Life, Death, Imagination

Part 2

"Um... I'm Dawn" I said awkwardly; I was never very good with people. Jo was great at making new friends.

Ugh; I didn't want to think about Jo. About rejection.

"I'm new to this school; actually I'm new to this country!" I knew her accent sounded funny.

"Where are you from?" I asked being polite.

"Well... Lots of places! My family and I have been travelling for as long as I can remember" Wow! My biggest dream has always been to travel around the world. "Dawn, Do you want to be friends? Because I don't want to be a loner; being the new girl is bad enough!" I was astonished that anyone would want to be my friend.

"Sure!" I was unable to keep the joy out of my voice. "Hey, I've got a great idea! Why don't we meet up after school and I can show you around town!"

"Yeah that would be great! Let's compare class timetables and see if we're in each other's classes."

We looked at our timetables and it turns out that we have the same classes except English and science.

The bell rang and we walked off to our first class talking the whole way there. People gave us weird looks but I ignored everyone except Ashley.

The day passed as quick as a snap of fingers with Ashley by my side and suddenly it was lunchtime.

I saw Jo with some of her friends and I told Ashley that we had to go tell her about hanging out after school. Jo saw us approaching and tried to hide by kissing the guy closest to her. We walked up to her and I tapped her on the shoulder. She disentangled herself from the boy and looked me in the eye, she looked menacing.

"Dawn! What have I told you about embarrassing me!?"

The guy chuckled.

"Well I just needed to ask you something....."

"I don't care. I'm busy!" I could almost feel the annoyance radiating off of her

"Can I play with Ashley after school?"

"Whatever! Just leave me alone" She turned back to the boy. "Sorry, that was just my idiot sister."

I looked at her, stunned. Jo had never talked to me like that. She hadn't ever talked about me to one of her friends like that either. Or had she? How could I know? This was the first time I had ever gone to the same school as Jo. She could be all nice and sweet to my face and then as soon as my back is turned; she stabs it.

I told Ashley how I was feeling. She understood. I knew she would.

Finally there was someone like me.

The rest of the day didn't pass as fast as the morning did. First of all I had a class without Ashley, so I had to sit there all alone watching other people giggling and fooling around with their friends. Also I couldn't stop myself from thinking about what Jo had said...

"-Just my idiot sister"

"-Just my idiot sister"

"-Just my idiot sister"

Why couldn't I focus on nouns and prefixes or my upcoming English test? And not "my idiot sister"?

But, soon enough; the 'end of the day' bell rang and Ashley and I were free to do whatever we wanted. The bell rang whilst Mr. Walters (my health teacher) was still talking; I was half way out of class before I realised he hadn't dismissed us, everyone laughed. But it was all right because soon enough I would be with Ashley.

We met outside by the P.E sheds; I walked out of the school gates with a sort of confidence I had never experienced before. With Ashley's arm linked in mine I felt I could do anything.