When I first saw Ester Trohman she was sitting at the lunch table half heartedly spinning her fork through her foul smelling pasta pot. Dora’s tour of the school was so thorough I never got to go to the cafeteria at break. Esters mousey brown hair was like a hedge in the way it poofed outwards and, like me, she wore glasses. The eyes behind those spectacles where trained on the couple at the next table.
“Look at them.” She muttered to the girl beside her. “It’s disgusting the way she’s looking at him. Those fluttering eyelids sicken me. And that smile! It’s so cheesy, it has to be out on hasn’t it Mia?”
“I guess so.” Sighed the other girl who I assumed was Mia. She had her hair in a tight ponytail and wore a wide fabric covered hair band in St. Jude maroon. Her silver badge was pinned to the hair band so it looked less like a sign marking her out and more like a fashion accessory.
I looked at the same table as Ester. I didn’t see anything wrong; they were just a regular high school couple. The boy had a black beanie over his blonde hair and the girl had her bright red dyed hair in pigtails. She had piercings up one ear and on her lip and both of them wore dark hoodies. They leaned forward and kissed.
“Gross!” moaned Ester, “Why are they even doing that in a school?”
“You’re starting to sound like Harrison.”
“Who?” I asked
Mia’s head turned round. “Oh, your the new girl. Mr Harrison is the head teacher.”
“What’s he like?” I thought back to my old head teacher, silver haired Mrs Miles a gentle soul who somehow managed to run Dally Academy like clockwork.
“He can be a bit intimidating in the lower school but he’s really a pretty good guy if you stay on his good side.” Said Mia, as she, used her perfectly painted pink nails to straighten the tin foil from her lunch.
“ That’s because you’re smart.” Said Dora who sat down at the table, she and the Asian girl who she had appeared with were each carrying a pot noodle and a can of irn-bru, they must have left the school for food. “He’s not liked me since first year.”
“Didn’t you punch Darla Mace?”
“She deserved it. She called us weirdo’s.”
“Well aren’t you a bit? I mean your all—”
“Where perfectly human,” Announced Mia, “Ninety-eight percent of the time. Besides, Ester’s human one-hundred percent of the time.”
“I looked at the badge that Ester was wearing. It was the same design as the others but instead of being silver it was black.”
“It’s compulsory for you lot to wear the silver pin but the black pin is voluntary marks out people who know about and support werewolves.”
“How do you know about them then?” I asked
“Long story, I try to forget. But I’ve been supporting these guys from the start.”
“That was like twelve years ago wasn’t it? I know it was for Dora anyway. How old must you have been? Three? Four?”
“As Ester said: long story.” Announced Mia and the table fell silent.
“Anyway,” exclaimed Dora, stretching the word and shattering the silence, “You’ve to be introduced to the rest of the clan, Sandra.”
“Clan?”
“It’s a joke.” Muttered Ester, “Dora always has her dumb jokes.”
“So you’ve met Ester and Mia. This is my buddy Lana,” she pointed to the Asian girl sipping her irn-bru. Her skin was dark and her black hair was wavy and glossy –Sandra knew girls who would kill for hair like that– and her uniform was fairly neat as she wore a pink cardigan. The most unusual thing about her was the eyes. Throughout the conversation she had kept them half shut and close to the ground, I wondered if she did that a lot, to hide them, but when she looked up she saw the unnatural bright yellow. She had seen unusual eyes before, hazel’s that where close to yellow; my own eyes were so icy blue they looked white in some lights; but Lana’s eyes where different –the where almost not-human in appearance.
“Lana doesn’t like to talk about the eyes.” Mia had spotted me staring, obviously. This girl seemed to keep tags on everything. I didn’t know much about werewolves, the fictional kind or the me kind. But from what Josie had gone on about I knew there was always some kind of leader; usually all gruff and aggressive. Now, I knew this lay deep in the realms of fiction but Mia, this short, tidy, little girl seemed to exude a sense of authority. She had a pale pallor with hints of pink on her arms and neck, as if she had sunburn and not a hair seemed out if place.
However, she had a hint of a gleam in her deep, gun-metal eyes showed there was something deep inside her. Like, that thing within me, and in the others around this table.
My eyes glanced back to the romantic couple. They had stood up and where kissing again. I was starting to see what Ester meant when she was going on about how disgusting it was. They broke apart and the girl walked of waving and grinning down the corridor. The boy walked over, smiling, to our table.
