Today's the day! Although I may already know a few people from my lessons yesterday, I can really expand my friendship bracket.
I wake up early - excited at what this day will hold. Today we're allowed to wear our own clothes which is great for me; my clothes really help establish a good first impression.
I wear a long pleated mustard skirt; It's made up of three thin layers so when I walk it swishes from side to side. I'm also wearing a white crop top and some grey wedges. Just to finish off the look and portray my personality to any potential new friends, I accessorise with a black bowler hat and a yellow necklace with the word 'smile' written on it. I think I'm ready.
"Nervous?" Rachel looks stunning as usual. She's wearing a red skirt which matches her hair and a leather jacket which looks very expensive.
"Course not!" I answer truthfully, "I'm excited."
"You should be, you'll get to meet everyone! And maybe have a chance to talk to Danny?" She got so excited at that last part I wondered if she'd wet herself.
"Rach, you need to let this Danny thing go, he went out with my best friend remember!" The seriousness in my tone scared me so I followed it up with a cheeky giggle. C'mon Jess, you don't want to lose your only friend hear by bringing her down.
"Yeah, I remember but he's super hot and every other girl in the school seems to like him!" I had to nod at this part, he'd certainly caused a stir among the girls in the dorm and a lot of girls seemed jealous that I knew him.
"Well, even if he hadn't completely broken Amy's heart, he's not my type!"
"Who is your type then Jess? If it's not hot bad boys what is it?" I shrugged. "Smoking head boys?"
"Rachel!" I yelled. "Can we stop with the matchmaking please! Or at least focus on hooking you up with a certain geographer!" Turning on Rachel seemed the best way to deflect the attention. "Am I going to get to meet him today?"
"I don't know, are you going to talk to Danny?" So this was how she wanted to play it.
"Really Rach?" I pondered for a minute, how much did I want to meet her mystery boy? "Fine, I'll talk to Danny if you introduce me to Mr.Geography."
"I'm going to want to meet Danny too by the way!"
"Fine," I grumbled; this was so on.
***
For the beginning of the off timetable day we had a talk type thing. I guess it was a nice start to the day. Since Mrs Clarke had already given her speech, to the majority of the sixth form anyway, today they handed over to the students; one of which I knew fairly well.
"And now," Mrs Clarke's voice boomed throughout the hall as she spoke into the microphone. "I welcome our head boy to the stage to welcome all you year twelves into St Peter's sixth form. Matthew!" She steps down now from the block she was sitting on as Matthew walks on to the stage.
"Thanks Mrs Clarke," OMG he's so cute and polite! No wonder everyone loves him so much! "Welcome everyone! Whether you're here for your second year at sixth form ready to welcome the new recruits, or you're new to year twelve and excited for what is to come, it's clear we all have a great year coming up. But today, it's the time for the newbies, as the year thirteens pass the torch to the new generation of sixth form. I can't be the only older pupil in this hall who is very jealous of the young'uns who have a whole two years left at this incredible place. I pray that you treasure the amazing people you will meet, lessons you will learn and opportunities that you will experience as much as I have." He paused here to look around at the crowd. Every person in the room is gripped on his every word. Some of the girls seem near to fainting as he glances over them during his tour of the room. He smirks before carrying on. "I've been at this incredible school for six ridiculously awesome years. Just the thought of leaving at the end of the year terrifies me! I hope that you all make the most of every opportunity presented to you as you progress in the year. Thank you."
There are tremendous cheers as Matthew steps off the stage. Rachel gives me a bemused look as I 'woop' incredulously at the amazing speech he gave.
Next, a girl I don't recognise dances on to the stage, her hair bobbing as she walks. I assume she's the head girl but I don't bother to listen as Rachel talks to me.
"So then Jess, you know what happens after this!" I did know, and I was ready.
"Don't even try to psych me out Rach. I don't fancy him and you're going to see it now."
"Well I don't even fancy J-" she stopped herself before giving away too much, too soon. "I can tell you like Danny and I'm not going to stop until you admit it. Also, when I meet him I'll see how much chemistry there is and you won't be able to hide your feelings anymore!"
"Bring it on."
***
"Hey Rachel, do you want a drink?"
"I'd love one thanks Jess!"
I walk over to the drinks table by the wall of the cafeteria. It's quite hard to get to as there are so many people around it, everyone must be as thirsty as me.
When I finally reach the table I pour two glasses of juice for Rachel and I. However, just as I turn around one of them spills on the person coming up behind me.
"Hey watch it!" I yell, only to be caught short once I realise who I've just told off. "Oh Matthew hi, sorry about the juice. My bad." Oh god, I was mortified - could this get any worse?
