New house, new school. Not to mention, new city. Only the internet to keep in touch with my old friends. My parents decided to move from calm, peaceful Shetland to packed, noisy London. Whats worse is that we're only five miles from the main airport, so we get aeroplanes flying over the top of our house at stupid o'clock in the morning, as well as busy London traffic outside our front door and drunk people on the street at 3AM. Why come here, I don't know. I guess they wanted to get me as far away from my old life as possible, after all, it was tough for me there. Somehow, I think it's only going to get worse.
My two best friends, Sass and Kim, were like sisters to me. We did everything together. They helped me through everything, too. Because of them, I spend almost all of my time on the internet, meaning that my parents would only see me for the short length of time it takes me to eat supper each night. Most of the day, i spend my time talking to Sass, until Kim's awake, as her parents moved them to LA. The time difference between London and LA is 8 hours, so Sass and I can only talk to Kim early in the morning or late at night. Its hard, but we make it work. Besides, what sort of friends would we be if we didn't?
The day I started school, it was almost as if mum didn't want me to go. She did almost everything for me that morning and tried to persuade me into letting her drive me to the school, which was only a 10 minute walk from our new house. "You never know what could happen" she said "anyone could be out on that street, waiting to snatch up a vulnerable girl like you." Of course I assured her that I'd be fine. After all, I was sixteen, it's not like I was small and incapable of looking after myself. Still, she worried. The problem with Shetland is that there are no busy streets, and with everything you hear in the news about people being murdered and kidnapped, secluded people in the country learn to not trust the big cities. Even though deaths and disappearances are like one in a million chance of happening. I do understand why she worried, though. Letting her only child loose in the big city. Everything could go wrong.
Standing at the school gate, I looked up at the three story building in front of me, and felt my stomach drop. This place was huge! How many people get lost in here? I wondered. Just as I had taken everything in and was about to start heading into the place I'd be living for the next six hours, I heard a masculine voice behind me. "Judging by the way your standing there twiddling your thumbs, I'd say your new here."
Startled, I spun round, flicking my long hair in the wind, to see a tall boy, about 6ft tall with glossy brown hair and emerald eyes. "You know most people start with 'hi'."
Smirking, he added "Hi, my names Josh Rogan; I'll be your tour guide for today. And you are?"
"Kal." Neither of us said anything for a second, he just stood there staring at me expectantly. "Smith. And I don't need a tour guide. Thanks." With that, I turned around and walked into the school. Unfortunately for me, he followed.
"So you know where you're going, then?"
"Well yeah, the reception desk."
"So you know how to get there?"
"Well it can't be thank difficult to find, it's just a big desk in the front of the school."
"Not in this school."Frustrated already, I stopped and turned to face him.
"What do you mean 'not in this school'?"
As much as I didn't want him to, Josh hung around me for most of the day. He was in some of my classes, he gave me a mini-tour during break, and he even sat with me at lunch. By last period, I had had enough. All I wanted was to sit by myself somewhere and read a book, but still he talked to me. "..there were seven seconds left of the game, with almost no hope for my team, so I just grabbed the ball, dribbled half way down the court and jumped as high as my legs would allow, and aimed for the backboard. The home crowd went wild as the buzzer sounded, and suddenly my teammates were all around me. That last shot was a lucky one, but it won us the championship. I was so proud of myself for that shot, and I was proud of the team for the entire team. People say I was a God send for the team, but the way I see it, there are 4 other players, and all as important as I am. Even then, I'm not all that important. I'm just part of the team." Josh played basketball. Still does. He was very proud of his team, and he never singled himself out as above anyone else, and it wasn't just his victories he talked about. He told me about all the victories for all of his team mates. All he'd talked about all day was basketball. Shock came across me when he started talking about me. "Do you play any sports?"
"Um, not really. I like to play some basketball, but I'm not good enough to say I'm any good."
"Really? We should play one on one some time, I could give you a few pointers; get you started."
"Thanks, but no thanks." As the bell sounded, we stood up to pack our things away, and still Josh kept talking. It was a wonder he still had anything left to say.
"Hey, how you getting home?"
"I'm walking."
"Would you like a lift? My car's right out front."
"No, I'll be fine, it's just a few minutes. Thank you."
"You sure? I can get a bit chilly outside."
"I have a jacket."
"Well as long as your sure..."
"Yes I'm sure."
"Okay then. Don't say I did offer."
"I won't."
Roughly ten minutes later, I had arrived home. Dad must have heard the door close, as he called from the other room. "Kal, is that you?"
"Yeah, dad. I'm going upstaris, okay?"
"Sure hunny."
Anxious to get online and speak to Sass, I ran up the stairs, then flung my bedroom door shut as I dumped my school bag on the end of my bed. Pulling my chair up to my desk, I switched on my laptop and waited impatiently for it to load. Finally I was online, and opening up the online cafe where I regularly spoke to Kim and Sass. It wasn't long before a familiar username appeared on my screen, with a speech bubble.
SassySaph: hey Kal, how's it going?
Happy to see my best friend online, I typed back.
Kal.S: SASS! Ohmygosh school in London is SO different! Like, the building is massive, and the people... all they want to do is talk, they don't know how to leave you alone! I had this one kid following me around all day, acting like he was my 'tour guide' or something!
A few seconds later, I got her reply.
SassySaph: whoah girl, chill out. How are you, really. Cause like, I'm missing you and Kim a bunch!
Kal.S: I'm okay. I miss you guys too, but I guess I'm coping.
SassySaph: Yeah, me too.
The conversation came to a halt, until I got another message.
SassySaph: hey, sorry, i gotta go, dads calling me for some reason. I'll talk to you later! And then she was offline.
Bored, I started looking for other people to talk to, and as if by magic, a new, unfamiliar user name appeared.
AussieBeck: Let me guess, you're alone in your room, you're bored, your friends are offline, and you have no one to talk to.
Kal.S: How did you...? Afraid of the answer, I didn't want to finish the question, so I just sent it like that.
AussieBeck: I was just guessing, 'cause that's what its like for me right now. I'm Beck, by the way.
