The school bell shrieking woke me out of my trance. I cringed in longing for my bed, or for some place quiet that I could continue to be lost in my own thoughts. Cam nudged me, signalling to get my shit in my bag and get out of the classroom, because he was clearly bored with waiting. I stuffed my books in my bag, retrieving my cell phone as I did. I shoved my pencils and pens in a zebra print makeup bag turned pencil case, and stood up. I grabbed my bag off the ground, and slung it on my shoulder, checking the time with my free hand. I looked up at Cam and smiled; when I got lost in my own thoughts, there really was nothing stopping me. We walked towards the door, not saying anything, and out into the crisp air we've grown accustomed to.
"What do you have now, Claire bear?" Cam said with a wicked grin. Claire bear was my nick name since before I could even remember; My parents began calling me it when I was younger, and obsessed with the Care Bears, and to this day, I still have a care bear in my room, perched on my bag watching over me. Reminding me of the innocent little girl I used to be. But what fun is that? I thought to myself with a smirk.
"Shut up, Cammy. I have writers craft" I said, smiling. Writers craft was one of my favourite subjects, simply because I loved to create things, and make things with words. Though I was good at basically everything I did, arts were my favourites, And maths were my most hated. Physical art, photography, and writing always came natural to me; since birth I've been creating, remaking, and reinventing several art pieces, and before transferring to BP, in my old school, I won several competitions for my photography, poetry, and paintings. It made me feel like I was good at something, even if I was good at everything.
"Damn, you're a lucky bugger, you are. I have maths, remind me again why I took it?" Cam said, mock shooting himself in the head with his handgun; I giggled at his silly imitation.
"Because our parents are bloody awful when it comes to school?" I said, rolling my eyes. Our parents were known for making us take classes we didn't want to take. And regardless of the fact that we were cool, that didn't matter. They always got to choose two courses we took, one a semester, until we were in University. And they always chose maths and sciences, always. It was like they wanted us to actually do technical thinking, and wanted us to be successful in our lives, Thought it bloody irritated us to no end.
"This is true, sister dearest. But alas, I must leave you to your writers craft class" He said, playfully bowing. I giggled and wrapped my arms around him, giving him a big hug before parting ways. I didn't even notice that we were stopped in front of the English building until he spoke; those damn thoughts being lost in! I watched him turn and walk away, crunching on leaves as he did so. He pulled out a cig from the pact in his pocket, and lit up, glancing around the quad as he did so. My brother I thought to myself. It was insane how much we were alike; the smile, the facial features, the wit, the beauty. People who've never even met us before knew who we were, or at least were the people that they didn't want to mess with, if they liked their lives where how they were. I smiled to myself at the though, and strode up the steps to the English wing of the school. This wing was my favourite, aside from the art wing, that is; everything was so… creative. There were writings of famous poetry on the wall, with several tidbits from plays like Romeo & Juliet, and Macbeth. It seemed so magical when walking in, everything was so precise and organized. I strolled into the class and looked at all the milling students, glancing around nervously as if they haven't spent half of the lives in boarding schools. I noticed several familiar faces, like Landon Crane, Skye Hamilton, and Kemp Hurley, to name a few. No real friends in the class I said, muttering to myself, Might as well sit next to the bored looking Kemp. I plopped my bag in the empty seat, forcing him to glance up at me, then sat on my new desk, stretching out my legs.
"Hey, Hurley" I said purring, giving him one of my mischievous, sexy smiles. He looked longingly at my legs, then up at my face.
"Claire, I never knew you were a writer" He said, grinning at me. I tilted my head back and laughed; Kemp and I had a very… odd relationship, to say the least. Even though he was cocky as hell, and a completely twit at times, we were still close… ish. Even if he wasn't in our foursome, we still talked to him and hung out, just… didn't let him get the full experience; that's what the privileged were for.
"Come on, Kempy, you know I'm a writer." I said, rolling my eyes and playfully nudging him with my heel. To anyone else this may look like I was flirting, but to the people who actually knew they knew what we were actually doing; they understood that this is how we were, we did stuff like this out of pure bordome, and even though we didn't hang out as much as I did with the rest of our group, we were still buddies, and that wasn't going to change.
"Yeah yeah, I know. Are you going to give me a hug or what? You know you want to, I know you want to, so you better just do it" He said, standing up, grinning to himself. I shook my head and laughed, wrapping my arms around him in a big embrace. Kemp wasn't an ugly guy, and he knew it. He was currently wearing perfectly distressed Diesel jeans, and a pain black sweater, and even though he wasn't dressed up for fashion week, he was still sexy as hell.
