One Door to Everywhere

Chapter 2- Flowers

Daisy:

I settled down in my seat and began flicking through the school's information pack. It looked nice and seemed to have an impeccable record but then again it wasn't like they would be advertising the bad stuff. I wouldn't know the real truth until I got there. Everything had something bad about it, no matter how much they tried to hide it. I was sure this school was going to be no exception.

Just as I finished, a small girl with short, severely cut brown hair and deep hazel brown eyes peered around the carriage's door. She opened her mouth and began to speak. I looked around to see if I could guess who she was talking to and as I did so I realised the carriage was completely deserted, we were the only two in there. She must have been talking to me then. I looked over again at her and noticed the plain, dull clothes she was wearing, a navy V- neck with plain black pants and neatly shined shoes, I could see my reflection dancing back at me as I looked down at them.

"Pardon," I said trying to sound as polite as possible.

"Sorry, is there a free seat in here," she whispered. She was clearly a very shy person and was not going to be much fun being stuck on that train for two entire hours or so I thought.

"Sure, there are loads of them," I replied. She entered, dragging a large, grey suitcase behind her.

"Thanks," she said as she placed her suitcase in the neighbouring compartment and settled herself on the street across form me.

We sat there, in awkward silence for a long time, neither of us speaking. Eventually I couldn't handle it anymore and decided I would have to.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Umm... St. John's boarding school, I'm not on the wrong train am I, God I am an idiot, I could've sworn..." she shouted angrily more at herself than me though. I stared in wonder, she had seemed so quite but yet there she was shouting at herself I decided I'd have to calm her down.

"No, don't worry, this is right, at least I think so! Have you been there before or are you just starting?" I asked maybe she was in the same year as me, then at least I would know somebody even if she was slightly eccentric, I thought hopefully.

"Thanks, I was worried there for a while! What year are you in?" I shuddered I would never get used to this. I knew the Irish and English years were different but I couldn't remember how!

"I'm, I'm in 3rd year, I think!" I stammered. She began to laugh, looking at me curiously as if I was an extinct species.

"You don't know what year you are in! You couldn't be in Year 3, you're not a two year old, or at least you don't look like one anyway!" she laughed as she spoke. Her face glistening in the sun. I had to shade my eyes from the setting sun so I could see her properly. Now I noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the weary look she was trying so hard to hide. She was strange but I began to think that we might actually become friends. She clearly had a story to tell and one that I would definitely like to hear but I had just met her so I wasn't going to ask.

She pulled out a small, grey, hard- backed notebook and began to teach me about the English schooling system. It turned out that we were both going to be in the same Year, Year 9. Her parents had paid a very large sum of money to get her into the school and she was determined to make them proud. We pondered over what it was going to be like and what the people would be like in silence.

She tried to talk about politics, business, stocks and shares, taxes and Government cuts. I understood none of these things but I nodded away anyway trying to look smart. Were they all going to be like that, would I be able tounderstand anything anyone said to me, I thought, the hairs standing up straight on the back of my neck as I did.

I needed to change the subject quickly. "What's your name?" I asked interrupting her explanations of economic downturns and financial climates.

She looked at me as if I were speaking a foreign language; there was something very strange and puzzling about her. "What's your name?" I repeated shouting as loud as I could, maybe she had hearing difficulties.

"Ohh, no need to shout, I'm not deaf," she replied "I'm just, it's just I haven't been asked that question much," she replied looking as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

"Well, my name is Daisy and yours is Lily, you're called after a flower too so you're parents, must also be hippies," I sang safe in the knowledge that there was somebody else like me.

"HIPPIES!, what, who do you think I am. My parents hippies, what utter nonsense," she shouted sighing as she did so. This time it was my turn to be taken aback. She had spoken so angrily, no one had even gotten so cross with me, even my Mum didn't get that cross with me when I broke the kitchen window. I began to think that maybe she wasn't as nice as I had originally thought.

Lily:

I stared at her, how dare she call my parents that, if she knew who they really were she would cower in shame or at least that's what I tried to make myself believe , really though I think I wished she had been right.

"I'm sorry, maybe I got it wrong but I just thought since my parents are hippies, well kind-of anyway and they called me Daisy and my brother Oak, which are both to do with nature and plants and well your name is Lily, I guess, well, I guess I hoped that your parents were too. I'm sorry, I never meant to upset you, please forgive me," she glanced up briefly at me to check if everything was o.k., I nodded slowly showing that I understood. "What are your parents then?" she asked as if I might suddenly attack her.

"Well my Dad is a financial analyst and my Mum is a judge in the Supreme Court," I replied hating every word of it. It wasn't fair, why couldn't they have normal jobs like everyone else's parents.

"Wow, they're cool, my Mum just stays at home and my Dad has just got a new job restoring some, old dishevelled castle. Your parents are so cool. I wish they were mine," she exclaimed.

"No, you don't. You have no idea what it is like, they are barely ever at home, I spend most of my day at home with my nanny, even though I am thirteen and practically an adult and she couldn't care less about me as long as she gets her big fat pay checks and bonuses for doing such a wonderful job. When they finally come home, they spend the evening lecturing me on how I need to improve the A- in my latest geography test to an A+ and telling me how I will never get anywhere in real life with those grades. Then they spend the rest of the evening discussing politics, immigration, court cases and about a trillion other things I can't understand. It's not fair all they do is expect me to leave up to my sister she got straight As in he Leaving Cert, now she is the leader of some amazing company which exports to a zillion countries, oh and of course she is their favourite. I'm sorry, I'm going on a bit amn't I, it's just I tend to talk a lot when I am annoyed, stressed, happy, upset actually come to think of it, I just talk a lot. I used to always get in trouble in primary school for it, eventually the teachers gave up which was good, o.k. that's it no more talking, I'm going to be quiet now,"

I said placing my finger on my lips like I did when I was little going back into school after all the fun and frolics of lunch time.

"It's fine," she smiled clearly happy to finally talk, "that sounds horrible, my brother is only eight so he is the one who has to try and beat me, I bet your parents are really nice though," she laughed tossing her long blond hair to the side.

"I know, I know, I do love them, really and I know that they do everything for me and that they only want what's best for me, I'm just worried, I mean everybody else has been there since Year 7, that is an entire two years more than us. What if they don't speak to us, what if I don't make any friends," I asked worriedly.

Daisy just shook her head and laughed again.

"Don't worry we'll be fine, anyway you already have a friend!"

"Who?"I asked already knowing the answer.

"Me," she replied reaching into her bag and pulling out two strawberry flavoured lollipops, my favourite. "Want one?"she asked handing it to me before I could even answer.

"Sure!" I replied and we both licked them, knowing that whatever was ahead we were in this together.