Whispers on a Wing

Chapter Five

Happy Friday everyone! How was everyone's first week back at work/school after the Xmas holidays? Mine was fab considering I got to work from home and listen to audiobooks all day 😁

The next morning I decided to stick with my original plan and get to school early so that I could give my hair a quick trim. The art rooms always had the sharpest scissors, them being made and bought specifically for cutting sturdy stuff like fabric and other materials. So with a careful use of two paper clips to unlock the supply closet attached to the art room I scoured the shelving units until I found what I was looking for.

After succeeding in finding a pair sharp enough I flipped my head upside down and took off a few inches so that it was sitting just below my shoulders. Much better. It may not make it look more healthy but at least it got rid of all the rats' tails.

I quickly scooped up all the hair that had fallen to the ground, not that there was much of it as my hair was on the thin side, and threw it in a nearby bin before locking the room back up, making it look like I had never been there.

"What are you doing in here?" A voice suddenly asked me as they walked into the art room, seeing me standing with the supply room's door handle still in my hand.

I froze for a second, thinking that maybe the teacher had seen my fiddling with the lock and assumed I was trying to break in to steal stuff, but after turning around and seeing a young girl standing in the doorway with keys in her hand I relaxed. She couldn't have been more than fifteen with her braces catching the light and the odd spot on her otherwise clear skin.

"I could ask you the same thing," I asked as I crossed my arms and widened my stance slightly to look more intimidating.

"I asked Mrs Dooley for the spare keys as I left my textbook in here yesterday and couldn't do my homework that's due today," she explained as she held a small ring of keys up higher to show me. "So what are you doing here?" She pressed as she narrowed her eyes at me slightly, "and how did you even get in here?"

I rolled my eyes at her attempt at looking intimidating and sighed as I reshouldered my rucksack. "Looking for the teacher who obviously isn't here, now if you'll excuse me I have somewhere better to be," I sighed with fake impatience as I waited for her to move from the doorway, which thankfully she did. That was a close one. I really didn't have the money and resources to pay for another set of fake I'D's, if I got caught now I'd have to hold back a year in graduating until I've earnt enough money to buy myself a new nakme.

I released a breath as I walked past her, thankful that she didn't drill me too much on my reasons for being here or how I got in. She may only be a freshman, but it only took one person getting suspicious of me to cause others to look at me in a different light.

I walked through the empty hallways until I made it to my locker and started to switch my textbooks around. My old bag definitely wasn't strong enough to hold the amount of weight schools expected you to carry. I mean it was no wonder kids always ended up with back and shoulder problems, the amount of work we were expected to carry around with us at any one time was crazy. At least in America they had lockers, in my old school back in England we had no such thing, we just had to carry everything around with us all day and hope that  you didn't forget it somewhere along the way.

I slammed my locker door closed after getting out the few textbooks I'd need for my morning lessons before walking over to the cafeteria and out into the courtyard. It was peaceful here, unlike last time I was out here when every other annoying student was corralled into the small open space.

As I surveyed the area, looking for a place to sit so that I could relax and read my book until my first lesson started, I noticed a lone tree not too far from the outskirts of the courtyard. It was a massive oak tree, reaching high up into the sky with new leaves just starting to sprout on its bare branches. The thing that caught my eye though was the gentle slope the trunk had as it connected to the ground, it was the perfect angle for me to lie against, as if it had spent years growing just so that I could one day sit under it.