Chasing Sunsets

Being a good Tour Guide - Amber

"Great!" I beam at Mr Beddow. "When can we start?" Kayla sighs theatrically beside me.

*

After begging and pleading for a couple of minutes Mr Beddow gives us each a pass to be excused from lessons for an hour. I can barely contain my excitement. It'll be a mini Adventure! I've been at Comprehensive for four years now, and still there are so many places I haven't been. If we're lucky we might get lost. I ponder on where to start my tour, end my tour, and whether I should play it cool, or just be myself. I don't want to scare her. I stop my train of thought for a moment and sneak a peek at Esther. She's looking at the door of my Form room. And her's, I remind myself. She 's looking a bit pale, maybe more so than newbies usually do, in fact she's swaying a little on her feet. She looks so vulnerable and sad- like she'll never smile again, I hate seeing melancholy people and not being able to help them. But you can help her. I brighten at the thought. I will help her. I will make her smile again. I promise. I turn to my companions and smile until my cheeks hurt. I feel so sorry for people who have their faces Botoxed, I'd much rather be really wrinkly with laugh lines and crinkles at the corners of my verdigris eyes than not be able to smile. I quickly introduce myself, Kayla, and Katy. Esther nods at us in greeting. And we start our tour. With Kayla moping, groaning and trudging, Katy showing a mild interest, and Esther nodding at appropriate inter pauses.

I try to make things seem more interesting for her, but I'm not feeling very creative today, and why sugar coat it? She's already been enrolled in our school so she can't really leave. Instead I get Kayla and Katy to do some talking too. Katy responds with ease, pointing out some historical facts and more. But when I nod at Kayla to do the same she just looks at me as if I'm insane. I suppose I am, but not for the same reasons. She stumbles and stutters over her words. I know talking to new people is hard for her, despite her almost tough and confident appearance, she's got a really kind heart. But people don't care enough to find out. That's what I mean when I said 'maybe she's one of us' because we value hearts much more than appearance. Not, that we ourselves are ugly people though, in fact some people would classify the pair of us a cute. I blame my short height and Kayla's shy issues that make her blush beet red. God I sound so cheesy. We don't always hang out with Katy, but she's a close friend.

"Wow." Esther says suddenly. I look around for a moment, searching for what was worthy enough in our battered old school to catch her attention. My eyes rest on the colourful Mural of the Monmouth Skyline with a sunset in the background that me and Kayla helped design and paint during a 'Improving Our School' club session we joined last year. We still go because it's full of fun activities. Not because we can actually fix our school's appearance, everyone knows the buildings have been abused way too far to really bother. But we do it anyway. The club must've been a final act of desperation for our old head teacher before he left. Miss Cofer rules the school now. I think she's alright, though I've never had much of a conversation with her to tell. I tell Esther about 'Improving Our School' and as much as I know about Miss Cofer with the help of Kayla and Katy. "You should join IOS club." I say to her. "Uh, okay?" she says it like a question. I wonder if I'm scaring her. I really hope I'm not, I don't think I'm intimidating because I look too much like a young child. Sometimes I make faces at myself in the mirror to see if I can be intimidating. But all I see is a small face with bright bluey green eyes and a spattering of freckles across the nose. A child. Just out of curiosity I ask her "Am I scaring you?" I can hear Kayla and Katy laugh at me from behind, and I can see Esther suppress a half smile too. "Do you want me to be scared?" She asks deflecting my question with a question of her own. I answer after a thoughtful pause. "Nope." We're almost at the food hall now. So we decide to end the tour there. It's strange. Esther doesn't seem desperate for a friend at all, and yet she seems so lonely and tired of life. Don't worry Esther we'll fix you up. What's that expression again? Taking someone under their wing! I'm so engrossed in my thoughts that I crash into someone. Hard. "Ow!" I let out a small squeal. Luckily Kayla steps forward and catches me before I fall. My cheek's starting to hurt where I knocked it on something bony. I grimace just as the person turns around. Peter Castor. He grins lazily at us and says "Amber! You should watch where you're going next time cuz you might not be lucky enough to bump into me again." Stupid self-centred idiot. I doesn't help that he's incredibly attractive either. I open my mouth to retaliate but Kayla speaks before I do. "C'mon he's not worth it, besides we've still got to finish the tour." I glance at Esther who had watched the exchange patiently and silently. "Okay." I glare daggers one more time before we leave. "Who was that?" Esther asks curiously. "An arthropod." She almost smiles. I wonder why she restrains herself? Doesn't everyone want to laugh and smile? I re-correct my promise from earlier, setting myself a higher target. I will make sure Esther laughs and smiles again. I'll make sure she remembers the fun in doing those two simple actions.

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Authors' Note

Hi readers! Creative juices were low today- even with people to bounce ideas off of. So sorry if this one wasn't as good as the other Amber chapter

Love K, K, C and A x