I've been kicked out of four schools in two years. I was now starting Year Ten at some school called Waterloo Road. It was a failing school, but a school nonetheless. Apparently, a teacher had been stabbed before the summer. It had been in the papers and everything. I sympathised but I didn't feel much because I didn't know her, you get me?
I told my aunt I could walk myself to the school and that all the forms had been signed. See, I lived with my aunt because my mother and half-father had moved themselves over to London with my half-brother who I had only met once when I was nine.
I pulled my skirt down a little as I walked down the pathway towards the place. There was crowds of kids of all heights and ages. The Year Sevens looked like they were gonna piss themselves as the Year Elevens looked at them like they were nothing.
As I walked through the door behind the rest of the people, I was immediately pushed into a line. It was a quite short line and I saw the sign 'bag checks in place' hung up behind the teachers. I was lucky I hadn't packed anything bad in there on my first day. I didn't want to get excluded and make my aunt move again. It was putting a ton of stress on her and I didn't feel like giving her a heart attack.
I managed to get to the front pretty quickly and put my bag on the table for the blonde female teacher to look inside. She stopped abruptly as the male teacher called out to stop a tall tanned male who had tried to push his way through to evade the bag search.
"Hand it over!" The teacher bellowed, which stopped all the commotion. The boy dumped his bag onto the table and the teacher looked through it before finding a rude magazine. "What's your name?"
"Bolton Smilie." The boy admitted.
"You wanna have a bit of a clearout, Bolton." The teacher shoved Bolton's bag into his chest. "You're carrying too much junk, lad." Bolton stormed off in a mood.
"Who's he then?" I whispered to the female teacher who had turned to me.
"Mr Lawson." She whispered. "Deputy head and maths teacher."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Miss Haydock." She smiled at me. "And you?"
"Eve Acker." I held out a hand and she shook it happily. "This is my fifth school."
"Well, I hope it will be your last." Miss Haydock said.
"Me too." I nodded before picking up my bag and walking further into the school.
I had managed to make fast friends. Two girls, Aleesha and Danielle, had befriended me in my first lesson. They were only here because the head had paid their parents to send them here. I told them I was here because it was my only choice and they didn't look all that surprised. We were stepping outside into the yard, preparing to skip the lesson we had next.
"This place is a dump." Aleesha scoffed. "No wonder the head has to pay my mum two grand to send me here."
"I'd better be getting some serious treats with that money." Danielle ranted. "A fortnight in Florida, the lot."
"Yeah right." Aleesha giggled. "Like you've got time for a holiday." We moved behind a wall. "My mum's all like, 'it's a golden opportunity'. Easy for her to say. She's not the one taking her GCSEs in one year, rather than two."
A worried looking girl almost ran into us and we pushed ourself off the wall. She looked terrified of us as we looked at her and I decided not to torment this one, as she seemed like a nice girl.
"Skipping class?" Danielle asked the girl.
"No thanks." The girl said. "Skipping's for kids."
"You new here too?" I questioned.
"It's my fourth time being new." The girl answered.
"Hey, it's my fifth time." I smiled.
"Break some rules or something?" Aleesha laughed.
"We don't talk about that." The girl stuttered, pushing some hair away from her face.
"Wild." Aleesha smirked.
"So, do you wanna hang out with us?" Danielle offered.
"Mum said I should be my own person this time." The girl rambled. "I'm too easily led."
"What are you girls loitering about for?" Miss Haydock snapped. "The bell's gone. Go on."
I rolled my eyes before following my two friends into the building.
I sighed heavily as I threw myself into a seat in front of Danielle and Aleesha's table. I hated English with a burning passion and the teacher, Grantly Budgen, didn't seem like a nice person.
"Quiet!" Mr Budgen bellowed as he started to hand out books. "I won't ask you if you know the work of Robert Burns because I already know the answer. He's a Scottish poet, now dead. Page 109."
I flipped my book open and rested my chin on my hand, scanning my eyes over the poem quickly before looking back up to the loud teacher.
"To a mouse!" Mr Budgen recited in a horrible imitation of a Scottish accent. "Who's going to start the reading?" He looked around before pointing to Aleesha. "You."
"It's not even English!" Aleesha protested. I grinned a little as I propped my feet up on the empty chair beside mine. The chair was tucked in so the old miserable sod couldn't see me lounging about.
