The Cold Core

Part 1

1

I was usually quite good at overcoming disasters in life. But the ones that I was about to be embroiled in that week were a little more out of my league than I expected.

See, I was just a normal kid running a normal life, with always messy black hair, clothes that almost never complimented each other and a personality that could give anyone a headache, always getting late for class, always sloppy, yet somehow a straight A student. But someone up there likes punishing normal kids by putting them in crazy situations like what my friends and I (well two of my friends and one other person) were about to be in that week.

Running to North-Hill College was hard enough without the rush hour crowd who pushed towards the mall on top of Barnet Hill. To make matters worse, the frost had just settled and it was drizzling, making it harder to keep my balance. I shoved through the sea of people and headed upwards, only pausing to catch my breath and to regain my balance. I looked down the bottom of the hill towards High Barnet Tube Station, which was at the bottom of a noticeably steeper hill cutting into a mini forest, only to see more people popping out. You see, today was the ten year anniversary of the International Technology Exhibition, the biggest tech expo in the world, and London was holding the panel to reveal where the event would take place. Some of the people coming out of the station seemed ready for the big reveal, holding green banners that said ITE on them or wearing green T-shirts with the same logo, while the majority were just coming for work or college. Weirdly, the exhibition had chosen High Barnet as the spot for the reveal. I still don't know why.

To top it off, my college was two streets ahead of the Tube station, and more people just kept on coming (maybe they had teleporters or something. I need a teleporter urgently). I pushed through and made it to Fitzjohn Avenue. Here, the crowd thinned remarkably, revealing a mostly empty street except for a few houses, a car park and, of course, North-Hill College.

The place was rather small compared to most other schools, but it was still impressive. There was a gap between the street and the entrance where students would hang out during lunch. The entire building was a striking light green and white, which they thought would either hide the building or make it look like a marshmallow on a chocolate cake. Either way, it didn't work. It just made the college hard to look directly at if the sun hit it at the right angle, which it did most of the time. It was two stories high, with a balcony story at the top as well, usually just for fun, but also for our makeshift garden. And it was mostly empty at the entrance, which jutted out of the front like a misshapen nose. Well, empty except for my best friend Matt Silverton, who stood on the lower step, checking his watch.

"Fifteen minutes? Not bad, James. Better than before." Of course I was late. Again.

"I know, but that crowd outside made it hard for me to get up the hill," was my out-of-breath excuse.

Matt tilted his head. "Whatever. Come on."

Matt had been my best friend for the past five years, since we met in primary school. He was pretty tall for his age, had dark brown hair which was much cleaner than mine and much straighter, and was a lot more muscular than me which he always made sure was visible under his skin tight shirts every day. I had been coming in late since we went to secondary school, so we made a deal that if one of us was late, we would wait a maximum of twenty minutes outside the school until the other arrived. So far, only Matt has had to wait outside.

First period on this normal gloomy day was Mr Burnsley teaching Physics. Before I could go into the class, however, he blocked my path at the door. Mr Burnsley was significantly shorter than Matt and I, and wore square reading glasses all the time. His messy dark hair was in complete competition with mine for being the messiest today, and his scrunched up shirt and improperly done jeans showed he hadn't slept well, as usual. Given all that, he still was one of the coolest and most successful teachers at the college, and he was my personal favourite, which is why I hated the look he was giving me now.