The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 17: Florence

-Florence’s P.O.V-

Monday morning and my alarm chimed seven o’clock. I prised my eyes open and sat up suddenly, grabbing my aching head, only it wasn’t aching. I cast my mind back to last night. As Kyle had said, I did drink quite a few cups of what must have been vodka, why didn’t I have a hangover? My head should be throbbing and my eyes bloodshot and slightly blurry. My movements should have been slow and sluggish, but instead I felt fine. In fact, I had never been better.

I bounded down the stairs and cheerily greeted my sleeping siblings through closed doors on the way, heading into the kitchen. After fixing myself a bowl of cereal and pulling on a fresh uniform, I was on the street and beginning the arduous task of walking to school. Even though we didn’t live too far away from school grounds, I only just made it to the door before the last bell. 

My first class was Health, and I just slipped in before the teacher started. She was an older woman, who was obsessed with a healthy diet and was therefore as thin as a garden rake. Light brown hair with a greyish twinge was cut short and it flopped about as she bobbed her head enthusiastically. “Today we have a special teacher in to teach you the basics of self defence!” she crowed excitedly. A largely built man in a judo suit stepped into the room and nodded to the class, gesturing for us to all follow him outside to begin our lesson. I met up with a petite girl who I often talked to in class, Bree.

“What do you think of the whole self defence thing? A little too much?” she asked, nudging me playfully.

“Maybe, it should be fun to learn though,” I mused, coming to a stop with the rest of the group. We were in a small courtyard that rested just outside our Health classroom, perfect for our lesson.

“Alright class, today we are going to learn basic self defence and especially how to get out of a sticky situation. We’ll start by selecting a volunteer...” the judo man spoke.

One of the boys in the front row stepped up and held his fists in front of his body in a kung-fu like stance. Everyone laughed as the judo man corrected his stance and showed the class basic moves. After we had all been shown what we had to do, he called us into pairs. My eyes immediately shot to Bree, but she was already paired with another blonde haired girl.

I sighed and turned to my assigned partner, Mason. Mason Myers was known throughout the student body as a little too suggestive at times if you get my gist, but luckily we hadn’t had many encounters so far.

“Awesome, bring it on sweetie,” he grinned, standing in the starting position that the judo instructor had shown us. I ignored his jibe and got ready myself, starting off by aiming a basic punch in his direction.

He blocked it easily and winked at me before taking a super slow kick at my feet. I stepped over them and put my hands on my hips. “What is this? Are you going to do this properly?” I demanded.

“Well I’m just trying to go easy on a little girl like you,” he sneered. “We all know girls are very easily hurt so I’m doing you a favour.”

My eyes narrowed and I tried to slap him with my right hand but he ducked just in time. “You sexist pig!” I growled out at him and he shrugged it off, still smiling like the Cheshire Cat. My nerves bubbled with anger and I went to kick him again but this time he stuck a foot out and tripped me, leaving me to fall on my knees. On the way however, he slapped my ass and wolf whistled. “Nice view Florence!”

I swear at that moment my vision tinted red and I growled slightly. I felt the rush of adrenalin course through me that could only be experienced in the heat of the moment, accompanied by anger. I clambered to my feet and glared straight at Mason, but he was unfazed. He kept jeering and smiling at me as if it were all just a little joke to him, but not to me.