The second the bell was heard everyone quickly made for the door in a great bustle. Of, course I was the last one out because I was trying to sort out my books and double checking that I hadn't forgotten anything. Just as I thought that I was alone, Gemma's head popped around the door. "Brostaigh!"
I looked up suddenly. "You speak Irish?"
"Yes, of course I do! I'm Irish." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh, sorry. You keep changing your accent all the time..."
"Habit." Gemma says in a English accent and smirks. "Now, hurry up. Do you know where your locker is girl?" She sounded American. Oh god.
"No, I don't." I admitted.
"Holy Hades..." She muttered under her breath. I paused.
"Isn't Hades the Greek god of the underworld?" I asked.
"Greek mythology interests me. Now, come on! I wonder what's available in the cafeteria today..."
I gathered up my books and hurried out the door with her. We shoved through the crowd of teenagers. "What number is your locker?" Gemma asked as she pushed past another student.
"Number 24...I think?"
"I'm 110 but I think I know where 24 is. Poor you."
"You make it sound like a bad thing." I said nervously.
Gemma directed me to steps leading down to what seemed like a basement. "Oh it is" She seemed to notice my terrified expression. "Don't worry. I'll go down with you. I'm not scared of the basement, unlike most people." She gestured to the group looking at us.
"Okay." I said, following her down the dimly lit stairway.
"Oh um, a few of the lights are broken so it's a bit dark. Janitor needs to fix those." She screamed and I heard a loud thump.
"Ow-IM FINE. IM FINE!" She shouted some profanity at the step she'd tripped over. Some words are best not repeated. "I'm just really effing clumsy sorry."
From that moment, I knew we'd get along just fine.
When we came to the bottom of the stairs, more bulbs were broken along the corridor. I could see some lockers far down the hallway with a few students hanging around them.
"Some of the kids down here are like animals." Gemma joked quietly, like she was hoping nobody but me would hear.
"So, where in Ireland are you from?" I asked.
"The rebel country, Cork."
"Oh, me too!" I smiled. Maybe I knew her?
"Oh what school?"
She mentioned her preschool name first, which I recognise.
"Actually, I think I went there too. I knew a girl by your name when I was in preschool, but she had blonde hair, not red."
Gemma laughed as we made our way down the corridor. "I had a friend called Sarah who also had blonde hair. A bit funny isn't it? I had strawberry blonde hair in a short bob when I was younger. Over time it got darker and now I'm an awesome redhead!" She pumped the air with her first.
I thought back to my younger self. "Actually...I think we were friends. My hair was blonde when I was little too."
Gemma stopped in her tracks. "Oh my gosh. What are the odds?!" She tackled me into a hug and I almost dropped my books. "In our favour, I suppose."
"Well, at least I know someone my age here. Or, in my year anyways."I smiled.
We continued walking to the lockers where there was a girl and a boy talking to each other.
"Ah, Kayleigh. We were wondering if you'd made it to school or not? Anything happen?"
The brown haired girl looked at me standing behind Gemma. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Alarm didn't go off."
I decided to make myself noticed. "Hi. I'm Sarah, just moved here."
"Nice to meet you Sarah. I'm Kayleigh. This is Scott." She gestured to the dark haired boy standing next to her. He had a very nice looking jawline and tan, if I'd say so myself. Kayleigh continued speaking. "There's only a few of us down here, they're spare lockers you see. I was up in the main corridor last year, so was Scott." Gemma was searching the locker doors for the one marked 24. "Ah, Sarah. Here it is. I was down here last year. I'm upstairs at number 110 this year thank the gods!" She paused when I gave her a look. "Oh ah, oops. God. Yeah I meant God. Not gods." She corrected herself.
I walked over to my new locker. It was bigger than my old one, but what intrigued me was the many dents and scratches on the ones next to me. I figured I shouldn't ask, otherwise I'd probably be too scared to come down here ever again. I reached for my key chain clipped to my jeans and felt nothing. I groaned.
"Great. I've lost my keys first day. My house key is on that too!"
Gemma patted my back. "I've lost my key, spare key, spare key for the spare key..." She reached down into her t-shirt and pulled a key from her bra. "This is my fourth key. Keep a fifth one in my pocket." Gemma patted the side of her hoodie.
"Wow."
Footsteps were heard coming towards us. I turned to see two boys approaching. One was much shorter and scrawnier than the other, who was tall and packed with muscles. Unexpectedly, the taller boy waved. "Hi. I uh, found this on the ground." He said shyly with a sincere smile and held up my keys. "They had your name on them."
"Oh, thanks...!"
"Frank."
"Frank!" I repeated, gladly accepting my keys. The shorter, curly haired boy put his hand up an leaned against the battered locker next to me with a smirk. He resembled an elf. Of course, he was probably only a tiny bit shorter than me, but his hair hid that.
"Hey, I'm Leo Valdez, but you can call me hot stuff." He shot a finger gun at me.
"Leo. Even Gemma has more muscles than you and she sneaks away during PE." Scott pointed out. "No offence."
Gemma grinned. "Non taken, besides, you've never seen me flex." She bent her fragile looking arm and bent it. A muscle appeared seemingly out of no where. Everyone seemed a bit taken aback, including myself.
"Oh, Gemma. They've got carbonara in the cafeteria today." Frank informed her. Her green eyes lit up.
"MY PLACE IS NO LONGER HERE!" She shouted excitedly and began to dash off, pulling poor Frank with her. "Leo, escort Sarah to the cafeteria in case she gets lost. Ginger out!"
"Bye! Good luck on your first day!" Frank waved as he was dragged away.
"Looks like I'm your escort." Leo winked.
"Ignore him, he flirts with any girl that's available." Kayleigh laughed.
I opened my locker. It was empty, with plenty of room for the books in my arms and overflowing bag. I began to organise it the best I could and stick my schedule on the inside of the door.
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Hey I hope you like the story so far.
Shoutout to my best friend fangirlgem for helping me with this chapter and the previous chapters as well,also to my other best friend Piperobrien who always tells me to update my fan fiction.
