Ow, my head.
I’d fallen asleep on the desk and had hit my head on the corner of it, waking myself up. I looked at the clock. 6:45AM. At least I wasn’t up so early, and it was late enough to stay up. I found the letter, and hid it so no-one would see it unless I wanted them to. Then I realised it was Monday. I groaned. I’m too tired to go to school, mum will-. That’s when I realised. I lost both my parents two days ago. I got out of bed and walked out my room. “Hi Clive!” a voice said.
I couldn’t recognise the voice; or where it was coming from, I was too tired. I rubbed my left eye and yawned before I could focus on anything. Kiki was smiling as me, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, so she wasn’t actually jumping; she was just going up and down. “Someone’s tired huh?”
“No, I’m fine” I said sarcastically.
Kiki looked at me “Ready for school?”
“My schools 50 miles away”
“Silly, you’ll get moved to one around here”
“Which would be?”
“Oakenlodge Primary, I’d guess”
Just then, Jenny walked up to me. “I guess this would be your size”, she said, holding up a dark green jacket, white shirt, red tie and black trousers. “Be a good boy and try them on” she said, passing them to me.
I walked into my room with them in my arms, and quickly put them on. They were a bit big, but the size down would probably be too small for me. I walked out, to see Jenny coming out one of the other children’s rooms, who noticed me in about the same three seconds. “Perfect size” she smiled. “You just need to sort yourself out; it looks like you dressed in about three seconds”
“I did” I muttered, walking back into my room to see through the mirror. I managed to sort myself out, except for one strand of hair sticking up. I tried combing it down, but that didn’t work, so I just kept it how it was for the time being. I walked out to see Duke this time. “Someone looks smart” he smiled “Go and get some breakfast then”
I walked down to the dining hall. Most of the older boys were still asleep, as their classes didn’t start until half 10, so just the nicer ones were there, mostly the girls though, as the breakfast room was shared by both the boys and the girls. Kiki was sat with three other girls at a table when I walked in. She smiled at me, making the other girls look in my direction. They looked away for a second and started muttering, trying not to let me hear, but I could.
“Isn’t that the kid who lost his parents in that time machine explosion?”
“Yes it is. Wasn’t he the one who got beaten up by Jackson?”
“He had an operation because of the blade”
“You three, don’t talk about people behind their backs!” Kiki hissed. “I lost my mother in an explosion; I know how it feels you know!”
The other girls looked away, and then smiled at me. “Mock me then” I said. “I’m just little and can easily get picked on because all the other young kids have either got adopted or have already grown up” I said quietly. Then I realised I was clenching my fists, and my teeth had gritted. “Don’t think I have no feelings! All my family are dead! Don’t think I don’t care either!” I shouted at them. They looked shocked at me; Kiki was the most shocked of them though.
I went and sat on my own and eat in silence, giving them all dark stares if they looked at me. I left the room and got everything else I needed to do sorted; with about five minutes to spare. I decided to wait outside for the bus, in case it came early. Then I saw a green bus come up the driveway, and pull up by the entrance. The door opened, and I got in, followed by around fifteen others behind me, all older years though. I went and sat down alone by a window seat, as I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, and the bus started and drove out the drive and took a left turn. I sighed and just watched out the window until the bus came to a slow stop to another stop. A few other kids sat down next to some kids from the orphanage, I guessed most of them were friends as they were talking loudly to one another, while some sat down in twos together and did the exact same. I looked down to the floor, until I realised someone was standing next to me. “Can I sit here?”
I looked up to see a girl with brown hair and brown eyes around the same age as me looking at me with her head at an angle. “I guess, but I’m not feeling very talkative”
“That doesn’t matter” she said. “I’m Haven. Haven Franks”
“I’m Clive” I muttered. “I don’t really have a surname as my parents died 2 days ago”
She gasped “I’m so sorry” she said. “I can move somewhere else next stop if you want me to”
“It’s doesn’t matter” I said. “Talking may stop me from thinking about it”
Haven looked at me then and sighed. “I don’t recognise you, are you new to the school?”
“First Day” I muttered. “And I never lived in the area before my parents died”
“That’s why then” Haven smiled. “So, what year are you going to be in then?”
“I was in Year 4 at my old school, and it’s still the middle of the year”
“That means we’ll be in the same Year group then” she said. “Oh look, this is the school stop” she said. “How nervous are you on a scale of one to ten?”
“Nine and a half” I said quietly.
“Why?” she asked, as we waited for everyone furthest from the exit to pile out first.
“A, New Area, New School B, I’m an orphan and C, I’ve already got beaten up once since I was orphaned and I don’t wish to be beaten up again” I sighed. “Now do we wait outside or go straight in and do something until lessons?”
“We wait outside, but the infants used to go in and do their ‘Morning Books’ where they did stuff like find the words out of one big word and drawing themselves, sometimes it was boring, sometimes fun” she said. “Once the bell goes, we line up here” she said pointing to a line of a football ground that had been marked into the tarmac, at least 5 years ago, most likely more. “And wait until Miss Green comes out, marks us in and takes us into our class and starts our first lesson, Maths. Are you good at Maths?”
“Depends what you class as good”
Haven giggled. “Sounds like you didn’t have a good night’s sleep last night”
“Not really, I’m exhausted”
Just then, the bell rung and me and Haven walked back to the line as we already were slowly walking away from it. Numerous other children lined up around us, it looked like it was the whole Year Group in Miss Green’s class. Out of the building walked out three adults, a man with grey hair in a stripy shirt and cream trousers, a young lively woman who’s hair stood out in all directions, she was 25 at the oldest, and a woman with a tied back bun in her blonde hair, and wore a dark ladies suit and heels. “That’s Miss Green” Haven hissed to me, pointing at the suited lady. “She looks strict, but she wouldn’t hurt a fly”
The three teachers made different directions to their lines, Miss Green standing straight in front of ours. She called out every name, the child going into a door behind her as she called their name, until I was the only one there. “You must be the new boy, correct?” she said in a soft tone. “Your name’s Klaus right?”
“Clive, ma’am” I said.
“Such nice manners for a boy your age” she sighed. “Well then Clive, we should better be going to the classroom then” she said. “I’ll make sure everyone is nice to you” she said, walking off, but stopping and looking back at me when she said that.
I followed thinking you don’t know how people have been treating me. And I KNOW that is has only just begun.
