Unbridled Beginnings

Chapter 11: Ditching

My sweaty hands attempt to grip onto the straps of my navy blue schoolbag. I can feel my heart leaping in my chest. I walk up the pebbled driveway towards the bus stop. My new pair of black leather shoes are now disguised with a thick layer of brown dust, and my white school shirt is now turning a musty brown colour too. I can feel my wavy, blonde hair that is tied up into a neat ponytail, swaying from side to side, moving with the rhythm of my nervous walk. 

As I reach the bus stop I take a seat on the old wooden bench. I sit down and start to fiddle with the ends of my pony tail. After what seems like a few minutes, a small white bus comes chugging around the corner and I jump up to signal for the bus driver to stop. As the bus comes to a screeching halt, all the eyes from students inside the bus stare at me, probably wondering who I am. I pay the driver some money and tensely walk down the bus isle. Just as I find an empty two-seater at the front, the bus zooms off again. I can still feel everyone glaring at me from behind, and whispering to their friends.

"Who is she? Why is she starting school at Mayfield halfway through the year? I've never seen her before," they all say.

I stare out the window the whole ride which takes about twenty minutes, and on the way I spot Mayfield ranch. Determined not to get any more attention, I jump out of my seat once the bus has stopped outside school, and head towards the main desk inside the office. At first I see a big welcome sign saying 'Mayfield School' on it, then I see a small grass area with three picnic tables even spaced out. Surprisingly, my first impressions of the school are reasonably good. But as I get my timetable and start to walk towards my first class, I get the feeling that the people here aren't as nice as I thought they would be.

"Who are you?" 

A big group of both girls and boys start to surround me. Even though they look either the same age as me or younger, I suddenly feel scared and frightened.

"Uh... I'm new here. My name's Hayley. I better get to my class before I'm late!" I say nervously.

I push through some kids towards where I think my class is. I spot my Maths class number, room 13, and cautiously walk inside. There isn't too many people in the class, but those eight people do the same as everyone else has done so far this morning. Stare and whisper.

Once the teacher has made me introduce myself in front of everyone, I sit back down and do the work asked. I find the work challenging as I haven't been to school for nearly a year, but the teacher kindly helps me so that I understand. Soon maths class is over and I walk to my next class. From what I remember, science is one of my worst subjects. 

The teacher is also one of the strictest people I have ever met. He will yell at anyone who makes a sound and expects you to know everything about the new topic without any assistance. 

This class is not at all like the last, and I'm starting to feel small and unwelcome in my new school. 

I persevere through my next class of English, but when Social Studies comes around I know I'm in for the ride of my life.

The teacher acts like all of the students have towards me today. Staring, asking me who I was and why I'm here. He sets us some work to do silently up on the whiteboard, but I have no clue about what to do. So I make a regretful decision to ask someone.

"Excuse me? Could you help me with question one?" I whisper to a girl with dark brunet hair.

She doesn't answer for a while and I soon realise why.

"Hey you! New girl! Get outside this instant, you obviously don't know my rules yet!" He snaps.

I turn around to look at the angry teacher who is standing up and pointing me towards the door.

"Yes sir," I say, my voice trembling with fear as I gulp and rapidly walk outside.

"What do you think you were doing! You disturbed my whole class who were silently doing the work that I asked. Silly girl! I'm reporting this to the principal immediately!" He shouts, spitting in my face as he does so.

Tears start to well up in my eyes and before I can try explain why I was talking, he grabs my arm and pulls me back inside.

"Sit down," he says.

I obey his rules and sit down. But then start to draw in the back of my book until the class is over, and it's finally lunchtime. When the loud bell rings and the other students rush to pack up their things and leave, I do the same. Except instead of sitting down to eat my lunch, I carry on towards the entrance to the school, tears now streaming down my face. As I pass multiple people, no one stops to ask whats wrong so I continue until I'm outside the school gates. Obviously nobody cares about me and my life.

I decide to carry on to Mayfield ranch. Surely if I go it will take my mind off things for a while. 

The walk takes about twenty minutes but I finally arrive and go straight to the stable. Janet is there again, cleaning out an empty stall with a pitchfork and wheel barrow.

"Hayley, how are you? I thought you said you were starting school today?" She asks.

"Yeah it finished early," I lie, looking up towards her.

"Hey, are you ok?" She asks, obviously seeing my puffy red eyes from crying.

"I'm fine," I say.

I take Sharki from the paddock and decide to try to tack him up and see how he behaves. Once I have groomed all the dust off of him, I get an old saddle blanket and saddle from the tack room that hasn't been used in a while. Surprisingly, the saddle it fits quite well. I also ask Janet if I can use one of her multiple bridles and she agrees, knowing that I haven't got my own gear.

Mounting Sharki is easy and he accepts me sitting on his back, remembering the old times when my parents used to ride him. I walk and trot him round, losing my balance a couple times as I haven't been on a horse for a few months. But soon I get the hang of it, and I remember how he was such a pleasure to ride around on with my parents.

I stay at the stable until four o'clock, knowing that I need to get home before Jack and Alison do at six. After I say goodbye to Janet and put Sharki away in his stall, I head off towards home once again.