After waking up late, skipping breakfast, almost missing my bus and getting lost, I finally found myself in my Modern History classroom. I didn't see anyone that I immediately recognised as we were filing through the door, and the teacher wouldn't let us choose our own seats.
"To make things easier for me this term, I'm going to be sitting you all in alphabetical order," she told us. A collective groan filled the classroom as people complained that they couldn't sit next to their friends. The teacher started to call out the roll, having each student sit next to each other in order. The desks were partnered together, so only two people could sit side by side. I hoped that whoever I had to sit next to was nice.
"Bailey Lancaster," the teacher called. No response.
"Bailey?" she called again, peering up from the sheet of names to see if the girl was here.
"Here!" a voice called, and a familiar face came running through the doorway.
It was the tattooed girl, and now she had a name. Bailey. Her hair was tousled slightly and she looked out of breath as she walked to her seat.
"You were late almost every lesson last term Bailey, I don't want that to become a habit this time, okay?" the teacher said strictly.
"Yep, got it..." Bailey muttered, flopping down lazily into her seat and swinging her bag onto the table.
"Okay, back to it then!" the teacher said, looking back down at the roll.
"Asha Lawrence," Fuck.
I slowly walked towards the empty seat next to Bailey and sat down, trying not to make it obvious that I was admiring her heavily inked arms and strikingly beautiful features. I pulled out my book and pencil case without a word, hoping that she would be the one to initiate conversation. I hadn't stopped thinking about her last night, and I so desperately wanted to get to know her. Maybe this was my chance? I couldn't help but notice the cologne she was wearing. It was strong and masculine, something you wouldn't expect a female to wear. I gathered from what I could see that she might've been a lesbian.
Halfway through the lesson Bailey spoke to me.
"Uh...hey, it's Asha right?" she said quietly, trying not to draw attention to us.
"Yeah, that's right," I told her. I was in shock that she was talking to me and I tried to stay calm, but my palms were already sweating. She made me nervous and I had no idea why.
"I'm Bailey," she said with a sly smile. "You're new, yeah?"
"Yeah, I moved here from Adelaide last week. I only started yesterday," I explained.
"Yeah, I saw you yesterday," Bailey said simply.
"Oh, okay..." I replied, looking down at my book. So she had seen me yesterday when Amanda had brought me to her group. I felt a pang of hurt in my chest at this news, did she not want to get to know me? Was she annoyed that she was stuck sitting next to me in class? There was an awkward silence between us before Bailey broke it again.
"So, how come you're hanging around with Amanda Wetherell?" she asked me curiously.
"She was the one to show me around the school," I said, "Why? Should I not be hanging around with her?"
"Nah, she's nice, she's just a bit of a goody two shoes. They all are. You don't really strike me as a goody two shoes," Bailey said simply, a dimple forming in her cheek as she smiled.
"Oh, so what do I strike you as then?" I said confidently, my eyebrows raised. Where was this confidence coming from? I felt my face flush hot as soon as I'd said it and I hoped Bailey wasn't offended by my sudden outburst of sass.
Bailey raised her eyebrows back at me, a smirk playing on her lips as she looked me up and down. I suddenly felt very hot and self conscious as her eyes roamed me. She settled back on my face, her smile growing bigger.
"Someone who knows how to have a good time."
I blushed again, smiling and looking towards the board and writing down what the teacher had written. She wasn't wrong, I loved to party and I was no stranger to the occasional binge drink. We fell back into a silence, although this time it wasn't awkward, just filled with tension. Not sexual...no. I'm definitely straight. But it was something... and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. When the bell rang signalling second period, I packed up my things and shoved them into my bag. As we were walking out the door, the teacher called out to us.
"I forgot to tell you, I'll be handing out an assignment in next week that is forty percent of your grade this year. Prepare yourselves!"
Everyone groaned, including myself, as we walked out of the door. As I was walking to my second lesson, I felt someone brush against my arm.
"See ya round, Ash!" said the person. I whipped my head around only to see Bailey walking away in the opposite direction.
My second lesson was Biology with a teacher called Mr. Lette. He seemed nice, and very passionate about Biology. He drew up various diagrams on the board and started to teach us about 'stomates', which were apparently small holes in leaves that secrete salt. I chuckled as he excitedly gushed about stomates, and how incredible the ecosystem was. I took down notes and copied the diagrams on the board, and before I knew it the bell was ringing to send us off to recess.
"See you next lesson everyone!" said Mr. Lette enthusiastically.
I walked down to the eating area and saw Amanda and the other girls sitting down and chatting about something excitedly. As I walked up to them, I saw the 'popular group' in the corner of my eye. Bailey was there, kicking a ball around with Luke and a few of the other guys.
