Broken (The Siren Series #1) (4 page)

“
There’s nothing to put straight.”
Becky said adamantly.

“
But even if I did, wouldn’t that make
things more awkward?” I asked.

I didn’t want to continue the conversation so
I said my goodbyes to the girls and stepped into my first lesson.
Science, It wasn’t bad and I kinda’ like science. My teacher was a
very small woman in her late fifties. Mrs. Donavan, she wore a long
skirt and a comfy looking cardigan, short graying hair that flowed
freely down.

I sat at my usual seat that was next to a
plain looking girl called Leah. She really never talked to me and
just kept to herself. Just like me.

As the lesson began, I pulled out my book and
began taking notes from Mrs. Donavan. I jotted everything down that
I thought was worth writing, Mrs. Donavan did like talking. I was
writing down information when my pen had started to fade, I
shuffled through my bag hoping to find another working pen, but
there was none. I whispered to Leah who was jotting down her own
notes.

“
Leah can I borrow a pen? Please.” I
whispered.

Leah rolled her eyes at me and grabbed a pen
from her bag and slammed it on my desk.

“
Thanks Leah. Normally I’ve got loads
of pens but don’t know where they’ve gone.” I said.

“
Freak.” Leah whispered under her
breath as she continued to write.

Pain shot through me like a bullet. I ignored
her comment and continued writing. Many of the students here called
me names. I just ignored them as best as I can. Each new day came,
and a new name to call me by. Why do people have to be horrible all
the time? I tried to listen to the teacher but all I could hear was
the word freak. I repeated it several times until the word lost all
its meaning.

I remembered back when I first came to this
school. It was in the middle of the year. Everyone had their
routine, and along came me. A fresh face to the school, Becky and
Lilly took to me very quickly, but not all of them. The first few
days of being in a new school, I had a guy come up to me. He wanted
to ask me out. (I think). He touched my hand; he went crazy and
started to tear at my clothes. Before it got any serious I ran away
from him screaming down the hall, and that’s when it all started,
between him and the teacher, no wonder they call me names. Ever
since then, not many people will come near me, and I’m ok with
that.

I tried to push those feelings deep down. I
focused again on the teacher’s ramblings while I wrote into my
book. The small bell mounted on the wall began buzzing, making me
jump a little. I shoved my books into my bag and turned to Leah to
give her pen back, but she was already gone. I threw my backpack
around my shoulder and hurried off to my next class. I was caught
off guard. Becky stood next to the classroom door waiting for me
with her arms folded.

“
You ready?” Becky asked.

I gave her a slow nod and took a deep breath.
English class was below us. We both descended the old stairs (it
could use a fresh coat of paint) and entered Mr. Thomas’s class.
Both of us sat at our usual seats, two rows from the front. I
turned in my chair and grabbed my books, carefully making sure not
to look at Mr. Thomas. Grabbing my book, I placed it onto the table
with my head slumped down. He stood in front of us clasping a book
labeled, Romeo and Juliet.

“
Right then, shall we continue from
yesterday?” He said.

He paced up and down the class giving out the
books. Today he was wearing a peach shirt that fit snugly around
his strong arms with a pair grey trousers. Finally he stopped in
front of me, holding the book out. With my hand clasped at my
sides, I refused to take it. Becky could see my unwillingness and
reached out and grabbed the book. I mouthed Becky a thank you.

Mr. Thomas started to read from the book,
every girl in the class clung onto his every word, his voice, pure
ecstasy. His eyes seemed to glow with passion with every word he
spoke. Taking my eyes off the book, I turned to Becky who was
deeply enthralled by him. I swore I could see her drooling. While
he was reading his eye caught mine, and, for a moment it felt like
he was reading the words only to me and not a room full of kids. I
knew then why everyone was enthralled by him. He had a twinkle in
his eye that could turn your entire body to jelly. I tore my eyes
away from his and looked straight down at the book.

