Strangers
Chapter One
How are we to ever fully understand the minds of those around us? To you the answer’s obvious; you can’t, only by analysing their personalities. For me though, well that’s where my story starts – me.
Let me begin with an introduction. I am no ordinary teenager (or so I’m told). I obviously have a name but, for reasons only beknown to myself and a select few, I cannot mention it. To my friends I am known as Tiffany (or Tif for short). And as much as I wanted to blurt out to them everything in my mind, I couldn’t; not without breaking the promises I had made some time ago.
You might have guessed, but I live a pretty secretive life. Even who I am to my friends is a lie (sometimes I see it as an illusion). What goes on around me outside school and friends is all I’ve truly understood. Now I’m getting ahead of myself – let’s see now... Ah, of course – school – never what I expected.
Starting out in a new environment is hard enough when you don’t know anyone, where you’re going or who to avoid. This place though – uh, I didn’t even know the area. After getting out of the taxi, I noticed the building we had pulled up in front of. The sun’s rays bounded off the many windows. My eyes trailed down to the door that obviously must be the entrance. People huddled in groups nearby to it in about a twenty metre radius. Now and again one group would head through the double, glass-panelled doors. I heard the taxi pull away behind me; I gulped, flung my bag onto a shoulder and started off. From experience, I knew the best ways to not get noticed – head down, arms on bag strap and quick paces. Whether I was noticed or not I didn’t know; I was too busy watching my path. Once past the doors, I looked up. Not bothered about detail (I probably wasn’t going to be here long enough to remember anyone’s name); I trekked over to a desk. I looked over the counter and into the eyes of a woman. It was always the eyes; I never looked anywhere else on a person (or a stranger, in my current case).
‘Hello, can I help you?’ she asked caringly.
‘Hello. Yes please, I’m new in today and don’t know where I’m supposed to be.’ Best play it down, act normal, I thought to myself.
‘Ah, yes. I’ve been told to expect you... Miss...?’
‘O’Collins,’ I merely replied.
‘Thank you. If you would like to follow me please?’
So I did. She took me through corridors and up a few staircases. We were walking through another corridor when voices sounded from within a nearby classroom.
‘Erm... that would be your classmates, dear. I hope you will find someone to show you around the rest of the school, Miss O’Collins. Good day.’ And she headed back downstairs. I followed her with my eyes until she had rounded the corner. As soon as she had disappeared, I then kept my focus on the far wall without taking in any actual details. Then a strange feeling came up my body; turning my head to face the door, I realised that there was a pane of glass between me and the classroom inside to my left, (where there should have been a solid wall). And I wished there was a wall there.
A couple of pairs of eyes (why the eyes?) were watching me intently. I zoomed out my vision to take in the owners’ faces; not that I took in what they looked like, just the fact that they were both girls. Lowering my gaze and slowly stepping towards the door, I tried understanding what the shouting was about inside. Obviously, the noise was being made by boys, but what it was based around was beyond me. Wondering if my entering would change the atmosphere inside, I took hold of the handle and walked in.
A group of lads (as I had guessed) were crowded together near the front. In the brief second after I had entered, one of them had his hand held up and, in a fist, pressed it to the face of another boy. That other boy had his arms held behind his back by a further two lads. They had obviously thought I would be a teacher because of the looks they all gave me as they turned to face the door.
I forced myself not to look at any of the eyes, but to no avail. The eyes that had taken me by surprise were those of the first boy. At first, they looked afraid but then they eventually changed to behold wondering and ideas. Unfortunately for me, all the others had their eyes on me at the same time. As I walked past to find an empty seat, I noticed that they were nudging each other as their eyes remained on me. I could easily guess what they were thinking. I sat in a chair at the back of the room, placed my bag on the floor by my feet and took out my book to read. I acted as normal and impervious to the remarks I could hear that resounded within the room (and most of them were hushed whispers). Pretending to read the book and flicking through the pages wasn’t the best way to take their attention off of me. I felt, rather than saw, that they were edging nearer – cautiously, yet determined. When he had sat down on the desk in front of mine, I looked up. He had his leg resting on the chair and also rested his right arm on his knee. A couple of other boys, (who, to me, looked like his henchmen – always did the dirty work), flanked the table so I had no escape. I placed my book upside down on the desktop and folded my arms.
‘Are you the new girl?’ he asked with a slight emphasis on the words ‘new’ and ‘girl’.
‘Yes; and what has it to do with you?’
‘Whooo, you’re a confident one, aren’t ya?’
