Shoving my biology folder into my locker I turned around to go to the secretary’s office because I still needed to sort out the paperwork for signing up here, my mother wasn’t going to be doing it so I was stuck with the boring stuff. “See you, Jenna.” Luna waved enthusiastically so I waved back laughing. “Bye!” I shouted after her as her head disappeared in the throng of students trying to get out of this hellhole. With a lot of pushing and elbowing I finally managed to get to the secretary’s office, it took about fifteen minutes for the old lady to even find the right documents before I could do anything. Helena Watts was the name on the desk. She looked like a woman who had been through a lot of things in her lifetime. Her expression was sad, yet not depressed. I couldn’t quite describe it properly. Her eyes were kind, her face had deep wrinkles, her hair was turning grey and her hands shook slightly as she handed the papers to me. I smiled and put my signature under my name. “Well then, that’s sorted,” she said to me as I handed the papers back to her. “welcome to Swinton Community School, Jenna.” I nodded. “Thanks. Well, I’ll be off then.” As I turned away from the lady the door opened and a guy walked in. “Helena, I just thought I’d say hi.” He said to the secretary. As I walked past him, I noticed he was one of the boys who had sat at Harry’s table. His blue eyes were shining and his mouth was curled up in a smile. I walked outside of my new school and headed in the general direction of my house. I didn’t really think of it as home anymore. The place I called home had disappeared along with my mother’s love for me. It was buried, I knew, somewhere far away in a distant past. I didn’t feel like going back to an empty house so I decided to go to my favourite place in the world. My old oak tree.
Drops started to fall from the sky and I cursed myself for not bringing a coat. In minutes, the gentle rain had turned into a downpour and I was drenched from head to toe. I was almost at my safe haven, another five minutes and I would be there. The sky was an angry grey, it looked as if nobody had ever hurt nature where I was. A little woods that was about ten minutes’ walk away from my house. The only sound I could here was the steady sound of the storm and the crunching of the twigs I stepped on every so often. There was my oak tree. I loved the way it looked, it had a big hole in the trunk and then it split into five different trunks that spread out wide. Some of the branches hung so low to the ground they were a perfect bench to sit on. I climbed up some of the branches and sat in my favourite spot. From here you couldn’t see very much, which meant you couldn’t easily be spotted either. The trunk was slightly damp and I wiped the dirt of my hands onto my trousers. I let my head rest against the tree trunk and let go of all my thoughts. I could stay here forever, it was so peaceful. I didn’t know how much time had gone past when I finally climbed down from the tree. It had stopped raining but my clothes were still soaked.
On the way back to my house it felt as if someone was watching me. I couldn’t shake the strange feeling. I looked over my shoulder once, then twice. But nobody was there and nothing looked out of the ordinary so I gave up and kept walking. It was twilight by the time I reached my street, but just as I started towards my house a car slowed down and stopped next to me. I couldn’t make out the figure inside but I didn’t like the fact that I didn’t recognize the car. It was a black Range Rover with tinted windows. I tensed my body, ready to take off at any moment. I had seen movies before, I wasn’t about to be kidnapped. Someone got out of the car and walked towards me. “Jenna?” his voice resonated in my ears. I relaxed slightly, he at least knew who I was. As he came closer I noticed his blond hair. “Niall,” I breathed out “what are you doing here?”. “I was about to ask you the same thing. You look terrible.” I hadn’t noticed his Irish accent before, but it was clearly there. “Well thanks… I live down the road.” I said beckoning to my house. “Oh,” he said “well I was just driving by, and you definitely look bad, sorry but it’s true.” He chuckled. I rolled my eyes. “This is what happens when you don’t have a coat when you go out.” I smiled. “Well I guess I should go.” Niall started to walk back to his car but stopped at the sound of my voice. “Uh please don-“ my words got stuck in my throat as he looked back at me, I couldn’t see his expression “don’t leave. I don’t feel like going home.” I could see him nodding and then turning back to his car, opening the passengers’ door. I got in the car and Niall walked around to the other side and got in behind the steering wheel. “Hey, how come you can drive? Aren’t you my age?” Niall laughed. “Long story, but I’m two years older than you.” He made it sound as if I should have known, my cheeks tinged slightly from embarrassment. Niall noticed and frowned. He started the car and we drove off, past my house. “So where do you want to go?” He asked. There were so many possibilities, too many to choose from. “I don’t know, surprise me.”
