Chapter 1
Monday morning, the school stood empty as the chapel bells chimed eight of the hour. The place was deserted at the start of term, waiting for the new students to arrive. The only sign of life was a lone figure standing in the window. The man the children would come to know only as "Sir," or "The head" stood in the window, watching over his miniature kingdom, and stroking his, cough yes well, he was watching over the school, waiting for the pupils to arrive.
In the distance a faint bustle could be heard as the riding hands prepared the stables for the pupils who brought their horses. Inside the building, teachers were last minute tidying their classrooms, and hiding the whiskey. But for all appearances the school was deadly silent. The Head watched as the first car approached. A small boy, with red hair, freckles and glasses got out of the car. Even from a distance The Head could hear the voice inside the car screeching
"Ohhh Norman!"
And the boy was pulled back inside the car, and it drove off.
Once again, the school was silent.
The second year pupils, in their U6 year would arrive first, they were due to start arriving from 8:30 onwards. The first year pupils, in L6 would arrive at 9, so the older children were out of the way, and straight into lessons, before the younger ones arrived.
The first few cars pulled up, and the pupils started to get out. Reunions after the long summer holiday: Girls running up and hugging each other; Boys punching each other on the arm, and then shyly hugging each other; tentative kisses from lovers, seperated for a whole two months. In his window Sir sniggered, what a wonderful world.
A black mini pulled into the car park for students, and stopped beside the wall. A tall blonde haired boy got out of the driver's seat and opened the back door to let out a skinney boy with brown eyes and black hair, and a slim girl, with pale skin, who looked around nervously. The blonde boy, obviously older grinned and kissed the girl on the forehead, "See," he laughed, "My driving isn't all that bad."
She turned away, not in the mood for jokes,
He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Come on Ray, I'll make sure you'll be ok, and Matt'll look after you," He turned to the other boy, "Won't you gorgeous,"
Matt shuddered, "Don't call me gorgeous, how many times do I have to tell you Eagle, I'm not gay."
Eagle laughed, "Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say. I've gotta go, otherwise Miss Haversham will eat me alive, First years have to go to the hall, but no-one else will be here yet."
The two younger kids nodded, and Eagle turned to go, he paused for a moment and turned back, "Raven?"
"Yeah?" The girl replied
"Any problems, anything, I'm here, kay?"
Raven smiled, "Thanks,"
"Not saying I'll do anything," Eagle laughed, leaving on a light hearted note as he ran off towards the entrance.
Matt and Raven stood, looking aimlessly around, they had nothing to do. Their luggage had arrived the day before and was already in their rooms, for the moment, there was nothing to do, but wait.
A shiney silver mondeo pulled up, and a slim, tanned, blue eyed, blonde haired girl got out.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" A voice from inside the car,
"Honestly mum, I'll be fine," The girl picked up her handbag and started to walk away,
"Mara!" The voice from inside the car called, making the girl turn back, "You will eat mum,"
Mara shook her head, "Honestly mum, what do you take me for, I'm not anorexic,"
"Of course dear, now you have a good time,"
"Bye mum," Said Mara, pointfully shutting the car door and walking away. She walked over to Raven and Matt, "You guys first years too?"
Matt nodded,
"We have to go to the hall," said Mara, "coming?"
Matt and Raven followed her into the hall, astounded by her confidence as she chatted away, "I'm quite looking forward to this new school really, as long as the y don't make me do any riding, I'll be fine, and we get to do dance here, although obviously it won't be proper dance, but I'm going to talk to the dance teacher and see if she will let me do some pointe practise after school sometimes." She glanced around her, "It's a pretty spooky old building really isn't it? I mean, the paintings on the wall," she giggled as they passed an old bat in a really tight corset, "She looks a bit feirce doesnt she," she lent forward to read the plaque underneath, "Mary Cumberg, Headmistress 1867-1890, Gosh, what a long time ago."
She turned towards Matt and Raven, "Quiet aren't you? Are you brother and sister, they said we had twins in our year."
"No," Matt shook his head, "It's not us, I'm a friend of her brother's"
"Oh right, and he goes here? I guess that's why you're early."
They arrived at the hall, where they were greeted by a tall blonde man with blue eyes, "Hi," he held out his hand, which Mara shook eagerly, "I'm James Rothborne, I teach English here, and I'm going to be you're year head." He had a typical upper class drawl, and looked as if he was straight out of school himself, and probably a prefect too.
