First Sight
My mother, Renault, drove me to the airport in her BMW (at least it wasn't a Renault, ha) with the windows rolled down. It was gobsmackingly cold in Eagle, the sky a horrid, dreary grey. I was wearing my favourite top—black cotton with a picture of my favourite band, the Black Eyed Peas, on it. I'd bought it from Primark. It had been a bargain at only three pounds and fifty pence, and was the item of clothing I tended to wear the most.
I was heading for a small town named Spoons where my father, Charles, lived. Spoons is the sunniest place I know. The houses were built on a dry, barren landscape long ago, and there are barely any trees, although cactuses are common. It was from Spoons that my mother escaped with me when I was only a few months old. Spoons was the place where I'd had to spend every single holiday until I was fourteen. When I did turn fourteen, though, as well as getting the new Black Eyed Peas album which I'd been really excited about, I put my foot down, and came clean with the truth. Not that I secretly adored the Black Eyed Peas, that I hated Spoons. And since then, for the past three years, Charles has taken me somewhere different on holiday.
But today, I wasn't just visiting Spoons. I was going to live here—something that I couldn't believe I was doing.
As I said before, I hated Spoons. But I loved Eagle. I loved the feel of the cold against my warm skin, and the flickering snowflakes which drifted down from the sky and landed on my coat. I loved the way of city life, I loved sloshing through the rain on my way to school, and I especially loved the shops.
"Belle," Renault said to me before I boarded the plane. "You don't have to do this."
My mum looked nothing like me. She had long red hair, and mine was cut into a short blonde bob. Her eyes were small and brown, while mine were big and blue. I loved Renault, but she was just so neat and remembered every single rule that I broke. It would do me good to have a break from her. Besides, she had to go on her honeymoon with her new husband, Bill.
"I want to go," I lied. I'd always been a really good liar, although I had no idea how. Neither Renault nor Charles could lie convincingly, so I'd developed my own gene there.
"Don't tell Charles I said hi or anything," Renault sighed after hesitating. "He's always calling me, asking me out. I keep telling him I'm a married woman but he just doesn't stop!"
"Sure, mum, okay."
"I hopefully won't see you soon, if this honeymoon goes better than the others, that is…" Renault bit her lip, thinking. She'd been married six times before, and Bill was number seven.
"I'm sure it will, don't worry about me though!"
"Oh, I won't, I know you'll be fine," Renault giggled. "I have to go now, Bill will be waiting. See ya soon, honey."
The moment the car boot shut, my mother drove off in a cloud of smoke.
"Bye!" I shouted after her.
It was an hour's flight to get to from Eagle to Spoons. I hated flying, but luckily on this flight I was sat next to an incredibly good-looking boy. When I stumbled off the plane, I was clutching his number and was very pleased I'd succeeded in getting it.
"Hey, Belle! Belinda, honey, I'm over here!" Charles yelled from across the car park when I headed there, dragging my two huge suitcases after me. He crushed me in a huge hug. "Hey, let me get your bags. That's good, hop in the car, Belle!"
We chatted enthusiastically all the way to Charles' house. I didn't have a problem talking to Charles, like I did with Renault. We were driving in Charles's police car. In Spoons he was known as 'Chief Duck', and when we got there I'd be known as Belinda Duck, Chief Duck's daughter. Was that a good or a bad thing? I didn't know.
"So, how's Renault, Belle?" Charles asked me as surreptitiously as he could, but I knew it was only because he still had a little thing for my mum.
"She asked me not to tell you," I confessed. "She thinks you're getting a little too close again, and she's a married woman now."
"Oh, there still together?" Charles grunted unhappily.
"Yep."
"What's his name again? Jack or something isn't it?" he asked.
"No, Jack was her last one, now she's with Bill," I told him. The information made him feel even worse, I could tell. "How's life been then, Dad?"
"I've told you a million times before, call me Charles!" he corrected me. "I know Renault only likes you to call me 'Dad', but seriously, 'Dad', it's just a strange name. Call me Charles. And, yeah, life's alright."
"Okay… Charles," I shrugged.
There was a short silence until Charles started talking again. It wasn't awkward, just unusual as Charles and I usually had heaps to talk about.