‘I’ve had worse questions asked than that, mate.’ I narrowed my eyes warningly at him, but he was oblivious to the threat behind the words.
‘Where were you before here then? We’ve never seen you in town before.’
‘Where I come from is none of your business, and if you don’t back off, you’re in trouble.’ Even though I had dealt with many similar situations involving lads, they all varied in ways to actually deal with; this was no exception. At the end of my second threat, the two flanking boys rolled their shoulders back and stood to their full height. I eyed them, measuringly; they were a little too broad and muscular for me to deal with alone. And two on one is a little unfair in the first place, so I let the threats seep out of my thoughts.
‘Hold it, lads. She’s new; we need to let her know what we tolerate around here. And intimidation isn’t one of them. For your information, we happen to be part of a gang in town, so you’d best keep a clean record with us, or you’ll find out what happened to the last person who thought they could stand up to us and get away with it.’ He stared me down and I looked away out of dismissal. ‘And you happen to be in my seat.’
‘Am I? I’m sorry,’ I sarcastically returned the rebuke. ‘I ain’t moving, if that’s what you want me to do?’
‘Then you’ll have to put up with me for a further whole hour.’ His mouth curved into a wishful smile, but he wasn’t aware of my capabilities.
‘Not a problem.’ We’ll see who has the last laugh, I thought to myself.
Suddenly, my hearing was subdued by a bell (more like a siren with my ears). The other students resigned to their seats just as the door opened and a teacher stepped through, carrying a pile of books. All through the next hour I had to keep up my defensive personality, even through the worst of what he tried to do to me. At some point I had to make him look like a fool.
My chance came when he started tapping his foot against mine and watching my facial reaction, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction. He was in for a minor surprise. Taking in the rhythm of his tapping, I measured up the timing. I swiftly lifted my foot off the floor and quickly stomped down on his foot as hard as I could without moving my body. He let out a deep groan and was in the middle of calling me something when the teacher addressed him.
‘Jack, what is wrong with you?’ she asked him sternly. He looked at her blankly, and then turned to me. I quickly gave him a confused look, as if to say ‘don’t look at me!’
‘Nothing, Miss. Just hit my foot on my chair.’
‘Then be quiet.’
‘Yes, Miss.’ He glared at me as she turned around. I just smiled briefly back.
A minute later, he slid a folded piece of paper towards my hand. I picked it up, unfolded it and read his scruffy writing: You’re so going to regret that. I simply scribbled a reply underneath and slid it back to him.
As soon as the bell rang, the others left as swiftly as they could out of the room. I took my time packing my bag. I took notice of the last out of the door – the three boys. Not knowing where my next lesson was, I asked the teacher for directions before heading out the door. As was to be expected they were waiting outside.
‘Regret what?’ I asked as I walked past them.
‘Making me look stupid.’
‘You don’t need my intervention for giving that impression.’ I smiled to myself.
‘I’ll pretend you didn’t just say that.’
‘You do that.’
‘By the way, I never caught your name. What is it?’ His voice seemed kinder with these words; almost as if he wasn’t as annoying or brutish as he first appeared to be. Knowing my reply had to carry some understanding of what goes on in boys’ minds, I softly replied.
‘Tiffany. And what are your friends’ names, Jake?’ I decided it would be best to ask back, seeming that I needed to make some effort of making friends (even if first impressions weren’t the best).
‘Tom and Matthew. Where do you come from? We haven’t seen you around here before,’ he asked again. By now he was level with me and we were walking down the corridor downstairs from our previous class. ‘We know most of the kids in this neighbourhood and you’re definitely not on the list.’
‘I’ve only just moved here. I come from a town about fifty miles away.’
‘You live with your parents?’ I had noticed that he was being rather too nice compared with the first attempt at conversation he had with me. I wasn’t bothered about the other two; my whole focus was on Jake.
‘Sort of. I live with my father but my mother is actually my step-mother. She’s really nice to me and we get along but we tend to not be in the same room together if dad’s home.’
‘You speak too formally for a girl your age. What’s your main background?’ he asked. We were now stood in the line outside the next classroom. Clearly we had to wait to be let in with the next teacher.
‘Far too complicated to start now. What’s this next teacher like?’
‘Mr. Shippom. He’s not bad. I’ll give you a tip though - don’t make yourself noticed or he’ll pick you out. We usually sit at the back. But because you’re new, he might pick on you anyway. Perhaps to see how much you know on his subject.’
‘And what’s the subject?’
‘History.’
‘Oh, the snoredom subject.’ The look he gave me at that word was baffled yet amused.
‘When did you come up with that?’
