Erin The Fire Goddess: The Beginning (2 page)

Before I knew it, Monday had arrived and with it brought the first day of school.  Yesterday, my mum had taken Kasey-Ray and I for a walk to show us the way
to school.  I had woken up feeling sick with nerves.  I was up, dressed and ready to leave by 7:45am.  The walk to school would take 20 minutes and didn’t start until 8:50am.  The nervous waiting around was excruciating, rather than go downstairs to wait, I decided to go and sit on Kasey-Ray’s bed and talk to her, whilst she finished getting ready.  Kasey-Ray was actually really excited, which had made a change from all the crying and complaining she had done this past week.

On the walk to Galladale high school, Kasey-Ray was chattering on about all the new friends she would make and wondered out loud whether there would be any good looking guys here.  I don’t think she completely realised how people gravitated towards her and how most boys at our old school, would have crawled over hot coals just to get a ‘Hi’ from her.  She was a year younger than me, but could easily pass for 16, even at a stretch 18.

As we walked through the school gates, I noticed people had already stopped to stare at us. Kasey-Ray, caught up in the excitement, was oblivious to the shift of attention.  I tried not to look around; I either looked at Kasey-Ray's face, or at my feet.  I was kind of relieved when we stepped through the reception doors.

“Hi, I’m Kasey-Ray Tait and I’m starting here today." She told the receptionist in her most polite voice. “And this is my sister, Erin." The receptionist looked in my direction and seemed to stare at me in shock. She quickly looked back at Kasey-Ray, with a forced smile.

“If you would just take a seat the Principal, Mr Jenkins, will be with you shortly."  Without a second glance at me, she quickly turned to the telephone behind her.

Kasey-Ray was still
talking; I wasn’t sure what it was she was talking about. I had tuned her out as we passed through the school gates; I just nodded here and there so she would think I was listening.  I still felt sick, I should be used to people gawping at me, they always have, but it still didn’t make me feel any better when people couldn’t look at me without turning away.

“Kasey-Ray? Erin?” A tall, slim man wearing a tweed suit, with leather elbows and glasses that looked homemade, stepped through a door next to the reception desk.

He didn’t look at me the way the receptionist had, which was a welcome relief.  The receptionist had probably warned him on the phone, I told myself.  He stretched out his arm and shook both of our hands.

“I am Mr Jenkins, The Principal here. Let me be the first to welcome you both to Galladale High School." He paused to smile at us both in turn.  Looking like he was waiting for one of us to say something, when we didn’t he continued. “Well, if you would like to follow me, I will show you to your form-rooms."

On the way, he explained what the school expected from its students, the times for lunch and other breaks, he also told us that should we ever have any concerns, then we were not to hesitate going to see him.  Kasey-Ray was the first to be shown to her form-room.  Before entering, she fiddled with her clothes and hair, asking if she looked okay, I told her she was perfect and she smiled widely as she followed Mr Jenkins into the room, where he proceeded to introduce her to the form teacher and in turn the rest of the class.  All the time I hid out of sight, behind the door-frame with my back to the wall until Mr Jenkins reappeared and closed the door behind him.

When we reached my form-room, I stood hesitantly in the doorway, whilst Mr Jenkins introduced me. 
I heard a few people snigger when they saw me; some even craned their necks and moved their chairs so they could get a better look at the new girl.  Some making repulsed noises.  I did my best not to make eye contact with anyone and I wished I’d tried harder.  I felt someone at the table near the door looking at me, I looked around to see a red haired girl glaring at me, with a look of pure hatred in her eyes, which unsettled me and sent a shiver down my spine.  Luckily, my form teacher called my name, allowing me to break eye contact with the girl and her hate-filled glare.

Ms Forrester was a short, stout,
well-dressed woman, who gave me a warm smile.

“There are a couple of tables at the back, if you would like to go and take a seat," she pointed to the tables at the back of the classroom on the right hand side, one in front of the other. I decided to sit at the one furthest to the back.

At lunchtime I spotted Kasey-Ray sat at a table, surrounded by most of her year, who listened intently to every word she said.  Smiling to myself, I decided to leave her be and go somewhere quiet to eat my lunch alone.  As it wasn’t raining, I decided it would be nice to go outside and find a nice quiet spot.  I walked past other students, who quickly moved away from me, to whisper to their friends.

“Have you seen her face?” I heard one girl ask.

“I couldn’t exactly miss it,” Her friend sniggered.

“It’s like she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down,” the first girl laughed.  Fighting back the tears, I focused on the doors that led to my freedom.  When I finally got outside, after what seemed the longest few paces I had ever walked, it took all my willpower to stop myself from walking across the schoolyard, through the school gates and all the way home.

Instead I found a spot at the far corner of the school field. I laid my coat on the ground and sat down on it, pulling out my packed lunch as I composed my thoughts.  I sat staring at the contents for a good five minutes, my thoughts a blur, going over and over what had just happened.  I picked up an orange and sat squeezing it in my hand.

“I wouldn’t let them get to you,” the voice startled me, through the bushes a boy of about 17 stepped out.  He had messy brown hair and the most amazing eyes I’d ever seen, like the colour of a blue-green ocean, somewhere between shock and amazement I gasped, I don’t think I had ever seen anyone so beautiful before.  He didn’t smile though.
He just looked at me with interest, to my amazement he didn’t even seem to be repulsed by me, unlike nearly everyone else that morning.

