April's Beach

Chapter Four

The rest of the day was boring and mostly uneventful. When I went to maths, Blaine wasn't there and I was oddly thankful for that; I was embarrassingly awful at maths. It wasn’t something I was proud of; especially after years and years of math tutorials. But it was sort of wonderful because Phebs was also in my class and thankfully she was good at maths so she tried to help me; keep in mind I said she tried. After maths I had English. I sat alone in the corner for a moment, staring at the floor. Apparently we were watching a movie so I waited in silence for it to start. Until I caught sight of a familiar smiling face out of the corner of my eye. It was Cindy, Nikko next to her, waving to get my attention. I smiled widely at her as she pat the seat next to her. I rushed over.

     “Thank you,” I tell them both.

     “It’s okay.” Cindy says with a smile. She then began to question me on one thing that obviously interested her; and as she did Nikko sat next to her, his arm once again around her shoulder as he played with her hair.

     "So I bet there’s a really big mall in the city?" She asked curiously.

     "Yeah, it’s pretty big. But I'm not really big on shopping."

     "Oh I'd love to go shopping in the city. The closest thing we have to a mall here is forty-five minutes up the coast," She complained making her annoyance clear. Then she changed the subject "So I guess you'll sit at our table every day?" she asked.

     "Well I don't know. I might if it's okay..." I mumble shyly.

     "Of course it is!" she laughed and Nikko nodded in agreement "where else would you if in?"

     "Fit in?" I ask, her words although I was sure not intended so; felt harsh.

     "Well this school is all 'Clicks', you know what I mean?" and I lean my head to one side. "Ok, so there's the smart kids aka nerds as soon as you walk into the cafeteria, they sit there because there is normally a teacher by the door, it’s a safe zone. To the right of them are the Asian kids, they're really shy but so nice! Next to them are the gymnasts, now they can get a little nasty if you say anything about gymnastics not being a 'real' sport. It can get pretty scary. After them are the Jocks, to the left of them are the G.G’s, the popular girls I suppose you’d call them. Next to them are the art kids. Behind them is the so called 'Goths'. To the right of them are the very talented music kids and then of course there is us. We're kind of kids that didn't quite fit into other groups."

As Cindy tells me all this she draws in down on a piece of paper for me

                                 CAFETERIA

      [ Nerds  ]           [ Asians ]           [ Gymnasts ]

      [ Arties ]              [ G,G’s ]              [ Jocks ]

      [ Goths ]          [ Musicians ]          [ US :) ]

"Thanks. What groups did everyone come from?" I ask.

"Well Wheeler came from the Goths and Phebs came from the Artie but before that she was in the Gymnasts, Ethan comes from the jocks and Robbie comes from the musicians but them two just kind of drift from table to table depending on their mood. Oh and Nikko moved here from Rome at the start of last year so he came straight to this group." She explained.

"What about you, what group did you come from? You seem like you should be in the G.G’s group." but Cindy just looks at the table, smiling and shakes her head and before I can ask her anything else the movie starts and the pump, gray haired teacher shushes us.

When the last bell finally rang I was more than ready to go home. Mum waited for in the same spot that she had dropped me off in this morning. Just by looking at her face you could tell how eager she was to ask how my first day had gone. She waited until I’d gotten into the car and closed the door.

     “So how was it? How was your first day at school?” she smiled enthusiastically.

     “It was okay, nothing too exciting.” I tell her. She looks at me, pouting.

     “No details?” her voice sullen, her eyes widen like a sulking child. I shake my head. She takes a deep breath then lets it out dramatically. “Fine.” The drive home is fairly silent besides my mother’s singing.

Once we get home I go straight up to my room. I attempt to do some math but soon give up and go have a shower. By the time I’ve brushed the knots out of my hair and brushed my teeth its six o’clock and time for tea. I sit at the table and slowly start to eat tea.

     “Oh yeah, there’s a message from a boy on the answering machine. He sounds nice.” She grins, raising one of her delicate eye brows.

     “Why didn’t you tell me when we first got home?” I demand, trying to make my walk casual and not rushed as I quickly walk over to the answering machine.