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Chapter 7 - Sky

Sky dragged her heavy feet along the ground, trying to keep up with the rest of the class who were making their way to the netball courts for PE. Sky hated the subject, she just couldn’t see how exercising was supposed to be fun. Sure, it was probably good for you, but if it made you miserable then what was the point?

In her despair, she quickly remembered what had happened on Monday after school and the confrontation with Zinnie. She remembered the puppy, Avalon, who seemed to fixated with her and who seemed to detest the other girl. She had to literally beg the dog to go back to Zinnie, given that she had no idea where the puppy came from. It took a lot of pleading and pointing in the direction of Zinnie to get Avalon to go back to her. It was crystal clear to Sky that the dog did not like that girl, and she got the feeling that it was mutual.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she began to fiddle with the hem of her white sweatshirt, before reaching up to secure her long hair in a ponytail. All of a sudden, she crashed into the back of someone, her elbow landing squarely in their back.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” She squeaked, instantly feeling bad when she felt the all too familiar hazel eyes looking into her own blue ones.

“Yeah, well try not to do it again.” Zinnie said harshly, rubbing her back as she turned away from Sky. Sky bit her lip as they finally reached the netball courts where the teacher shouted at the latecomers and told everyone to run three laps of all five courts.

By the time she had finished, Sky was definitely out of breath, but by the looks of it, everyone else was as unfit as she was. Or at least, the people who despised this subject were out of breath.

The class gathered around the teacher who, quite frankly, looked bored. She shouted at everyone for no apparent reason before ordering the students to get into groups of seven. Before she knew it, Sky was being dragged by her arm to the group of her friends by Ryder, who then proceeded to grab Zinnie and drag her to the same group.

“Get off, Ryder!” Zinnie exclaimed as she joined the team.

“Okay, okay, but we’re a team of seven now, aren’t we?” He asked, and Zinnie had no comeback to this, although Sky suspected she muttered something under her breath.

The teacher lettered each group and sent them off to play games of netball. Sky immediately discovered that she hated the sport, just like she hated exercise. The whole aim was to throw and catch a ball and throw it in a net, but you couldn’t move when you had the ball. Added to this, there so many rules about where you could and couldn’t go, Sky found that she couldn’t keep up.

Half an hour into the two hour lesson, everyone on the courts made a collected ‘awww’ as a dog bounded on to the courts. It took Sky a moment to remember where she had seen the dog before and by the time it had clicked, the puppy was already running in her direction.

“Avalon! What are you doing here, you stupid mutt!” Zinnie exclaimed loudly, her eyes on the puppy as he leaped across the courts, narrowly avoiding several students, his leash flying behind him in the wind as he finally reached Sky. Sky bent down to stroke him and she could tell that the puppy was pleased to see her, even if she wasn’t that keen on dogs.

“Zinnia! Do you know something about this dog? Is it yours?” The teacher shouted, furious that her lesson had been interrupted.

“W- No! It’s... uh... my friends dog.” Zinnie stuttered, her eyes still on the redhead and the animal.

“Headmaster’s office, Zinnia! And... what’s your name again? Sky? Sky, take him away, would you?” The teacher considerably lowered the tone of her voice when she was speaking to Sky, who nodded, grabbing the leash and slowly walking Avalon out of the netball courts. When she got outside she saw an old woman shouting the dogs name.

“Excuse me miss, your dog ran on to our netball courts.” Sky approached the old lady, who thanked her profusely. Avalon seemed content with either of the females he was surrounded with, rubbing his head against Sky’s leg as often as he did with his owner, who Sky discovered was called Mrs Kingscote.

“I have to go back now Mrs Kingscote, but it was lovely to meet you.” Sky told the old woman who beamed at her.

“Thank you dear, Avalon sure seems to like you.” Sky flushed a little at this, looking down at the puppy who was looking back up at her with his big, round eyes.

“He’s a good dog.” Sky replied simply, before giving Avalon a farewell stroke before she had to resume the torture which was PE.

That evening, when Sky had finished all of her homework, she decided to take a walk in the park and get to know the town she now lived in a little better. She enjoyed slowly making her way through the green open space, watching different types of people go about their daily business.

Sky was just remembering what happened the last time she was here when she spotted the very same girl she had hoped to avoid. Before she could run away, Zinnie’s eyes met her own and she made her way over Sky, who desperately wanted to leave. Sky’s eyes wandered over a little to Zinnie’s left, where she could see Avalon running around the large grassy area, his tail wagging a lot as he enjoyed the fresh air.

“You. You got me a detention today!” Zinnie told Sky as she stood in front of her. Sky frowned a little as it hadn’t exactly been her fault.

“It wasn’t my fault. You knew who the dog belonged to and you lied.” The truth made Zinnie angrier than she already was at the red headed girl; she didn’t want to be messed around today.

“You can talk, you’re the one he so clearly adores! As does everyone else.” Sky hated this admission from Zinnie; not everyone loved her, most people hardly knew who she was, she was that shy.

“He’s a dog, he loves everyone.” Sky countered, folding her arms delicately across her chest.

“And you gave me a bruise today. God, things were so much easier before you came along.” Zinnie muttered, spiking Sky’s anger. It hurt her to know that this girl really didn’t want her to be here; had she really done anything that bad to Zinnie?

“Well, I’m sorry that my parents dragged me here. If it’s any consolation, things were a hell of a lot easier before I met you too.” Sky told the brunette, watching her eyes darken.

“What, because I don’t freeze like everyone else does when you stop time?” Zinnie almost shouted at Sky, who could already sense something like this coming up in the argument. The ever so familiar tingling sensation in her gut immediately stopped time from passing, every person in the park freezing in their positions, leaving the two girls the only ones who could move.

“Yes, because of that. You’re not normal.” Sky told Zinnie, who had just noticed what Sky had done. Her eyes widened as she looked around the entire park; she had seen this done before, just not on such a large scale.

“I’m not normal? You’re the freak here. Take a look around you. This,” Zinnie said, waving her arms around, “is weird. It’s beyond weird actually. Just like you.” Sky could feel a few tears pricking her eyes at being called a freak, but she managed to hold them in; she wasn’t going to cry in front of this girl, not now and not ever.

“Well if you haven’t noticed, you’re moving just like I am, so tell me now who’s the freak?” Sky asked, raising her eyebrow at Zinnie who glared at her in response.

“You’re so...” Zinnie was cut off by a tremble in the ground as she clenched her hands into tight fists before both her and Sky’s world turned black.