"Hey Asha!" Casey said cheerfully, moving so that I could sit down between her and Heidi.
"Hey guys," I smiled back.
"I can't believe it's only day two and there's already a party. I think I'm going to have to go to the mall and get a new outfit!" Chelsea exclaimed. I looked around at the girls confusedly. What party were they talking about? Of course I wouldn't have been invited since I barely knew anyone.
"Oh, Asha! Dylan Campbell is having a party on Saturday night, he's turning eighteen and it's going to be huge!" Amanda exclaimed.
"Eighteen? But he's only in Year Eleven, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, he got held back a year in primary school, so he's older than everyone else in our grade," she explained. "Add me on Facebook and I'll invite you to the event, I'm sure he won't mind!"
I pulled out my phone and went into the Facebook app, typing in her name. While I was at it, I also added Chelsea, Lauren, Casey, Breanna, Mollie and Heidi. I was tempted to look up Bailey's name, but I didn't want them to notice so I stopped myself. Not long after, I got a notification on Facebook saying that I had been invited to the party. I slyly went to the invite list and scrolled until I saw who I was looking for. Luke and Bailey were both attending, and I was suddenly a lot more excited about the party than I had been beforehand.
"Since school finishes at twelve fifteen on Thursday we can all go shopping for new outfits!" Mollie exclaimed, and the girls all excitedly agreed. I was determined to look amazing for this party and make a good first impression on everyone, because according to the girls the entire grade was going to be at the party. The girls all discussed what outfits they wanted to buy, and who they hoped to hook up with.
Thursday came around a lot quicker than I had expected and before I knew it I was getting the train with the girls to go to the mall. I hadn't seen Bailey since recess on Tuesday and I wondered where she had been, she hadn't shown up to the last Modern History lesson. Luke and I had continued to get to know each other in our Music lessons, and while Amanda said he was a player he seemed like a nice guy. I trusted Amanda though, the squabble of girls trailing after Luke twenty four/seven speaking for themselves. That didn't mean I couldn't be friends with him though, and possibly hook up with him... I didn't plan on getting feelings for him, so a harmless drunk kiss wouldn't hurt, right?
The girls and I got off the train at Carrin Valley Mall and the girls briskly dragged me to the first clothes store in sight. We ended up going to at least seven clothing stores, some a lot more expensive than I would've liked, but eventually I found the perfect outfit for the party. It was a black playsuit that hugged my curves perfectly, showing the perfect amount of cleavage. I knew it would look great with a pair of black strappy heels that I had at home.
"Asha, you look so hot!" Heidi gushed, as the other girls rushed to see what I had tried on.
"Oh my god, Luke won't be able to control himself!" Amanda giggled. I blushed, thinking about how I wanted to impress him. And Bailey. Why I wanted to impress Bailey... I had no idea.
"Are you and Luke a thing?!" squealed Lauren excitedly, jumping up and down and clapping her hands like a child.
"No! We honestly aren't, we sit next to each other in music class, that's it!" I told them, trying to hide the smile on my face.
"Liar, liar! Someone has a crush," Casey said, poking my sides.
"I really don't. Sure, he's good looking, but I don't like him like that!" I told the girls. And it was true, I didn't like him like that. Just because I found him attractive it didn't mean that I wanted to date him.
"Whatever you say..." she replied, rolling her eyes and smiling at me. I rolled my eyes in return, turning back to the mirror to admire what the playsuit was doing for my body. I had to admit, I looked really good... and feeling good about myself was something that I wasn't used to so I revelled in the feeling.
"You have to buy that, Asha!" Amanda said, pushing me back into the change rooms to take it off so I could pay for it.
I was the last one to find an outfit, so once I had bought the playsuit we were all ready to go. We grabbed dinner at the food court before catching the train back to Chadstone. As I walked home from the bus stop with my bag in hand, I thought about what Saturday's party would bring. I wondered if my mum would trust me enough to buy me alcohol for the party, and if it was worth asking her in the first place. While I was a year and a half away from the legal drinking age, my mum trusted me not to do anything too crazy. After seeing what alcohol had done to my father, I knew how dangerous the drug could be.
I sighed, thinking back to memories that I had shared with my dad. Before he became a gambler he was a great person. We had a great relationship and I was definitely a Daddy's Girl. He would come to every netball and soccer match, every school event, every piano recital. But as time wore on, he appeared around the house less and less, and before we knew it, our money was gone. I wondered what my new friends would think if they found out about him, about how he had died. Would they judge my mother and me for how things ended. Would they blame us?
For the rest of the night I let my mind wander, reminiscing on old times with my family and friends back in Adelaide. The past week here in Gold Coast had been anything but boring, and I was excited for what the future would bring, especially if my future somehow involved Bailey.