Infurion

Chapter Five

Staring at myself in the mirror I realize just how much weight I've lost since that night, my tall, slim body looks awkward and unnatural. After smoothing out my blouse and skirt I make an effort to do my hair in a slicked back ponytail, having the hairs off my face makes my cheekbones look sickly hollow. 

I quickly glance at my watch to see that I have ten minutes until the bus comes, I slump down the stairs and towards the kitchen to eat some cocoa pops. I finish and rinse my plate in the sink then quickly fling my backpack over my shoulder, I let out a grunt as the bag whacks me hard in the back. 

"Mum I'm going now," I shout. She comes racing down the stairs and pulls me in for a hug, after a quick peck on the cheek I'm running out the door towards the bus stop up the street. I stand next to a tall boy with light blonde hair, he turns to me and says, "you catching the bus to St Evanston." I'm immediately drooling over his Scottish accent. I stare wide eyed and nod, he looks me up and down then asks, "you new?" I nod again, "do you talk?" my face turns the colour of crimson and I shyly look away. 

Once I've found my voice again I turn to face him, "yes, I'm just nervous." He looks at me shocked, "you're French?" "Yes, is there something wrong with that?" "No I think it's hot." My face turns back to the darkest shade of red and I look down at my feet. "I'm sorry, let's start over. My name's Leon, and you?" "Addison," I mumble. "Sorry love didn't catch that," my heart flips when he calls me that. "Addison," I say louder this time. "Oh, pretty name for a pretty girl." I nervously laugh then the bus pulls in to save me.

Everyone stares at me as I walk down the aisle, I find an empty seat and slide into it. Leon sits down beside me and flashes his beautiful white teeth, "do you mind?" I shake my head then look up to see a few people still staring at me. I start to slump further down the seat until I can't see past the chair in-front of me, Leon has his headphones on by then and is off in his own little world. 

Finally we stop just outside the school gates and I stare in amazement at the massive buildings, I hop off the bus and start to slowly walk to the entrance when I hear, "hey new girl." I turn around to see a short girl with long platinum blonde hair bouncing towards me, "hello," I say as cheerfully as I can. "Wow, where are you from?" "France," I say a small smile pulls at my lips. "Cool, what's your name?" "Addison." "Nice to meet you Addison, my name's Sophia but you can call me Phia if you like." "Okay."

I sign in at the office and get directed to my class, as I open the door everyone falls silent and stares at me. "Ahh, you must be Addison," says the teacher excitedly, "Yes." "Well class, this is our new student Addison Moreau, she has come all the way from France." She points to a seat and continues with the lesson, a few students stare at me but I stare at one in particular. Her shoulders are hunched and she's staring intently at her book, I walk past her and take a seat. I feel a light tap on my shoulder and I swing my head around to see Sophia sitting behind me waving, her skin almost seems to glow with light.

The bell goes for lunch and when I walk out there is a stampede in the hallway, I decide to stay in the classroom until it clears up. Sophia bounces up to me holding the straps of her purple bag, her many keychains jingle with each step. "Come on, we'll never get a seat if we don't leave now," she says pulling my arm as we join the crowd, I peer behind her to see the girl packing up her things.

After getting our food we look around trying to find an empty table then I spot a small one in the middle. We fast walk towards it and plop ourselves down onto the hard plastic seats. I pick at my food, it's nothing like what we get in France, "what's wrong?" Sophia asks, her mouth full of stale bread. "It's just nothing like what we got in France," I say with a laugh. "Why'd you move to London then?" She questions. 

After a few minutes of explaining, I've finished my story, she stares at me before saying, "wow, that's quite the story you got there." I shrug and we continue to eat and talk. The whole time we're sitting there I keep quickly glancing at the girl hunched over her book. After Sophia's finished talking I ask her, "who's that girl over there," she turns around then looks back at me. "Oh that's Evelyn Williams, she doesn't talk much." "Lets go say hi," I say. She stares at me like I'm stupid, "are you kidding, I told you, she doesn't talk."

I make my way through the maze of tables and sit down opposite to Evelyn, "hi I'm Addison." She slowly looks up from her book and as her eyes meet mine I see that they're a weird misty grey. "Hi," she says confused. Even though I already knew I asked her, "what's your name." "Evelyn," she reluctantly mumbled back. "Nice to meet you," by this time Sophia had already sat down beside me and she decided to say something. "I'm Sophia," she says with a toothy smile, "but you can call me Phia." The conversation that followed was awkward but I could tell she enjoyed our company. 

After school they both came to my house and as soon as we walked through the door, mum was there introducing herself to my new friends. Eventually we go up to my room and once they finish marveling at the view we sit down on my bed. We talk for a few hours and log each others numbers into our phones then when we get bored we go and get popcorn and watch a movie in the living room.

Mum brings us dinner half way through so we sit there gobbling up our delicious meals while intensely watching the movie. Once it's finished their parents pick them up and me and mum talk about my day and my friends. "Jeez mum, calm down. I'm pretty sure he's popular, why would he like me." Her response was pretty typical from a mother, "because you're pretty." I roll my eyes and go back to my room to text them, when I switch on my phone I get a Facebook notification, I click on it and wait for it to load.

My jaw drops as I read that Leon Turner as sent me a friend request, without hesitation I go to click accept but my finger brushes decline and the option disappears. My heart sinks as I'm forced to send him a friend request, in a few seconds he's accepted and he sends me a messaged saying "hey." I respond with "sorry I accidently clicked decline and had to send you a friend request." "It's fine," he says. We continue to talk for the next hour or two and before I know it my clock beeps signaling that it's midnight. We say our goodbyes and I lie there smiling, butterflies flutter around in my stomach and I dream about Leon.