Wolf Sirens: Forbidden: Discover The Legend (3 page)

They brandished footballs and muscular tanned
bodies, which seemed to attest to their athleticism. They walked the halls like roman gladiators. I
blushed and looked away when I felt their presence,
embarrassed by their gaze.

As I ate alone, like a mirage out of the busy lunch
area they lurched. Parting the crowd, the gathering of
pupils separated instinctively for them: the popular
clique with the white-blonde haired girl in the lead. I
swallowed as they headed straight towards me.

Suddenly they joined my table. I wondered momentarily if I should leave. The blonde, the redhead
and the curly-haired girl with blue eyes settled around
me. For the first time I also noticed their other companion, a petite pale brunette with a patch of freckles
across her nose.

They smiled at me with reserved expressions.
“Samantha – Sam.” The blonde smiled with a
row of perfect teeth. I caught sight of her canines
behind the corners of her dark red mouth. Her ice
blue eyes were flecked with sparse deep brown spots.
The redhead offered me not-so-subtle style tips.
“Wouldn’t this look better short?” she asked, examining my hair with her sparkling green eyes. I stifled a
frown, having made more effort with my hair today.
Despite the antagonism, I began to develop the distinct vibe that I was their pet project.
“Mmm, split ends,” agreed Giny examining
them. Her hair was thin and dark and she had a long
wispy fringe, which looked as though she was trying
to grow it out.
After further comments, which I wasn’t sure I
was meant to hear and a compliment on my long
nails by Lily the redhead, she grabbed my cold hand
in her white and very warm uninvited talons.
“Do you coat them?” she asked. Before I could
reply the blonde ringleader interrupted. Reflexively, I
pulled my sleeve down over my wrist and the crest of
my ink, which had been exposed.
Sam asked, “So you’re here from Horkum?” A
chorus of giggles ensued. Her eyes told them to be
quiet, with a serious sideways glance.
“Yeah,” I nodded, unsure.
“We wanted to meet you.” She flashed a soft,
condescending smile. I kept my answers as safe as
possible. I was sure the slightest thing would be
fodder for them afterwards. I wondered if I was being interrogated, or whether they were leading me
towards saying something, which they could turn
against me in the small town gossip mill.
I looked around, wondering exactly what the joke
was.
The blonde girl continued. “The other kids have
been making fun…of the new girl from whorecome.” She rolled her eyes.
I had heard this joke before. “-And City slicker,”
I offered smirking. If this was the worst of it, then
maybe I could deflect them with my dullness and
their sudden interest in me would wane.
“Well, that’s original,” she added with sarcasm,
returning the smirk with her painted lips. I glanced
around at them now, all four sets of eyes on me, wondering why this assault hadn’t passed on the first day
of my arrival. I tensed and wracked my brain for
something to say.
“Sooo…” I dragged the syllable out. “Where do
you guys live?” I almost squeezed my eyes closed, as I
silently scolded myself for the stupidity of the question. Shade wasn’t exactly sprawling, it was more of a
suburb in itself, spread out over farmland.
However, Sam answered eagerly, tucking her
blonde straight mane behind her ear.
“Lily’s at Tarah beach.”She looked at Lily.“Giny’s
on Bayson Road, the rest of us live on Stone’s Road,
just on the way out of town.”
I assumed as she gestured to Bianca that they
lived on the same street. Sam looked straight at me.
“You should come over some time, we hang out
with the boys over there.” She looked over her shoulder and they looked over at her, across the canteen.
Probably the broad shouldered boys who sat up the
back in class and threw footballs at each other in the
hall. The handsome tall one sat atop the table. I retracted my glance and sipped my straw as my cheeks
warmed.
“Please, join us,” she said staring at me. “We are
friends, who are you?” She touched my arm. “Tell me
what you are, Lila?” I noted the dark brown flecks in
her crystal blue iris.
I looked at the guys behind her.
“Um, Lila? Crain,” I raised my brows, admiring
their angular features, behind her.
Sam seemed unimpressed with something. She
looked at them over her shoulder. “Anyhow, do you
drive?”
“To school?” I asked, but she only looked at me
vacantly. I continued, unsure. “No, I catch the bus.” I
added in the silence “100”, embarrassed that I didn’t
yet have a car or a licence, for though I had learnt
