Flowers have a different meaning to us

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

"Beginnings are always messy." – John Galsworthy

Ah, sleep. It’s great, isn’t it? Just.. Being asleep... Not having to move, just staying where I am—

“Now it’s to Sammy with the half past eight news update. Thank you Tom, now - most motorways will be clos—“

Hold on. The 8:30 news? But my alarm’s set at seven. Oohhhh-

“CRAP!” I exhaled, leaping out of bed. I immediately tripped on some plates I left last night. “CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAPP!!” I jumped into an ice cold shower, swearing like a sailor as I washed, rinsed, and repeated.

Have you ever woken up, fifth-teen minutes before the start of school, on the morning of a massively important art exam? No? Oh, sorry, don’t mind me then.

Sorry, bit snarky there. I apologize, just my, y’know, FUTURE hanging on the chance that I can get ready, dressed, fed and at school in 15.. no, 14 minutes. Forgive me for one sec, I’m not usually this moody.

I threw myself out of the shower, and grabbed my clothes. Thank God I had enough common sense to get them out last night. My hair’s quite long, so as I dressed I put the hair-dryer on and roughly tried to dry it. When it was near enough done, I dragged my hairbrush through it, whining like a little puppy. I threw it in a bun, and look in the mirror. I looked awful. Never mind that; my dream is at stake! I chucked some shoes on, stumbled downstairs and grabbed a banana. Even when I’m late, it’s no excuse to be unhealthy. I yanked my bag over my shoulder, carefully lifted my portfolio and dashed outside.

Now it’s my turn to thank Jesus that we live so close to school. When we first moved here, me and my little sister Breanna wouldn’t stop moaning and whining about it.

“WHAT?!” Breanna squealed. “The school is TWO blocks away?! This is so unfair! Why are we being PUNISHED?”

“Hunny, it’s wasn’t my choice. This was the house with the closest price range to what we can afford.” My mum comforted her. “Besides, this means that all your new friends will have to wake up super early to get to school and you won’t have to.”

Immediately, Breanna cheered up. We were getting closer to our new house so we could finally get out. My legs felt dead!

As we drove up into the driveway, my mum turned around to look at us in the back seats, and smiled. “So, how do you like our new home?”

I hitched my bag up and started jogging down the road. The streets looked so deserted without all of the loud teenagers, so it was kinda eerie. I used to run cross-country for my old school a year ago, so running long distances with luggage wasn’t so hard.

*

Ah, here it is. King’s View Secondary School. Rife with the stench of Lynx and Justin Bieber’s ‘Some day ‘ (I’m not a fan, I just know as 40% of the girls at this school tag “Bieber” on after their name on social networking profiles) contaminating the air. But now the grounds were clear of any students as- yes, the late bell sounding now.  I should probably run.

As I got close to the big, Iron Gate that doesn’t let anyone in or anyone out, I rummaged through my bag and pulled out my Sixth Form I.D. card. I scanned it, the gate bzzzzzz-ed, and I was in.

In that minute where I sprinted to my form room, I dodged and ducked through every swinging door on my way. Now, you must be wondering, “Girl, you’re rushing to class? Are you crazy?” Well, actually, I’ve got a very good reason for that; my form tutor is bat-shit crazy. Like, one person was tapping their pencil one morning, and she promised them a detention for the rest of their school life if they tapped one more time. I guess you’re wondering again, why I do remember? Well, that innocent little person was.. me. So you can say that she doesn’t really like me. Or she was PMS-ing. You can’t tell with Mrs Partridge.