Warning! This chapter mentions attempted suicide! If this triggers you, do not read ahead of this author's note!
The first day of school was always boring. I was forced to move from a private school in London to some failing public school in Rochdale. Don't assume I'm just some spoiled brat. I hated the private school. I was possibly only a couple months away from cutting off my oxygen supply in my own bathtub.
So, here I am. Sat on some crappy minibus taking me to my new school. It was called Waterloo Road, even though the road it was built on wasn't called Waterloo. Bit stupid. I was sat next to my mother who was refusing to talk to me throughout the entire journey. She hated me. When I had stepped onto the minibus before setting off, a boy with a shiny earring had stared at me before I had taken a seat at the back. I couldn't deny he was cute.
My fate was now sealed as the minibus came to a halt inside the car park of the infamous Waterloo Road. Everyone began piling off the bus and my mother held my left arm in a tight grip as she led me off the vehicle and into the group of pupils and parents. The boy looked at me again and then tore his gaze away as an older man stood in front of us all.
"All present and correct. Good start." The man nodded after he looked down at a piece of paper. Must have all our names on it. "Well, good morning everyone. Some of you know me from my last school, some of you don't. I'm Mr Byrne, your headteacher. And you are all here because your parents have asked you to give me a chance and it is your last chance. Parents, if you could step to the side for a moment please."
My mother released her death grasp on my arm as she moved to one side with all the other parents. I wasn't like the rest of these kids. I was hardly a delinquent. My mother had dragged me down here because she had found me on my bed, with blood surrounding me because I had slashed my wrists. She had discovered that I was being bullied harshly at my private school but instead of pressing charges, she decides to throw me hateful glances and push me into a different school. Mother of the year award goes to her, definitely.
"Alright." Mr Byrne started after moving closer to us. "Here's the deal. I'm offering you the most precious thing I can. An education. Because I promise you a decent education will change your life. I want you to leave your past at those gates. When you enter this school, you come with an open mind, ready to learn. You arrive on time, respect your teachers, and your fellow pupils. You make each and every lesson count. By entering those doors, you admit to playing by these rules. So what's it to be?"
The first person to walk forward was a girl sporting a bright pink hijab. I sighed and moved forward towards the school, not casting a glance towards my bitch of a mother. I nervously scratched at my left wrist, the scars bothering me as the cotton of my jumper rubbed against them. I could hear people talking about me, one saying I looked a little strung out, and another saying I looked fit. I turned my head to see the boy from before staring at me again. I offered him a small smile before turning back and entering the school.
I rolled my eyes as I saw the bus boy bumping into a smaller kid who kept his head down. The boy picked up something from the floor and held it up. I could faintly see it was a gold cross but the way the kid reacted suggested it was something important to him. I pushed myself forward and took the necklace from the boy's loose grip and handed it to the kid.
"Get going." I said calmly and he nodded weakly before moving away.
"What did you do that for?" The boy snapped.
"I don't like bullies." I glared.
"I'm not being a bully if I'm asserting my dominance." The boy winked.
"That's sorta the definition of bullying." I shrugged. "I'm Kara, by the way. Kara Daniels."
"Tariq Siddiqui." The boy smiled. "You're quite fit, y'know."
"You're the first boy to think so." I smiled back. "And you're the only friend I have in this joint, so you'll have to keep me company sometime."
"Who said I'm your mate?" Tariq snickered.
"Well, we're on a full name basis. I say that constitutes us as friends." I explained.
"Alright." Tariq shrugged, a small smirk on his face. "I'll be your mate."
"Good." I bit my lip. "I'll see you around, Siddiqui."
"Bye, Daniels." Tariq lifted his hand weakly in a wave as I walked away from him.
Surprise, surprise. I managed to land myself in the cooler, which was some room you were put in if you were bad. I hadn't even done anything. I just slapped a girl because she had seen my scars and called me some very colorful names. Now I'm stuck in some stupid room and she has claw marks on her face.
It had only been an hour before the door opened and there was Tariq stood in the doorway, looking all innocent.
"Sir, Mr Byrne wants to speak to Kara." Tariq said quietly to the teacher who was supervising me.
"Off you go." The teacher waved his hand and I quickly stood up, grabbing my bag and waltzing out of the room.
"What does Mr Byrne want to talk about?" I asked Tariq.
"Oh, nothing." Tariq shrugged, a smirk on his face. "Just thought I'd break you out of there."
"You little miscreant." I giggled. "So, why did you break me out? I mean, it's not I have anything meaningful to do."
"Well, I'm going to break into that muppet's car outside." Tariq explained.
"The guy with the gaudy paint and racing stripes?" I hitched my bag higher as we exited the school and came face to face with four boys.
"That's the one." Tariq answered. "Sup boys."
They all shared handshakes before Tariq produced a screwdriver. He smirked at me again and shoved the screwdriver into the car lock, twisting it a little before the lock clicked and Tariq wrenched open the door.
"Come on, troublemaker." Tariq pointed to me. "Let's give this thing a whirl."