how to drive I had failed the test. My mother said I
was too impatient. I wondered after I’d spoken if that
was too much information, if I had just given them
the time and place to egg me, or something.
Sam continued after a pause.“Hey, we could drive
you,” she said to the group, trying to sound as though
it had just occurred to her. She looked at one of the
other girls. “Well, Giny could, she’s near you, I’ve got
practice to organize.” I recalled that I hadn’t told her
where I lived.
She added apologetically,“It’s early starts, late
finishes.” I wondered if I should ask what practice
was exactly, but she assumed I knew. “Do you have
any friends? Here, yet?” Sam inquired.
I thought it was obvious.
“No, actually,” was my flat reply. I bit my lip.
“Well you could be friends with us, we won’t bite.”
She looked into my eyes. “Are you different, Lila?”
I shrugged.
“Tell me how?” Sam’s eyes glistened at me as
though it was crucial to know. She tapped my hand,
so quickly, that I hardly felt it.
“Tell us why you’re here.” Her eyes narrowed.
I hardly knew what to say. I felt a rush of blood.
“Sam!” One of the guys behind us called so
abruptly that I jumped. She chimed “Okay” in their
direction and with a swish of her straight opaque
hair, she slid off her seat and marched out of earshot
towards them. I noticed a soft, concerned expression
on the russet faced boy. Sam didn’t bother to excuse
herself from our conversation as she joined the bench
where the boys were seated. I felt odd for a moment,
maybe a little disorientated. But I put it down to the
effects of sudden social interaction.
The other girls looked at me. Bianca the curlyhaired girl to my right broke the short silence.
“Why did you move here?” She shifted a little
closer, tentatively.
“Um, lots of reasons, um.” I breathed in. “My parents divorced-” Before I could mention anything else,
the smaller petite girl Giny interrupted.
“-do you dance?” she blurted, also sliding up
closer.
I swallowed hard.
“No.” I smiled shyly. I realized what it was about
them that made them seem more regal. They were
all dancers. Their bodies were taught and lean, like
gymnasts. It made sense - the parity of matching
skirts -these girls were the Dolphins, and until that
moment I hadn’t realized it.
“You know how, don’t you?” she said looking at
the red-haired girl with lucent green eyes who sat to
the far left of the table.
“Well, that depends on what kind of dancing.” I
raised my eyebrows, sensing a motive. At that same
moment the redhead, Lily, looked up behind her and
gestured to her friend, the blonde Samantha on the
phone. Sam gestured back and Lily left to join her
without so much as an apologetic look. I glanced in
their direction. The conversation had taken a serious
tone and she spoke low into the group at the other
table. This place was starting to make St Agatha’s
Catholic Girls School look like a walk in the park.
They stopped and shifted their glance to me, as
though aware I was watching. I hurriedly turned my
focus back to my audience of two, the petite, dark
brown-haired girl Giny, and Bianca with her dirty
blonde curls and light blue eyes. “We have a troupe,”
she confessed, continuing to ignore Lily’s exit:“We
are short one, since-” She trailed off - “since the last
girl left, so we were wondering if you would join us?”
“You don’t have to be good,” offered Giny
enthusiastically.“Just coordinated, strong and flexible?” she questioningly stated, glancing at the other
girl, Bianca, unsure if she had said too much, perhaps.
Giny lowered her voice as she slyly gestured around
the lunch line. “You could join us. There’s slim pickings here. We would be happy to have you.”
I recalled the student body, which had failed to
acknowledge me. And in stark contrast the pretty fitness fanatics with straight posture who now suddenly
were offering a shelter from the cold shoulder.
This was quite possibly my worst nightmare and
deepest fantasies rolled into one. Bec and I would
have laughed. Surely they could see I wasn’t dance
troupe material. I decided it was safest to stick with
my instincts and politely refuse, at least for the time
being, to save face. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Giny was in my sixth period class. She sat with me
and talked relentlessly, scoring us not one but two
warnings from the teacher. She whispered about the
rules and achievements of the group, which Sam
single-handedly coached. Giny also insisted she drive
me home and I refused politely. Towards the end
of class the teacher finally lost his cool with Giny’s
whispering and slammed the ruler on the desk.