"Oh, by the way, I found you a car!" Charles clicked his fingers as he remembered. "It's a little pricey, but I figured it'd be worth it for you, but it is second-hand."
"Second-hand?" I raised my eyebrows a little.
"Yeah, but don't let that put you off, it's still a good car, fast," Charles replied. "You'll love it. It's an Audi A5, great, has the sport mode you like."
"Where did you find it?"
"Do you remember Willy White down at La Bush?" La Bush is the tiny African reservation on the coast.
"No."
"He used to go surfing with us during the summer," Charles prompted. "Has a son, Josh?"
I didn't respond while I searched my brain, trying to remember Willy and Josh White. The names sounded vaguely familiar…
"Well Willy's in a wheelchair now, and doesn't like being incapable of running so he bought a really fast car to make him feel better: the Lamborghini Mercielago? He was going to sell the A5 to the garage but I persuaded him to hang onto it for me, just for you," Charles explained.
"How much is it? I don't get that much pocket money," I said.
"Well, honey, I already bought it for you," Charles grinned.
"Really? Seriously, Charles? Wow, thanks! That is so cool!" I squealed excitedly. "Everybody is going to be so jealous when I drive into school tomorrow."
"Don't show off too much," Charles told me, but he was still smiling at my reaction.
When we arrived at Charles' house I jumped out of the police car to look at my gift. The black Audi A5 sat on the drive, the blinding sunshine dancing off of the roof and stretching bonnet. Inside, the seats were of plush black leather. It wasn't the fanciest car I'd ever seen, but I loved it.
"Thanks, Charles, I really love it, I do," I whispered, my eyes tearing up.
Once I'd finished admiring my brand new car, I grabbed my bags and ran to my room. Although I hated Spoons, I loved my bedroom at Charles's house. But changes had been undergone since the last time I'd been there: so many years ago.
The formerly wooden flooring was now a soft, white carpet which my feet sunk into. The walls were now pink—my favourite colour, as Charles knew—and the curtains deep purple. The bed which used to be single was now double, with a brand new pink duvet, and a white wardrobe stood in the corner beside a desk holding…
"A laptop?" I said in disbelief.
"From Renault, as a gift to you. Don't worry though, Bill paid for it," Charles informed me. "I'll leave you to unpack, anyway, call me if you need anything!"
I stroked the top of the laptop with my finger. It was brand new, and the casing was sleek and white. Next to it was the phone that had been newly installed so that I could call Renault every night, although I didn't want to talk to her much. We had an admittedly awkward relationship.
It took me a while to unpack my belongings, as I had so many clothes. I'd told all of my friends back in Eagle that, as part of my fresh start, I didn't want to keep in touch with them, but I'd kept lots of photos of us and stuck them all over my walls. I did detest Spoons, but I found a sense of pride in being here, and I felt happy, especially when I thought about the following day…
Spoons High School had a total of only three hundred and fifty seven—now fifty eight—students. I knew I was going to like this more than back in Eagle, where nobody could ever be the centre of attention because there were so many people. All of the people here would all be friends, and then I'd come and they'd all be blown away. I hoped, anyway, but what wasn't to like?
Well, actually, I guess I would look different to how they'd expect a girl from Eagle to look. As Eagle was so cold, everybody had pale skin and usually red hair or blue eyes, but my skin had a natural glowing tan. I'd always been tall and thin, but fit, too, and I excelled in sports.
When I finished unpacking, I headed for the mirror in my newly installed bathroom (I'd refused to share one with Charles) and checked my reflection. My make-up had rubbed off a little, so I dabbed on some foundation and concealer and added a coat of mascara to my eyelashes. Much better. Of course, I'd definitely fit in with the kids here in Spoons. Because of the blistering heat, they all had tans and were sporty, too. Plus, the beach in La Bush was a great place for volleyball, I remembered.
I was great getting along with people of my age. I didn't know who I'd got the gene from (although probably Charles, my mum didn't have many girl friends when she was my age), but I had incredible social skills. Except with Renault. I think I was just too fast-paced for her, to be honest, although she was still my mum.
I slept amazingly that night in the double bed. The mattress was just astoundingly comfy, and I woke up feeling light and refreshed.
