Art, not the most boring of lessons but always the most embarrassing when the teacher holds up one of my sketches to show to the class, claiming it as yet another A*. Honestly, I think he needs glasses. I glanced down at my watercolour painting which was slowly taking shape on my piece of white paper, suppressing a snigger at my best friend's earlier idiocy. Several minutes previously, almost at the end of lunch Megan had insisted in over taking me on the way into the art room so she would be first in only to find that the head of art was holding a private meeting. Some how they didn't notice her speedy entrance and she cowered behind a pillar out of sight but unable to get out of the room without being spotted. I had just been there wetting myself at her predicament until the teacher noticed and came to tell her that she wasn't supposed to be in there. Her complexion turned a bright pink and she squeaked sorry before fleeing from the room. Megan noticed me laughing next to her and dug her elbow into my ribs, jarring me from the day dream.
"Shut up!" She mumbled, her humiliation still showing on her face and she scowled turning back to her painting. I laughed again and ignored her and tried to concentrate on my own work. I looked at what I had painted, a picture of a woman in a white dress leaning on the barrier of a wooden jetty, staring absentmindedly into the murky waters. My mind really wasn't on the subject, more on the conversation the girls were holding behind us. Something about one screwing a guy in our year in some bushes on Vire island in the centre of town. I am certainly never going there again!! Ewww!! I winced at the piece of gruesome information. I really didn't need to know that!
I decided to take my mind off of the subject. I took the piece of paper towel which was meant for cleaning paintbrushes a crushed it into a compact paper missile in my fist then watched as the teacher turned his back on us. I threw it at Megan. I watched as it bounced of her honey blonde hair back on to the floor beside me and she stopped in her work and scowled at the paper.
"Uh!" She gasped then turned to scowl at me. "Bitch!" She said sarcastically.
"Slag!" I replied with a smile. I loved our little sarcastic insult fights, that was until Megan started throwing her muscle around which this time she decided to do earlier than usual. With one swift glance to make sure she was not being observed by the teacher she pushed me off my chair with such force I went flying into the empty metal cabinet by my side. I braced my self for the jarring shock that was about to run the whole length of my body as my head came into contact with the back of the metal cupboard but it never came. I found myself falling through soft stuff, it felt like furry blankets until I hit the metal floor. Disorientated, I stumbled to my feet, using what I now realised were fur coats to help pull myself up. This was seriously weird. I hadn't noticed the fur coats earlier, in fact I swear it had been empty and I never knew it was this big. I fumbled through the darkness and soft garments expecting my fingertips to come into contact with the back of the cabinet but I found no such thing. Mystified, I took another step in then another then another, awaiting the back of the cabinet to meet me but it never did. I started to get freaked when the fur coats transformed into the leafy foliage of bushes and frosty leaves crunched underneath my navy converses.
"Megan!" I called worriedly and glanced back over my shoulder but all that I could see of the classroom was the smallest crack of light and it seemed so far away… I was about to run back when Megan slammed into me.
"Holy cow!" I screamed as she knocked me flying for the second time in a minute in a cloud of powdery snow.
"Wow!" She exclaimed as I fell back through the bushes into a snowdrift. I found myself gazing skyward. The sky was a beautiful azure blue and dappled sunlight pierced the frozen canopy, the bare branches looked like gnarled hands trying to claw at each other against the stark pale sky. I was totally freaked now but also a sense of anticipation flooded my stomach.
"Where the hell are we?!" I exclaimed getting to my feet and shaking off the snow before it melted and made me damp. I walked to the centre of the mysterious clearing admiring my beautiful surroundings.
"No idea!" Megan exclaimed pushing her way past me to get a better view of everything. I hugged my arms, slightly chilled by the frozen air that surrounded us and my breath froze in front of me and twisted away into the cold atmosphere. The trees mainly consisted of beeches and hazels all twisted and frozen as they had been exposed to the harsh elements. Icicles refracted the pure white light as they hung from the branches and all around us drifts of undisturbed pristine snow was piled up over the land features. I waded forward through the snow which rose up to the middle of my calf. Somewhere far off I heard the faint sound of water trickling over rocks and the recognizable sound of Robin song floated dreamily through the idyllic scene.
All of a sudden I became aware of the fact that I felt weak at the knees.
"Megan…" I began slightly afraid as I gripped tightly onto the branch of a nearby tree to keep my balance the light-headedness threatening to overcome me.
"I don't feel so good…!" I moaned
"Evie?!" She said alarmed, coming back over but in her stride she faltered and I watched shocked as she swayed and struggled to keep her self on her feet as well. The snow merged in my eyes just to become austere blurry patches of whiteness and I gripped on to the branch for dear life as I became disorientated with no sense of which way was up and which way was down. Then the hazy blackness came like a dark cloud it blocked the sun from my vision and I fell into a deep slumber, the soft snow cushioning me as I fell to the earth.