Running Scared

"Elyssa!"

I roll over. The sheets, unfamiliar but comforting, hug my body. I have a definite feeling that something is meant to happen today, but the bed is so warm...

"Elyssa Mai Jackson, are you awake? I'm coming up there in 30 seconds..."

I groan, forcing my eyes open, and stare at the lavender ceiling. My room used to be the bluest blue you could imagine, the same colour as the sky, the bay windows pointing towards the sea. My room in this new house is small, the walls so close together I can touch both at the same time, the walls a sickly purple. No windows, apart from a small, smoke-stained skylight above my bed.

"Lissie!" Something small cannons into the side of me. "Lissie! Mom says get up!"

"Nina..." I push her away. "Nina, go away."

"You have to get up!"

I swing my legs over the side of my bed. "All right, all right."

Nina careers our the door, blonde hair swinging.

I rub my eyes and head downstairs, the house seeming smaller than yesterday. I can see all the rooms from standing in one place on the stairs: My bedroom. Nina's bedroom. Mum's bedroom. The kitchen, the bathroom, the sitting room. All tiny, all damp, all dirty from their previous owner.

I squeeze into the kitchen and sit down on a cheap, yellow-y wooden chair, behind the plastic table. My mother places a plate of toast before me.

"Eat."

I push it away. "I'm not hungry."

"Eat, Elyssa."

"No." I don't want the toast, the thin, Kingsmill affair - a cheap substitute for the fluffy white loaves my mother used to bake.

She sighs, her face closing over, like storms gathering over a blue sky. "Fine." She snatches it away. "I need you to take Nina to school."

"What?!" I frown. "I can't. She always takes forever to get ready, I'll be really late."

"Well, you'll just have to get her to hurry up. I have work."

"It's my first day, at a new school. I can't be late. I don't particularly want to walk into my new school with my kid sister in tow, either."

She ignores me, shakes her head in frustration. "The bus leaves at 8. Be ready to go."

I scrape back my chair as angrily as I can, storm upstairs to shower, and get dressed. I can't pick my clothes - this stupid English school has a uniform. It looks alright on me: White blouse, black skirt, red blazer, tights and black shoes. The list I got didn't specify what type of black shoes, so I reckon I can get away with black converse. I have to wear my hair up, so I pile my shoulder-length black hair into a bun, the bleached white ends whisping through. I swipe on some mascara and eyeliner - makeup is forbidden, but hey, I doubt they'll notice - and grab my bag, a vintage blue canvas bag, peppered with badges and doodles.

I stare at my reflection. Am I the same girl I used to be? I look different anyway. Tougher. Stronger.

Nina is slow getting ready, as per usual, so we have to run down to the bus stop and jump onto the bus just as it's about to pull away. There's a bit of a kerfuffle when I somehow manage to put in a dollar instead of 70 pence, and hold the whole bus up. Eventually, tickets in hand, we shuffle self-consciously up to the back of the bus. Nina sees our neighbour's daughter, Carrie, and goes to sit down next to her, which leads to me sitting down in the only free seat, next to a scary-looking blonde guy, with piercings all over his face and tattoos creeping up his arms.

I slide in next to him, ignoring his eyes wandering over my face, my hair, my bag. He pauses on the badge on my blazer.

"Northbury High, huh?" He asks, his voice deep with an Irish lilt.

I nod shyly.

He raises an eyebrow. "Are you new?"

"Uhm, yeah. I just moved from America, so..."

"You don't know anyone here, right?" He asks sympathetically. "I was in the same position about a year ago. I'm from Ireland, didn't know anyone here. I'm Niall," He changes track abruptly. "Niall Horan. Year 12."

I smile. "Elyssa Jackson. Year 11."

"Aw. Shame you're not in any of my classes, then." He grins.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

He chuckles. "You're quite the flirt, aren't you?! I just meant it might be nice for you to know someone there."

"Oh. No, I didn't mean-" I blush, inwardly cursing myself for being so awkward.

"Hey, it's alright. I was kidding." His eyes sparkle. "I'll see you around, Elyssa."

"Wha-" I look up to see the bus pulling up outside a white, squat prison-like building, red-coated teenagers buzzing around outside. "Is this-"

"Yeah. Looks like a prison, dunnit?" He grimaces.

I nod, and beckon to Nina, who skips up to me. Niall has already stepped out of the bus, and has started chatting to a bunch of people like him, adorned with metal in their faces and ink on their bodies.

I hustle Nina - "Stop fussing, I'm not a baby!" - into the grounds and watches as she runs off towards a group of other year fours when the bell rings. How are little kids so confident?! I wonder as I get sucked along with the crowd. Does all that confidence just get killed off in high school?

Hello and thank you for reading the first chapter! I will try to update at least once a week - until then, please:

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Ivy

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P.S. I know Niall doesn't really have tattoos or piercings - but in this story he does (: