How Cliché

Chapter 1

When the oak is felled, the whole forest echoes with its fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.

- Thomas Carlyle

The top of the hill that overlooked the school grounds was truly the best spot at this school. I had only been here for a week and I had already established a place where I would not be disturbed.

But who am I kidding. No one ever disturbs me.

Four out of the five schools I have been to from the ages 14 to 17, have been the exact same experience. I have, by choice, been the fly on the wall. A wallflower. Whatever you want to call it. I have been the person who sees and hears everything, but is never seen by others. At first people would recognise me occasionally, but the more practice I got, the better I got at hiding myself from watching eyes. Finding your spot, was step one.

From this spot, I can see everybody. Every group, every individual. It really is the prime spot.
This school, from what I have gathered, is a living, breathing, stereotype. It's almost laughable if it wasn't so disturbing. It's as if I transferred to a movie set, not a high school.

As I observe my fellow pupils entertaining themselves on their phones, or laughing amongst friends, I can clearly pick out the cliques.

On the bleachers opposite me, I can see the cheerleaders sitting up the top, probably gossiping. That's not even a jab at them. It probably is what they are doing. I can see a group of over-achievers sitting on the lawn just below my hill, books wide open, noses basically pressed to the pages. Just watching them makes me tired. I can see a couple of shadowy figures to the side of the bleachers too. Guys with long shaggy hair, covered with the usual beanies, despite it being the end of summer. I can make an educated guess that they are either the stoners, the loners or something along those lines. I haven't seen them much... I must remember to look into that.

The popular-non-cheerleaders and their mostly attractive boyfriends/guy-friends, whatever they are, are probably in the courtyard, an area too busy for my liking.

But the best part about my spot is that I have the best view of my new favourite group of people who don't know I exist. I haven't quite given their group a name yet but what I do know, is that they're borderline comedic whilst looking amazingly good all at once. Attractive and funny. It's like my own personal show every break. I guess they're just the class clowns, but that title is too boring. They are positioned a little down the hill to the left. It's been the same place everyday this week.

That's a downside to only being here a week. All the observations I have made are unreliable for at least another 4 weeks. People could move spots, change groups. It makes my work a lot harder.

But anyway.

'The Class Clowns' aren't very entertaining today. They seem to be having a serious conversation about something. I'm not one to eavesdrop, surprising I know, and their hushed tones make my usually amusing break extremely boring. I observe as one of them begins to appear agitated, a characteristic that is very out of place for the group of boys. His hand gestures become erratic and he leans forward to exaggerate whatever point he is making. My eyes widen with curiosity when he stands up from the group and begins to walk away from them. The remaining members of the clique watch for a few seconds before turning back to look at each other.

Fascinating.

Usually the girl groups are the ones full of drama but it appears my favourite little group of males have their own. I watch as the boy, The Black Sheep, I'm going to call him, walks in my direction. He is a little in front of me so I know that he isn't aiming for me exactly, probably just the other side of the hill. My hypothesis was proven correct as he passes in front of me and continues on his way. I smile a little at my success in becoming invisible. It is such a relief to know I am off to a great start.

My eyes train on The Black Sheep as he walks on, however I am a little taken aback when he suddenly stops. I expect him to just continue down the hill, or even turn around and head back to his friends, but instead he just stands still for a few moments. I watch intently, lazily resting my legs out in front while leaning on my arms, positioned behind my back. My smile from before has turned into a relaxed, content one as I easily watch this individual stand with his back facing me.

Maybe he's watching something at the bottom of the hill. Or maybe he is eyeing off the cheerleaders across from us. Or maybe he's crazy. Crazy is always a liable possibility.

But a possibility I definitely did not consider was for him to turn and look at me.

At first I thought he was staring past me, something not that unusual. But as I continue to watch him, it became apparent that he was also watching me. My smile slowly slipped off my face and I tried not to sit up too fast.

His eyes surveyed me like I did to everybody on the first day. His head tilted a little to the side and his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. He doesn't recognise me. Good. This is the first, and only time I hope, that he will see me. At least that's what I'm going to continue believing.

Still not 100% convinced he is staring at me, I smile a little to gage a response. My second hypothesis for the day was proven right when he smiled a little back. This time, I wasn't so happy I was right. But I never dropped my gaze.

He stared at me for what was probably six seconds, but to me it was eternity. Finally, he shook his head a little and turned back to his mates. I continued to stare as he sat down with between two of them, patting their shoulders as he sat.

The urge to go prepare for class or to go pee or to go somewhere else became very apparent not long after that moment. I stood up stiffly, still surprised from the human interaction. I began to move down the hill and when I glanced behind me one last time, I caught the eyes of The Black Sheep watching me walk away.

Thanks for reading my first chapter of my hopefully original story. Not too sure how I feel about this chapter but I'm going to try and improve as I go.