"Mmm, that's the good stuff" He said, licking his lips and pulling me in closer. I swatted his arm playfully, trying to get away as the rest of the class looked at us in what could be confusion, jealousy, or just pure anger. Though I think the last two options would be leaning towards being correct. Just as I shot Skye a glare, Ms. Sterling walked into the classroom and started writing things across the smart board in the front of the classroom. Everyone took that as their cue to find a seat, and pay attention. Ms. Sterling was my favourite teacher at BP so far; she was the most chill one, actually. She dressed like a teenager, or like a hipster in high-waist skirts with tights, blouses, doc martens, plaid, or frumpy sweaters. All designer. She was super lovely, with long red hair that was piled up on the top of her head, threatening to escape the confides of the bobby pins she so artfully placed in her hair to keep all but a strand out of her face. She basically let us do whatever we wanted in class, as long as we finished the assignments and handed them in on time.
"Good morning, class. I'm Ms. Sterling, in case you've never had me before. And this is writer's craft" She said, a giant smile on her face. I looked behind her to see what she had written on the board; words. Apple, hand-crafted, cell phone, jewellery, alone. I glanced up at her, quizzically, wondering what the words could possibly be.
"Ah, I see I have some of my favourite students in the class! Hello Ms. Lyons, Mr. Hurley" She said, pointingly looking at us in the back row.
"Good morning, Ms. Sterling" Kemp and I said in unison, grinning up at her.
"So Claire, I saw you glancing at me funny, curious as to what the words on the board mean?" I nodded in response, grinning as I laid my cellphone out on the desk in front of me, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow, getting her to go on.
"Well, excellent observation, Claire! How many of you noticed the words on the board?" She said, looking around the room. Very few hands went up, Skye among them. I glared at her stupid blonde head, I hated her.
"Well, the reason for the words is for you to come up with something. This is writer's craft, a writing course based solely on creativity. I wrote these words on the board for you to start your introductory assignment. You are to write a 500 word story based on the words listed, which shouldn't take you long at all! I'll expect it in my inbox by 11:59 tonight." She said, sitting back at her desk and pulling out a book. That's one of the things I loved about Ms. Sterling; she told us what we had to do, and let us do it. Not only that, but she didn't believe in having hard copies of assignments, so she made us email them to her, and she would email us our marks, printing them out if we got fussy about wanting to have a hard copy, though no one ever did. I began scribbling the words in my notebook, biting my lip to concentrate, and completely forgetting where I was or who I was with. I wrote and wrote until my hands hurt and my eyes started going cross eyed and blurry when there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned to the left, Kemp was staring at me with an eyebrow raised.
"You do realize that this assignment is do tonight, online… right?" He said, a look of genuine confusion on his face. I rolled my eyes at his lack of sensibility, and his lack of motivation.
"Yes, Kemp, I'm quite aware that this assignment is do tonight. But unlike you, I have things to do tonight, and I'll be lucky if I get home be 12am." I said, smirking at him. Kemp was on a "house arrest" type thing for the first couple weeks of the semester due to an accident involving spliff, and strippers. Let's just say, the dean was not a happy camper about it. Kemp had to be in his room at 11 o'clock every night, and the boys door keeper, Malcom, would come and make sure he was. Malcom was… different, to put in mildly. He had greasy black hair that always flopped all over his head, and not in the cute way. He wore button up shirts with vests, and pressed cords every day of the week, rain or shine. He also had horn rimmed black glasses that were too big for his face, so he was constantly pushing up. He couldn't have been more then 28, tops, but he made it so hard for people to believe that he was that young. If he lost the darkness, he could be a ladies man. No doubt. But he wouldn't take anyone's advice for it.
"You're such a wanker, C" Kemp said, gritting his teeth. I flashed my pearly whites when my phone buzzed on the desk. I tore my eyes away from Kemp and reached for my phone. It was an IM from the school IM account. The dean believed that sending letters to students was too much of a hassle, so all students were given Bishop Park email addresses, which were basically just your first name . your last name . It was definetly an easier way to communicate, that was certain, and because of all the teachers having one in made getting ahold of them, or the dean, a much easier task.
Josh Hotz: Hey Clairebear. :D xox
I smiled; Josh was such a sweetheart, even if he was gay, though, that didn't change my opinion on him. Josh being gay didn't really have an effect on any of the student body… much. He was popular, sure, but no one teased him about it, which was surprising for the students at BP, the bitchiest, most conceited in all of London. But no one seemed to mind.
