymore, he works abroad but he still sends us money every month.
Let me introduce myself. My name is Leah. Leah Cookson. I have short brunette shoulder length hair with a thick side fringe. I have quite pale skin with tan freckles scattered across my nose and cheeks. I have hazel eyes and I’m skinny and tall. I tend to wear things like skinny jeans and leggings and baggy jumpers and bright plaid shirts.
-“Leah, honey. We’re here,” mum says, turning around in her seat with a huge smile. I smile half-heartedly back at her and sigh as I pull myself up out the car.
I get out the car and look up at the new double story house. It’s really big. There is a small balcony window on the side of the house. There are large bay windows on the first floor. I feel someone’s eyes on my back as I pull a cardboard box out of the car boot. I slowly turn my body around to face the street. My eyes rest on a boy standing on the pavement on the other side of the street. He has olive skin and curly hair. He was smirking at me, cheekily. He looks familiar. Even from across the street I could see his eyes were deep chocolate brown. He blew out smoke from his cigarette. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a white shirt. I know it sounds cliché but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I looked away to see mum heading into the house with boxes. I turn back around to see him stubbing his cigarette out on the pavement with his Nike trainer. He gave me one last cheeky smirk before turning away from me and walking off down the street.
-“Leah!” I heard mum calling from inside. I head into the house. It’s huge. It had a white staircase in the middle of the room that spirals upwards to the second floor. I grab the box up of the floor and rush up the spiral staircase. I go into the first room on the hallway. The room is plain white and pretty big. It had a small bathroom and one of those seat things by the window. The window had an amazing view of Brighton. I go back outside to collect more boxes and start to unpack all my clothes and books. The removal mean are running late. I grab my pillow and put it down on the window seat. I flick through my Facebook newsfeed. Nothing. No goodbye messages, no one cared about me. They couldn’t wait until I’d gone.
My eyes flick open. I realise I am still sat on my window seat. My head is resting against the cold rain covered window. A loud noise woke me up. I squint my eyes into the darkness outside, trying to focus my eyes. I flick on my lamp next to me. It’s the boy again. He was getting out a car, full of people. I could hear the loud heavy noise of the music even from inside. He walks along the pavement and climbs up the drain pipe on his house and slides his way into his bedroom window. His room is directly opposite mine. He flicks on his light and I could clearly see into his room. He had his back to me as he slipped his dark blue jacket off. I honestly couldn’t take my eyes off him. He turns around and my heart skips a beat. He smirks and winks at me as a quickly shut my blinds, my cheeks flushing red. The delivery men came at last so we have all our furniture back. I really need to get some sleep because it’s my first day of school tomorrow and I don’t want to much it up. You know what they say, first impressions always count.
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-“Leah! Hurry up darling. You don’t want to be late for your first day of school,” I heard mum shout from downstairs. I sighed and looked at myself in the mirror. The uniform was better than my old schools I guess. A navy blue pleated skirt with tights, navy blue jumper and a white blouse. The skirt was high waisted so it came just above my knees. I check my hair to make sure it looked perfect. I’d spent ages smoothing it down in place. I had a little bit of foundation and mascara on, just enough. I rushed down the spiral staircase and grabbed a sandwich and an apple, said goodbye to mum and headed out the door.
It was time for my first class. I was taken there by one of those office secretary ladies. The school was massive, way bigger than my old one. I have no idea how I am going to find my way around. Everyone was already in class. They all stopped and stared at me. I kept my eyes firmly on the floor, staring at my scuffed black school shoes. The office lady passed the teacher a note and explained that I was new. I quickly looked up at the class, everyone was still staring at me.
-“Everyone, this is Leah Cookson, she’s new so try and make her feel welcome please,” The teacher says to the class. She looked quite young, 25 maybe. She smiled a friendly smile at me and ushered me to my seat. I was sat at the back of the class next to a blonde girl.
-“Hi. My name’s Lauren,” She says, smiling. She had long wavy blonde hair and big blue eyes. I smiled shyly back at her. The whole lesson felt like everyone was staring at me. I heard people whispering my name. I look up from my work and catch the eyes of a boy sat two rows in front of me. It was him. How could he possibly be in the same class as me? He winks at me and smirks. I blush and look back down at my work. I was never great at communicating with boys, I would always stutter, blush and trip over nothing. As you can probably see, that is exactly why I don’t have a boyfriend.
The school bell rang, making me jump. I gather up all my books into my bag and head to the door when Lauren grabs my arm.
-“Hey, wait up. You want to have lunch with me?” She asks, smiling. I grinned and nodded. I was really surprised at how quickly I’d made friends. But maybe she was making fun of me behind my back like some stupid joke. But, then again, she seems so genuine and friendly.
The weather was warm and there were no clouds in the blue sky, so after grabbing our lunch Lauren lead me over to the benches on the school field. The benches were slightly shaded by a large tree and we had a perfect view of everyone. Two people wandered over to us, one sat next to Lauren, the other next to me.
-“Hey, I’m Jake,” The boy says looking at me with his deep green eyes. He was very good looking. His brown hair was curly and his skin lightly tanned. He smiled at me and it made my heart flutter. Why are boys here so attractive?
-“Le..Leah,” I stutter. Nice one. See what I mean, I’m rubbish with boys. The girl next to Lauren was called Jenny. She was really pale with thin, wispy white blonde hair that framed her delicate white face and features. She had really big brown eyes that stood out on her face. I looked out across the field and spotted him. He had a bruise on his cheek that definitely wasn’t there when I saw him yesterday. He smirks at me.
-“Don’t get involved with him, he and his friends are bad news,” Lauren says looking across the field. I look at Lauren then back at him as he messed around with his mates.
-“What’s his name?” I ask, curious.
-“Jordan Stephens,”
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