BREATHE FOR ME

Chapter 8: The De Luca Common Room

The common room, which is painted a baby blue colour, is very large. On the dark blue carpet, three large, circular tables are set up, seating a few people each. The table at the back, nearest to the bookcases, is full of students working. Random textbooks are overlapping each other, sprawled all over the table top. Concentrating students lean over them and make quick scribbles on separate pieces of paper.

"That's the nerdy group and the 'I forgot I had homework due for today' table, they're doing their weekend assignments in the twenty minutes we have before lessons. The nice thing about this form is, being the smallest one, we all help each other get our work done." May says as she directs me towards the empty teacher's desk.

The table nearest to the door is empty, only housing a pile of bags. I assume this is where everyone dumps their stuff during this period. The final table, by the window, is occupied by a loud group of girls. They all sit on the top of the table, facing each other, away from the door and everyone else. Their slim backs create a wall against the rest of us. From the other side of the room, I can hear them eagerly talking about a party they're planning on Friday night. From the look of their fur coats, leather hand bags and expensive-looking highlighted hair styles, I take a guess that these girls are quite high maintenance. May leans against the long teacher's desk in the corner of the room, picking up one of the bendable pens from the desk and twisting it around one of her slim fingers. Her eyes follow mine, to the group of girls, and she rolls her eyes dramatically. I perch down next to her on the desk.

"They're the 'we're too good for you, don't socialise with us' group, my personal favourite." She whispers to me, leaning in so that no one hears. I softly chuckle, glad that I'm not the only one feeling unwelcomed by them. "They're the easiest to wind up." Her mischievous blue eyes then leave the girls by the window and slowly wander to the back corner of the room, where a small kitchen is set up. The kitchen contains a kettle, a microwave, a fridge, a small oven, a toaster and a dishwasher. White overhead cupboards, with glass windows panelling them, exhibit many mugs, dishes, plates and glasses. In the middle of the kitchen is a small white island, seating a group of four girls. I immediately recognise two of them as the two pretty girls that I waved at outside earlier. The intimidating red head throws her glossy pony tail back and laughs a sexy, deep noise; it makes me slightly jealous. The blonde girl, who initially waved at me, is leaning forwards with her head bowed over a phone. They lean up against two other girls, a tall one with short blue hair and an average-sized girl with platinum blonde locks weaved into a long French braid.

"They're my bitches," May explains, smiling as she follows my analysis. "Red head is Morgan, blondie is Dalia, blue one is Julianne and the long braid belongs to Piper. They're all sound as long as you stay on the right side of them all."

All of them are facing away from the door, looking towards the back of the kitchen where six tall boys lazily lean against the granite kitchen worktops. Three of the boys, who are obviously Italian, are play-fighting over a yo-yo toy. They must be three of Teddy's friends. All of them are tall, in good shape, olive skinned, with short black hair. They're ridiculously attractive with their dazzling pearly-white smiles as they push and lunge over each other, obviously playing up for the girls in front of them. I'm oddly taken aback at how similar they all look to each other, perhaps that's just the distance between us.

"They're the De Luca triplets, the beautiful offspring of our form tutor." May sighs. "They're pretty and they know it, trust me. It's annoying but we still love them. That's my group, we're very tight-knit." I advert my gaze, re-focussing on the three other boys in the kitchen. One of them, with impossibly pale skin, has long blonde hair that curls around his neck, resting gracefully at his shoulders. He is thin and lanky, with a very angular face and striking dark eyes. He reminds me of a vampire.