Unique

Chapter One

Zoe

“Hannah! Where are you?” I could easily teleport to where she was, but it would look a bit strange for someone to randomly disappear out of the halls. She could tell I was going to call her anyway, she probably predicted it. Hannah strolled up the path.

“Here,” she said with a grin, “Have you seen Qwara?” I shook my head, my lips curving into a smile. Qwara knew what we were thinking. What everyone in the school was thinking. She knew that we were talking about her. Hannah closed her eyes briefly, predicting where she’d be next.  “She’s coming round the corner in 3… 2…”

“One. How was swimming? In tennis Mrs Lens thought I’d improved dramatically through the lesson. Do you want to know what Mr Kerns and Mrs Pott thought of you? Or maybe that would ruin the surprise. Maybe I should get Mr Kerns to let me come into swimming…” She saw the shocked looks on our faces and probably read our minds before hastily adding, “Guys. It was a joke. I wouldn’t really do that for two reasons. A: I’d probably drown, and B: Mrs Pott would probably wonder why they let me, of all people, into the swimming lessons when I can hardly swim two lengths of your end of your pool. Anyway, Zoe, Mrs Pott thinks that your hand should be more cupped when you swim, and Hannah, strong legs exert more strength, so she wants you to do 50 lunges per day, 100 on weekends,” and with that, she walked away, hurt. “Don’t follow me.” I knew the last bit was directed at me. My last thought was follow her.

I exchanged looks with Hannah. I thought about teleporting to her, but if she wanted me to stay away… That’s what I want. Please. I’ll see you in… English. I’ve got Spanish now anyway. You’ve got French. See you. Her voice echoed in my head. I sighed, Hannah opened her mouth to tell me where Qwara was, but I shook my head.

“Let’s go,” We slung our bags over our shoulders and started off towards the language block.

All through French I thought of Qwara, her sudden change of mood was not like her. At all.

A piece of paper was nudged into my hand as Hannah hurried past, handing out tests as she went. I could see her face twitch as she anticipated every kid’s next move so she could get the papers out as quickly as possible before returning to her seat. She dodged Tara’s arm as she swung round to get her pencil case out of her bag, hopped around Jenny’s spiteful foot which aimed to trip Hannah over. I opened the origami triangle in my hand and skimmed the contents before crumpling it and throwing it into the bin.

We need to meet up. I just had a vision of Mrs Readall signing a new boy to come to the school, but I can’t see any further. I don’t know how that happened. I’ll have to tell you about it, but trust me, it matters. I thought about meeting up and Qwara told me after school and we could walk home together. She also told me not to worry about our parents, and that she’d explain. Now don’t mark question 5 as ‘bonjour’ because it’s ‘bonne nuit’ don’t get it wrong or Madame Stuart might get more than a bit mad.

I scanned my paper and read the question. I raised my eyebrow. Why would I say that good night was hello? I swiftly wrote ‘bonjour’ and began the test from the beginning.

Once I finished the paper, I pushed it into Madame Stuart’s hand. She scanned the paper and turned briskly towards the front. All of the papers had been collected, and she had seen them all.

“Now, Zoe. You were happy with your results, no?” she spoke with her usual French accent, but I felt queasy. I was mostly on good terms with her, but her tone seemed almost mocking today. I thought I saw Hannah roll her eyes as I nodded.

“Well. Would you care to tell me what good night is in French?” And now, I felt like a complete and utter idiot.

Chapter Two