in time // h.s.

i. harry

Nine years old...

It was during the incredibly difficult task of deciding whether a green or blue crayon was best for the fur of my kitty cat drawing (a very important decision and not one to have been made lightly) that I noticed her. She was looking around the classroom with her big, light brown eyes. Her cheeks and nose were rosy due to the frosty February air and her brunette ponytail hung loose at the crown of her head, making wisps of hair fall out in front of her face softly along with her not-so-straight fringe above her doe eyes. Her school uniform, the same as every girl in class (which was the same as us boys, except we wore trousers) was way too big for her. The navy pleated skirt hung way past her knees, the sleeves of the white t-shirt reached her elbows, and the black knit vest with our school logo fit her like a mini dress. Both her tiny hands were clutching onto her green book bag so tightly her knuckles seemed to whiten with the strain, while her lips were pursed together as though she was trying to stop herself from crying. She was visibly squirming in her new surroundings, which wasn't too surprising since the majority of the class had stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

The school principal was behind her with one hand placed gently on her left shoulder. "Sorry to interrupt your class Miss Val, but you have a new student."

"Oh, how lovely! Come on sweetie, I'll show you to your desk, we've just started art class," our form teacher, Miss Val, who was a pure kind soul that always beamed with happiness and glee, said as she showed her to her new desk. Which unfortunately was the last and least wanted desk in the class. The desk closest to the class toilet. Not only were you stuck all the way in the back and seemingly far away from everyone else, but every now and then, if someone decided to go for a number two in the loo, you'd get a good whiff of it. Occasionally the smell lingered for a couple of hours too. It was pretty gross.

She silently followed Miss Val and with a shaky hand swept the falling pieces of hair behind her ear as she sat down. I'd wanted to go to her then. I wanted to make her feel welcomed so she didn't feel so alone. But my timidness held me back, making me resist the urge. Instead, I continued to sit and stare at her like the rest of the class that wasn't too occupied on their works of art.

"Have you got the green crayon?" asked Matty, my best friend who sat to my right every day. We were inseparable. Had been since our mums met in the local grocery shop when we were still in our prams and sucking on our thumbs, promoting them to meet up daily for tea, biscuits and some light relief from baby chatter. They'd reveled in having another adult to talk to after months of just Matty or me for company while our dads were out at work. According to my mum, Matty handed me a single gummy from his pack of Haribo gummy bears on that first day, and that was it. Firm buddies for life. Well, they do say it's the simple things in life, right?

Sat at our desk, I flustered at his question. I hadn't decided whether to use green or blue for my kitten's fur, but ended up giving him the green crayon anyway. It no longer mattered, I was more focused on the new arrival. My kitten could wait.

"What you staring at?" Matty asked, brushing his ginger hair out of his eyes.

I said nothing but his beady blue eyes followed the direction of my gaze.

"Who's that?" He asked.

Matty lowered his newly acquired crayon back onto our desk and joined me in staring at the newbie.

"Dunno," I answered.

We didn't say a word after that. We just sat and watched as she started to take supplies out of her green book bag.

"Okay, everyone," boomed Miss Val, clapping her hands together as she demanded our attention. "I'd like you to say a warm good morning to your new classmate, Janet. She has just moved to the area from the states."

Everyone's eyes seemed to widen as we all murmured a, "Good morning, Janet." Even though that was a trick we'd been trained to do since our first day there at Hermitage Primary School and had to do every morning since to our teachers, I thoroughly enjoyed saying good morning to Janet Breuer on her first day.

I watched as she looked up while we chorused in her direction, and was left stunned when her eyes found mine for a tiny second. My cheeks suddenly sprang to life and I felt them lift into a huge goofy grin. She smiled nervously before her gaze fell next to me for a second and then back down to the paper in front of her on her desk, her cheeks blossoming into a deeper shade of pink. I turned to Matty to see that he was wearing the same silly grin as I was.

At lunchtime Matty and I wasted no time in going over to Janet and saying hello. Even though it did take me a couple of inner pep-talks before Matty finally dragged me in her direction. We took her to the dinner hall and sat down in our usual table (where we munched on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the shape of a star and dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets) and gathered as much information as we could about the girl we'd decided would be our new friend.

Our hearts almost exploded when she revealed she lived around the corner of our houses. We both looked at her with open-mouthed grins, not believing our luck, as we wondered how soon we'd be able to knock on her door for her to play outside with us.

It would be fair to say we became instantly aware that Janet possessed something different to any other girl we'd ever met, something that had us spellbound from our first glimpse of her nervous frame as the class's new girl. She just had this aura about her, this unexplainable quality that drew us in like two obedient puppy dogs.

Not a single part of me wanted to fight against that attraction. I was happily won over. Immediately smitten.