cigarettes & coffee / l.h.

one

- violet -

I took a deep breath as I followed the swarm of students through the heavy doors. A loud sigh slipped from my lips. School. After a year of homeschooling in Nepal, public school seemed a lot like the prison it is so often related to.

My eyes scanned the hall, searching through the familiar faces to find the only three I could actually stand. My mind was racing, I hadn't been this nervous for a long time. What if they didn't actually want to see me again? I had barely spoken to the three of them for basically the whole year I was gone.

I shook the anxious thoughts from my mind and began to make my way to the student office to get my locker details and timetable. While pushing through the dense crowd of teenagers, I heard a deep voice call my name. I frowned and tried to find the source of the voice, finally locking eyes with my old best friend.

He smiled when he had decided it was definitely me and practically sprinted towards me. I stayed standing, I couldn't believe this was Michael. A year can definitely change someone. His light brown fringe had disappeared and in it's place was red and black hair that looked messy, but the kind of messy that took time to perfect. Once he had reached me, he threw his arms around me.

"Are you really Violet Lily Walker?" He mumbled into my newly dyed hair.

I laughed and nodded, pulling away and taking in Michael's appearance. "And are you really Michael Gordon Clifford?" I raised an eyebrow as I spoke.

"Last time I checked." He smirked, before frowning. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?"

I looked down at my black Docs and shrugged. "I mean, we kind of lost contact last year.."

"Yeah, we did." Michael sighed and I faced him again. "But you're here now, so it's okay. God, you look so different."

"Have you seen yourself? It seems like I have been gone for a lot longer than a year." I muttered, smiling slightly.

"Oh, shut up. Come on, let's go find the others. They are gonna be so happy to see you!" Michael exclaimed. He was already pulling me up the corridor.

"Just wait, I need to go to the student office so pick up some first day stuff." I told Michael, wriggling my wrist out of his grasp. He nodded and followed me into the office.

"Wow, Violet Walker. It has been a while." Ms Low said, not sounding impressed by my presence at all.

"It has." I breathed. Ms Low and I had never gotten on very well, she was always the one informing my parents about me ditching school, or smoking out the back. I thought that was one of the reasons we went to Kathmandu in Nepal, my parents wanted me to change. That plan backfired for them, as being in one of the world's hippie capitals, it was even easier to get away with smoking and doing basically whatever I wanted while my parents were off taking photos.

Ms Low was holding a sheet of paper containing my locker details and timetable. I quickly took it from her bony fingers, not even bothering to thank her before meeting Michael at the door and walking back into the corridor.

"Ms Low still hates you." Michael stated simply. I look up at him and let out a laugh.

"Thanks for the first day back encouragement!" I said sarcastically. I didn't actually care what Ms Low thought about me, or what any of the teachers here thought about me.

Michael leaned over and looked at the paper in my hands. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a folded up sheet of paper, holding it up against mine.

"The only classes we have together are English and bio!" Michael pouted. "But your locker is in the same area as mine, Calum and Keira's!"

I nodded, I didn't really care where my locker was or who I shared my classes with. I hated school. I just had to get through this last year without causing too much trouble.