As everyone else seems to be doing these, I've decided to try Lady Clark of Books' challenge. Hopefully it's ok - it's not really my style but I've done my best. If you're wondering, this chapter is in Marian's point of view. Although Djaq and most of the other main characters don't make a very big appearance, they will next year. Please review when you're done - I really appreciate it!
Note: This doesn't mean I've given up on 'Hope Against Hope'. The next chapter for that story will be up soon, so don't worry.
In general I'm not a morning person. Actually, that's a bit of an understatement – I'm never a morning person. Even when I've had hours and hours the evening before to prepare, the entire holidays to make sure I have everything I need and a good night's sleep, I still can't bring myself to get out of bed. I reckon it must be genetic; no one is naturally that lazy. Well, to be fair to myself, if I survive past ten in the morning, my energy finally starts kicking in. I just wish it would do it a bit quicker, that's all. Honestly, I actually promised myself I'd be ready and wide awake by seven this morning. I even laid out my uniform and packed my bag for the first day of year 11. As my best friend AJ pointed out to me when I told her this, it was never going to happen. I managed to drag myself downstairs, yawning and tugging at my hair irritably, only to receive an annoying text from the girl saying 'told you so'. I suppose it was my fault for promising to meet her at the bus stop at seven-thirty. As things were, I was rushing breakfast at seven-forty-five and AJ was probably in the form room by now. I sort of ran out of the house, probably looking completely insane, and only just caught the late bus. Never a good idea. Robin Locksley and his cronies all get that bus – I had to sit downstairs so they didn't see me with my hair a complete mess and no make up on. I can't believe I used to be friends with that boy. With my luck, unless I practically raced down the road before he had time to get off the bus, I would have to walk to school with him. To be fair, he's not the worst – that would be his friend Allan, always cracking jokes and being a general idiot. He makes the most sexist comments, and I'm not even a feminist so it just proves how bad it is that I actually care. Luckily we're being split up this year because of our options, so hopefully I won't have any classes with him.
I actually made it halfway down the road before Locksley saw me. It was one of the few times I actually wished for Guy to come save me. Normally he can't seem to separate from me. Why pick this, of all days, to take my hint about spending time apart? I looked around for anything – a sign, a symbol, a gift from God. Nothing came to hand and I scowled. Sometimes I wish I was actually religious – maybe if I was, God might actually send me a miracle when I needed one. Alright, so the situation wasn't desperate, but it came pretty close.
"Marian!" I heard him call from behind me and cringed. Oh damn, this was going to be hell.
"Yes?" I answered frostily in the voice which AJ calls my pompous voice. I turned to face him, hoping I didn't look as bad as I thought I did. "Oh, it's you. I thought it was..." I trailed off at that point. I didn't think I knew a single person who was so annoying that I could compare him to Locksley. He grinned annoyingly at me and Allan wolf-whistled. I threw him a death stare which didn't seem to have any effect.
"Come walk with us," Robin suggested evilly. Normally I hate being rude but he knows what he did and he deliberately ignores it. I suppose I should explain. Well, Robin and I were best friends all through years 7, 8 and 9. Then, halfway through year 10, Robin vanished. No one knew where he'd gone and his parents were terrified. They phoned the police, who interviewed all of Robin's main friends. That included me of course – they basically insinuated that I'd actually helped him plan his little stunt. My dad was furious at Robin and so was I; the police wouldn't leave me alone. When he finally returned, just a few weeks before the end of term, everyone treated it as a big joke. Except me. Maybe I'm just holding a grudge, I know. AJ say's I'm being stupid but that time was the worst of my life and can you blame me for being a little annoyed?
"I'd rather not actually," I answered coolly, trying not to sound stuck up. It didn't work very well – I think he found it funny. Gritting my teeth, I turned and stormed down the road, trying to ignore his voice calling my name. Oh yeah, 'reason to hate him' number two: he brings out the worst in me every time. It doesn't really help that my group of friends hate him too.
