Jewelled and Wild

Chapter 1

"Well. Since this is everyone's first day, let's go around and introduce ourselves." Miss Heron spoke with an enthusiasm that was unfitting of the nervous class she addressed. All of the students sat silent in their seats. Only the sound of fidgeting penetrated the class. "We'll all say our names, when our birthday is and what our favourite animal is. Who wants to start?"

Her question was greeted with absolute silence. Even the fidgeting stopped. No one wanted to be the first to introduce themselves. Not on their first day of high school, surrounded by so many people they don't know. She sighed quietly.

"How about I go first, then we can just go through the roll?" This time the suggestion was met with a couple of tentative nods. Everyone knew that by the end of the fortnight they would have all found the groups they wanted to fit themselves into, but right now, the room was full of absolute strangers.

Miss Heron started off saying, "Well I'm Miss Ally Heron, my birthday is on April the 14th and my favourite animal is a heron, for obvious reasons." That final comment managed to pull a few chuckles from her awkward audience. She was slowly melting through their nerves. "Now. First on the roll is Samuel Axel."

A kid with tanned skin and mousy brown hair shyly put his hand up. "That's me." he said.  His voice was strong, despite the nervousness.

As Miss Heron reads down the roll, more kids put up their hands, and introduce themselves to everyone. The teacher was paying very close attention to all the names, how the children said them and when their birthdays were. She believed it was very important to be close to the students, especially at this age. Entering adolescence was not easy. Knowing their names and birthdays was as good a place as any to start.

More and more kids took their turns and slowly the atmosphere of the class relaxed. "Sapphire Sallen?" No one spoke. A few kids turned their heads around looking for who it was. Only a handful of students were left. One of the stood stiffly, head bowed and shuffling her feet. She wore a baggy hoodie with the hood pulled up over face and had her hands shoved into the pocket.

"Sapphire?" Miss Heron repeated. Still no one responded. By now everyone was staring at the girl in the hoodie. Noticing this Miss Heron quickly moved on to the next person. "Daisy Teller." she called.

A cheerful girl with long reddish brown hair raised her hand. Taking one last look at the hoodie girl she said, "My birthday's February 12th and I absolutely love turtles!" her voice was so full of energy that most people stopped looking at the girl everyone assumed was Sapphire to pay attention to her.

They finished off the roll pretty quickly after that. And everyone began talking loudly to each other. Sapphire shrank into herself abruptly as the noise began.

"Class! You need to go and find your lockers please. There is a list outside with each of your locker numbers on it. Once you've found your locker can you please put all of your spare books into it." as the words left her mouth, there was a stampede of teenagers headed for the door. Sapphire and a couple of other kids hung back. So they wouldn't get trampled.

The class was nearly empty when Miss Heron quietly said, "Sapphire. Can you come here please?" she looked petrified and walked over to the teacher's desk. Still not lifting her head or taking her hands out of the pocket. "I just wanted to check that you're okay." a stiff nod. "Do you think you could tell me when your birthday is?" a sharp shake. "Do you want to tell me anything?" another sharp shake. "Are you mute...?" Miss Heron had been speaking softly, but those words were so quiet it was hard to make them out. Sapphire hesitated, then a slow nod. "Okay, thank you Sapphire." her mouth formed a soft and encouraging smile as Sapphire fled silently from the desk. Daisy quietly slipped out of the room behind her.