When I looked out of my window, I was greeted with a wave of sun. Great. Because I loved sun. Not. But I enjoyed being able to see the sky, which in Eagle was always grey and nothing but grey. Here it was a bright, periwinkle blue and completely cloudless. Beautiful. I changed into a pair of denim shorts and a red spaghetti-strap top before going downstairs.
Breakfast with Charles was loud and bustling. We chattered about everything. He told me all about Spoons High and what he was going to be doing while I was there and I told him about my old school in Eagle and how I thought it was going to turn out in Spoons High. I just found it so easy to talk to Charles.
"Good luck, Belle, and have fun today," he shouted before exiting. It felt extremely quiet when he'd gone, and I just sat there sipping my orange juice and listening to the faint sound of a dog barking somewhere.
Looking round the kitchen, I could see it had changed. Where everything used to be monochrome and serious—how Renault had designed it—it was now bright and colourful with alternating cupboards and drawers of red, blue, yellow, pink and green. Even the cooker was a joyous lilac colour. All over the room there were pictures of me and Renault. I knew that Charles was still angry at himself for letting my mum slipping through his fingers, but he kept on trying to win her back. The pictures were a reminder of what his goal was.
I was eager to get to school, but spent ten minutes trying to find the right bag to take, which nearly made me late. I eventually decided on a Jimmy Choo handbag I'd received for my seventeenth birthday and stuffed my pink pencil case and my iPhone inside. I ran out into the scorching sunshine and towards my car, which lay gleaming on the driveway.
Inside the Audi, it was cool and relaxing. The smell of vanilla wafted around and made it seem more appealing. I loved it, and made a mental note to ask Charles if I could talk to Willy White so that I could thank him.
When the engine revved, a wave of excitement rushed through me. I changed gears and pulled out of the driveway, feeling the smoothness as I faced the road. I switched to sport mode, rammed down the accelerator and sped off to school.
Finding Spoons High School proved easy. It was built with pale orange bricks, which had probably been bright before but had dried off in the sun, and bore a huge sign with its name above the gateway. I loved the feeling of having all eyes on me as I drove into the car park. The only downside to my car was that it was black—the main absorber of heat—and I drove around for a while until I succeeded in finding what appeared to be the only tree in the school. I drove into the parking space beneath it, in the shade, and got out of my vehicle.
"Hey, nice ride," a guy leaning against the tree grinned at me. I especially liked getting the attention of boys.
"Thanks," I smiled back flirtatiously. Spinning around, I headed towards the building and through a door reading FRONT OFFICE. Inside, everybody looked up when I walked in.
"Oh my! You must be Belinda Duck, Chief Duck's daughter?" a woman who appeared to be the receptionist gasped.
"Yes, that's me," I flicked my hair back over my shoulder. "But I prefer being called Belle, if you don't mind."
"Okay, yes, Belle, well I have your timetable and a map of the school, you know, just in case you get lost," the receptionist babbled. "And of course if you need any help with anything, just come here. I'd be happy to help you! We all would."
The other woman sitting behind desks in the room all nodded and murmured in agreement.
"Sure, thanks," I replied, taking my timetable and map and heading through a door marked CAFETERIA.
I walked through the cafeteria and down a couple of hallways until I reached the room I was looking for, at least according to the map. People stared at me as I passed. Well, why wouldn't they? There was only three hundred and something people at the school, and now I was a new, unfamiliar face. Everybody wanted to know me.
The classroom I'd been assigned for Form was small. The people in front of me headed to any seat they liked and sat on the desks. I headed straight for one at the back by the window and did the same, pulling out my phone and texting Charles to tell him I was here. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that there were only five or six people in the room so far, and they were all looking at me. Of course, they were all tanned, too, as I'd expected. One of the people, a girl with light brown hair, came over to talk to me.
"Hey, are you Belinda Duck? Chief Duck's daughter?" she asked me intensely and admiringly.
"Yeah, that's me, but I prefer Belle," I said.
"Oh, cool, Belle," she repeated. "Well, do you wanna come and sit with us at lunch. We were wondering, you know, cause you being new means you don't know anyone. I'm Jessie by the way, Jessie Sitley."
"Jessie, yeah, good to know, that'd be nice," I thanked her.
The other students began filing into the room and sitting down at their own desks. The teacher—Mr Maple according to my timetable—entered right on the bell. He scanned the class and his eyes widened when they saw me.
