WATER BATHS

03 ; lifting levels

Darya

For once I wasn't approaching the offices brooding and anticipating the brutal pulling up I was going to get from Mr Conners for smoking near school grounds before school and at break.

Our head of year wasn't exactly my best friend. This time though I was heading out of art after having a quick word with my teacher of three years.

"I'm dropping it." I told her dully and watched her face drop and her mouth open in a scandalised 'O'.

"But why?" she asked me in disbelief, narrowing her eyes at me.

"I just feel like it's too much...stress."

"We could help make you feel much less stressed, Darya! No need to be dramatic about it."

"It's alright Ms Caden."

"But you're so good, how could you not?" she crossed her arms over her chest, her flowery apron creasing.

I put my hands in my pockets. "Five highers is just too much."

And with that I exited the staff room and stepped in to my old classroom to get my bag.

"You droppin' it?" Karla asked me with an incredulous albeit amused smile as I hiked the bag over my shoulder.

"Yep."

Liam next to her couldn't help his snicker. "Well then. You've probably just killed Ms Caden. Straight up murdered the woman."

I shrugged my shoulders and lifted two fingers in a wave at the rest of my table. "Hasta la vista, bitches. Have fun." I left them gaping, calling out their own various goodbyes. 

I tucked my earphones back in, where the music had been playing since before I entered art. I let the music play loud, the dangerous red bars in multitude, drowning out everything else. All the white noise faded to nothing.

I was heading to the offices when there was a soft poke on my shoulder. Who the hell...

I turned my head slowly and beside me walked Blair Ormond. His mouth was moving but over my trap beat I heard nothing. I pulled out an earphone and then the other. I wasn't sure if the mild disinterest was evident on my face.

"...You gettin' your time table changed too?" he finished, quirking his head to the side inquisitively. He gestured to the incoming destination that was Mr Jackson's office. "I'm just heading to swap out Biology."

"Yeah." I replied, already missing my the sharp, deafening beat in my ears.

I looked Blair over. Taller than most, including me, lanky and with small lines around his mouth that deepened when he smiled. We had sat next to each other in maths last year. I guess we talked, at least when I actually turned up to class. Sometimes we exchanged words over fags at lunch.

"I just dropped art. It was a pain in the ass," I elaborated.

He nodded his head, dirty blonde hair falling into his eyes. "What you taking in exchange then?"

"Some mad cake class. You?"

He flashed me his teeth. "Fucking History. That'll be Mrs Pontley three years in a row if I get the right class. She wants me there- apparently I'm a dazzling addition- I'm great for open discussion since I apparently never shut my mouth. Also I need it if I'm actually going to do Psychology for Uni."

Uni? I dropped art because I couldn't be fucked.

I pulled my timetable out from my pocket, the teacher's name familiar. "Well you really don't ever shut up so I guess you're truly qualified then."