"Hey no worries, I should have 'watched it' anyway," he smirked. I couldn't help but smile back at him. "So how did you think my speech went?"
"Wonderful!" great now came the chance to redeem myself from my previous slip ups. "You were so amazing and everyone absolutely loved it, you should go into speech-making or something." I babbled. Speech-making? Really Jess?
"Well I'm glad you liked it." He laughed. "Hey, has anyone told you about your meetings yet?"
The meetings were an optional chance to talk about your faith with someone who was firm in theirs. The idea isn't to get you to convert but to make sure you don't feel too alienated but the Catholicism surrounding you. I was looking forward to starting mine because I definitely needed some extra guidance.
"Not really, I know what's going to happen and everything but I haven't been told a date yet."
"Well," Matthew said, a smile across his face. "You are very lucky, young Jessica, because I have been chosen to conduct those meetings for you!"
"Really?" I grinned. "That's fantastic, I can't wait!"
At this point, I saw Danny across the other side of the room. He smiled at me and beckoned me over.
"Sorry Matthew," I apologised "but I've just seen someone I need to talk to."
I battled through the crowd of thirsty students to make my way to Danny standing on the outskirts.
"Hey." I greeted,
"Hey yourself." He joked.
"I didn't really get the chance to talk to you much in Maths." I started to explain.
"Yeah that Mr Wilding's a real slave driver."
"That's for sure," I laughed. "But, I'm so confused; what are you doing here?"
"Going to school, same as everyone else."
"But this is a catholic school. You're not even catholic." I reminded him.
"Erm Jess, neither are you!" I contemplated this for a while, wondering how to explain when we were rudely interrupted.
"Danny!" A familiar looking girl had draped herself around him. "How are you doing babe."
"I was just talking to Jess here." Danny gestured towards me as he said my name. "She's a friend from back home."
"Well a friend of Danny is a friend of mine! I'm Felicity, you may remember me from my speech up there. I'm head girl." Oh so that's who she is.
"Yeah I remember, it was great." I lied.
"Thanks," she smiled. "Speeches are sort of my thing!" Danny laughed at this but I found it positively horrible and overbearing.
I took a look at Felicity. She has blonde, super curly hair which she wore half up, half down. Her lips were such that it appeared she was constantly judging me. Overall her whole manner was very judgemental and unwelcoming; I didn't like her one little bit.
"So Felicity, how do you know Danny?" I enquired.
"Oh I was his guide the day before yesterday and we've been friends ever since." She chirped.
"Wow, the day before yesterday!" I said sarcastically. "You must have gotten really close."
Felicity sensed my sarcasm here and replied snidely. "Oh don't worry we have."
I processed what she just said. Did she really just suggest that they had a thing going? I mean, I knew Danny was fast but this? I thought quickly for a sufficient comeback to her snipe.
"Sounds familiar, right Danny." I winked at Danny to appear flirty to Felicity but jokey to Danny; it worked like a charm as Danny smirked, I turned to Felicity.
"What you do in your own time is fine by me Jess, but no one likes a kiss and tell. Bit slutty don't you think Danny?" What did she just call me?!
Danny looked puzzled by this, I think he was finding it hard to keep up, bless him. But Felicity responded smoothly with a cheeky giggle to clear any suspicions that Danny may have of bad character.
Who was this girl? Wrapped around Danny like a pole dancer and insulting me without a bat of an eyelid. She was sneaky, that's for sure. And then it hit me -
I'd only been at his school five minutes and I'd already made an enemy.
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / /
Hmmm, thoughts on Felicity? Oh and sorry for being cliche with the bitch being blonde but that's mainly because Jess is brunette and Rachel's a redhead so... Next chapter we'll find out a little more about Rachel's crush and there'll be a cute little scene between Jess and Danny which I'm kind of in love with.
So I'm going away for a week tomorrow but don't worry, I'll be writing the whole time so I'll have plenty to upload when I return!! Also to say sorry for no uploads for a week I'm going to upload the cast list tonight!! I know some people get kinda fixated on it but really it's just a guide to help you picture everyone. Also I know that you won't have met all the characters in the cast yet but I've kind of done it all in advance. Also the order of the characters will give you a clue as to whose going to play bigger parts as the book goes on so hopefully you'll like that too! One thing to say is that I know Freya Mavor isn't a red head but basically for Rachel just imagine her with red hair!! :)
Love you all lots, don't forget to vote/comment/fan/tell your friends/whatever. :) ~LunaCresta
PS the song is 'To be a man' by Starkid from Holy Musical B@man. For those of you who don't know I'm completely obsessed with Starkid and they'll probably feature a lot in the coming songs!!