"Belinda Duck?"
"Belle Duck," I edited coolly.
"What an honour to have you here," he gawked, making me blush. Teachers were embarrassing; they were at my last school and were going to be here.
Mr Maple took the register, read the bulletin and then let us talk until our next subject, English, which ironically happened to be in the same room as Form, with Mr Maple again. I liked English. I knew things in English. I knew Brontë and Shakespeare, Chaucer and Faulkner, all of the writers we were due to be learning about. As I pulled out my pencil case from my bag, a boy who had chosen the desk next to me leaned over and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to face him. He had dark skin, more coffee coloured than tanned, with black hair.
"You're Belinda Duck, aren't you?" he asked.
"Belle," I corrected. Everybody else in the class turned to look at me.
"Oh, hey, I'm Derek, I'll be sitting next to you in lunch cause I'm, like, friends with Jessie," he laughed somewhat nervously.
"Oh, cool…"
The conversation had already run dry, but Derek seemed determined to keep it going.
"So, where did you move from?"
"Eagle," I replied, sighing. I missed Eagle already.
"Wow, Eagle? Really? You moved here from Eagle? Well, I guess Spoons is a big change from Eagle?" he asked.
"Very."
"It's really cold there, isn't it? And it rains lots?"
"All the time."
"Wow, what must that be like?" he wondered.
"Cold," I told him.
"You're not very pale. I thought most people from Eagle had ivory skin."
"I developed my dad's genes with my skin tone," I shrugged.
He studied my face apprehensively and I sighed. Was it going to be like this with every person I met at this school?
When English finished, Derek walked with me to my other classes and I talked to him mostly about Eagle, and my old school and friends. He seemed very interested, which urged me to talk even more. Some of the classes he wasn't in, though, but I was quickly taken to another group of people who wanted to find out about me. Jessie sat beside me in both Trig and Spanish, so I knew her quite well by the time it was lunch.
When I walked into the cafeteria, it seemed to fall silent as everyone stared at me. Jessie gestured for me to follow her to the food, which I did. I was starving. I picked a Caesar salad, an apricot muffin and a glass of water which I took to the table of Jessie's friends. I was introduced to all of them, but was no good with names.
I'd looked around the room to see if everyone had stopped staring when I saw them. They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria. There were five of them. They weren't talking, they weren't eating, and in fact they weren't really doing anything which I thought was completely pointless and a little weird. But it was my turn to stare, except not because they were weird. They weren't gawking at me. I don't remember them staring at me when I entered the room, either.
None of them looked completely alike, although there were some similarities.
One of the three boys was muscled and built like a serious weight lifter with dark, curly hair. The second was tall and lean, although still muscular, with honey blonde hair. The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy bronze coloured hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers rather than students.
The girls were different. One was tall and statuesque with a perfect figure. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. The second was short and reminded me of a pixie, thin with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction.
All five of them were tanned, but the light seemed to dance off of their skin instead of making it shiny. The appeared to glisten and emit a strange glow, and they all had the same dark eyes, as black as coal. They also had dark shadows under those eyes—purplish, bruiselike shadows. All of their features were straight, perfect, angular.
But this wasn't why I couldn't look away.
I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. It was hard to decide who was the best looking—maybe the perfect blonde girl or the bronze haired boy.
The bronze haired boy. There was something about him. Something I longed to have.
"Who are they," I found myself asking Jessie, who giggled.
"They're the Sullens," she replied, looking at the table like I did. The bronze-haired boy looked over at me, met my eyes for a fraction of a second, and then looked away quickly. "They're the foster kids of Callum Sullen, the best doctor at the Spoons Hospital."
"They look so alike, though, how can they be foster kids?" I murmured.
"The blonde girl and the really tall boy, they're brother and sister," she explained. "The blonde girl is Rosie Sullen-Pale, and the tall boy Jack Sullen-Pale. Then the other three are related, too. The small girl is Alison; the muscled boy is Emerson, and the third boy, the gorgeous one, that's Eddie Sullen."
I glanced sideways at Eddie, who was now talking to his companions. Alison wasn't there anymore, though, and must have left while Jessie had been talking.
"They're all really good-looking," I said.
