Know your secrets

Chapter 2: True crime

  Heather

'You'll be okay sis.' Lucas is giving his best attempt at comforting me but he is clearly more focused on finishing his bowl of cereal. 

I give him a nod but in reality I am not paying attention to him either. My eyes fixated on a group of 14 year olds in balaclavas aimlessly riding around the neighbourhood. This is suburbia; where did you even find the balaclavas and where are your parents?

My spoon drops onto my bowl as one of the kids looks me in the eye. I immediately look away and focus on my brother butI'm still trying to catch a glimpse from the corner of my eye.

'Lucas come on you're taking too long to eat let's go we'll be late.' I said fixing up my new school uniform. Gosh, I cannot get used to it. 

First day at the new school.

I shot Lucas a concerned look before watching him disappear into the crowd. He's only carrying his backpack on one shoulder, his steps quick and upbeat almost like he's dancing with joy. Why can't I be more upbeat? Instead, I walk keeping my head down, wallowing in a slow and steady pace filled with self doubt and reservation.

You can do this. I mutter under my breath before entering what looked more like a jungle. You'd think a girl like me, who has transferred from one school to the other her entire life would have been used to this by now. Well, not really. 

A symphony of metal lockers opening and closing is starting to form the moment I step in. Beside me is a group of girls greeting each other, one of them has brought Starbucks so in good old fashioned stuckupism , everybody is screaming simultaneously. Hey, I know we said it's 2022 but some things never change. As I dive deeper into the hallway another group of kids is discussing the impact of meat on our planet. You think importing your millions of avocados on planes every hour doesn't impact the planet? I thought to myself.

I'm not sure where I'm supposed to be heading, but stopping in the middle of the hallway as the new girl would be quite embarrassing so I'd rather aimlessly roam until someone takes pity on me. 

There's a light tap on my shoulder. There's that pity student, perfect timing. 

I turn around to meet a petite girl with light ginger curls and eager blue eyes. She adjusts a piece of hair behind her curls and extends her hand to greet me. She must be a cheerleader - she's got a very approachable aura to her. 

'Hi! I'm Madison! You must be Heather right?' She says with a bright smile. She's definitely a cheerleader, she cannot sit still for a minute. Swinging her hands and hips from side to side, she proceeds to explain how Principal Gerell told her I will be transferring schools today and as a member of the Student Council, she's here to make me feel as comfortable as possible on my big first day. 

The entire time I smiled politely. I'm sure she means well but she hasn't let me get a word in! My mind drifts off to the kids from this morning wearing the balaclavas. 

'This is a diagram of our high school to make sure you don't get lost' She paused. 

'I'm doing it again, aren't I?' She gave me a self conscious laugh. 'Sorry this is probably a lot to process in one day' 

'Don't worry about it, I'm actually thankful.' I said revealing a gentle smile. 

'Great! And your first subject is...? '

'American History' I say in a flat line.

'That'll be classroom B.' She's pointing it out on the diagram and hallway for me just in case. Her ginger hair so naturally beautiful it was distracting. Almost mesmerising, she looked like a siren. A nice siren who helped me on my first day. Well in reality she's probably just a cheerleader with a main character complex but what do I know. I'm thankful to her though.