He turned his head to the side and looked down at the orange in my hand, which I’d forgotten I was holding. I looked down at my hand and saw that orange juice was seeping through my fingers dripping down onto my coat. I opened my hand to examine the orange, but all that remained was a messy pulp.  Before I could clean up the mess, I heard more rustling through the bushes.  I looked up just in time to see three more boys were standing there, along with a girl, all five now watching me intently.  I started to feel nervous, but before I could do or say anything, the tallest boy with spiky red hair and freckles nodded at me, then turned to face the rest.

“Let’s go."  With that they all started heading towards the school, with not a single backward glance, not that I expected them to. I just wanted to take one more look into the blue-green eyes of the first boy, they were so mesmerising.

After school, I sat on a wall near the school gates waiting for Kasey-Ray.  I was not surprised to see her walking out, surrounded by admirers.

“Erin!” She shouted loudly, making everyone look from her to me, I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me where I sat.  We walked to the gates and came to a halt; I shuffled impatiently from one foot to the other, as I waited for her to say her goodbyes.

I glanced around and saw the boy I had seen earlier, getting into the passenger seat of a black Fiat Punto, with two of the boys and the girl that I’d seen with him earlier.

The boy with the spiky red hair was leaning against the car, talking to him whilst looking around, obviously searching for someone. Then his eyes met mine and I quickly looked away, embarrassed that I’d been caught staring.

Kasey-Ray still hadn’t finished her goodbyes, and from the corner of my eye, I spotted the red haired girl, from my form room.

She hadn’t spotted me, but I watched her curiously, as she walked towards the car park and straight to them.

That was who the tall spiky-haired boy had been looking for. He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head, and for once she looked like she was smiling.

I slowly looked back to the boy in the passenger seat and he was looking right at me. My heart sped up, he quickly looked away and I felt her eyes burning into me furiously.

Jessica Watson. I’d learnt that much from form-room today. I noticed the spiky-haired boy pulling her away, as the boy in the passenger seat stared down at the road, like he was day dreaming.

“Ready?” The sound of Kasey-Ray's voice made me jump, I quickly looked at her.

She was looking at the car, with the good looking boy in it, as it pulled away.

“Who was that?” She looked me with a smile.

“No idea,” I shrugged, as she looked at me thoughtfully, then smiled.

“Okay, let’s go.”

***

The next day, I walked into my form-room and sat straight at my table at the back of the room, ignoring the stares from my fellow class-mates.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Boomed Jessica, as she stormed to where I sat. I opened my mouth to try and speak. Before I could find the words, she shoved my table into me, nearly sending me backwards in my chair. Luckily there was a wall behind me to stop me falling.

“Listen you freak!”

I swallowed hard, trying not to cry. My ribs were hurting from the impact with the table, and I was turning beetroot, from everyone staring and laughing.

“I want you to stay away from Sean. Don’t look at him or think about him, and if you see him, you best walk the other way!”

Sean? That was his name?   The sound of his name gave me goose bumps.

“Hey, I’m talking to you.” Jessica pushed the table again.  Not as hard this time, but hard enough that I had to bite my lip, to stop from crying out. “Do I make myself clear?” She leaned forwards and glared at me, all I could do was nod.

Then she turned to walk back to her own table, just as Ms Forrester walked through the door.

***

At lunchtime it was raining outside, so I went and sat at a table in the far corner by myself, ignoring everyone looking at me. I knew eventually they would get bored and find some other monster to stare at. Well, I hoped so anyway.

I had just finished my lunch, and was thinking about how I would get through my lessons this afternoon. Science followed by P.E. Not my favourite subjects, to say the least.

“No oranges today?” I jumped and looked up to see Sean standing at my table.

“N-n-no.” I managed to stutter, as my cheeks flushed bright red. I looked past him to see most people staring and whispering.

“I suppose that’s a good thing.”
He waited until I looked back at him, “We don’t want any more oranges being murdered now, do we?” He tilted his head to the side and smiled. It was the first time I’d seen him smile, it made his eyes sparkle. He was even more beautiful when he smiled.

I nervously glanced down at the table. When my eyes returned to his, the smile had gone, but his eyes were still warm and inviting.

He continued to look at me, like there was something he wanted to ask.

“Jacko?” Someone shouted from the other end of the lunch room, making him look behind him. He was about to walk away, but slowly turned back to me.

“Nice seeing you again!” Then he turned and walked away.

I was still staring after him, when I noticed Kasey-Ray trying to catch my eye. She smiled, waved, and then pointed to her watch. I looked down at mine and saw I had just five minutes to get to class.

***

I managed to get through Science, easy enough. It took a lot to try and listen to what the teacher was saying. My mind kept going back to Sean.

His beautiful face, eyes you could swim in and a smile that could break hearts.

Before I knew it, class was over and it was time for P.E. I wasn’t the sportiest of people and would rather sit on the
side lines and watch.

Walking into the changing rooms, I placed my coat and bag on a peg, and I was about to start getting changed when my head slammed against one of the pegs and I fell to the floor. I looked up to see Jessica standing over me.

“What did I tell you?”

Tears welled up in my eyes, nausea was creeping up on me, my head was throbbing and I tasted blood in my mouth, from where I was biting my lip to stop myself from crying.

Before I could reply, Mrs Taylor appeared, wondering what was keeping us all. She saw me slumped on the floor, blood dripping down the side of my head.

“What happened?” She asked, as she pushed through the other students, who were crowding around me.

By this time, the blood was on my white school shirt and Mrs Taylor was looking around at the other girls faces, demanding to know what had happened.

“She fell and hit her head on the pegs.” I heard Jessica purr innocently. Mrs Taylor looked back to me.

“Is Jessica telling the truth?” Even though she asked this, her voice was full of scepticism. I nodded and started to pull myself up.