The Girl Next Door - Ellenor Percival

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO: THE NEW GIRL

4 YEARS AGO:

Today is the first day of year 10. Some people would be annoyed by having an English literature lesson at 08:00 am but not me. Have you ever had a teacher which makes these complicated subjects so easy by just existing? That's Ms H. Mainly because after coming out at 14, now 15, books were my escape, she understood that better than anyone. It softened the blow when people began disassociating themselves with me, because although I'm not sure whether legally you can class a teacher as a friend Ms. H was there for me when I went from having my first friends out of my brambles alliance to being back to square one. When she could squeeze time in she would come and sit with me, it became our thing, she would accept a sandwich and she would loan me books, specifical ones with lesbian or bisexual main characters. People were seemingly confused by the idea of my sexuality, to me, it's simple, despite being bisexual it doesn't mean I thirst over every walking creature, believe it or not. I did however win on the family part of the announcement, my neighbours all chipped in for a huge bisexual flag for my wall, it's been displayed proudly by my window sill since then.

Today is a new day, and after my session with Ms H, I begin power walking to the headteacher's office. I'm in pursuit of a new friend. Yesterday I got an email notifying me of how I've been selected to help a new student named Lottie Simmons to settle in. The entire interaction will be awkward. I'm completely aware of that because of the idea of walking up to someone and saying "can we be friends?" wholeheartedly makes me want to crawl into a tiny crack in the ground beneath my feet and never emerge. If they say no, what do you do? Just walk and wallow in self-pity or keep your head high and say it's their loss. I'm not sure. I'm already babbling mentally so I should keep quiet because if my mind is working at these speeds I will definitely scare away the person I'm buddying today. Nothing is scarier than me when I begin speaking as if there are only 30 seconds remaining. But forced proximity and my charm will hopefully win them over. My mum instructed me to make no movie references until at least week 5, she calls it my own language, she also said I shouldn't scare them away with said language. I can't help the fact sometimes a movie quote perfectly encapsulates my next sentence so I just blurt it out and confuse everyone around me

I've seen the new girl around, she has this effortless beauty which is undeniable, however, we haven't officially met. She's the type of person whose eyes you search for in a room full of people. I begin to make my way to her as she has her back to me. Her hair is strong and auburn and falls perfectly on her black blazer. Her hair is pin straight and slightly shaggy apart from this one singular free curl hanging at the back of her head. If you spent hours taking the effort of straightening your hair, you would want to know whether a curl broke free, wouldn't you? There was one at the back. As an observer, I took it as that strand was her independent rebellion to prove she had a flaw because even at a glance she was the most beautiful person I've ever seen. But then again I am an over-ambitious English literature-obsessed student who makes every individual aspect of a person cast so many different meanings. I tapped her shoulder to ask permission to hide the curly strand. I came to a halt as I faced her eyes. I've seen her around before but this was the first time I was face to face with those eyes. Those damn eyes. This beautiful mixture of mint and ice blue, the earth in her eyes.

"Hi, I'm Fleur, you can call me Flo, I'm supposed to be showing you around."

"Lottie." She offers a tight smile.

"Do you appreciate honesty?"

"Wow, we are going right in the deep end. . . it's been a while since I've held an intellectual conversation with another human being, my last school couldn't even fathom the concept of what being a lesbian is let alone decide whether they appreciate honesty."