Claire Lyons: Hey, Josh. What's up? :3 xox
I tapped my toes on the ground, admiring my manicure as I waited for a reply. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Kemp across the room talking to some fat theatre geek Dylan. I squinted at Dylan. She could be pretty, emphasis on the could. She'd need a major makeover, and liposuction to keep her weight down, but it seemed like she didn't really care. She was blushing and giggling stupidly at something Kemp was saying Dylan's got a thing for Kempy I thought, grinning wickedly at myself. That could be fun. Girls that liked Kemp were always used, then tossed away when a newer one was to arrive, and it's be the same as this girl, if she was lucky. And judging by the way she looked, I doubted that would happen any time soon. As that last thought occurred, my phone started vibrating in my hand. In daze, I looked down at the screen, squinting at the tiny letters.
Josh Hotz: Absolutely nothing, I'm in French, la bore. But a little birdy told me something you might find interesting… xox
My eyebrows practically shot to the ceiling; what could this possibly mean? Did it have to do anything with the random text Derrick sent me this morning? I nibbled my bottom lip, a filthy habit I picked up when I was a kid. I quickly typed out a reply.
Claire Lyons: Is that so? Then you must join Cam, Derrick, Massie and I at tea. I'm sure we'd all love to hear what you have to say. Meet us at the big oak in the quad, kayJosh? Xox
I hoped he said yes. This would be a major breakthrough, and once again, I'd have the students of BP prep eating out of my perfect tiny hands, not that I didn't already, but it was always good to keep on top of things. A knowing leader is a happy leader, are her happy peers. The bell sounded and only the sound of giggling and scraping of metal floors against the polished tiles were heard. I threw my notebook and pencil neatly into my bag, and grabbed my phone off the desk. I smiled at Ms. Sterling who was sitting at her desk, looking up and smiling at all her new students.
"Wait, Claire! Stay back a minute?" Ms. Sterling said, rising from her chair. I fidgeted in place, and bit my lip. Nodding, I walked over to where she was leaning on the front of her desk.
"How are you enjoying the class so far, Claire?" She said, smiling largely at me.
"Oh, I love it! You know that I love to write, Ms. Sterling; and you're one of my favourite teachers, so that defeitley helps" I said, grinning back at her. We both chuckled.
"I'm glad to hear. I was just curious as to if you were going to submit anything for the TWC" The TWC stood for the Teen Writing Competition. It was basically a big contest for teens across London to write whatever their hearts desired, and submit it for judging. If you won, your school got $10,000, and you got $300 for yourself to keep. I wrung my hands, my cellphone vibrating in my hand, but trying to make it seem like it wasn't.
"I think I'm going to" I said, biting my lip. "I think I really have a chance at winning, or at least get in the top three" I said, smiling slightly. I got really nervous when it came to my writing. Like, so nervous that sometimes I couldn't eat or sleep, because I was too busy focusing on the words, and how they were sounding in my head, and how they would sound to my audience. I had a wee bit of OCD, so I constantly wrote, and rewrote everything I did until I got it absolutely, brilliant. Or perfect. Whichever happened first.
"Lovely! Well, the contest rules will be coming out in a November, so make sure you grab one from me" she said, eyes glinting. I nodded, checking the time on my cell phone, and desperately wanting to get out of here to my friends for tea and a cig; I was definetly craving.
"Ah, I'm keeping you from tea! Go go, before your break is up" She said, sitting back down in her desk. I smiled greatfully and scurried out of the classroom and into the hall, and speed walking to wear the large oak tree in the quad was that we always met at for tea. I got there and Massie, Cam, Derrick and Josh were sitting around, drinking tea from cardboard coffee cups just like every day. Well, Josh wasn't with us every day. He was with us sometimes, but… usually not alone. It wasn't that big of a deal, though, considering we were all friends. I checked my messages; There was one from Josh saying he'd meet us, and one from Cam that only contained question marks. I strode up to the group and lowered myself delicarely on the grass, trying not to ruin my bag or my skirt. I ruffled around in my bag for a pack of ciggs, and pulled one out, Cam tossing me his lighter. I lit up, and threw it back, taking a deep drag. Massie handed me my tea cup, and I smiled greatfully at her.
"Tsk tsk, sister dearest; you're late!" Cam said, wagging his finger in my direction as everyone else cracked up.
"Oh shut up, Wanker, I was talking to Ms. Sterling." I said, pretending to punch him in the shoulder, letting out a deep ring of smoke.
"Ah, talking about the TWC I assume?" Derrick said, lazily laying on the grass, staring up at the sky with his coffee cup rested next to his head.
"Yup, I told her I'm going to do it this year; Might as well, though our school doesn't need $10,000, and I don't need $300, but whatever, it'll look good on university applications." I said, blowing out another ring of smoke.
