Mount Asteria

Chapter Eleven

"Alright!" Ms Finnegan, the P.E. teacher shouted at them, though there was nothing to shout over. She was a young, slim and obviously fit woman with blonde hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and a stylish tracksuit. Looks, however, could be deceiving. Alexandra almost recoiled as she yelled, "We'll start off with drills. Target practice – Niamh, Thea and Claire."

The girls - who Alexandra had yet to get to know -* left the large sports hall in which they were, making towards the exit.

"Grace, Zara, Lucy and Fatima - you're up in the fitness centre with me," Ms Finnegan continued, motioning upstairs to where a gym overlooked the hall. "And you four," she motioned to Ebony, Bláithín, Hestia and Alexandra, "are going to start it off easy with yoga in the garden around the back. Move on to target practice in half an hour, okay?"

The girls nodded. Alexandra, utterly bewildered as to how they were supposed to do yoga by themselves, followed the other three out of the sports hall, back into the blinding sunshine. The whole sports complex, including the sports hall, tennis courts, hockey pitch and pool, was built apart from the school, beyond a small area of woodland. The 'garden' Ms Finnegan had referred to was closer to this woodland, and had been created in the simple Japanese style. A little water fountain provided the peaceful sound of trickling water. As they approached the well-kept lawn in the centre, Alexandra saw a woman sitting cross-legged on a mat with her eyes closed.

Four other mats were spread out in front of her. Silently, the girls sat down on these, mimicking her position. As if she knew, the woman's eyes opened once they had settled down. She smiled.

"Welcome back, girls." Her voice was soft and musical. "I see we have a new student. Welcome to Mount Asteria, Alexandra. I'm Heather. I teach yoga, flexibility, balance and meditation."

Alexandra returned her smile, secretly wondering who on earth could consider flexibility a subject. Not that it sounded entirely strange coming from Heather, who had a band made of what looked like reeds tied around her hair, which was a dirty blonde colour and fell loose around her shoulders.

"In fact, we'll begin with some meditation. Just sit still and comfortably and close your eyes." Heather's voice was just like the sound of the water from the fountain, flowing over the rocks gently. Alexandra closed her eyes and did as she was bid. "And instead of clearing our minds, we're going to reflect on our day so far... The first day back is always busy and it's nice to take a few minutes out to just think and process everything that has happened..." She spoke slowly and softly, as if trying to blend in with the sounds of everything around her.

Alexandra thought back on everything that had happened since the previous afternoon. Mount Asteria was an odd school. A good school, but odd.

***

Apologies for lack of updates recently - I'm pretty busy at the moment and will be until Hallowe'en! What do you think of the story so far? Do you feel it's wandering around, a bit aimless, or are we getting somewhere?