Leaving London

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Two days drag past, disappearing in a wave of visiting the local town to buy school uniform, and hanging out in the pool. My new school wear is a lot different to what it was back in England. The girls have to wear a short-sleeve shirt, combined with a black skirt, skin-coloured tights and black shoes. I pick out some cute suede slip-ons from New Look, adorned with lacy flowers around the toe. They're adorable.

On Friday, I realise I have almost spent the whole week without messaging my friends. I pop up to Kayla, Eve and Amy - chatting about school (apparently things are dull without me), and I also message Alfie, and I text Lara and Mia to ask if they want to meet up at the beach.

They do, so I pull my hair into a tight ponytail and head off down to the bay. I'm dressed in a ruffled skirt and a plain white crop top, beach wear, so when I find them sitting on the steps, not the sand, I drape a towel out and drag them down onto the shore. There's nothing more luxorious and calming than the feeling of soft, silky sand feeding through your fingers, but then again, it can be a nuisance. Within moments it has already stuck to every inch of my beach towel, and gathered between my toes uncomfortably.

I pass round the handful of Twix's I managed to smuggle from the kitchen cupboard, and they're a bit gritty from the sand, but none of us mind.

"So, what's your school like then?" I query, "I mean, is it really strict?" I can just imagine the new school being overruled with regulations and harsh limitations. That would be horrendous.

"Not really! I mean, the lessons are boring, but it can be a laugh. The teachers are just normal I guess." Lara says, flicking a piece of lightened hair behind her shoulder.

"Anyway, you should be fine. We'll help you settle in and find your way around!" Mia promises me, popping a chunk of caramel smothered chocolate into her mouth.

"Thanks guys," I smile, relieved, "Do you two get the bus to school as well?" In the information we had received through the post, we were told that Jake and I were to catch the 405 bus from the bottom of our driveway, at 8:20.

I discover that Mia gets the same bus, and she tells me that she usually sits next to her boyfriend, but will now sit next to me. I thank her graciously, grateful that I'll have someone to talk to on the way to school. It used to be Kayla and me, wandering along the early, empty streets; sharing a strawberry lace or gossiping, but now...I choke down another bite of my Twix to force those memories away. I mentally promise myself that I'll make some time to Skype call her soon.

"How much homework do you usually get a day, then?" I ask, seemingly firing query after query at Lara and Mia, "In England I usually had maybe a piece a day, sometimes two." Mia and Lara share a look, raising their eyebrows.

"Well, it's more than that, I guess you could say." Mia fidgets, picking at the hem of her shirt as if she's completely bored. Which she probably is. I've never really seen her being very enthusiastic around us.

"As in, occasionally four pieces a day." Lara whines.

"Four?" I ask doubtfully.

"Yup. That's only on a really bad day, though. If you think that's bad, you should see our schedule. Double swimming. More like double torture." Lara curses, hand mushing into the sand, "Have you found out which form you're in yet?"

"I can't remember. It said my form room was Maths4, though! Is that your room?"

"Yeah! Yay, that's so lucky!" Lara beams. Mia just sits there, content with soaking up the sun. Lara nudges her back into reality.

"You guys wanna go down to the water?" I say, looking longingly at the refreshing aqua waves rolling over in the distance. The days are slowly dripping and blending into summer, with the heat just increasing and increasing. The beach is perfect for the heat spells, because the water is always cool enough to go and splash around in and relax in.