“Detention after class!” I looked so horrified, he
quickly drew it away. “Both of you!” He pointed, trying to look menacing. This was definitely no way to
remain inconspicuous. After class we waited until all
the other students had vacated the room. Mr Marshal
turned to look at us.

“Giny!” he scolded, “I would appreciate a bit
more respect in class.” He looked annoyed, but less
disgruntled than when he had last addressed us, his
blood pressure now receding.

“Yes, Mr Marshal,” replied a suddenly obedient
Giny. Mr Marshal shot a warning glare towards her,
then shot the same glare towards me, although I had
continued to say nothing. Then he relaxed his posture and glanced at the white board.

“Wait here until I come back with your punishment.” He returned ten minutes later with a
photocopy and a diagram. We were instructed to
transfer it on to the board for tomorrow’s class. When
we finished, we were to go. Giny neatly scrawled the
words down and I sketched the diagram after finally
locating a working marker. We were done in no time.
This gave Giny the opportunity to get friendly. She
waffled on about middle school, her family - her sisters, mainly two older. She insisted she give me a lift
home to allow her to apologize, as I had now missed
my bus and it was another hour to wait for the next.
How could I refuse?

The parking lot was nearly empty. The car I
walked towards was a red hatchback in the student
lot. Giny however veered off to the right and pressed
the remote for a black sedan in the teacher’s park
across the medium strip, which, apart from a severe
looking scratch along the side, gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. A car too adult and stylish which
surely couldn’t belong to a seventeen year old.

“Is this your parent’s car or something?” I asked.
“Nice!” I added, though I didn’t know much about
cars. She snorted, climbing in. I wondered if she
was offended. “You’re closer to Mr Marshal than I’d
thought,” I joked, looking at the ivory passenger seat,
which was as immaculate as the outside suggested.

She laughed.
“Yeah, I wish A’s all round.”
“This isn’t his, is it?” I pressed again, sliding with

a squeak into the cream leather seat.
“Would you mind if it was?”
“I might,” I replied sharply.
Giny laughed.
I didn’t pry further. I hoped as she had the key,

that it wasn’t stolen and she didn’t seem the type. I
wondered who had been pissed off enough to have
keyed it. I learnt Giny was short for Giane - even
though it was the same length, she told me with brief
laugh.

“- Short for, but it’s not short - unlike me.” I
imagined she liked this and had said it before, because she thought it was charming.

I decided to grit my teeth and cut to the chase.
Honesty was the best policy here. Maybe I should get
out before they eventually turned me into small town
gossip. School bullies had cut me before, standing up
for myself had resulted in being suspended and the
experience had left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Giny.” I interrupted her chatter as she pointed
out her home, a unit off the main road.“What is this
about? Really, none of you have even smiled at me
before today, and I haven’t behaved any differently.”

I waited nervously in silence for the answer, as
Giny seemed to recall her argument.
“Well Sam wants a new member- she’s team
leader - and we need five for the routine cause it’s
a requirement for finals competition. I am top of
the tower and we need five to make it to finals.” She
raised her delicate shoulders.
I’d heard something similar in class.
“Okay. Why me?” I interrupted.
“Well you’re new, you’re pretty and you’re not fat.”
She shrugged. It was not entirely true. I certainly had
a little too much softness to my figure. She laughed
guiding the steering wheel with one hand. “You’re
fresh, so she-we- thought you’d be best bet. We’ve
got three months ’til finals and coach needs someone,
like now,” she confessed as though the urgency of the
predicament had dawned on her. I wondered if this
was her car. She drove it with ease but everything else
about her was second rate, her clothes and her address. She was so small and thin-boned I wondered
she had the strength to drive let alone see over the
steering wheel. I even found out later that Samantha
had bestowed her nickname.
I changed tack.
“What’s with the key mark on your paint work?”
“What? Oh that,” she said. “Some people around
here are obviously jealous.” The way she said it made
me wonder if she knew who the some-people were.
After checking directions with me I was dropped
off on the corner near my house. I smiled wryly as
the sleek black sedan drove off, with a clear S A M T
on the licence plate. This obviously stood for Sam –
something. I was relieved because this confirmed the
car wasn’t stolen. Giny dropped me out of sight from
my house. Probably incase my parents were home,
though if she had known my mother she wouldn’t
have bothered.
A hand on my shoulder made me jump, my brain
wracked with who it could possibly be and I turned
suddenly, shocked to gaze upon a face I had not seen
so close before, at least not in person. Part recognition
dawned and then confusion as she spoke, her bright
cobalt eyes blazing. “They are cunning bitches.” She
pointed in the direction of the black sedan. I noticed
she was dishevelled. There was a stick with a brown
leaf in her hair.
“Those girls. I am here to warn you.” Her face
was hard and ghostlike and then at once sympathetic
as she looked into my eyes, lowering her head slightly.
“Don’t hang with them, you’ll get burnt.” Her chest
was heaving. I was so shocked words weren’t able to
form.
Finally I managed.“Are you okay?”I asked sounding calmer than I felt. A dog started barking in the
distance.
She looked over my shoulder. I glanced in the
same direction. My mother appeared on the front
path of our house in her dressing gown. She called
to me, “Lila?” -waving in our direction. I felt a slight
breeze as I looked to where the girl had been standing
on the footpath in front of me. She was disappearing
around a nearby house on the corner. Trust my noninvolved mother to pop her head into my life just
when things were getting interesting.