'What the hell happened to ya now, Robin?' Pamela, my closest friend asks. As per usual she says it loudly so all the world can hear. Love her so much but sometimes, I swear, I wish she would just shut it!

'Mmm, well I was sleeping and well, I must of been lying on my wrist and it just, kind of, snapped.' I shrug as I say this, hoping Pam won't make it a big deal as she did with my previous injuries. I hold out my arm, my hand and wrist wrapped in a hard cast.

'God Robin, that looks painful!' She exclaims but grins, seeing my cheeks redden, knowing I hate it when people make a huge deal over my weekly injuries.

'No, no. I'm grand.' I say quickly, hurrying to my desk as the teacher has just entered into the classroom. 'It's already healing, should be grand before the end of the week!'

'That good.' Pamela says smiling but sadly. She leans in closer to me and whisper, 'You'll need both hands to defend yourself from Mr. Floody!'

'Eww gross!' I giggle. Speaking of the devil, Mr. Floody glares at me as he sits at his desk. I half glare at him, then look down. No one believes me but I swear that man can hear every whisper about him. I often wonder why he hasn't left this school yet, no one likes him not even any of the teachers! It's his own fault. When teaching he's a complete weirdo, and (as I've overheard some teachers say) when he's in the teacher's lounge he doesn't say a word. He just sits drinking coffee and muttering to himself as he read giant dusty old books with no titles.

The lesson starts and my thoughts are already drifting somewhere else. Strangely I start to contemplate my life, seeing how much harder it is for me to just try and be normal. For one thing, just being born nearly killed me. When my mam gave that last final push, the doctors were shocked to find that my arms and leg, even some of my tiny little ribs, had snapped from the pressure. I was intensive care for quite a while, the doctors feared I would die from the pain or grow up deformed. Miraculously I kept on breathing and was slowly on the mend. I was kept in for test however so they could find out what happened. The answer shocked them.

I was born with a rare bone condition that only one in a million people in the world are inflicted with. I was born with no marrow. Every bone in my body is hollow and fragile like a bird's. The doctors call it "Robin Syndrome" as my skeleton is as delicate as a robin's and I can break just as easily as one. I find it ironic that my parents insisted on naming me after my condition. Robin Hamin. That's me, the flightless disease. Yeah…

I was never allowed to go outside and play with others kids as it was too dangerous. If other kids tripped, they just scrapped their knees, I break my kneecap. Up till when I was nine I had to wear a helmet everywhere as my skull was far too fragile. I hated that thing. People always pointed and stared, whispering mean, horrible things about me. Stupid things like I must have some sort of mental illness or I was the world's first self-harming nine year old. I was finally able to get rid of the stupid thing as my skull strengthened slightly with the help of six glasses of milk a day and plenty of calcium and vitamin D supplements! Strangely though, as if it's my bodies way of compensating for this condition, I heal at a faster rate than normal people. That still didn't stop most of my childhood being spent going in and out of hospitals.

Because of my condition, I was home schooled up to secondary school but I insisted in attending a public school when I turned twelve. My parents weren't happy about it but they realised (after many weeks of me moaning at them!) I needed to live a normal life and that wasn't going to happen if they kept me locked up all the time!

I was so happy and excited to start my new school, a Catholic all girl school with a horrible red wine uniform. The first few weeks were hard though. The school had to be told of my condition so did my classmates. They all stared at me as if I was some freak and tipped toed around me as if just talking to me would cause my bones to crack. No one seemed to want anything to do with me so I kept to myself a lot. This made my mood foul over the next few months and I snapped at anyone who talked to me.

On one particular bad day I called some girl a bitch after she bashed into me in the hall. Nothing broke but I got so pissed off at her. She was in my class and she knew perfectly well about my bones. Unfortunately for me she heard my comment and we got into a fight. I managed to get in a few choice insults before she pushed me over and broke my pelvis.

She visited me in the hospital the next day with so much chocolate and flowers she was bent back from the weight of them. One look at me she burst into tears saying how sorry she was and that she thought she had killed me! I laughed at her and told her that I was in and out of the hospital for far worse things than just a broken pelvis. She looked so shocked, the poor thing, and asked me to tell her more. I did and we talked until a nurse told her to leave. She came and visited me the next day and the next right up to when I was all healed up and was able to go home.

Three years later me and Pamela are still best friends. My pelvis still aches sometimes though.

'…. millions of people were killed and so,

I jumped in my seat, realising I had turned completely around to stare out the window as I was lost in my thoughts. I mumbled that I was sorry and turn around and faced Mr. Floody. He glares at me but it melts away into a sneer when he see's my broken wrist.

'Rough housing with boys again, Robin?' He says. I glower at him, the rest of the class join me. 'Your parents should keep you on a lease, you'll get pregnant next.'

My cheeks burn at what he says, wishing I could have any other teacher right now then him. I hate this man. He's a complete asshole to everyone and when he looks at us he just sees us as an annoyance and objects.

He leans in towards me, leering at me. I want to scratch him eyes out and tell him to F off but I hold my tongue and claws. In a way I'm lucky, though people say I'm pretty (I don't believe those people) with my medium length red hair and green eyes, Mr. Floody never tries anything with me. There are a lot of perverted rumours going around about him that had been hushed, hushed by our principle, who just so happened to be his Aunt. Which really sucks because no matter how much we complain about him, we can't get rid of him. Unless he gets run over by a bus… Fat chance! Well anyway, he won't ever try anything with me, I'm too fragile to go near.

Remembering who I was, Mr. Floody steps back from me, looking slightly annoyed and thankfully goes back to whatever he was talking about.

I go back to daydreaming and stare out the window, watching birds fly.

P.E. now and today we have Track. Most of the time I have to sit out for P.E. because it's too dangerous but Track is one of the few sports I can join. I don't like to sound boastful but I am in fact the fastest runner in school. It's because my bones are hollow, my whole body is really light. Anyone can lift me up with ease even my little brother who's only ten. Since I'm not weighed down I move faster. I'm also good at the long jump, almost reaching Olympic standards, but I was only able to do that once. The landing broke my ankles you see and my mam banned me from ever trying again.

Our teacher, Mrs. Leaveydun, orders us to do five laps around the track. The rest of the class moans in unison but I just try and not look too happy. We do warm ups before starting, stretching our legs. My stomach bubbling with anticipation.

We line up. Mrs. Leaveydun barks at some girls to place their feet behind the line before placing a whistle to her lips. She stares around, scowling at girls who are only shuffling their feet, just wanting this race to be finished with. She spots me in the line up and winks, knowing how much I love running. I give a quick smile then stare forward again, waiting for the whistle to blow. The muscles tightening in my calves. My heartbeat beating slowly, my breathing even.

Mrs. Leaveydun takes a breath. I lean forward. She blows the whistle, it rings in my ears. I shoot forward. I quickly pull away from the rest of my class, I'm already a metre ahead of everyone. My feet pound down on the ground, my hair is streaming behind me like a fiery river.

I love running. It's the only physical thing I can do better than anyone else. When I run I'm not Robin the girl with glass bones, the girl who has to watch every step. I'm Robin the blur speeding by, going so fast it almost seems she going to take off into the sky, never to land again and stay forever in the protections and freedom of the heavens.