As Mr. Thomas was reading there was a knock
on the door. The whole class raised their heads up like a pack of
excited dogs. A young woman came into the classroom and asked for
him. She was a bit old to be a student but too young to be a
teacher, maybe she was a teacher’s aide. Mr. Thomas excused himself
and left the room. The room then burst into chaos. Becky and I
started to talk amongst ourselves, that’s when I could hear
sniggering from behind us.

“
No, you do it.” A voice
said.

“
Fine but you owe me.” The second voice
said. “Ellie.”

Uh oh I didn’t want any trouble; I ignore her
and wished for the teacher to enter at that moment.

“
Are you a virgin, Ellie?”
Embarrassment washed over me, I could feel my face getting warmer.
Thank god my back was to them.

“
Well, are you?” the voice pestered
me.

“
Why don’t you shut your mouth, plus
don’t you have to go some
jobs
to give out at the back of the school?” Becky did an
inappropriate mouth gesture and turned her back on them.

Before the girl could think of a comeback,
Mr. Thomas entered the room and the class was silent.

I gave my thanks to Becky and she replied
with a cheeky wink.

Finally the bell went, and as fast as I could
I threw everything into my backpack and left with Becky in tow,
before I reached the door Mr. Thomas called my name. My body came
to a complete stop. I slowly turned to face him and saw that he was
smiling at me.

“
I’ll just be outside if you need me
Ellie.’’ Becky said.

“
I just want to apologies about
yesterday, if I offended you in any way, I’m sorry.” he said
softly.

“
Uh no not really, it’s ok,” I lied.
“Things haven’t really been going good for me lately.”

“
Do you want to talk about it?” He
asked.

I was so tempted to tell him everything about
what’s happening theses past few days but I decided not to. He
waited for my answer with his sparking eyes upon me.

“
No, it’s nothing really. But thank
you.” I said and headed straight out the door. Becky followed
behind me. We were meant to meet up with Lilly and eat together,
but we were late. We both rushed down to the hall and found Lilly
sitting beside herself looking lonely. Down the massive dining
hall, sitting at a table was Beth. She was facing the entrance as
if she was waiting for someone. Beth was sitting with a group of
girls laughing and giggling amongst themselves. I didn’t want to
look at her anymore so Becky and I bought our sandwiches and sat
down with Lilly, but before I could eat my food Becky was the first
one to speak.

“
What Mr. Drop Dead Gorgeous said was
really nice.” Becky said as she took a big chunk out of her
sandwich.

“
You were listening!?” I
asked.

“
What are you talking about?” asked
Lilly.

“
Just about Mr. Drop Dead Gorgeous.”
replied Becky.

“
Did you say anything to him?” Lilly
asked eagerly.

“
No, he talked to me as we were coming
out of the class and he was ok about it. He even said sorry about
it, thinking that it was his fault.” I said.

“
That was nice of him” Lilly
said.

“
I think I may even like him more.”
Becky swooned.

I just stared down at the unappealing
sandwich I held in my hand. Maybe I had been making a huge fuss of
things lately. I just had to relax and try not to get worked up
about things.

“
O.M.G Ellie I totally forgot, what the
hell happened last night?” Lilly asked.

“
Oh yeah that was scary Ellie.” said
Becky.

I looked up from my food. I didn’t realize
what they were talking about until it hit me.

“
Oh you mean when we were on chat last
night?”

Lilly and Becky looked straight at me with
intense looks on their face.

“
I just didn’t feel well that’s all.” I
replied.

“
Bullshit.” Lilly said.

“
Lilly!” Becky shouted.

“
Come on Ellie, tell us.”

“
I don’t know what’s wrong with me,
honestly I don’t.” I said.

“
Come on Ellie tell you what’s really
going on, we’re your friends.” Lilly pestered.

“
I don’t, I-I can’t.” I
hesitated.

I jumped to my feet and left the girls
sitting on the table. I needed a moment to myself. I ran into the
nearest toilet knocking one or two students who were in my
path.

