Robbie [Wattys 2016]

Chapter One

Dedicated to @roxxinout for the cover

Carina was hit by a wall of cold air once she opened the doors that led outside. Shivering, she wrapped her arms around herself, instantly regretting that she hadn't brought her coat with her. She had left it inside because when she checked her weather app it said that it was ten degrees Celsius. Her phone was definitely broken because what she was experiencing was not ten degrees. She wasn't even outside yet. Part of her wanted to stay inside, but she had now reached the point of no return.

She let out a frosty breath as she stepped out onto the courtyard. The way the wind bit at her nose and ears reminded of her aunt's mangy, old cat. When she was four she used to always try to dress the cat up in her doll's clothes. Usually, the cat would howl in protest, but never did anything else to stop her. However, one day he had had enough of the abuse and she had run home crying and covered in blood. For the next two years, she used to become hysterical if someone had even mentioned the word 'cat'.

Carina snapped out of her memory to focus on the present. Reflecting on the past made the cold even more unbearable. She bent her knees up and down in an attempt to circulate blood throughout her body. Afraid that her hands would get frostbite, she tucked them between her armpits. She raised her shoulders so that they could protect her ears from the wrath of the wind.

It was that all that stupid secretary's fault that she had gone outside in the first place. That morning, Miss Jones had told her that all the students ate their lunch in the courtyard. She would've sworn that it had been a prank on the new girl if it weren't for the students that were hanging around outside. At first, she was confused about why so many of them were already outside. It soon made sense since she had gotten lost in the hallway while trying to find her way.

Near the end of the yard, there were a few boys that were kicking around a soccer—football. Along the wall, there were little groups of students that were sitting down, eating their lunches. Some people were sitting on the long bench that was opposite the wall. A few girls were walking around with their arms linked, laughing about some private joke among them. It was kind of eery how happy they all appeared to be. None of them seemed to be affected by the vicious cold attacking her. In fact, there were some people who weren't even wearing sweaters.

From what she had seen so far, everyone was in a group of at least two or more. Carina had been in such a rush to join the others how side she had forgotten that there was no one to sit with. It would have been plain pathetic to eat lunch by herself on her first day of school. That was one of the biggest things she to had to avoid, at least that was what her friends had told her. Before she moved, her friends had given her a list of rules to follow in a new school. Number one was to be careful where you ate because it will play a huge part in how others will view you.

Blood rushed to her neck as she tried to formulate a plan. The blood creeping up to her face did help with fighting the cold, but she had to do something fast. There was no one that she close enough with to invite herself to lunch. Despite having classes with some of these people, she had never actually spoken to them. Of course, there was the occasional "Hello" and "Where are you from?", but those weren't invitations to join them for lunch.

"Hey, Carina!" she could hear someone calling out her name. Scanning across the courtyard, Carina tried to locate the source of the voice. A brunette with chunky, geeky glasses stood by the wall, waving voraciously at her. She was someone who was in a lot of her classes. She had also been one of the first people to say hi to her. Maybe it really was an invitation to come eat lunch with her.

There two other girls that were sitting on on either side of her. One had dirty blonde hair and freckles across her nose. The other had short, chestnut-colored hair. They were busy eating their lunches and paid no attention to the girl waving. Grateful to have somewhere to sit, Carina made her way over to them.