Mara giggled and turned to Raven, "He's a dish, isn't he," she whispered,
Mr Rotheborne ushered them to some seats which were placed in a circle, and sat down beside them, "I understand it must be quite scary for you, it being a new school and everything, but I'm an NQT, a newly qualified teacher, so I'm going through it all too, so don't worry, just if you get lost, don't come to me, becuase I'll probably be lost too."
He looked up as another boy entered the room, his curly pink hair flowing loose around his shoulders, matching the flowers embroidered on his jeans, and the short top he was wearing. His arms jangled with braclets and a pair of rainbow wristbands. He bounced into the room, "Hi, I'm Ash!"
Mara laughed, "You're a guy, right?"
Ash grinned back, "Uh, technically, yes, but not all the time," His eyes flickered up and down the teacher, "Hello, and who are you?"
The poor innocent guy didn't pick up, and stood up and held out his hand, "Mr Rothborne, English teacher, I'm you're head of year,"
Ash grinned at Mara, "This could be fun" he said as he shook Mr Rotheborne's hand, his eyes flickered over to Matt, who hadn't sat down yet. Ash walked over to him, "I'm Ash,"
"Matt." Matt held out his hand,
"Matt, mmm right," Ash slapped Matt's ass, "Nice butt Matt." he said, before going to sit down beside Mara,
Matt laughed, "And I thought I'd gotten away with that, with Eagle being in a different year,"
Shortly afterward, a dark haired girl walked in and introduced herself as Nienna, and a convertable pulled up outside. Three boys jumped out, two of them laughing and punching each other, the other one, shorter, staring at one of the boys, and following into the building, they came into the hall and introduced themselves as Ally, Mikey, and the short one was Charlie.
A few minutes later a skinny dark haired boy, with scars all over his face, came in and introduced himself as Seiji in an Aussy accent. He then sat down in the corner, and continued to ignore everyone.
Next was Alex, He walked in and looked at the motely bunch starting to fill up the places in the circle, "Hi guys" he grinned.
"Now he really IS tasty," Ash giggled,
"Mine!" Said Mara quickly, and then turned to Nienna, her new found best friend, "But you can have him afterwards," she said...generously.
Next, a tall tanned girl walked in, wearing a mini skirt and a crop top that showed off her slightly chubby stomach, and thighs like treetrunks. With a flick of her pony tail, she sat down, muttereing "I'm J, and you're all freaks."
"Nice to meet you J," Nienna smiled,
A commotion outside prevented a sarky comment from J, a large family of redheads had poured out of a people carrier, and were hugging and kissing two tall, freckled boys, and talking in Gaelic. The boys fought off their parents, and ran into the building. As they entered the hall, they dropped each other's hands and looked at the rest of their year.
They were identical,
"I'm Tor," said one, in a thick irish accent,
"Are you sure?" asked the other, "I thought I was Tor."
"I'm pretty certain you were Fergie,"
"No, no, I'm sure you're definately Fergie,"
The first one looked at the kids in a circle, "Well," he started, "One of us is Tor,"
"And one of us is Fergie." Finished his twin.
They both laughed and went to sit down.
The last to arrive, was Satu, who pulled up in a Rolls Royce, which was expertly driven away by a chauffer, he walked into the room, "Oh sorry, am I late?" he asked, and, not waiting for an answer went to sit down.
"Right," Mr Rothborne stood up, "We're all here, except Antoinette, who will be arriving late today, she's had to come all the way from Italy."
J snorted, "Antoinette, sounds like a right stuck up bitch."
"I'm sure she's very nice," said Ash,
James Rothborne shook his head, why did he ever become a teacher, "Right, let's start with a getting to know each other game, you have to say you're name, and then say two things you like, which start with the same letter as your name."
Ally groaned, "Why?"
Mkey laughed, "So if there was someone called Walter, he could say wanking."
Both boys collapsed with laughter.
Mr Rothborne continued, "I'll start, My name is James, and I like Jumping and Jellyfish,"
Nienna was next to him, "I'm Nienna, and I like Next and Nattering," she sat down.
"I'm Mara, and I like Music and" she faltered, "Map reading," everyone laughed,
"I'm Ash, and I like Aaaanything Pink!" he laughed, "and Apple blossoms,"
"I'm Matt and I like Math and Malteasers."
"I'm Raven, and I like reading and the colour red" she sat down, her face just as red as the colour she chose.
"I'm Ally, I like Alcahol, and All girls, unless they're nasty,"
"I'm Mike, I like Moshing, and, er, Maypole dancing...I don't but it's all I can thinkg of,"
"I'm Charlie, I like Christmas and Chocolate."
