Murder at School

First day of year 10!

Beep! Beep! Beep!
I slammed my hand on the 'snooze' button of my alarm, rolling over in bed. Yawning, I sat up in bed, then rubbed my eyes. Why had I set my alarm so early on a Wednesday? I thought, sleepily, before I remembered: it was the first day of school.
But not just any year; year 10, which meant GCSE year. Knowing this, I leapt out of bed, throwing the pretty patterned duvet aside. It was six-thirty; I catch the seven-forty-three bus. That means I have an hour to get ready and eat before I need to leave my house.
First I went to the toilet and splashed some cold water on my face; then I had a quick shower, blow-drying my hair afterwards.
Next I got dressed into my uniform. It looked like it was going to be a hot day, so I didn't bother with a jumper. I put some music on as I brushed through my hair, putting it into my typical french plait. Finally, before going downstairs, I grabbed my phone, blazer and bus pass and stepped out of my room.
As I left, Summer caught up and together we headed down the hill to the bus stop. I couldn't wait to find out what form I'd be in, nor wait to see all my friends again-especially Alexander. Over the summer holidays I'd been away, and when I got back he'd gone to Spain, so I couldn't hang out with him at all. Instead I met up with the others, including Danny and Ivy, regularly. Since last year's...events they began hanging out more and more, and they've been dating each other ever since.
It's similar for Alexander and I, except he asked me right off the bat. As for Miska and Griska, they now sit with us at lunch, which Melody and Summer are happy about.
Once we got to school, we went straight to the main hall, and found out that we were in the same form: 10A. I skimmed through the other names on that list and saw other people that I know, but none of our good friends were. Turns out Alex is in 10E; Danny and Ivy are in 10B; Melody and May are in 10C and Hartness is with April in 10D.
When I got to the bottom of the list, there was one name-Brooklyn-I didn't recognise-and neither did Summer-and then my heart sank.
The last two names were Saffron and Tazmin. Why them? I thought to myself. They were the two bullies of my class in primary school, and have kept that reputation alive for years. As much as I hate to admit it, they are beautiful. And smart, very smart. And they know it. In primary, they were top of every class, and used this as an excuse to be mean to anyone who wasn't 'at their standard'. If you'd just met them, you'd definitely say they're lovely, a delight to know. But their first impressions aren't true... Quite the opposite, in fact.
"Our form room is the middle French room upstairs," Summer noted as she lead me out of the hall and up the stairs whilst informing me (rather annoyed by it) that our form tutor is Madame Pují. That was great news, for me, since she's my favourite teacher and doesn't take any nonsense from anyone. Guess it won't be too bad having Tazmin and Saffron in my class, after all, I thought as we turned the corner onto the corridor that lead to the French rooms.
When we got outside the room, Summer gently pushed open the door, revealing the typical classroom. Sure enough, Tazmin and Saffron were there, right at the front of the room, already picking on someone. Everyone else stayed at a distance from them, at the edges of the room. I sighed, stepping forward: I had put up with them before, I could do so again.
"Back off, guys," I rolled my eyes as I stopped directly behind them. They stood up straight to face me. It was only bow that I got a good look at who they'd been crouched over: a pretty, golden-haired girl with small lips, blue eyes and rosy cheeks that shone from her tanned complexion.
"Well, well. If it isn't Christmas," drawled Tazmin. "Trying to save the new girl? How thoughtful of you." 'The new girl'?
"Why should we 'back off'?" Saffron mocked.
"Leave her alone or else," I said, trying to sound threatening.
"Oh no, Saffron-I'm so scared! Or else!" Tazmin hid behind her, acting it out, before standing back up and ending the sarcasm. "Or else what?"
"Or else I'll spread a disgusting rumour about you two," I hissed.
"Yeah right!" laughed Saffron, crossing her arms in front of her. "You're too nice, as if you'd do something like that!"
"Don't count on it, Saffron." She flicked her lovely long ponytail majestically as they finally slinked back to their seats (at the back of the room, of course) as we sat next to the golden-haired girl.
"You must be Brooklyn," I smiled, holding out my hand. "I'm Christmas, and this is my friend, Summer."
"Yeah, I am. I'm the new American transfer student," she said, shaking my hand, warmly, with her rough one. I noticed that her nails were dirty and small and her accent was rather strong. "Thank you for standing up for me against those girls."
"No problem, they're awful!" I laughed, lightly. She nodded, shyly, before asking us what GCSEs we were doing.
"We're both doing Art, DT and History, but I'm doing German whereas Christmas is doing French," explained Summer.
"I'm doing French, Art, History and Chinese." I looked at Summer, worried. "What?" Brooklyn asked, innocently.
"It's nothing really, but those two-Tazmin and Saffron-are doing Chinese as well," I replied, soothingly. I saw her heart drop. This was going to be a fun year...