"I know," Jessie laughed again. "But they're all paired up though, I mean, I don't even know if it's legal because they, like, live together, but Emerson and Rosie are going out and Jack and Alison date. It's weird."
I looked over at the Sullens again.
"It's really nice, for Dr Sullen and his wife to look after them," I smiled.
"I guess," Jessie replied. It appeared that she didn't like the Sullens, though. "I don't think Mrs Sullen can have any kids. Jack and Rosie—she's their aunt or something, so took them in after they lost their parents, and then they fostered the other three ages ago. They've all grown up with Dr and Mrs Sullen as their parents, which is why they've adopted their surname. It's easier, too, I guess."
"It's strange that Rosie and Jack kept part of their own surname though—I mean, Pale? They're tanned, not pale!" I thought aloud. "Have they always lived in Spoons?"
I wondered why I hadn't seen them in the holidays I'd spent here.
"No, they moved here two years ago from Italy or something," Jessie replied.
I looked over at the Sullens another time, and Eddie was staring at me again. Once he met my gaze, he turned away like before.
"Yeah, I know, Eddie's gorgeous but he doesn't date, apparently none of the girls here are good enough for him," Jessie snorted. "Like I care."
After a few minutes, the Sullens all stood at the same time and then exited the cafeteria. It was strange the way they cooperated, at the same time but without talking. It freaked me out, at the very least.
I sat with Jessie and her friends until the lunch bell rang. I was heading to Biology next, and so was one of Jessie's friends who introduced herself as Angel Clobber. She was shy, but talked to me and asked questions.
When we entered the science lab, Angel headed to her assigned seat, and I gave the teacher, Mr Binner, my name. He gawked, of course, like everybody else had. I'd only been at the school for four and a half hours and was already used to the staring.
"Right then, Belle," Mr Binner stammered. "Uh, how about you go sit over there?"
He pointed to a seat by the window at a double table with… Eddie Sullen. When I sat down in the seat, Eddie edged away from me in a strange way. Wait… did I smell? But I knew I didn't, because I'd sprayed on my brand new perfume that morning which was divine. But Eddie still wasn't far enough away from me, it seemed, as he began leaning away from me in a way that quite frankly made him look like an idiot. The girl on the table behind me giggled—whether at me or at Eddie I didn't know.
I just decided to ignore Eddie and instead focused on the lesson, which was really easy and I was soon engrossed in the lecture, until the bell. As soon as it rang, Eddie jumped up and sped from the room before anybody else had done as much as shut their revision guides. I had come to the conclusion that he was just a weirdo.
As I began packing up, the boy who'd sat behind me next to the girl who'd giggled came up to me.
"Aren't you Belinda Duck?" he asked.
When I looked up I saw him: cute and baby-faced with his blonde hair gelled into spikes. He was smiling at me. At least he didn't think my brand new perfume smelled bad.
"Belle," I corrected him, smiling back.
"I'm Spike."
"Hi, Spike." His name matched his hair, I couldn't help but think.
"So, what's your next class? Do you need help finding it?"
"It's sport in the gym, I think I'll be alright," I replied.
"That's my next class too!" he exclaimed excitedly.
We exchanged small talk as we headed towards the gymnasium.
"So, what did you do to offend Eddie Sullen? I've never seen him act like that!" Spike said.
I played it cool, although I was embarrassed.
"Eddie—was that the name of the guy who sat next to me? Yeah, he was weird," I shrugged like it was no big deal.
"All of the Sullens are weird," Spike agreed.
I separated from Spike when I went to get changed into my kit. I was looking forward to sport, because I was good at it. Coach Slap was enthusiastic from my playing.
"If you come to the tryouts, you might be able to get onto the volleyball team!" she told me happily.
When school had ended, I headed back to the Front Office to inform the receptionist that my day had gone well, but when I arrived I saw Eddie Sullen standing there.
He was talking, arguing actually, with the receptionist in a low voice like velvet, and I listened to his words. He was asking to change Fourth Period Biology to another time—any other time.
"I'm sorry, you'll have to stay there," the receptionist finally snapped. She spotted me and her face softened. "Oh, how was your day, Belle?"
Eddie whipped around, saw me and then fled for the room, his expression thunderous.
"Fine," I lied, but despite the fact I was the best liar ever, the receptionist didn't look convinced…