Tales of Aridia

Robyn Jones

I stared blankly out of the fogged window into the hills that lapped over eachother as we drove out to school, The glass drenched in condensation and smoke. A few small houses lay scattered outside on the hills, many of which were for farmers.  I fidgeted with my fingers, incessantly worrying about school. That was the low point of my day, continuously driving over what seemed to be the same bit of land. I gazed around at the people sat amongst me, they were all silent. Everyone staring out of the window like myself. No one looked at eachother. It felt lonely in the mornings, like there was nobody to talk to.

The bus finally halted and two girls clambered on like animals. One sat next to me and the other behind. It was Lucy and Hope. I had known both since I was little, I reflected on the days where we would play out in the fields with not a care in the world. How times changed.

Hope was a bright sunny girl. Her personality shined and so did her looks. Her beautiful long blonde hair and blue eyes tinted with green.  Lucy, on the other hand seemed to do the opposite. Her eyes were dull and dark, her personality repelled those who spoke to her. Lucy and Hopes friendship was unlikely, but due to Hopes never ending loyalty they stayed inseparable. When I looked at Lucy I saw nothing, just those black eyes. I could never tell if she was upset, and neither could Hope.

"Hey Robyn!" Hope stammered as she sat gasping for air. Lucy say silently behind us.  "What's wrong with her?" I whispered to Hope in the delusion that she would have even the faintest clue. "I don't know, she's been like that all morning, it's fine, don't worry about it." Hope replied. I flashed a pair of sorrowful eyes at Lucy through the crack in the two chairs but she shrugged them off and continued staring out into the abyss. Hope nudged me with her shoulder and I turned my attention to her.

I jumped as Hope chucked a book onto my lap. Her eyes screamed with enthusiasm. I searched for a title but there was none that I could see. "There's no title," I said to Hope. She sighed and snatched the book from my lap, "look closer."

I kept looking and finally realised what she meant. "There is a title you see? it's not letters, it's a title entirely made of pictures." The pictures seemed ancient, I had seen nothing like it before. "Where did you find this?" I asked curiously.

"I found it outside my house, I looked to see if anyone had left it but the street was silent." She explained. I followed the engravings with my finger, tracing every symbol. "You seem particularly interested in this," Hope said with a chuckle and wave of her hair. "You should keep it, I'm not that into stuff like that anyway." Hope said. I passed the book back to Lucy to see if she was somewhat interested but she continued to stare out the window.

Hope shrugged with little compassion, which was unusual for such a caring and lovable person.

The bus made its final destination at our school and we loaded off. The sun broke through the clouds and I felt rays of warmth beam through my eyelids. Hope and Lucy followed closely behind, but soon enough Lucy walked off into the vast crowd not batting an eyelid to either of us. "We should talk to her." I clearly stated to Hope. She was starting to sense the frustration in my voice and spoke calmly to me, "we can speak with her later, just concentrate on school for now," she gave that sweet smile that made me forget everything and I agreed with her .

"You're right, I should probably get to maths now anyway." I said. I whisked myself away waving to Hope and headed east to the maths department. I was just about to enter the block when I felt someone tap my shoulder, I jolted suddenly. Turning around I was startled and surprised to see a new fad staring at me.

He grinned and smiled at me. I stood there without speaking for a few awkward moments before I finally spoke. "So are you new here to London, or have you transferred from a school nearby?" I asked, intrigued. "Oh no, definitely not, I used to live quite far away." He said. His voice was warm and inviting, I decided to walk with him for a while, I had a few minutes to spare.

We laughed and talked for a few gleeful seconds before we were told to scatter. I turned to leave when he ran back in front of me holding a book, "I think this is yours," he said holding the book out to me, I took it thankfully slightly embarrassed. Once again I was about to leave when he spoke some final words.

"The scriptures on the cover, do you know what they mean?" He asked me doubtfully. "No, how should I know that?" I asked. "It translates to the tales of Aridia, I learnt it a very long time ago." He told me with wide eyes. I didn't understand what that meant, but he seemed to know what he was talking about. "I'm sorry, what was your name again?" I asked.

"Max, I'll catch you later Robyn." He winked and walked off into oblivion.

Max had a charm I couldn't resist, however how he knew my name still baffled me. I whisked myself off to maths with a bounce in my step, and a smile that gleamed brighter than the sun.

I attempted to sneak into the maths lesson without our teacher realising how dangerously late I was. Unfortunately, it never worked and I was immediately sent for a detention at lunch. "Where have you been Robyn, I'm sure the class would love to hear about your adventures." There was a sly appearance in his face and he grinned at my efforts of trying to sum up an excuse for my late arrival. He knew exactly what he was doing. I could not force and answer out of my mouth despite my efforts. He laughed and turned to the class, opening up the discussion to the rest of my classmates. I tried to walk to my seat but he struck his arm out and continued talking.

"I'm sure somebody else here has some idea of where Robyn was?" The teacher said slyly. Jessica struck her arm up like a lightning bolt and in her smug attitude she stood and said, "I saw her exchanging kisses with the new boy sir." She turned to me, smiled gave a curtseyed in her little black skirt.  I flashed my eyes at her coldly but she just flicked her grey hair in my direction.

Flustered, I hurried to my seat amongst the huddle of laughter. However, I definitely wasn't the girl to sit quiet. I coincidentally happened to be best friends with his greatest weakness. As the room fell silent I stood up in the way Jessica did. I glared at her and gave a smile before facing the teacher again.  "How would Hope feel about this sir?" I asked. He turned around and gulped at the sound of her name.  "She's such a loving person, she would be distraught if she found out about her fathers latest behaviour, especially if it was to one of her best friends."

He said nothing and so I kept talking till his face flushed red and you could see the anger building up inside him. "You are her father-aren't you?" I asked. 

The teacher lugged his overweight body over to me, breathing heavily and with frustration. "I advise you stay quiet Robyn Jones, I can make your life very hard."  He said, trying to frighten me with his tone of voice and looming body.

I slowly bowed down to curtsey and did not show any sign of dead I his stare.  Jessica huffed and slumped back into her chair. There was momentary silence. And then, I heard a slight chuckle in the corner of the classroom.  20 heads turned in that direction and I could finally see who it was. Max covered his face but you could still hear the copious amounts of laughter he was creating.  This travelled throughout the room and one by one other people were laughing too. I finally felt good about myself.

Our teachers very weary face dropped and frustration began to grow over his bushed eyebrows. He attempted to speak but the laughter drowned out any noise he made. He stormed out of the class like a two year old having a tantrum, which only caused an upheaval of laughter.  Other teachers were entering to see what the commotion was all about, and soon enough they started laughing too.

The bell rang for us to file out of school. We left our classes and scuttled off to leave. Surprisingly I was greeted by Max. His blonde curly hair fell in front of his face and you could instantly tell he was smiling through his coral eyes, they stood out like diamonds and they were by far his brightest feature. I was utterly bewildered at this new, interesting and strange boy who had come and taken such interest in me.

"Let me walk you home!" He said excitedly. I leapt at the opportunity to talk to Max and find out more about him. He had such a comforting aroma. I felt safe when he was around. I followed contently behind his shoulder not knowing that in that day I had created a lifelong friend.