Who Am I?

Chapter 2. Scars

As I walked through the school gates and into the grassy schoolgrounds, my two best friends, Ash Penderby and Emma Smith ran to meet me. Once again, I saw in their places, were transparent blue figures. Something was different about them however, these 'people' were different from the weeping girl. They had more modern styled clothes. The girl was wearing a dark sloppy joe jacket, covering a light peach coloured top.  She was wearing black shorts and had a silver bangle in the shape of a snake twisting around her upper wrist. Her whole figure was tinted light blue and she had smile on her face, with laughter bubbling in her throat. The boy was wearing a singlet with grey baggy shorts. He had high tops on his feet and the same expression on his face. The were both walking in sync with Ash and Emma, but they didn’t seem to realize that there was a human body following their every move. They too, had halos hovering above their heads, which were bouncing in every which way as they ran along the concrete path with Emma and Ash to greet me. They skidded to a halt in front of me. 

“Hey... hey Scarlet!” Emma said, panting as she spoke.

Ash was worse, he was bent down, with his hands on his knees. His breath came out in short ragged pants. He looked up and waved a hand in my direction. I smiled. 

“Hey guys.” 

As we walked to class, Emma was telling Ash and I about Brett, her new boyfriend and currently her favourite topic. I quickly glanced at Ash, who was looking at the ground, as if it had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world. I looked back at Emma and sighed quietly to myself. I still remembered when Ash had pulled me to the side in April last year and told me quietly that he liked Emma. I promised not to tell anyone, not even her, and I had kept that promise, right up to this day. I loved Emma to bits, but she was blind and had never seen Ash as anyone but a friend. An ear-piercing screech broke through my thoughts and I covered my ears protectively. I looked over at Ash and Emma, who were doing the same thing. The blue figures were still there and they were both on the ground, covering their ears. Once the shrieking was gone, I dropped my hands down to my side. 

“Ugh,” I groaned. “If they don’t do something about that bell, then I am going to go insane!”

Emma grinned and looked sideways at me. 

“Hate to tell you Scar, but I think you’re half way there.”

We all burst out laughing and ran to class. 

English was the first class of the day, and I’ll just say that our English teacher, Mr Kenward was not a happy chappy. To put it lightly. Very lightly. 

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? COMING IN LATE! CERTAINLY NOT A GOOD START TO THE YEAR!” he bellowed, slapping his large, meaty hand onto his emerald green desk as we walked into the faded blue room, identical to every other one in the school. We each hung our heads  until he finally finished his ranting and pointed a large finger towards the seats placed across the room. 

“Sit.” he growled, his blue shirt heaving up and down as he calmed himself down. 

Emma, Ash and I practically ran to our seats. Mr Kenward turned his back to us and started writing on the chalk board. Everyone winced as the chalk rubbed against the board, making a drawn out, screeching sound. “Now, as you are all in Year 9 this year, you will have to have at least started to consider what you want to do as a job when you're older. Most of these things will involve English and options that revolve around the subject.” As Mr Kenward turned back to us, I looked at him properly. The blue figure inside him had a halo like the rest, but this one was skinny looking, and his expression looked weary and tired. He was slouched over and he had scars running down his arms. I shuddered and looked away.