Ordinary

Chapter 1

I kick my foot against the cold, stone pavement of Atlanta, feeling the breeze run through my hair. My navy penny board rolls down the street, slightly wobbling over the cracks and pebbles scattered everywhere. I hear the wheels of my friend's boards scraping behind me, all shouting at each other and picking the leaves off of passing bushes. Riley, Thea, Skye, Madison and Ivy all trail behind me in a kind of organised mess, trying to all keep up with one-and-other. We probably don't look like the group of girls your mother would be proud of, that's mainly how we all met but that's a story for later, since we are all pretty mix-and-match. I have naturally curly, auburn hair. Apparently a "rare gift" but I hate it. [I actually love Auburn hair, please don't be offended xD] So I've dyed it light blue and lavender, leaving it down since all my hair bands are all at school. Again, a story I'll explain later. I've tucked my loose, black "Nirvana" top into a pair of ripped, black shorts and I'm wearing plain white plimsoles. On my left wrist I have a range of leather bracelets and wristbands and I have an old necklace my nan gave me when I was probably about 5. It's a small, black arrow attached to a long piece of black string. It's simple, but pretty cool. My shadow of friends are all pretty much wearing the same as me, but slightly more colourful, since it's boiling today. As we come up to a narrow turn, I warn everyone before they all fall on top of each other. We easily glide round the bend, coming into view of a giant, slightly intimidating building. The entrance is surrounded by a tall, metal-barred gate with spiked tips, probably preventing people from climbing over even though I could very easily fit through the gaps. The ground is a light, stony path with a large circle of grass in the centre, a circle of flowers trying to brighten up the dark mood. The building itself is 3 stories high, shaped like a "U" around the courtyard. A large, white sign with bold black letters shows as we penny board closer. "Briarcliff Boarding school. For troubled teens age 13-18" [Hint the AHS reference there, *nudge nudge*] A smaller sign stood underneath it, a black arrow pointing towards the hell I will be spending the next 4 years in.

We all met at a counselling group. Me and Thea had seen each other at a few sessions to do with our "disorders" (as the counselling managers like to call them) and recognised the other straight away. None of us were particularly kind to the therapist, mainly because she tried locking us all in the room at one point which was a pretty stupid thing to do. Madison ended up throwing the desk at the door, snapping the supposedly expensive wood in two and Ivy had to push the woman out of the way of the plastic chair being chucked in her direction. I screamed at Madison, since she nearly hit Ivy instead of the woman, and she screamed back, causing us nearly pouncing on each other. The others tried calming us down while the therapist was probably hiding in the corner, hitting the panic button. We each got taken into separate rooms and they called our parents. They obviously all agreed to the plan of sending us away for the next 4 years to a boarding school for "troubled or ill" teens, which is a ton of bullshit. My mum and dad acted out their sob story, crying that this was for the best. Even more bullshit. They probably both celebrated with about 10 bottles of vodka, knowing them. So that leads us to where we are now, all penny boarding ourselves to this crappy building. The only thing that has stopped us from turning back and ditching this is the fact that if they find us we have to be home schooled by our parents which I don't fancy. You'll learn more about my shitty family as we go along, but for now all you need to know is they both deserve to be burned alive. Me and the girls have, patently, made friends and have been pretty much inseparable ever since. Honestly, I think me and Maddie screaming at each other has given us more respect, since neither of us have even attempted to piss the other off. As we reach the gate, we jump off our boards and pick them up, carrying them as we click the buzzer. The intercom makes a crackling noise, a high pitched woman's voice answering. "Hello and welcome to Briarcliff boarding school, how may I help you?"