Gyfted

Part 14 - High School? Really?

The funerals take place the next day. We assume that Jonas is dead, because no one could survive out in the woods, alone. However, we never found the body. After Jonas ran away, Aris transformed back from Friday, so we buried him and Cassie, along with an empty coffin for Jonas. I never told anyone about the Cassie's conversation, the one I overheard. It's not my secret to tell.

The day of the funeral, we walk sombrely along the path. We decided to bury them in the garden. Everyone is wearing black clothes, and many of the girls are crying. I can't cry - I didn't like Aris, and after what I heard Cassie telling Jonas, I don't think I can like her very much either. The ceremony is short, and before I know it we are lowering the three coffins into the ground.
The next few weeks are quiet, and melancholy. We are all still in mourning, but trudge on through our training. The start of school is the only thing that keeps our spirits up. We have three weeks left and the prospect is exciting.

~ Wibbly wobbly timey wimey time skip ~

The morning of our first day of school, everyone is buzzing with excitement. I grab breakfast (even though I am still in my pjs) and take it back up to my room. I packed my bag last night, with my laptop and textbooks. We get given lockers today, so we have to bring all our books today. My phone arrived last night, so I am almost ready for my first day of school. I pick out some ripped black jeans, a white ribbed t-shirt and my denim converse. I need to make a good impression on my first day. Alliya comes into my room half an hour before we have to go and exchange timetables. Thank god, three out of my four periods are with her. The last one is visual arts.
Alliya walks with me to the bus, and we chat about what school will be like on the way. We are attending a public school called Rayce State High School. Apparently it is pretty different to most other schools in Australia, but that's okay with us- we're pretty different too. We aren't allowed to tell anyone about our gyfts, and we have to try not to use them in public, which sucks. The school is made up of a couple of white brick buildings clustered around an oval and some basketball courts. We all file out of the buses and walk in to the Reception building. Only Mrs Fenser, who is in charge of organising our introduction into school. The Prinicpal comes and gives a a talk about school morals and everything, and then takes us to our classes. There are so many of us that we had to be spread across four classes, so everyone in my class is dropped off first.
"Okay kids, here is 8B, with your English teacher, Mr Drew. I hope you will be happy here." Says Mrs Fenser. The teacher smiles thinly, and ushers us in. A group of kids around our age are sitting at desks, reading. Mr William closes the door behind us and tells us to take a seat.
"You got here just in time for reading. The book we're reading is The Hobbit, so grab a copy and start reading." He instructs us. Everyone walks over to the table with the books on it, but I put my hand up.
"Yes...." he asks.
"Emmi." I say. "And I've already read this book." He gives me a cold glare.
"Well, Emmi, I don't care if you've read this already. We are reading this for class and that's final!" He snaps. I mutter some unprintable words at him under my breath and slouch off to pick up a copy of the book. I can already tell that Mr Drew hates me.
The next class, Math, is much netter. The teacher is nice and very helpful, as we are behind on a lot of work, and catches us up quickly. But it doesn't last long. Before I know it, it's break time. Our school makes everyone sit in the hall for lunch, so most of us gyfted split up and huddle in the corners of the hall. I'm walking over to Alliya and my other friends when I bump into someone.
"Hey, watch where you're going, geek." The girl snaps at me. She's wearing a mini skirt and cropped t-shirt, and has a thick layer of makeup masking her features.
"Dude, don't worry about her, she's a stone-hearted barbie doll." Says a kid behind me. He walks up behind me as I make my way over to the other side of the hall.
"So you're new around here?" He asks.
"Uh.. yeah." I mutter. "Are you...sitting over here?"
"Am now." He smiles. "So, I have a very important question. Are you-"
"Sorry, I have to go." I apologise and step over a bag to my friends.
"I'll wait for you and ask you later, what do you have next?" He asks.
"Interior design." I tell him over my shoulder.
"Great, me too, see you there!" He shouts back.
"Who was that hot guy?" Alliya whispers.
"I don't know, actually. But you can have him." I blush and whisper back. We all gossip about what school has been like so far. Only Alliya, Wren and I are in the same classes so far, but we all seperate for our next class.
Lunch finishes, so I gather my bags and walk off to my next class, which is in a completely different building to the one my first few classes have been in. But I can't find the room, and I walk around for a few minutes until the guy from before leads me to the room.
"So, I didn't catch your name before?" He says.
"Oh, I'm Emmi." I say and hold out my hand.
"Brady." He says. He grabs my hand and shake sit enthusiastically. "So basically, Interior Design is basically just making floor plans and furnishing hypothetical rooms. Pretty fun, right?" I nod. The teacher sets everyone else working on their digital models and pulls me aside to run me through the basics.
"Right now we're working with a program called Obo, which lets you create houses or rooms on your computer and converts them into either a 3D printed model, or gives you the specifications to make yourself a miniature model." She explains, and shows me how to create my own. I have only just come up with the ideas and general layout of my first room when it is time for my final class - HPE. Since is has begun to rain outside, the coach ushers us all into the gym for a joint dodgeball lesson. Unfortunately, I am up against a class of really sporty kids, you know, jocks, TCs, whatever you want to call them. They're great at dodgeball and we end up getting whipped. However school ends on a high note, Brady finds me after class and asks me if I want to be his friend. Of course I say yes. I don't have any normal friends.
"Cool first day?" He asks.
"Yeah, it was pretty awesome." I reply. I see everyone else hopping on my bus and start jogging to catch up.
"Wait I still haven't asked you that question!" Brady calls.
"Tomorrow!" I yell back, and speed up, just, just in time to earn a disapproving glance from Mrs Fenser.