Scarlett ❤️

Chapter 3

Another Monday morning. God I hate Mondays! I pull myself out of bed and drag myself to the bathroom, squinting my eyes, wishing I was still asleep. I search through my wardrobe for something to wear.
Black jumper, black t-shirt, black hoodie, another black t-shirt, ooh a grey hoodie.
What will it be today? Black leggings and a black hoodie.
Do I want to do put any makeup on today?
No, too much effort! I have 20 minutes before I need to leave.
Plenty of time for a cup of tea.

I head down to the kitchen, where my foster parents are sat drinking their coffee and eating toast. That toast smells good. I flick the kettle on and head over to the bread bin. Empty. Fantastic.

"Oh sorry, we just had the last of the bread" my foster father spoke sincerely.

"I don't need to eat anyway" I mutter under my breath.

I've been through a lot of foster homes. The Carters (these current foster parents) aren't that bad. They tend to forget I exist and I practically care for myself, but I kind of prefer it. They have me here for the extra money - their pay for fostering - but they give me all of my designated allowance and they don't bother me at all.

I finish my cup of tea and ignore my stomach's rumbling, heading out the door.
How am I always late? I haven't done anything in that 20 minutes and now I am late. I'm late and I'm hungry. I could get breakfast on the way to sixth form if I hadn't spent all of my allowance and my wages on a new camera for my photography A level.
I don't even know if it's a good camera and the guy in the shop didn't seem to know either. I don't put the camera in my bag, I don't want it to get broken. I hang the strap around my neck and keep one hand on the camera for most of the way, to stop it swinging around when I walk.

It's very quiet in town today. I notice there are still no changes at the gym. It's not been decorated very nicely; it's quite dark and the loud music is a little intense. I'm also pretty confused by the name, 'The Mill', why is a gym called a mill.
I need to stop getting distracted, I'm late!

"Look who it is"

Oh no, I know that voice. One of my many 'friends' from sixth form.

"I'm late, can you just hate me later please" I smile and increase my pace, trying not to look bothered by them following me closely.

"What's the rush?"
"Is that a new camera?"
"Give it here"
"Let's take a selfie"

They all gather around me, blocking my path and all begin reaching out, trying to grab the camera from around my neck.

"Get off!" I shout as I shove one of the girl's away from me.

For a moment, I'm a little proud I pushed her but it's quickly returned by one of the others and I land on the ground. My camera breaks my fall.

"Oops" they all laugh and walk away, leaving me there on the ground.

I don't even want to pick my camera up; I heard the lens crack. It cost me 5x 8 hour shifts at work to get that one.

Brilliant! I just sit there for a moment, feeling pretty defeated as they walk away laughing. I don't have the energy to care anymore. I just lay back down on the cold floor besides my camera, staring up into the sky. I'm sure anyone walking by must think I'm high (there's a lot of that round here).

I almost forgot I was on the ground; I was enjoying the calm of the blue skies. That was until I big shadow interrupted the calm. At first I thought it was a rain cloud, but his deep voice soon snapped me back into focus.

I look to the side and see Finn standing over me, looking confused and almost angry with the way his eyebrows are pulling together.

"What are you doing?"

Really, again? I don't have a good answer for this.

"I'm sunbathing" I say with a smile, placing my hands behind my head.

"In the middle of the road?" He questions again looking unimpressed.

"It's the best spot at this time of day" I'm almost convincing my self it's a good idea at this point!

He looks over at my camera then back to me, before walking over to pick it up. I jump up and grab it first, quickly putting it in my bag.

"I suppose that's not the best place to keep my camera" I try to fill the awkward silence.

"No" he replies bluntly.

"Well... this was great. Let's not do it again some time" I say as I trot off home with gravel stuck to the back of my jacket.

I don't look back to see if Finn is still there. Why is he still here? Why hasn't Chloe said anything about him?