“Alex has to go talk to a teacher.” He said, I assumed Alex was the redhead girlfriend.
“Guess you’re stuck with us.” Said Dora, “By the way; Oscar this is Sandra, she’s one of us and is new in town .Sandra this is Oscar, he’s another one of us. Not exactly new in town. “
“Cool,“ he muttered “It will be different to have someone new around here. There’s not been anyone new here since Cas—“
“We don’t talk about that.” Butted in Mia
“Okay, I forget some of the stuff we can’t talk about.”
“Maybe you’d remember now,” added Ester, “If you actually talked to us these days.”
“I would if you let me tell Alex.”
“You know why we can’t do that.” Said Mia.
“Yeah, you’re scared my girlfriend’s hiding silver bullets in her purse. Come on guys! You all know Alex.”
“It’s a very, very slim possibility. But it’s still a possibility. You have to remember, it’s not just your secret you’d be revealing, it’s ours as well.@ Besides, what will she think. She’ll either think your crazy or a freak.”
“I don’t care. I really need to do this.”
“And I’m telling you no.”
Oscar sighed and rubbed his dirty blonde fringe. “If that’s how it is.” He started to saunter away. “Oh, and I like the t-shirt Dora.”
******
After lunch I followed Dora, who was still in her tour guide excitement to the afternoon class only to be led back downstairs for an assembly. St. Jude High had this layout where everything that did not happen in a classroom took place in this area called “the street”. Lunch, assembly, some P.E. classes and the school show. Even with my little knowledge of it I could see the bad design as we had to face the stage sitting on the lunch tables. Onto the stage walked a tall, wide shouldered man with a clean shaven head. I supposed this was the Mr Harrison I’d been told about. He started to speak monotonously in a booming voice as another class filed in.
“Hey Dally Girl.” Said the boy finding a spot on my trable.
“Hi Patrick.”
“So, how’s your first day at Hopeless High been?”
“Hopeless High?”
“It’s what I like to call this place. St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless cases and have you seen the pupils here!”
“That’s pretty funny.”
“I see you’ve been hanging out with M and Co.”
“What the clothes shop?”
“No! It means Mia and company in this sense. Mia and all her little buddies.”
“Yeah, well there being really...supportive to me just now.” I couldn’t think of the right word. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t be talking with them if it wasn’t for the fact I could confide my secret in them.
“That’s nice of them. Anyway do you mind if I mention how adorable it is that you don’t get a single bit of the school slang?”
“Not at all. Why don’t you teach me some?”
“I’d rather not. You wouldn’t be Dally Girl as much. It wouldn’t sound right in your Teuchter accent.”
“ssh” went one of the teachers.
I tuned back into the assembly. Mr Harrison was still moaning on.
“How long can one man discuss chewing gum in the halls?”
“Longer than you can imagine. Harrison’s speeches are legendary.”
“What makes them interesting?” hearing him drone on about littering and representing the school was not particularly engaging.
“There just so long. The legend goes back in 2004/05 senior school award ceremony his speech lasted a whole hour.”
“Gosh!”
Patrick grinned.
“What is it?”
“You just said gosh. Most girls I know would be firing the profanities. But you’re so innocent sounding. You sound like someone from an Enid Blyton story.”
“Enid Blyton, really?”
“Okay. C.S. Lewis then. You can be my Teuchter Susan Pevensie.”
I couldn’t help but smile, The bell rang and I went to grab my bag. But before we left I asked one question.
“Why am I her?”
“I always had a thing about Susan.” Patrick called as he walked away. “See you later Dally Girl!”
Still smiling I sat on the table again.
“Same to you, Barrglen Boy.” I said faintly. Maybe this place wouldn’t be too bad after all.
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In all honesty I don't like this chapter but I finally got to introduce Ester who is actually the first character I thought up for this story. Technically anyway, Oscar nearly mentioned some characters who where created for an older story I since gave up on but hey, reduce, reuse, recycle.
I realised some of my words in this chapter may confuse international readers so I'm adding a few definitions for you:
Teuchter: pronounced choocter. Someone from the north of scotland. Often used to refer to the accent
Irn-Bru: The best soft drink ever! "Scotlands other national drink". I don't think it's sold outside the UK
M&Co: A chain of high street clothes stores
Tell me if there's anymore words confusing you.
Dedicated to @imabookwormXD
Also I've noticed a lot of cast lists on other stories on here. Can you tell me who your imagining when reading this. I can only think of one for Mia at the moment.
As always please vote and comment :)