Suck It And See | A. Turner

[Chapter 3]

The children were loud and obnoxious, all chattering and boasting about what they'd done on their summer holidays. Jade too was on the bus, sat at the very front seat, alone. All she had to keep her company was her iPod, listening to an emulsion of Radiohead and The Strokes on repeat. The school bus soon pulled into the grand, church-like brick building, seemingly in the process of decay as ivy vines choked out chips of brick and moss was in the process of growing in the cracks. The children all rushed off the bus in a frenzy, passing by the grumpy, grumbling bus driver who sat in his chair with a slump.

Jade stood up once all the kids had flooded out. She stuffed her iPod and headphones into her bag and passed the grumpy bus driver. He looked sad, and not just because the summer was over. So, being the kind soul she was, Jade gave him a smile.

"Thank you. Have a good day, sir," she said. The driver was surprised at her acknowledgement, not many children took the time to talk to him. He smiled back at her and his entire face seemed too light up in a different ray.

"Yeh're very welcome, miss," he said.

Jade hopped off the bus and looked up at the harrowing, looming brick building. The fairgrounds were littered with boistering and bouncing kids ranging between the ages of 12-17, none of them paid much attention to Jade as she walked towards the door. She quickly spotted Oliver standing at the fence, smoking up with his lacrosse mates. He met Jade's eyes and gave her a warm smile and a wave. Jade waved back shyly.

The bell rang and the children flooded into the school halls. Jade kept her eyes focused on the class itinerary that was given to her by the administration. She was trying to find her homeroom. It wasn't as though the school made it easy for her, many of the numbers on the door had been scratched out and faded with age. As she had her head down, she was not paying attention to where she was going, and she suddenly collided into another body.

"Hey!" Jade jumped back in surprise and embarrassment, her cheeks heated up when she realised what she had done. Another young girl, probably about her age, was glaring at her. She tossed her jet-black hair behind her shoulder with an aggravated huff.

"Yeh wanna watch where yeh're going, mate?" She said to her. Jade put her hands up and backed away slowly.

"My bad," she said. The other student was struck by Jade's accent, she clearly wasn't from around here, "I'm just tryna find room..." Jade had another glance at her paper, "A44,"

The other student's glare softened suddenly, and she started to relax, "Well as it 'appens, tha's my 'omeroom. Yeh can come wif me, yeah?" She said.

Jade nodded quickly as the girl started down the hall, "yeah," she followed closely behind her, her toes smashed together in the tight tip of her polished black Mary Janes. The other student took notice of her chunky, strappy shoes and hummed.

"I like yehr shoes," she said.

"Thanks," Jade replied shyly, "Erm... I'm Jade, by the way,"

"Sasha," the girl said, she then took another hard look at Jade, "Why'd yehr folks name yeh Jade? Yehr eyes aren't green,"

Jade shrugged back, "I dunno. Never bothered to ask," she said.

Sasha lead Jade through the ocean of bustling kids until they came to the door marked A44. Sasha marched in without hesitation, but Jade was weary as she set foot on the freshly polished tile. The room was full of young tenth years, none of them paid attention was they settled in. Some were talking loudly, others were making origami planes and throwing them at each other. It was just Jade's luck that Flora was in her homeroom class. Her cousin was sat in the back row with another bunch of girls, talking quietly amongst each other. As Flora saw Jade, she immediately stopped talking and turned her friends attention towards her cousin. Jade felt very self conscious as they stared her down.