I managed to get into the form room with as little fuss as possible. Even though it was a new room, anyone with eyes could see that the groups were already there. Groups at King Richard's Academy were actually quite simple. Oh, just so you know, 'King Richard's Academy' is just a glorified name for the local comprehensive. The group I'm in is filled with a bunch of people who stay together out of sheer convenience. It consists of me and AJ, Guy Gisborne, Vaysey Sheriff, Sarah McMahon and John King. Vaysey is the self-appointed leader, something you have to get used to after a while. Technically John King should be leader because he's the brother of the current unofficial 'head boy' figure in our school. They aren't anything alike and that's why Vaysey's in charge I suppose (what parent calls their son Vaysey? I'm not even sure if it's a real name). I actually don't like Vaysey at all, but being friends with them is easier than being part of Robin's group. I only stay in that group as so not to cause trouble for myself. After all, Vaysey has a lot more power – he rules half the school with the help of his sister's group. Davina Sheriff is a year younger than us and head cheerleader. In actual fact, she invented the cheerleading club – we live in England, not America, although Davina would prefer it the other way around.
"You took your time," AJ drawled as she spotted me come in. I gave her a look that was meant to be scathing but probably came out as tired. She had saved me a seat, though that hadn't stopped Guy from sitting on the other side, looking at me with a keen expectancy which should've been sweet if it wasn't so scary. AJ saw my look of 'here-we-go-again' and grinned deviously. Part Italian, Iranian and Chinese, Alison-Jeanette Hashemi (you can see why she shortens it to AJ) wasn't really a part of the group – the only thing that stopped Vaysey from kicking her out was my protests. You see, our class was split into two halves. The rich kids and the trailer park kids. On the outskirts of town was a trailer park where most of the town's crimes and dodgy dealings occurred. That wasn't their fault; it just so happened that everyone who didn't live there assumed that they were a bunch of gypsies because they didn't live in a proper house. The trailer park lot were treated like dirt by pretty much anyone who wasn't one of them and that was where the divide came in. Although I was one of the 'rich kids' I tried to be nice to the trailer park kids, even though they hated me for being part of Vaysey's lot. Technically AJ was one of the trailer park kids but seeing as at the time I wasn't allowed to hang out with them, I dragged her up into my group (using Guy's crush on me to do this – I felt bad for months after but it was worth it).The only exception to the divide was Robin and his friends. Although they were all 'rich kids', they hung out with the trailer kids and that was heresy in Vaysey's book. Robin, like me, thought that the trailer kids were just as good as everyone else. Except he actually did something about it - not that I could tell anyone had ever benefitted from it.
"Alright, you win," I groaned, practically falling into my seat. "Did you have good holidays?" AJ shrugged.
"It wasn't so bad," she remarked nonchalantly. "I went out to Town Park most of the time." Town Park was the centre of trailer kid area, a rundown park with a large skateboard area and plenty of drink, drugs and smoking. "I saw Locksley and his lot around a couple of times. Apart from that, nothing interesting happened."
"What did you get up to, Marian?" Guy asked hopefully. I didn't know what he was hoping for. Did he want me to say I missed him or something?
"Erm, nothing really Guy," I answered. Then, just to be nice, I added: "I didn't see you around. Did you have a good time?" AJ gave a not-so-subtle cough and Guy beamed.
"Yeah, I suppose," he replied. "It would've been better if you had been there." AJ gave another cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. I nudged her in the ribs and she jumped, glaring at me.
"Well, maybe next time," I managed, while trying to ignore AJ's muffled giggles. Before Guy could say anything else, Vaysey swung around to glare at me.
"I saw you walking to school with Locksley," he stated. The way he said Robin's name made it sound like I had been caught helping an axe murderer. I tried to prevent myself from snapping; Vaysey is one of the people I can truly say I detest. Sometimes AJ pointed out that, seeing as I hate half the people in the group, I really shouldn't be friends with them at all. As I always responded, after five years it's a bit late for that.
"Hardly," I replied coldly. "He was annoying me, as much as I tried to get away." Guy scowled and Vaysey smirked.