"… So" Massie said, looking from Josh to me to Josh again. "Why is Josh with us? Not that I have a problem with it or anything, but I'm curious" She said, tugging at the hem of her shirt.
"Oh right! Sorry, Josh; totally blanked out. Josh here has heard something we may find interesting, and I'd rather hear it in person from our greatest gossip" I said, grinning at Josh. Josh was the biggest gossip in the entire school; he knew things before anyone else did, and if you wanted to be in-the-know, you knew him. It was as simple as that.
"Right, so, you know how I work in the offices in the mornings?" He said, grinning up at me; I did indeed, that's how he got his information 50% of the time. We all nodded, and a string of "yeah" and "go on" went along in the group.
"well, I was working there this morning; and I heard that there are going to be two new students" He said, grinning widely.
"Hmmm, so BP's got some new kids. How cute. Do you know anything else about them?" I said, not knowing what to make of this news.
"Yeah, there names are Tinsley and Julien, they're from CANADA" He said, grinning.
"Canadian, Eh?" Cam said, the entire group bursting into fits of hysterics. Cam's Canadian accent was just too good for someone who hasn't been there for such a long time.
"When are the Canadian's getting here?" I said, plotting things in my head that would make them not even think about touching my status.
"On Thursday, I believe. Give or take a day" He said, glancing curiously at the four of us who were exchanging wicked grins, already knowing what each other was thinking.
"That'll give us just enough time, eh?" Derrick said, everyone bursting into hysterics again. I took a long drag of my cig, and blew o's into the sky, trying to picture what these two new kids would look like. Probably ugly and fat, with greasy hair and bad fashion sense. But that's okay, no everyone could be as brilliant as us.
"Thanks so much, Josh, we owe you one" Massie said with her too-delicate smile. Josh smiled in response, and stood up, brushing the dirt and leaves off of his legs.
"well you four, I've got to get to my dorm before the bell sounds. I'll message you if I know anything else" He said, turning to walk away.
"Bye Josh!" We all called at him, he raised his hand up as a response. We all closed off the circle we were sitting in, and continued to chat. About our classes, about the students, about the two new students, and about our plans tonight. I took sips of my tea, and drags of my cig. I finally stomped it out, and finished the last of my tea, putting the butt of my cig into the empty cup.
"You three, have you chose your sports yet?" Massie said to us, chewing on her thumbnail. One of the worst things about this school (which actually wasn't bad, come o think of it) is that all students had to participate in one sport all year long, it was part of the college curriculum, and you needed it in order to graduate. Ever since Cam and I got to this school Derrick and Cam have been playing football, and Massie field hockey. It wasn't until sophomore year where it was really necessary, But the catch? You had to try out to make the team, you didn't just get magically put on.
"Yeah, we're doing football, duh. We've already made the team, obviously" Derrick said, slapping hands with Cam in their guy manner. They all looked towards me with expectancy on their faces, obviously wanting to see what I would take. I didn't mind sports, I really didn't; but I got really annoyed when I played, and because of my anger management problem, sports were a good solution.
"I'm going to try out for lacrosse" I said with a smile. It was the perfect sport for me; I got to be violent, and still finish my requirement. It was almost too easy for me.
"Sis, you'd be brilliant at that!" Cam said, excitement taking over his entire face. Cam was always supportive of what I did, regardless of what I did. I could kill a man and Cam would help me chop it up and hide it in different places around the world, he's just that great of the brother, and I'd do the same thing for him, obviously.
"Yeah, I think I'd be pretty decent at it, I already have the experience" I said, smiling. At our old school I played lacrosse and rugby, and was best on both teams. Cam played football, and dominated the field. It was how it always was; no matter what we did, we succeeded, and kicked ass at it, it was the way of the world. The bell loudly tolled, signalling that it was time to resume classes, and that we had precisely five minutes to get to said classes. We all stood up, taking our empty tea cups, bags, and cigarette packages with us. I shoved my pack into my bag and stretched out my back, already hurting from sitting on the hard ground. We took turns hugging one another, and kissing each other on the cheek. Cam and Massie turned to the right, Derrick and I to the left; we now had figure drawing, and they had biology. It was nice, though, that we all had a class together; I think it's what really made boarding school that much more fun.
"Are you ready to sketch?" Derrick said to me, with a wicked grin. Last year we got to paint nude models.
"Of course I'm ready; I wouldn't be here if I wasn't" I said, laughing. Derrick slung his arm around my shoulder, and we laughed the entire way to class, not noticing the looks people were giving us. It was like when I was with him, or my brother, or Massie I just didn't have a care in the world, and no one could stop me from having a good time.