BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-
"Urrgghhhh," I groaned. "Shuddup!"
I smashed my hand on my alarm clock and sat up, bleary eyed. Yet another morning of getting ready for school. I got up and wandered downstairs, and was met with the remains of crumpets stacked up in the sink. Dad must have gotten called out to work again.
I made myself some crumpets and ate them slowly, and walked back upstairs and threw on the first clothes I saw: a tight, comfy peach cardigan and a slightly rumpled black thigh-length tulle skirt with a wide waistband and a silver bow. I grabbed my black flowy throw jacket and slipped on my black ballet flats. Finally, I ran a brush through my long, dark brown hair. Proud with my quick outfit, I grabbed my iPad and stuffed it in my Country Road bag, along with all my school stuff, and raced to the front door. I threw it open and went to sit underneath the tree near the gate. I glanced at my watch. 9:25am. Five minutes early. I took out my iPad and checked my Tiny Tower. Finally, I heard a car pull up outside the front gate and Reinette jumped out excitedly, running over to the gate.
"Purple lions!" she cried enthusiastically, hand hovering over the switch.
"Cheese pie!" I grinned back at her. She punched the button, wrenched open the gate and nearly toppled me over with a fierce hug.
"Stace!" she screamed. "How have you been?" She pulled back, blonde hair flying all over her face. I linked arms with her and strolled back to her car.
"Pretty good," I smiled, placing my bag in the boot and hopping into the backseat. "Hi, Mrs Bronte."
"Hello Stace, honey," Nette's mother turned and smiled at me. "How's it going?"
"Good!" I smiled back.
We drove to my school, passing the Welcome to the Wyldwood Academy sign. Wyldwood wasn't your average school; it had shorter days and different classes, and we could wear whatever clothes we wanted. It was a pretty laid back school, with only a couple of rules, like don't litter, and could we all please come to school wearing at least two articles of clothing. We all obeyed the rules. It was a pretty awesome school.
We got out of the car and waved goodbye to Reinette's mum, then started the walk up to our home classroom.
The first part of the day was pretty boring, with us squirting paintball guns in Art and reenacting some scenes from The Big Bang Theory in Drama. By the time lunch rolled around we were starving, even though we had devoured two massive plates of cupcakes while watching the performances in Drama.
"What delightful food have we all packed today?" Clarissa enquired after we had all settled in our usual spots in the massive oak tree we always ate lunch in.
"Er... my mum's home made bread. Again." Selina groaned, pulling out a sandwich made with two slices of three-inch-wide bread.
These were my friends I always sat with at school. Clarissa Reynolds, Selina Berk, Lucy Cullen, Michelle Dunlap and of course, Reinette Bronte. They were my best friends, but I was closest to Nette, just like Mich was closest to Luce and Rissa was closest to Lina. I guess that's why only Reinette knew of my problem. It wasn't that I didn't trust the others; I just didn't want too many people knowing what was wrong with me. Best to keep it under wraps, as Dad would say.
"Here, guys. Have some of my awesome hot chips," I grinned, waving my big packet under their noses (or as far as I could reach, seeing as we were in a tree).
"I swear, I love you so much," Michelle gasped, reaching across from her branch and grabbing the packet. She took a few, then passed them down to Luce, who was on the lowest branch.