"Speak of the devil," AJ muttered with a hint of glee as Robin and his friends burst through the door making as much noise as it was humanly possible too. Robin is one of those people who make every action into a drama piece. By the time he'd thrown himself into the seat in literal slow motion, swung his feet onto the desks with an impossibly loud thump and gave an exaggerated hand motion for everyone else to do the same, I felt exhausted from just watching it. The trailer park students crowded around him to Vaysey's annoyance; Guy cracked his knuckles menacingly like a gangster out of 'The Godfather'. I looked around to see who wasn't affected by Robin's presence. Four girls in the corner of the classroom caught my eye. They were the quiet section of the trailer park lot in our class; an Arabic girl whose name I forget, a blonde girl called Eve who's good at French, another girl with mousy brown hair whose name begins with 'A' and an Irish redhead called Eilish Lyons. As I watched, the Arabic girl caught the eye of one of Robin's friends – a tall, dark haired boy called Will Scarlett – and blushed. Eilish giggled at her friend and Eve and the girl whose name begins with 'A' avoided looking over at Robin's gang, blushing as well. Even they were drawn to the self-named 'Outlaws'.
"Why look who it is, the Golden Boy himself," Vaysey remarked loudly. Guy snickered, AJ yawned and I looked away from the gazes of everyone in the class. Why couldn't Vaysey keep his mouth shut? I hated being seen as one of the bad guys.
"Vaysey, it's been too long," Robin returned with a devilish grin. "I've been so looking forward to...catching up this term."
"You're on, Locksley," Vaysey smirked. Just then the door flew open and the final member of our group appeared. Sarah Hoare stood in the doorway, gloriously bleached peroxide hair shining like a builder's fluorescent vest. I used to think it was sheer misfortune that her last name sounded exactly the same as 'whore', but I'm currently under the impression she picked it herself. Somehow the girl had 'forgotten' to do up her shirt buttons to just above her push-up bra; for a moment I wondered why she'd put on the belt and forgotten the skirt. Then I realised that the narrow strip of blue fabric was her skirt. AJ exploded into a fit of giggles-mixed-with-choking-sounds-of-disbelief.
"Don't look now Sarah, but I think you forgot your skirt when you got dressed," someone called out. Sarah just tossed her impressive set of hair extensions and came over to sit beside Guy, gazing longingly over at Robin. He dumped her two years ago but she was still under the impression he was 'just taking a break'. Everyone mumbled hello to her; no one was quite sure how she was in their group as none of them actually liked her.
"Isn't it lovely to be back? I think it is. I met the loveliest boy on my lovely holidays but no one could replace my lovely Robin, you know what I mean?" Sarah had a habit of using 'lovely' to describe everything as well as talking extremely fast without pausing for breath. I bit my lip to stop myself rolling my eyes as she mentioned Robin. Even when we were friends I had hated him going out with her. Actually, I hadn't really liked him going out with anyone, though I have no idea why. No idea at all. AJ likes to say it's because I fancy him but that is definitely not true. Definitely. "So, do you think he's looking at me? Oh he definitely is – we were just made for each other, right?" Everyone gave a vague mumbled reply; even Vaysey had learnt that you could torture her and Sarah would simply continue on about Robin relentlessly. Turning to the boy in question, she batted her eyelids and pouted. "Robin, you haven't said hello to me yet. Don't you want to know about my holidays?"
"Not really," Robin replied, looking at his gang for an escape route. They all shrugged, Allan grinning gleefully. "Uh, you look...well. I suppose. If you like that sort of...look." For an annoyingly rude person, Robin could try my patience with his politeness sometimes. Three desks down, Sarah was in rapture. Before she could throw what everyone knew would be a lewd suggestion at him, the bell rang for assembly. A chorus of groans went up as chairs were scraped back, bags hauled off desks and people shuffled their way towards the door. Sighing, I rose and crossed the classroom with AJ following behind me, looking bored enough for the both of us. I hate assemblies.
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Here's one of the very few good things about being in year eleven: you get to sit on chairs, not the floor. Honestly, I've never felt as patronised as when sitting cross-legged on the floor while the teachers looked down on me from the stage. Sure, the seats are a hideous shade of lurid orange and made out of the cheapest plastic you could get, but that's better than nothing. AJ managed to 'accidently' send Sarah flying into a line of year 9s when trying to get good chairs. As usual, it was left to me to apologise. Robin and his friends had taken half the back row and Vaysey refused to sit anywhere near them so we ended up sitting halfway through the rows of seats. Apparently AJ was in a merciful mood; she seated herself right between me and Guy, who looked very put out and spent the next ten minutes brooding.
