Notes

The twinkling four note tune of my alarm repeated over and over. It played into my dreams binding the real world and my fantasy into one till i became aware i was waking up. With a sigh I hauled myself out of the bed making the final step back into reality.

I remembered where I was. Not at home, is where I was. The four pale yellow walls formed a tiny room made smaller by my bed. The windowless room gave an eery prison-like feel as they inched closer and closer every day. At least in my mind they did.

Hundreds of pieces of paper covered in my scrawls were strewn across the small desk that squashed in beside the off-white door. I didn't even want to think about that. Studying was never something I was good at.

The school bell echoed in the confined space and another sigh escaped my mouth as I pulled on clothes. I spent the rest of my short morning trying to think of a reason to still be living, occasionally shovelling a spoonful of cereal into my mouth.

I sat for a while alone in the dining hall whilst people poured into the empty corridors which were now alive with stressed teenagers. I had learnt that the only way to survive this time of day was to wait until the rush was over and risk being late to your lesson. When I was small it was easier to slip between people and manage without getting squished. I'm year 11 now, it's harder.

Once the noise had died down and the dinner ladies emerged from the kitchen to clear the litter from the stampede I rose from the red plastic chair. My brisk walk turned to a slow dawdle when I noticed today was one of those days I was undoubtably going to be late. I didn't care.

After checking the class through the door window I swung it open and took the empty seat next to Louise. I tried not to make eye contact with Mrs Gray but she stayed silent knowing I was a lost cause.

"you're impossible" Louise whispered under her breathe.

This brought an arrogant smirk to my face. Its amusing to shock her with my lack of personal organisation.

Mrs Gray finished her brief explanation and Louise whipped round.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know what lesson this is"

"what lesson is it?" I knew I just wanted to shock her further.

"English! Where is your timetable?"

"lost it"

"your homework"

"forgot"

"your common sense?"

"gone"

With a grunt of disbelief she turned to her work and flicked through the pages of the boring book before her which I chose to ignore.

"are you going tonight?" I asked.

"are you actually joking" Louise replied.

"I'll take that as a no then"

"Please don't tell me you are"

"maybe"

She simply turned her back to me and continued working. Winding her up was easy, and I was bored. I'm such a bad friend, I know.

***

I opened my locker to grab my pe kit and a yellow square floated to the ground by my feet.

'Look to your left, beautiful' It read

I looked left and there were some guys laughing, snorting every so often.

'mature' I said to them slamming the locker door. They looked confused perhaps they aren't used to retaliation. I was confused to, i didnt understand the joke. Maybe it was an inside joke. Probably.