chapter 2
choice
A single knock on the door made her wake up with a huge jolt.
"C'mon sweetie, time to get up", her mother cooed from outside her door. Instantly she felt safer in the haziness of her initial wake. The smell of pancakes filled the air and made her go slightly more light-headed. She loved her mother's pancakes on a Saturday morning. Then it hit her.
It was her 15th birthday.
Suddenly, her mother came lightly barging into her bright blue bedroom with a big blue cake with a blue butterfly on the top, singing happy birthday sweetly, "happy birthday Fern Evanna Asher Reynalds." A confused smile stretched across Fern's face, while watching her mother with loving eyes. "I know you don't like pink, so I made the butterfly blue." It was true, he hated pink. She always had, always will. It was funny, because her mother loved pink and always used to paint 's fern's bedroom the brightest shade of pink possible. Now she had it blue, calming, soothing, and cooling. She loved blue and she seemed to be constantly drawn to it.
"thanks mum… you finally got me a cake without pink splashed all over it!" to this her mum gave her a sarcastic look,
"well ever since you refused to eat any of the cake I got you last year because it had a pink bow on the top of the 'E', I decided to keep it blue. Fern giggled at the remembrance of this and flashed her mum an apologetic look. Her mum kissed her softly on the cheek and told her she would leave her to get changed for school. her mother left the room, the knot in her stomach loosened and her heart beat slowed. Her eyes scanned the room for something that could have caused the uneasy feeling. Nothing. She pulled her reeling head from her warm, fluffy pillow, feeling like she had a ton weight secured to her chest. What was the uneasy feeling? Why had it come so suddenly? Why today? She threw the thoughts from her head and stopped it from spoiling her day.
Soon Fern was pulling on her black skinny jeans, oversized blue top and dirty, ripped, black converse. Fern was simple, maybe even tom-boyish, she didnt care what people thought of her. Fern scapred up her hair into a loose pony-tail, not caring about the bits she had missed or sticking out. her extremely long hair still reached her bum, its elegant, radiant waves of strawberry-blonde allowed her to style her hair anyway she wanted and still looking stylish but casual. she hated her hair long, she always wanted to cut it really short, she wasnt a very girly person, but that was one of the very few things her mother insisted upon. she was quite a calm, non-caring person but did have a firey rage when she wanted too. Fern always wondered where she got that From considering her polite mother never shouted. her mother was a very proud woman, very different from Fern. there were many differences between them. still, Fern loved her mother, even if she did find it hard sometimes.
she walked into the bathroom. she looked into the mirror, holding onto the sink with both hands... almost like she was about to collapse. she loved her mother, and always will, but why was she getting this uneasy feeling when she was around her? not knowing what she would do, she filled her cupped hands with cool, fresh water from the tap and splashed it up to her face. the feeling of all of her stresses swirling down the plughole felt good. she looked back up into the mirror, her dark and deep blue eyes shining bright. they looked different today. almost like they were more alive, brighter. they looked like pools of silky blue water. she felt so good today, and she wasn't going to let some stupid thing about her mother get to her. she was probably just hungry. She liked to convince herself.
She ran downstairs and was greeted with a big slab of cake, which she not-so-gracefully accepted, and a white, fake smile. She ate the cake then received her pancakes. something caught Fern's eye.
"mum, whats that on your arm?" Fern asked, her eyebrows knitted together. her mother's face went white. she stared at Fern then looked to the floor. she bit her lip. tears welled in her eyes.
"oh, thats-thats nothing. it's just a silly burn, sweetie." this seemed to make her even more upset and tears streamed down her face.
"mum. mum, are you okay?"
"yeah i'm fine!
"Fern you do eat a lot!", she seemed to try and change the subject. Fern smirked. another thing that she did not have in common with her mother. Fern thought this just as she ate the last bite of her one biscuit of weetabix and milk. "i'll be back in a second swe- Fern," why didn't she want to say 'sweetie'? "just one tick."
her mother left through the kitchen door, and Fern followed. her mother went into the living room and fern could hear her dialing a number on her phone. "hello? hello? yes, erm... i- i don't know what to do." she paused a little while. "she saw it. yes, my burn. i don't know what to tell her." Fern heard her mother let out a small sob. "i don't want her to leave me, and go there." Fern sneezed and her mother instantly stopped talking. "i'll have to go". her mother put the phone down and sniffed slightly. fern went into the room.
"i need to go now mum, love you" she pretended she didn't hear a word.
"ohhh, love you too baby." her mother kissed her on the cheek.
she left the house. the door slammed behind her. for some reason she felt relieved. what was that phone call all about? 'i don't want her to leave me', why would Fern be leaving her over a burn on her arm? and where was she talking about? why was she getting a bad vibe about her mother? this she did not know, but it was her birthday and it wouldn't spoil her day. she forgot about the whole thing.
The short, regular walk to her near-by private secondary school allowed Fern to think about everything that had just happened. yes, she went to a private school. her mother insisted that she moved there after being bullied in her first year when she went to a public school ten minutes down the road. Fern loved it here now. She took in the damp, morning air through her nostrils. She felt the cold sting her nose- but it felt nice. The autumn leaves scattered on the ground, moving up into the air where she walked, dancing in the wind. The birds sang from the towering trees and uplifted Fern's mood.
It was her birthday. Her loving mother gave her a birthday cake and her infamous pancakes. And yet, she had an uneasy feeling that just didn't sit right. Before she could ponder anymore she was walking into the noisy jungle, away from the dreary land of autumn leaves and over thinking. she looked round her before seeing the gate that meant she would be on her school grounds. Today felt weird, and Fern knew this wasn't the end.
When she walked through the large rusty gates she felt a rough gust of wind slam on her back, forcing her forward into a nearby student. "Watch do you think your doing, stupid little freak". she replied with a mumbled apology and walked off with her head down. she turned around purely because she felt as if she was being watched, feeling silly fore doing so because it was only the wind. That's what she told herself anyway. Even after convincing herself that it was nothing and she was overreacting, she still walked faster and looked around her to make sure no one had seen her, for she knew that she probably looked like a psycho. she caught a glimpse of the large, Gothic girl she had bumped into seconds before and was smart enough to not look the beast in the eyes.
when she got into the bland yet bulging corridor the familiar smell of sweaty teenage bodies mixed with the natural fresh air of an English autumn. The plain colours of pale blue and cream of the floor and walls was contradicted by the bright fashion statements of over 1000 students crammed into one small corridor. she could feel the warmth of the bodies surrounding her and the roar of noise caused fern to wince under its volume. she could sense that danger was walking a long side her, the feeling of someone watching her returned from when the wind assaulted her outside. she convinced herself it was just the haze of noise and colour making her feel nauseous. schools were meant to be known for their safety, but for some reason she felt more on the edge than she ever had done before. but she would forget about it, for it was her 15th birthday- and she would chose what to do on her special day.