A powerful bleach smell lingered around the
toilets. I ran into one of the stalls and slammed the door closed
that shook the stalls around me. I sat onto the toilet seat lid,
(whipping it first of course, yuck) I nearly started to cry, I
could feel it building up, when I decided that I didn’t want to
feel like this anymore. I wanted things to get better and moaning
or crying about it won’t make that happen. Hearing Lilly react like
that was weird, normally she was the calm one, and I would have
thought Becky would say something like that. It felt wrong for it
to come from Lilly. Maybe she was getting fed up of my crap. I tore
off some toilet paper and dabbed at my eyes, trying not to smudge
my make-up.

I walked to my last lesson of the day,
art. I love art very much, and it was my favorite lesson. It made
me calm and I could sort out my thoughts easily, without any
hassle, and sometimes we were allowed to listen to our
IPods
. My teacher Miss. Days was a
wonderful welsh woman. She was a tall woman with a colorful dress
sense. Sometimes she had her hair in a bun with pencils woven into
it. Miss. Days was always helpful when you needed it, and would
listen to you if you had any problems. I sat down at my usual seat
and she greeted me with a heartfelt smile. Her smile was warm and
loving, a mother’s smile. I don’t really remember my mother’s smile
but I would like to think it could be like that.

I tried to show her my brightest smile I
could, but only a fraction of it came out. Miss. Days started
talking about color wheels and giving tips about how to get the
most out of your paints and our brushstrokes. She gave out our
workbooks and with my sharp pencil I started to draw onto the
paper. I began to draw thinly delicate patterns of swirls onto the
paper, making sure they were equal proportions. Soon I filled in
with more detail. I grabbed the eraser to rub out some mistakes
when I noticed something.

Looking around the class, the students were
sitting close to each other. The tables were not that big, but
there were more students to a table then there should have been. I
was completely alone, there was no one sitting on my table. I
didn’t think anyone would even consider sitting next to me, where
they scared or just repulsed by me? By their standards I was
considered a freak, and sometimes I’d think they were right.
Thinking deeply about it, I completely ignored the voice behind
me.

“
How’s it coming along?” The teacher
asked behind me.

She peered over my shoulder to see my work;
she looked pleased.

“
It’s coming along nicely Ellie, keep
it up,” she said. “But maybe you could add more detail here and
here.” She said pointing at my work.

I nodded and smiled at the same time. Going
with her advice I added more detail to where it was needed. That
compliment gave me a little boost. I continued my work in silence.
Drawing and re-drawing until the bell rang.

“
Thank god this day is over.” I
said.

I grabbed my things and dropped them into my
bag. I left the classroom but not before giving a wave goodbye to
Miss. Days.

As I walked out of school building my phone
started to beep. I dug my phone out of my bag and saw the
message.

I’m running a bit late will be outside soon
X.

It was from Aunt Kate.

Great, I hated waiting around. Outside of the
school gates the other students were saying their goodbyes and
heading off home and some onto the school bus, while I waited
around. I paced back and forth waiting impatiently for Kate. While
walking up and down I could hear two familiar voices behind me. I
saw Lilly and Becky walking towards me, while waving. Lilly broke
into a jog and stopped in front of me panting heavy.

“
I’m so sorry Ellie, can you forgive
me?” she said with little breath.

To be honest I wasn’t mad at her, how could I
be. I was really mad at the situation, nothing made sense anymore
and now my friends were a part of it. They were just confused as
much as I was. I wanted to give Lilly a hug, but I knew that was
out of the question.

She waited for my answer with puppy dog eyes.
I gave her a reassuring smile, Lilly’s face burst into happiness.
Becky slowly crept up behind her with her head down in shame.

“
I’m sorry too Ellie.” she
said.

“
That’s ok. I know I’m not the easiest
person to be friends with, but I’m glad it’s you two.” I said to
both of them. Lilly’s eyes began to water, but she quickly wiped it
away.