"What are you smirking at, girl?" Mr Budgen sneered and I turned to see Danielle's smile slid right off. "And you, turn around!" I assumed he was talking to me and I did as he asked. "I don't like seeing the backs of heads."
"Then don't look at them." I shrugged.
"Watch your tongue, girl." Mr Budgen snapped before turning back to Aleesha. "Read it phonetically."
"Wee, sleekit, cowran, tim'rous beastie." Aleesha started with a giggle in her voice. "O, what a panic's in thy breastie. Thou need na start awa sae hasty, wi' bickering brattle. I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, wi' murd'ring pattle! I'm truly sorry man's dominion has broken nature's social union, an' justifies that ill opinion, which makes thee startle, at me, thy poor, earth-born companion, an' fellow-mortal."
I could understand the poem perfectly and recite it in my head. Thing is, even though I was bad at staying in school, I was actually really good at it. But my dream was to do something for sport. I had some anger issues and my old teachers suggested I take up boxing. I hadn't managed to in my old town since I was kicked out two days after I had been given the advice but now I was in Rochdale, and I could totally sign up.
"Who in God's name do you think you are?" Mr Budgen's loud voice snapped me out of my thoughts as he slammed his hand on Karla's table. "Explain yourself."
"Mr Budgen, I think you should leave it." Miss Shackleton warned.
Karla pushed herself up from her desk and started humming nervously, picking up her chair slowly and holding it in front of her face.
"What on Earth do you think you're doing with that?" Mr Budgen snapped. "Put it down!"
Miss Shackleton's attempts to calm Karla down weren't working as she moved further back and hummed louder, a sign she was scared out of her mind.
"Come on, Eve." Danielle tapped my shoulder as she moved from her chair. I nodded and grabbed my bag, shoving my stuff in it before getting up.
"Sit down this insant." Mr Budgen yelled.
"And get a chair in the face?" Danielle scoffed.
"Might work for wrestlers, but not for us." I told him before following Danielle and Aleesha out of the classroom.
Lunch rolled around pretty quickly. After I grabbed my tray of delicious looking food, I looked around for a place to sit. Aleesha and Danielle were doing some early work for Mr Lawson so I was left on my own. I spotted the tanned male from this morning, Bolton Smilie, hunched over his food. I walked over to the table and placed my tray down, slamming my hand on the table to signal his attention.
"Hi." I smiled sweetly, putting my bag on the chair next to me and sitting down.
"Who are you?" Bolton seemed to sneer.
"Eve Acker." I raised an eyebrow. "And you're Bolton Smilie."
"How do you know my name?" Bolton relaxed his posture and sat back in his seat.
"This morning at the bag search." I licked my lips. "You were caught with a rude magazine."
"And?" Bolton crossed his arms.
"Bit of a stupid thing to bring into school that issues a bag search." I shrugged, taking small bites of my food.
"Oh well." Bolton shrugged too. "It happens."
"You wanna be mates, Bolton Smilie?" I asked.
"You want to be mates with me?" Bolton raised his eyebrow.
"Well, considering I've only got two mates, one more would be great." I explained.
"Sure, man." Bolton smiled. "Mates."
"Mates." I nodded, grinning at him.
I think my first day was fair alright. Gained three new friends and got to hear about a teacher getting smacked with a chair. It was brilliant.
"Hey, sweetie." My aunt greeted as I entered the house.
"Hi, Aunt Clara." I grinned at her as I dropped my bag by the door.
"How was school?" She asked.
"It was good." I nodded. "Made three new friends and a teacher got hit with a chair."
"Did he deserve it?" She said.
"Definitely." I laughed.
"Then that's fine by me." She giggled.
"Night, Aunt Clara." I said to her before ascending the stairs.
"Night, my dear." She called.
So, I originally planned to release my Tariq/OC first but since Series 3 comes first, I decided to release this and because I rewatched some episodes of Series 3, I thought this story was going to be great. I have a story plan all written up and everything! I hope you guys like it, this story is going to be approximately 68-70 chapters long. I'm excited to write this and I really hope you guys are excited to read it. I know WR has a small fanbase but I can't help but write fanfiction for it. Bolton is definitely a hilarious character, love him to bits. Okay, author's note over! I don't own Waterloo Road, just Eve Acker and all her whatnots. Bye!