"Have you spoken to Robin yet?" AJ whispered to me. I frowned. She knew I didn't talk to him – why was she asking?
"Of course not," I replied in irritation. "What did you expect?"
"It says in the Bible, forgive and forget. Or something along those lines - you get the idea."
"Yeah, like you've ever looked at a Bible," I scoffed. AJ was one of the most unreligious people I knew. "And anyway, he deserves it."
"For your information, my godmother's...sister's...cousin's best friend showed me her Bible," AJ stated and we both started giggling. "It still counts, alright? And anyway, you know that you're just being stubborn. You don't even hate him; you just hate the idea of falling in love with him again." My jaw dropped and I shoved her hard.
"You don't have a clue about what you're talking about," I hissed. The head master, Mr. Ramsby, was speaking but I didn't care. "For starters, I was never in love with Robin Locksley. We were just friends; can't you get that into your head? And he basically ran off and left me to try and fix the mess he left behind, what was I supposed to do? Welcome him home with open arms?" AJ just gave me a knowing look. I returned it with a withering glance and looked away, determined not to talk to her unless she apologised. I absolutely, definitely, 100 would not give up on this. I would not give in to the temptation of pointing out that Sarah's highlights were reflecting the fluorescent lighting and blinding me. I would resist the need to share the fact that Mrs. Ireson was holding hands with Mr. Davies, who was about five years younger and ten times as handsome as her husband. I would hold out. I held my breath and counted to ten. I would hold out. I would not give in. It lasted for a full ten minutes. "Look at Mrs. Ireson and Mr. Davies." AJ raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, are you talking to me now? Ten minutes, I think that's a new record."
"Oh shut up," I snapped. A few heads turned in our direction and I went bright red. I've always been a terrible blusher – apparently I inherited it from my mother. All I can say is, I bet my mother didn't get thrown into half the embarrassing situations that I did. "Let's call truce because I can't be bothered to fight with you anymore." AJ shrugged, which I took to mean yes.
"All I'm saying is, I'm sure you would want forgiveness if you were in his shoes," she stated. I bit my lip. I hated it when AJ was right. I would want forgiveness and it wasn't like he hadn't apologised. Alright, so maybe I was holding a grudge for too long. I sighed and made a quick new year's resolution: try and be nice to Robin. Just then, a ball of paper fell over my shoulder, narrowly missing my head and landing in my lap. I picked it up suspiciously and opened it, recognising the familiar handwriting immediately.
"Hey Marian! Did you have good holidays? Are you still not talking to me? I've said sorry one thousand times and I'll say it again if it makes you happy – I'm sorry. Please forgive me and I'll be your slave for life, honestly."
I rolled my eyes and showed the paper to AJ, who smirked. We both looked behind us to the back row where Robin sat, gazing at me with an odd expression on his face. I turned back around and grabbed a pen from my bag, trying not to attract attention. Mr. Ramsby droned on, ignoring the fact that some year 8s had started up a game of tug-of-war, some year 9s and 10s had fallen asleep and the Robin had thrown about a rainforest of paper aeroplanes at Guy and Vaysey. Behind me I could hear Allan's phone going off and Eve from my French class reading a book.
"You. Are. A. Twat." I wrote. So what if it wasn't grammatically correct. Sue me. "And you don't deserve forgiveness." AJ jogged me and I glared at her and at the huge ink smudge on my note. "But, due to intense peer pressure-" here I glared at AJ "-I will forgive you. Don't get any ideas though." Feeling a wave of overly polite attitude come over me, I added: "My holidays were good, I hope yours were too." AJ snorted and I ignored her, turning to toss the scrunched up piece of paper at Robin, who caught it easily. He read it and I almost laughed to see his face light up. He grinned at me and I gave a grudging smile in return. Ok, maybe this was just a little too easy.