Bloodline

1

Florence's POV

The adrenaline pulses through my body, as violent as ever; my breath shakes and my skin shines in the sun as the next layer of sweat settles on the surface.

I glance back to notice that my mother has already backed away from the parking space she once vacated, as if she couldn't get away fast enough. I've grown familiar to my own mother completely ignoring me whenever she has the chance. She was never like this when dad was around but I know her reasoning for it; now that her husband, the only one protecting herself from her corrupt beliefs that her child is a freak of nature and an abomination to her family's name, is gone, so is the wall that once held her thoughts to herself.

I can feel my legs shaking under the pressure of containing so much adrenaline as I walk with my head down along the dying strips of grass that accompany the cracked pavement that are situated at the side of our school. I feel the glares of the other people that lurk around this end of the building and immediately know what they think of me. Freak. Weirdo. She shouldn't even be here, no one likes her anyway. It is these thoughts that will forever haunt my mind.

With a shaky breath, I nudge open the doors and ready myself for the hellhole to come to life. Inside I see people. Normal people. I wonder what it's like to be normal, to have friends and people that love you.  A normal life seems so far away from my own.

I make my way to my home room, managing to avoid eye-contact with every single teacher and student that litter the hallway. I turn into the doorway of the classroom and easily find the teacher sitting in his usual spot at the back of the room ready to monitor the behaviour of 26 students as they hurry into the classroom not really thinking of the others around them.

My attention is brought to a few pigeons fighting for a worm amongst the tree roots just in front of the window. I have to crane my neck to see the pigeons start to settle and comb their feathers with their beaks. It's funny how animals are capable of recovering so quickly yet we clearly aren't.

My head snaps to the right when I hear the shuffle of feet and the sound of a chair being pulled back. The figure sits itself down and glances up at the wall clock and it's then that I get a full glimpse of his face. He's eyes are an icy blue and his hair, a dark brown. I recognise him as Kieran Barcelona, our transfer student as of last year, from Lord knows where.

He turns to his left as I quickly look away and try to look as casual as possible, which fails, obviously. He catches my eye and I freeze immediately, "Uh, hello?" He says with an accent that I really wouldn't be able to name for the life of me and my breathe gets caught as I realise how painfully awkward the situation is. I clear my throat and think of the least stupid thing I could say, "Hi. Sorry. Hey.", I wince at the sound of my voice and what I had said. God, of all the things I could have said. "Hay.. is what goats eat, yes?", he says with a look of understanding on his face. Well, he's not wrong. "Yeah, sure."

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I stand, obviously uncomfortable, in the tiny, school shorts and the disgusting maroon polo shirt that accompany them. The bathroom door swings open at my side to reveal a very irritated Kieran, with a polo shirt at least three sizes to small for his tall build. We share a look of understanding as he tries to pull the shirt down to at least meet the waistline of his shorts. The sport teachers yell something about everyone needing a partner for our first activity. Ugh, I hate grade sport. A careful tap on the shoulder reminds me that Kieran was struggling to find a partner that would be willing to make an effort to understand his odd accent.

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After about 15 minutes of pointlessly tossing the cricket ball around the room, students start to gather in the middle of the room, somehow avoiding the stench of sweat that has graced our noses. I glance over at Kieran and try to hold in a snort as I see his face contort into one of disgust; his nose scrunched up and his eyebrows furrowed. I remove my focus from Kieran and zone out as the teachers drone on about an upcoming examination on our sporting skills. How do people find this interesting? Does anyone even find this interesting? Whatever, I don't need to be a star athlete to get far in life.

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The shrill lunch bell rings and students file outside. We just had English, one of the only classes I don't have with Kieran as I'm in Advanced English and he's in Basic English - I'm not surprised considering he's only just started using the language. I look my left expecting to see Kieran sitting at a tree or something, but instead, I am temporarily blinded by the light of the sun. I blink quickly to get rid of the annoying after effect of glancing at the sun - probably looking like an idiot to anyone but myself.

I look around and my eyes rest on Kieran pushing breadcrumbs off of a lunch table and sitting down, overly content with the fact that a few magpies have made their way to the pieces of bread. I laugh it off as another sign of his weirdness and make my way over to the table and dumping my school bag on the thick, wooden table. "Hey, Kieran." I say before realising my mistake. "Again with the goat food, what is with you people and stating the foods that animals eat?" "Kieran, chill. It's a figure of speech." I reply whilst holding back a giggle. "Oh. Well, that changes everything."

"It's like another word for hello, but less formal, you know?"

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Judging by the lack of conversation, I realise that Kieran has probably grown tired of trying to translate his thoughts into words.

I wonder who he was in this last life; his story, his family. I wonder if we knew each other, like we do in this life. I take a deep breath and snap out of my thoughts. The school bell blares in my ears as I gather up my books for the next class.

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I lean out of bed and switch off my beside lamp and savour the darkness before my eyes adjust to the lack of light. I roll onto my left side and think of Kieran. I have a friend. A real friend. Maybe he could make me feel less... different and more normal.

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A.N

So, I finally updated and it's probably really bad and everything😂
Please vote and if you see a mistake, please, please, please tell me.

Thanks
<3