‘It’s what my other friends and me have always called it.’ Considering I have never actually been to a school before, I had been educated in certain areas. ‘We sometimes fell asleep in our classes.’
‘Hmmm, don’t do it here. He’ll wake you up with a bang.’
‘Thanks for the tips.’ I smiled sweetly back but I think he might have taken it to mean something differently than how I meant it. Looking at him now, I realised that, for the first time ever in my life, I was noticing more than just the eyes. Whenever I met someone new, the first thing I noticed (and the only thing I took notice of) was their eyes. With Jake though, it was a little different. I memorised his sleek black hair, his height and his lean physique. All the while I kept my response, to my findings, unchanged. His eyes were pretty special on their own. They were mainly deep brown around the pupil but around the very edge was a hint of dark green that melted into the brown. They were too capturing for my likeness and I hated myself for the stupid, yet mysterious, ability I had. He looked swiftly behind me and began to follow the other pupils into the classroom. I warily followed him. I was watching his back when he turned his head around to face me. He motioned for me to follow him and I gladly smiled back. He took us to the furthest table away from the front while Tom and Matthew went to sit somewhere else.
‘Do you mind sitting with me?’ he asked in a whisper.
‘No, not at all, now that I know you a little better that is,’ I said as I got out my stuff from my bag.
‘Yeh, sorry about that. I happen to have a little reputation that I need to keep up.’
‘Then won’t you making friends with me ruin it for you?’ I asked wonderingly.
‘No, not really. I usually try and chat up any new girls in our class. Not that I am chatting you up.’ I raised an eyebrow at him and let out a snigger. ‘That didn’t come out right. Erm... What I mean is...’
‘Don’t worry about it. I have had plenty of dealings with lads before. Forget you said it.’
‘And you must be the new girl?’ came a droning voice from the front of the room. We both looked up over to the teacher and noticed that the whole class was looking at us with smirks on their faces (another shock hit me at how I was taking in other details of the others as well). ‘And your name is?’
‘Tiffany, sir.’
‘Tiffany, can you tell me the three main divisions of the German army in World War Two?’
That was too much of an easy question; any idiot would know the answer. ‘The Gestapo, the SS and the Nazis.’
‘And the different countries that formed the Allies?’
‘Britain, USA, France, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Australia and many more that I can’t be bothered to list. Sir,’ I quickly added on the end with a serious expression planted on my face.
‘Very good. Now there’s a student who can remember...’ And so Mr. Shippom’s voice droned on for another hour; which gave me and Jake a little more time for talking.
‘How do you know so many? I can only ever remember two.’ He sounded a little impressed.
‘We kind of had a memory test at some point last year. Only to check our memory, it wasn’t anything major. There were about twenty to thirty countries but that was some time ago so I’ve forgotten a few.’
‘Who cares!’ he exclaimed still whispering. ‘You must have been top of the class if you can answer straight off like that.’
I played along with the fact that he thought I had moved here from another school. ‘I don’t really care for ranks in class. Only outside of school do things really matter to me.’ This was, in fact, true.
‘Same with me. Were you apart of a gang or something, back home?’
‘By gang you mean a largish circle of friends, then yes. Why? Are you a gang member?’ For me the word ‘gang’ meant the stereotypical meaning.
‘I sure am but I ain’t the gang leader. That would be my older brother. There are two main gangs in this place and we don’t get on. There’s a meet up tonight, want to come?’
Curious as I was about the life of my friend, I said yes.
‘Cool. Do you have to go home straight after school?’
‘No, my dad knows I can take care of myself without him knowing where I am. Where’s your meeting place?’
In reply he shook his head, and then said, ‘Not here, and I can’t tell you anyway. I have to show you. They might make it hard for you to fit in – another test if you want; but you’ve got me as a friend so you should enroll without any hardcore stuff needed.’
‘So we’re friends then?’ He nodded. ‘Okay, I’ll come, if you tell me secrets of getting around your brother.’
‘Just do anything he asks, unless I step in. He only lets things go if I say something to stop it. And just go with the flow and play along with whatever happens.’ He sounded as if nothing was as bad as I was expecting.
‘So you’re kind of second in command?’ I teased.
‘No, it’s probably only because I’m his brother. He has his own closer friends for that. College guys.’
‘You’re not one of those riot gangs, are you?’
‘No! We’re nothing like those gangs in the cities. We’re just a load of friends who have nothing better to do after school than hang out with each other; even if it is out on the streets. We don’t cause any trouble. In fact we help stop it. It’s the other gang you have to worry about.’