School Days - Chapter 1

Amy sighed in resignation as she looked dejectedly in the mirror. She ran her fingers through her honey-colored hair, desperately wishing that she could get it to give in to her desires. She signed once more then gave up hope of looking good for school. Spinning round, she grabbed her shoulder bag from her bed, pulled the door open and ran down stairs.
"Going to school, got choir afterwards so won’t be home ‘til late. Bye!" she yelled in the general direction of the kitchen where she knew her mother would be battling to get the twins to eat their breakfast.
Slinging her jacket over her arm and pulling the door closed behind her, Amy paused for a second to glance around her untidy little garden before starting off down the path towards the bus stop. She knew she didn’t have a lot of time until the bus got there but this was some of the only time she had to herself so she couldn’t entirely help her unnecessarily slow pace.

Lost in her thoughts, she barely noticed the light drizzle floating from the sky and coating her in a thin layer of moisture. She was pondering her latest novel, stuck at the end of the sixth chapter, unsure how to get the story on the path she wanted it.
Wandering along like that, she wasn’t even really thinking about her surroundings, instead lost in the world she had created. It was for this reason that she had often missed the bus to school. Today, however, she was in luck, reaching the stop with just seconds to spare. She stepped onto the bus, flashing her pass at the driver before sitting down on a seat at the very front of the bus. She pulled out a dog-eared copy of The Hobbit and slumped down, ready to lose herself in the adventures of Bilbo and the dwarves for the hundredth time. Reading was the only way she had found to kill time on the tediously long journey to school.

She was just getting into the story when the bus pulled over. Amy glanced up curiously – it was February and she had been getting this bus since September, but never before had it had to stop to pick someone up from this stop.
A boy stepped up onto the bus, fumbling with his wallet for a second before pulling a shiny, new bus pass from it. He held it out for the bus driver to take, apparently unsure what to do with it. The driver just nodded him onto the bus, causing the boy to stumble right into the seat next to Amy when he pulled off too quickly for the boy.
Amy glanced over at him and he gave her a shy smile. She returned it tentatively. He looked nice enough, with his quiet, dark eyes and jet black hair, but you never knew.
"Hi, I’m Jake. It’s my first day at St. Christopher’s."
She narrowed my eyes suspiciously, her uncertainties seemingly confirmed. "How do you know I’m going to St. Christopher’s?"

"Errr…", he paused as if unsure how to answer. "The uniform kinda gave it away. Sorry."
Amy reddened in embarrassment, glancing down at the jumper with the school emblem emblazoned on it. That was so blatantly obvious that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t realized. It must have taken some courage to talk to her on his first day and she had just acted like he was some weirdo. Jumping to the wrong conclusion, overly suspicious, as always.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, it’s still early" she mumbled hurriedly, making excuses for her rudeness. "Mmm, hi. I’m Amy and it’s not my first day at St. Christopher’s. Nice to meet you." She held her hand out, unsure whether this was expected or not
Jake grinned, obviously more pleased with this response than her original greeting, if it could be called a greeting, and grabbed her hand. He shook it for a brief second. "Nice to meet you too."

As Amy sat in her first lesson - English, another lesson looking at To Kill A Mockingbird, a book she had first read at age 8 - she pondered her bus journey this morning, so very different from the ones she usually experienced. Or should that be endured?
She and Jake had, at first, made stilted conversation about trivialities. The first topic of conversation was the fact that his dad had just been transferred to the area, uprooting the whole family in the process to start afresh somewhere new. She couldn’t imagine how he felt, having to leave his whole life hundreds of miles away, as she had lived in the same house for her whole life, but she sympathized anyway.
They soon found, though, that they shared a passion for reading. She smiled slightly at having finally found someone she could talk to about this. None of her family understood and, of the few friends she had, none were really into books.
Miss Morton finished her introductory monologue and started talking to the class instead of at them at this point, so Amy had to abandon her reverie and actually pay attention. She settled into her chair, preparing for another lesson of boredom looking at a book she already knew inside out.

English was almost as boring as Amy had expected it to be, but the following double-period of history didn’t look like it would be too bad. This term they were studying the American West and for the past couple of lessons had been focusing on American Indians. Half the boys in her class were ecstatic as they were learning about cowboys and Indians…Amy often wondered why some boys were so immature.
Mr. Ellers had just finished explaining what we were going to cover in this class when the door was hesitantly opened. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the door. It was Jake and, by the look on his face, Amy guessed that he hated the fact that he was the center of attention. He cleared his throat nervously and approached the teacher’s desk.
"Sorry I’m late. It’s my first day and I got lost." At this point he paused and glanced nervously around the class, most of whom were still staring at him. He cleared his throat again before he began talking. "Is this Mr Ellers’ history class?"

"Yes, it is," boomed Mr Ellers in his deep voice. "You can choose where you sit. Don’t believe in making people sit where they don’t want to so it’s up to you. But first things first! Let’s hear your name and get you introduced to the class."
Jake hesitantly turned around to face his peers and started blushing ever so slightly.
"Hi, my name’s Jake Stanford and I just moved here. I love the theater and hope to act in the West End some day."
Amy’s mouth formed a little ‘o’ of surprise at this fact. Jake seemed almost painfully shy, and he wanted to be an actor? This was something she hadn’t expected at all. At a nod from Mr. Ellers, Jake sat down at the first empty desk he came to, the other side of the room from where Amy sat with her friend Tina. She was kinda disappointed that he hadn’t sat down nearer to her, but then maybe he just hadn’t noticed that she was in the class.

Mr. Ellers started the class properly at this point, but Amy kept glancing towards Jake, trying to catch his eye. He, however, was looking resolutely forwards, giving his undivided attention to the lesson. After about 20 minutes of this, Amy gave up and focused properly. She’d just grab him at the end of class.
But Mr. Ellers wanted to talk to him about catching up on what he’d already missed and Amy had to get to the other side of side of school for her art class and couldn’t hang around after wards to wait for him.
Art passed quickly, with Amy spending the majority of the time doing research for her coursework, but her mind wasn’t really on the work. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jake, and this worried her a little bit. They’d met for the first time this morning and only talked for about 30 minutes - why couldn’t she get him out of her head? As she scrolled slowly down the page she was looking at, she wondered if she would see him at lunch, then found herself fervently hoping so.