Argent Eye IV

23

When the bell rang, I put my stuff away and started to make my way to the changing rooms- I was sure I could find my way by following Amy, but I kept a fair distance behind and had the map in my hand so it didn't look like I was following her.

She'd been sitting with two other girls in registration- I caught one of their names as Nora, although I missed the other one's. Nora was blonde, and seemed to like to keep her makeup appearances up to scratch. The other girl, on the other hand, seemed the opposite. She didn't wear makeup, and had her brown hair cut short. I assumed she was also taking P.E, given that she was walking with Amy.

The smell of girls deodorant hit my nose before I'd even reached the changing rooms- I didn't need to follow Amy to find them, but instead just followed the smell. It was madness at how similar my own school experiences were, and I was finding it quite easy to settle back into the fact that I was at school again, even if it was a different one.

I quietly got changed and went outside before everyone else.

There was a man standing there wearing gym clothes and holding a clipboard when I got there- he looked up and smiled at me.

"Ah, you must be the Mollie I've got written on here." He said, pointing to his clipboard. He had a really deep voice, and clearly worked out. I remember my old P.E teachers were the opposite- they would tell you to run around the field a couple of times, but there was no way they would manage it themselves.

I smiled. "Yeah, that's me."

"Well, nice to meet you, Mollie." He said. "My name's Mr Sullivan- I'll be teaching you P.E for the year. What kinds of sports are you into?"

For a second, I didn't know what to say. "Uh, well, I like running." I said. I guess I was good at running, so it was a good one to say. "I also quite like tennis and rounders. Maybe a bit of netball."

"Nice." He said. "We're actually doing cross country today, so be prepared to get muddy."

I chuckled. It had rained a lot the night before, so I had no doubt that the grass would be slippery and that there would be plenty of mud.

"Ah, Amy, Lena." I heard Mr Sullivan say, and turned to see Amy walking this way in her gym clothes, followed by the other girl from registration. Her name must be Lena. "This is Mollie- maybe you guys can show her the cross country route today."

Amy and Lena both smiled.

"Sure." Amy said. "My name's Amy, and this is Lena- we had registration together this morning."

I smiled. "Nice to meet you guys." I said.

"Maybe stick with me for this one." Lena said. "You'll have a hard time keeping up with Amy."

Mr Sullivan laughed. "Ah, yes, Amy holds the cross country school record." He said.

Amy laughed modestly.

"Oh, really?" I asked. "I used to hold the record in my old school." It was a lie, but for some reason, I wanted to tell it.

"Christ, it looks like we're gonna have a couple of competitors here today." Mr Sullivan chuckled.

"Alright with me." Amy said. "It'll be a change to actually run with someone."

I smiled, glad I'd got my feet in with Amy. Of course, I wasn't going to beat her. If she'd held the record, the last thing I wanted to do was take that from her. But, I'd remain close behind. Maybe we'd start a decent conversation and just run together, non-competitively. Maybe I wouldn't even be able to beat her if I tried.

A few moments later, and the whole class was outside. Mr Sullivan took the register, and then led us all round to the cross country track.

"Okay everyone." Mr Sullivan began. "Two laps, as quick as you can. No short cuts, please."

And with that, everyone took off.

At first, the whole class ran together, but then it seemed that people split up into their own little groups. Soon enough, it was just Amy and I running at the front.

"So." Amy said. "Where was your old school?"

"London." I said. "My parents just retired, so they decided to come to the Kent countryside."

"Oh, nice." She said. "You liking it so far?"

"Yeah, it's nice here." I said. "Although, my parents thought it would be fun to move to the middle of nowhere."

Amy chuckled. "I also live in the middle of nowhere, so I know how you feel." She said. "What other subjects are you taking?"

"Art and history." I said.

"Oh, I have art, too!" She exclaimed. "But not history."

"What do you take instead?" I asked.

"Chemistry." She said.

"Oof." I said. I'd taken the A-Level myself, and knew how difficult it was. But, I couldn't let her know that, of course. "That sounds horrible."

She shrugged. "It's okay- I enjoy it."

"Really? Fair enough." I said.

We'd been running a fair distance, mainly through fields and trees, and also through an area they called the shit pit. It was just a huge patch of mud, but given the rain last night, I realised why they called it the shit pit. Even though I took larger steps through it, I got mud splashed up both my legs.

"You're keeping up a pretty good pace, Mollie." Amy said.

I smiled. "Well, I did hold the record in my old school." I said. "You don't seem particularly out of breath yourself?"

"Lots of practice." She said, and it was then that I noticed something. Something in her tone.

That was a lie. So she was lying about having lots of practice, which made me wonder if her high stamina was something to do with this power I was supposed to be finding out about. What if she was an Heir of some sort? A lightning Heir, like David, perhaps? But then, if that were the case, Stark would have figured it out already. Stark had made it sound like it was a power nobody had ever heard of before.

Still, I made a mental note of that, as we continued the course.

As it turned out, Amy seemed like a nice person. She was pretty down to earth, and came across as quite a naturally kind person. After all, she'd made an effort in talking to the new girl.

I saw Mr Sullivan frown when both of us arrived at the finish line together. Because we'd been talking the entire way, we hadn't really been competing against each other.

"I have never seen Amy finish cross country at the same time as someone else before." He said, amused.

"I'm sure Amy was just holding back to talk to me." I said, waving a hand.

She chuckled. "Obviously."

Mr Sullivan let us go in early, seeing as we'd finished way before everyone else.

"You can come hang out with us at break if you want." Amy said as we were getting changed.

I smiled. "Really? That would be great, thanks."

"Of course." She said. "I just need to go hand in some chemistry homework- we usually sit in the canteen, at the back."

"Okay, sure- I'll see you there."

"See ya." She said, and left.

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