I grinned widely at Tariq before climbing into the passenger side of the car. Tariq connected some wires together and the rumble of the engine shook the car a little. Tariq then threw up his fingers in a gun pose to his mates and then slammed his foot on the accelerator, throwing me back into the seat.
Tariq was dangerous, I'd give him that. But he could give me an adrenaline rush like no other. As he drifted around the school lot, I couldn't help but laugh happily, having one hand gripped onto the dashboard to stop me from flinging around too much. But the fun was over when the car jolted to a stop as Mr Byrne pulled himself out of his own car.
"Out!" Mr Byrne yelled and I hesitantly stepped out of the car, grabbing my bag. "My office." He pointed to Tariq before turning to me. "And you are supposed to be in the cooler. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Um... sorry?" I stammered, not good with confrontation since being at my last school.
"Get to my office too." Mr Byrne snapped and I rushed off, catching up to Tariq.
"Sorry about getting you in trouble." Tariq admitted.
"It's alright." I smirked. "That was the most fun I've had in months."
Tariq was doing some weird whistling noise towards the secretary, who's cleavage was on show to the boys but she didn't seem ashamed. Good for her.
"You can cut that right out, you little pervs." The secretary hissed, glaring at all the boys.
"Well, what do you expect?" Tariq said cheekily. "Wearing something like that?"
"Do you want me to type your exclusion letter up now? Or later when it's official?" The secretary smirked smugly at Tariq, obviously not backing down.
"You lot, with me." Mr Byrne announced as he walked in. "Kara, you stay here. I'll deal with you next."
"Yes, sir." I said quietly as the boys raised themselves up and walked into the office, leaving me with the secretary who was busy with some paperwork.
"Nothing to say for yourselves?" Mr Byrne said. I was able to hear every word they said from the room that was attached to the one I was sat in, as it was only a few metres away.
"It's a nice office." Tariq said innocently.
"Alright." Mr Byrne sighed. "You're all on a week's detention. Get back to lessons." He paused. "Not you, Tariq." I could hear the boy suck his teeth in annoyance. "If there's one thing I hate more than anything else, it's potential going to waste. There's not many around here who could command the sort of loyalty you got out of those boys in less than half a day. I think you're a natural leader."
That conversation took an unexpected turn. I thought Tariq was going to get excluded or sent to prison for doing that sort of stuff.
"But I want you to channel it." Mr Byrne said.
"This is a joke, right?" Tariq said calmly.
"No." Mr Byrne said. "It's your last chance. To show me that you can show some responsibility. I'm putting my faith in you. You mess this one up, Tariq, and you are out."
"Heavy." Tariq laughed. "My dad's gonna be buzzin'."
"It's comments of that sort that are gonna have to stop. If you're gonna be a prefect and wear that badge, you lead by example, right?" Mr Byrne exclaimed. Wow, Tariq's a prefect. Did not see that coming.
"Yes sir." Tariq said before coming back into where I was.
"See ya, Mr Prefect." I grinned cheekily at Tariq.
"Later, Miss Troublemaker." Tariq winked before leaving the office.
"Kara, into my office now." Mr Byrne called.
I sighed and stood up, pulling myself into the teacher's office, looking at his disappointed face.
"Why did you disobey the orders of a teacher and leave the cooler?" Mr Byrne asked.
"Because I don't think I should've been in there." I shrugged. "I was standing up for myself. That girl had it coming."
"You slashed her across the face because she said a nasty word?" Mr Byrne raised an eyebrow.
"She called me an attention seeker because she saw the scars!" I snapped. "I don't have to put up with that crap."
"I know you had a bad time at your old school." Mr Byrne started.
"No, you don't know." I growled. "It was hell over there for me. I was seen as scum because I didn't have as much money as the other preppy girls did. They dyed my hair bright pink and shoved my head down the toilet for weeks on end. I thought if I ended it, I would be happy. But my good-for-nothing mother stopped me."
"Your mother saved your life." Mr Byrne sighed.
"No, she's making it worse!" I ran a hand through my hair. "She gives me these disgusted glances like she's annoyed at the fact that I didn't want to go to that stupid school. I tarnished her reputation. She's a terrible mother, and I hope she dies."
"You're a very troubled young girl, Kara." Mr Byrne folded his hands on his lap. "We want to help you."
"You wanna help me?" I scoffed. "Get my mother away from me, and then I'll reconsider."
I turned on my heel and stormed out of the office, slamming the door against the wall as I did.
"Oh, it's you." My mother grumbled as I entered the house.
"Yep, it's me." I quipped. "Your only daughter. The apple of your eye."
"Don't take that tone with me." My mother snapped, a wine glass in her hand. "You're a disgrace."
"And you're a tramp." I glared. "Sleeping with random men every night. I'm surprised you haven't caught anything."
"How dare you!" My mother hissed before the back of her palm met my cheek. "You have no right to talk to me like that!"
"I'm going to my room." I whispered after getting over the burning pain on my skin.
Well, this took me like 300 years to actually finish! But I am really excited for this story, but the first 9 episodes of Tariq's arc is so boring that the updates aren't going to be too fast, but when the DSC/MSB storyline comes in, that's where it's going to get exciting! Please review!