"I'm Josephine, I like Music and Drinking, and I don't like the letter J," said J, and then added as an afterthought, "Except in my name"
One of the Irish redhead twins stood up, "I'm Fergie, atleast, I think I'm Fergie," he twisted his head around to look at the nametape in his T-Shirt, "It says Fergie on my shirt, so unless I'm wearing his shirt," He jerked a thumb at his brother, "I'm Fergie, and I like my Friends, and, Fester the Jester, out of twelth night, he's a great character, and a fool."
His twin stood up, "By logic, if he's Fergie, I'm Tor, so I'm asuming I'm Tor, but he never has stayed with one name for long, so by tomorrow I might be Fergie, you never know, and I like Tamara, that's my horse, and Talking, although I don't do it as much as him," he sat down.
Seiji groaned, and muttered without standing up, "I'm seiji, I like sex and sangre, which is spanish, and just one of the many words I know for blood."
"I'm Satu, I like Surfing the net, and uh, sports,"
"I'm Alex, I like Africa, and going to visit my relatives there, and Always playing rugby, which technically doesn't start with A, but who cares?"
"Right!" Mr Rothborne clapped his hands, "That's all of us, and now," he fumbled around and found a pile of papers, "as I give each one of you a map, you will tell me your name again, and something to help us all remember your name."
He gave Nienna a map, "I'm Nienna, and most of the time I am talking, and I guess you can say my name really quickly, so thats like me," she frowned, "sort of?"
"I'm Mara, and that means vengeful sea, I'm not vengeful, and I'm not the sea, so it's nothing like me at all."
"I'm Ash, but my real name is Ashley, which could be a boys name, or a girls name, and even though I'm a boy, I'm really girly,"
"I'm Matt, and uh, there's nothing much about Matt, except, the only thing I can think of is like matt paint, at the moment, and, uh, I've never painted anything."
"I'm Raven, and their black, and so's my hair," She sat down really suddenly, face bright red again,
"I'm Ally, and uh, I'm Ally,"
"I'm Mike, and I would like to be a singer when I grow up, and they use mikes," he laughed, "okay, well, it could have been funny."
"I'm Charlie, and uh, I like dogs, which is like Charlie out of the Charlie Brown books," everyone's face was blank, "Snoopy?"
"I'm J, which is like the first letter of my name, Josephine,"
"I'm Fergie, and if it helps, I wear an identity bracelet saying Torin, and a necklace with a T on,"
"I'm Tor, and I wear a necklace with an F on, and an identity bracelt that says Fergal,"
Everyone looked blank,
"Uh, why don't they say your real names?" Mara asked,
Fergie grinned, "Because it's far easier to remember who you aren't than who you are."
Mr Rothborne smiled, "Very philisophical,"
"I'm seiji."
"And something to remember you by?" asked Mr Rothborne,
"I'm Seiji, people don't forget me easily, unless they're dead, in which case, they don't forget me at all."
"Uh, right," Mr Rothborne could sense that Seiji was going to be a problem,
"I'm Satu, and I'm approximately" he looked at his watch, "Two and a half million pounds richer than when I last spoke."
"I'm Alex, and uh, well, technically, I'm Lord Alexander, but I don't like it."
"Right," Mr Rothborne sighed, glad that was over, it was fine at the beginning, but just turned out a little nasty. "We have a few minutes until break time, and after break we'll go to the dormatories, and get ourselves sorted out, and changed into uniform, but until then, how about a few more games." He beamed at the group, "Lets see if we can stand in a line of height order, smallest at that end," he pointed to his left, "and tallest at that end," he pointed to the right, "and I want you to do it without speaking."
Several people groaned,
"Go!" yelled Mr Rothborne.
Mara immediatly walked to the short people end of the line, and stayed there. It was a fairly simple process, with only a few glitches, Seiji stumped rather a few people, as they thought he was really short, but actually he was just slouching and was really tall when he stood up straight. Fergie and Tor fought over who was tallest, and eventually decided they were equal height.
Mr Rothborne glanced at the clock, he'd never known an hour go so slowely, "Right, um, a few minutes left, so lets play tag!"
They did, and it got very messy, because Alex decided to turn it into Ruggers Tag, which he said, involved you only being on if you were tackled from standing to lying down. Seiji refused to play, sat in a corner and sulked, and Satu won, because he was the only person not to be tagged. The bell rang for break.
"Right!" yelled Mr Rothborne, "Juice and biscuits are in the canteen, find it yourselves, now you have a map, and then come back here by half past ten, okay?"
There were a few mumbles of "Yes sir," and everyone trapsed out.