A New Species

Chapter One: I Hate Clichés

"Inhale, exhale." I said to myself as I looked in the mirror and picked at my poorly painted nails.

I noticed a new pimple had surfaced right in the middle of my forehead.

'Really?' I thought examining it. I put some cream on it and hoped it went down soon.

Today was my first day at a new school. My Mum's new husband insisted that we move to get a fresh new start or whatever, so of course we had to pack up our things and go.

I'd never met my real father, apparently he died not long after I was born. There were no pictures of him either, mum said it was to painful for her to keep any of them. It kinda sucked not knowing who he was and it doesn't help that mum never talks about him. I learnt from a young age to not ask.

"Rory, are you ready?" My mum called, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, coming mum."

I looked in my mirror one last time, picked up my bag and walked out of my bedroom.

"All ready for school sweetie?"
Lucas smiled at me.
'Don't call me sweetie creep.' I thought.
"Yeah." I said, climbing into the back of the car.
The school was only a ten minute walk but my mum said that Lucas wanted to drop me off on my first day.

'He just wants to connect with you.' She'd said, 'Just give him a chance.' I hated the pleading look in her eyes, so reluctantly, I agreed.

Lucas sat in the drivers seat and turned to look at me.

"Are you excited?"

'No moron! Why would I be?'
"I don't know."
I liked to keep it short and simple with him. I heard him take a deep breath as if to conceal anger or frustration, which made me smirk a little.

When he turned around to start the engine I put my earphones in and turned the volume up.
I saw him look at me through the rear view mirror and he asked,
"Do you have lunch?"
I pulled out one of my earphones.
"Yeah." I said, although I didn't, mum had given me some money to spend when we moved, but told me not to tell Lucas.

I was relived when we pulled up outside of the school gate.
"You have a good day okay, do you need me to walk you in?"

'Ew no.'

"No, I can find my own way." I said getting out as quick as I could.

I managed to find my way to the head office where I was then asked to take a seat. I was there for about ten minutes when I heard the bell go, 'Great,' I thought, 'first day and I can't even show up to class on time.'
I thought about being introduced to class and it made me sick how much attention I'd draw to myself.
I stared picking at my nail polish again.

"Rowena Anerow?"
I cringed at the sound of of my full name.
"Oh it's just Rory." I said and the woman smiled at me.
"Okay then Rory, if you could follow me please."
I followed her down a small hallway to an office. "Principal Rose will be with you in a moment." She said and then left.
I took the time to look around the office, it was exactly what you'd expect a principle's office to look like. "Ah, Rowena is it? So nice to meet you! I'm Principal Rose."
She came into the room and stuck out her hand. I reached out to shake it and was surprised when she grabbed my hand and shook it tightly.

"Please, sit." She gestured to a chair in front of the desk.

"So Rowena-" "Please, call me Rory." "Okay, Rory, how are you finding Whisper Falls? I heard you moved here from Heart Meadow, is that correct?"

After 20 minutes of talking about my entire school history, Ms Rose finally took me to my first class. English. I smiled in relief, English was my favourite class.