Cracks Within

Chapter 3

Monday 10th September 2007.

I can't remember the last time I was this nervous. I look at myself up and down in my Mom's mirror, fixing my black tie with a green crest. "I can't believe my baby is off to secondary school!" my Mom squeals, as she looks at me, nearly crying. "You look so grown up!" I smile nervously as I keep smoothing my hair down. Damn this frizzy mess. My first day at secondary school and I look ridiculous. It'll have to do, I think to myself. I grab my bag and run down the stairs where I'm greeted by my Mom, Dad and sister.

"Dad, stop fussing." I say with a touch of annoyance in my voice as my dad messed with my tie. They all look at me, beaming. I manage a grimace and with a swift movement, I'm at the front door, ready to leave. My Mom pulls me in for a tight hug "Mm! Good luck baby!" she says excitedly. She lets me go and I run to the bus stop, waving my hand above my head as I run.

On the bus, I start to panic. What if they don't like me, I think. What if they think I'm a freak? I look out the window, feeling miserable. The bus arrives at the school quicker than I expected it too and a flood of students pour out of the bus. I hold my bag to my stomach and walk towards the giant, plain building. Well, shit. This is horrible, I think miserably. I walk up the steps into a large, square playground with the school surrounding like a fortress. I look around me, terrified of what is in store for my first day. A prefect walks over to me and asks me if I am a Year 7. I nodded my head, and she tells me to follow her. As we walk across the playground, I notice that there are four distinct types of ties. All the ties are black but each with a different crest; red, green, gold and purple. I barely notice the prefect telling me that we have arrived. She coughed deliberately and it brings me back to earth. "Sorry." I mumble.

"It's okay. We're here. Sit in the Da Vinci house section" she says, in a stern voice. I blink.

"Da Vinci house? I don't know what that means." She looks at me with annoyance.

"Da Vinci is you house. Da Vinci is green, Einstein is purple, Beethoven is red and Shakespeare is gold." she says, in a bored voice. I mumble thank you and walk over to my section in the top far right of the hall, where a prefect is meeting and greeting.

"Hello! My name is Joe. I am one of the prefects for Da Vinci house. Your house now! Can I have your name please?" I stutter as I say my name.

"A-Anna Delaney" Joe smiles warmly at me.

"Don't be nervous." He says. "Please sit over here, Anna, on the end by Shakespeare house, the assembly will start soon."

A tall, well-built man walks onto the stage. The hall falls silence as he introduces himself. "Hello, year 7's and welcome! I am Mr. Robberts. I'm the headmaster here at Mindford Academy." I start to drift into my own mind as he carries on speaking. I look to my left and a couple of rows behind, I spot a boy. He looks just as nervous as me. He has short blond hair, a pale face and piercing green eyes. He looks over at me and I quickly look down at my legs, my face burning up. I muster all my energy into concentrating on what the headmaster is saying. Finally, after about an hour and a half, the assembly is over.

I leave the hall as quickly as I can, desperate for the Shakespeare house boy to not notice me. I look across the courtyard and I see the him staring at me. I only catch a glimpse of him as he ran into the building on his left. I shake this off and head to my first lesson: Religious Education. Fun. I look at my timetable which says: R.E Room T03.

I groan as I realise I'm going to have to ask someone for directions. Luckily, I see a man who looks like authoritative and run over. My instinct was right. As he turned around, I recognised him from our welcome assembly. He was the Headmaster. "Don't worry. It's just up the steps in the building behind you and it's the first classroom you see. Have fun!" he says cheerily. I follow his directions and sure enough, I'm outside my first lesson.