Fitting In

Chapter 3

“Why are people afraid of them?” I questioned, looking back at Danni who was staring at the ground. “There know as ‘backstabbers.’ Once one of them is interested in a target, they try and become friends with you, find out your fears and secrets then share it with the entire school. They like going after fresh meat, I guess they’re like vampires... except they don’t suck your blood!” I gulped in fear and my eyes strayed back towards the group, only to find they had disappeared. “That and they think they rule the school...” Danni continued but I wasn’t listening, they would find out, then we would have to move again, unless they don’t find out...

***

I walked slowly across the schoolyard towards a tree that stood far away from the school, a book held securely in my firm grip.

It was lunchtime and Danni had a detention for writing on her desk, so I was spending lunchtime alone as usual.

I wiped my hair of my shoulders and sat down beneath the tree. The branches hid the sun from view and a cool breeze blew dead leaves across the grass. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the tree trunk, finally relaxed.

My eyes fluttered open and I looked up, “are you new here?” A voice asked from high up in the tree, the owner of the voice hidden by leaves. I blinked, “what gave it away, the fact that you’ve never seen me around before or that I’m hiding from the rest of the school?”

There was a hypnotising laugh before a pair of legs swung around and dangled off a branch. “I’m Brent...” The leaves ruffled and Brent seemed to be moving, there was a soft thud and Brent stood beside me grinning casually. “Do you do that a lot?” I questioned, pointing towards the tree. Brent shrugged and sat beside me, “I like to get away from everything sometimes.”

Brent had shaggy dark brown hair and light blue eyes; I recognized him suddenly, he was standing with the group that everyone seemed to be so afraid of. He smiled at me showing his pearly white teeth and I shook the thought from my mind.

“I’m Willow...” I mumbled taking my eyes off his and staring at the blue sky in the distance, his eyes and the sky looked the same. “Willow...” He repeated his voice barely audible, “I like it.” He stated as I turned to look at him, he tilted his head to the side, an innocent smile on his face.

He’ll find out...

My eyes darted away from his and I slowly moved away from him. “Your apart of that...group.” I muttered trying to think of the right word. Brent laughed, “only your first day and yet you’ve already been given the run down on who to hang out with and who to avoid... classic.”

“Things are secret for a reason...” I told him standing up, he followed. I had to stand on my tip toes just so I could glare at him.  “I’m not the kind of person that goes around backstabbing people-“ he started but I cut him off, “but you hang out with people who do.”

“So I’m immediately a bad person because I hang out with the wrong people?” He asked, clenching his teeth together in frustration. I didn’t reply.

“You don’t even know me and yet you’re making accusations!” Brent threw his arms in the air and I took a step back. “Why did you move here?” He asked so suddenly that it took me off guard. “You’re obviously unhappy here, why don’t you crawl back to wherever you came from?”

It took all my self control not to growl at him, instead I glared and told him in a firm voice, “you don’t even know me.... sometimes you need to make sacrifices for your family.”

Brent’s expression softened, he opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.

***

I stood by the school gate, Danni beside me, talking about how boring detention was.

“Do you want to come over to my house?” Danni asked suddenly. I turned to look at her, “what colour are my eyes?” I questioned while Danni raised an eyebrow before squinting so she could see my eyes better, “They are like brown with some black... do you still want to come over?”

There was a chance I would do something I regretted at Danni’s house, “I still have heaps of unpacking to do, maybe another time...” Danni forced a smile, clearly she was upset.

“There’s my mum now...” I told her pointing towards the red car that had just pulled into the school parking lot.

“I don’t know why you don’t want to get your license.” Flynn grumbled from the backseat as I climbed into the car. “Who’s that girl you were talking to?” My mum asked as she looked at Danni who waved at me while grinning. “That’s Danni, she wanted me to come over today but I had to refuse...” My mum sighed and turned to look at me, “you don’t have to live in fear of going all fox on everyone.”

“I know, I’m trying to be as careful as I can though. People will find out, it will be the same as every other year but I want a normal teenage experience before they do find out, I want to try and fit in!” I was close to yelling but I held back my anger. “It won’t be long...” Flynn muttered, I turned to face him and Jane.

“What do you mean?” Jane had her gloves off and was close to tears, “my teacher told me black gloves weren’t on the uniform list. So she took them off me and whatever I touched turned to ash! I tried to control it Willow, I really did.” Jane now had tears trickling down her cheeks; I reach over and squeezed her hand.

“I’m not ash...” I told her as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Mum, are we going?” Flynn asked as I sat back in my seat. “There’s a boy...” My mum giggled like a teenage girl, “he’s staring at you Willow.” I rolled my eyes, “that’s Brent...” as I said this, both Jane and Flynn snickered from the backseat.

“Oh, we should have him over for dinner one night!” My mum clasped her hands together, her eyes shining with excitement. “Mum, our house is tiny... besides, he hates me.” I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as Brent diverted his gaze and walked out of school, his bag slung over one shoulder. “Willow... it’s okay, you’re just in denial.” Flynn told me, amusement in his voice.

I scoffed and sank lower into the seat of the car, trying to hide the blush on my face.