Selcouth

Absquatulate - part one

I stroll through the hallways in my new school. Damn it! Why can't I find it! I look around me. There are still a few people chatting in the distance. Should I ask for help? No. Definitely not. I start walking a bit faster and check every plate on every door. I can't find it and start panicking.

'Hey, can I help you?'

I whirl around and nearly bump in to a muscled chest covered in layers of fabric. It's November after all. I look up and see that deep brown eyes stare me down. 'I-I-uhm-I...' I stumble over my words. I take a breath, covering the scare he gave me.

'I'm searching for my classroom. It's supposed to be A120. Have you seen it before?'

Really Sarah. Asking someone for help?

'Yeah, I've seen it before.'

A grin appears on his face. I notice the dimple in his left cheek. I give him a look and wait for him to explain where it is. He doesn't. 'Well?' I pull one eyebrow up. Thank god I'm blessed with that move.

'Oh, you want to know where it is?'

I sigh. This is not helping me. I throw him a little eyeroll and turn around. Stalking away from the stranger, he shouts after me: 'Up the stairs to the left! The '1' in A120 stands for the floor.' I look over my shoulder, but he already turned around to walk away.

I eventually find my classroom, and I have already spend three minutes in front of the door debating to go in or not. Going in means having people stare at me, which I absolutely hate; not going means starting my schoolyear with an absence note. I curse in myself. Could I not have gone to school ten minutes earlier? I take a deep breath and decide. I knock on the door and step in.

'Well, hello. What is Shakespeare's most dramatic novel?'

I blink. I stare at what probably is my teacher. 'They are all dramatic, in the time he wrote his plays they had to be dramatic because they had to draw the attention of the public. But most people will probably answer your question with Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth.'

'Very interesting. And why would they answer with that?'

I say it silently. 'They are the best known.'

'Quite an entrance there, young lady. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?'

'Sarah. Sarah Roosevelt.'

'Jonah McReen, nice to meet you.'

He nods. 'Take a seat Sarah. You obviously know good ol' Shakespeare. Any friend of his is a friend of mine.' He points at one of the many empty desks. No absence note?

'Let's continue, folks.'

I take a look at all the students in the room - only 13 or so - and they all stare at me with interest behind their eyes. My cheeks redden and my pulse quickens. I walk in a fast pace to a seat in the very back on the right, just so no one can watch me from that side and the back. Luckily this class is not chosen by many students. Literature has at least always been one of my favourites. My teacher - sir McReen - is talking about the layout of a poem the rest of the hour. When the bell rings, it's time for the next lesson, history. My day goes by with breaks on the toilet and occasional 'who are you?'-s from curious students in my class. They lose interest when I do not ask any of their names back. At the end of the day I take the bus home. I see the stranger from this morning get out at the same bus station as I do. Avoid any human interaction Sarah, I say to myself. I just want to go home. Luckily he does not recognize me.

'Hey honey! How was your day?'

My sister bursts out when she sees me. She gives me a tight hug and kisses my cheek. I squint while she does.

'Alright, I guess.'

'Oh come on! Tell me. Have you already made friends? How are your teachers?'

I sigh while I drop my bag next to our houseplant named Harry, who is blooming at the moment. 'No and nice, I think. I was too late this morning but my first teacher did not give me an absence note.' I put my coat on a chair. 'Oh, well, that is certainly nice.' She walks over to the kitchen. 'Tea?' I nod.

'Where is John?' I ask with caution.

'He's just doing some groceries.'

I remain silent. I don't like John very much. He's bossy. But this is his house, so I cannot let it show. When I take the last sip of my tea, I put it in the sink and point upwards with my index finger. My sister sighs.

'Okay then. But you will not be eating there today.'

I smile a little with the small victory I made. I run upstairs and close the door of my bedroom. I lock it behind me. The small space around me calms me down. I sink on my bed and look at the unpacked boxes still in the corner of my room. Time to clean those up. I start unpacking them, and all my stuff of my old bedroom appears. Stuffed animals, posters, a mirror, even photographs - I have not seen these things in a long time. I hang up my mirror and look in it. My big eyes with long lashes seem darker than normal. I stare at myself. I think about today. I think about the panic I felt this morning. About the amount of words I have said today. Wait. This morning. The boy. Wait. Were his eyes...brown? I inhale too quickly and it makes me dizzy. I think back harder, but the harder I think the more unsure I get. Brown. What even is brown? How did I...How do I know...This has to be a trick. I stare one more time in my own eyes. No. Definitely grey. As everything else. I am just imagining things. I look around me. Never has anything felt more calming than all the different grey-tinted objects around me.

'Sarah, sweetie, dinner!' I hear.

After a few minutes I go down. On my way to an enormously awkward dinner.

That had been no lie.

John was chewing on his potatoes with open mouth almost all the time, spitting it out whenever he spoke to my sister. He hardly spoke to me. I do not blame him. I also don't want to talk to him, we're quitte. My sister tried to have a conversation with the both of us together, but no such thing happens in this universe. After the dishes I am always assigned to do, I jolt upstairs before my sister catches me. With my door locked I continue losing myself in cleaning my room and books.

This was the first part of Selcouth...I hope you enjoyed it! Tomorrow there will be a new chapter. Sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, English is not my native language. Thank you for reading it! Xoxo