A teenage girl walked up the hill towards her new high school. She had waist length cerulean blue hair with indigo ombre tips that she let flow free along with magenta eyes and lilac skin. She wore light blue ripped jeans and a hoodie that matched the colour of her hair. She fiddled with the straps of her school bag, which seemed to be made of the same material as her jeans.
“Come on, Izzy,” she said to herself. “Maretime Bay isn’t gonna be like Bridlewood, right? I mean, it can’t be. No, don’t think like that. Be positive. I’m away from all those bad vibes now. My parents gave me a fresh start”. Her face fell. “That’s about the only thing they ever gave me.”
Izzy arrived outside the school gates. To the left of the gates there was a slightly worn golden plaque that read, WELCOME TO MARETIME BAY HIGH SCHOOL. Underneath it a much newer, smaller bronze plaque read FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD.
Izzy stared through the gates. Sure enough, there was a path leading up to the school made of yellow bricks. The girl sighed. Someone has a sense of humour, she thought to herself. She pushed open the gate and started walking towards her new school.
As she arrived at the front doors Izzy discovered there was a young woman standing there who seemed to be waiting for someone. Then her eyes fell on Izzy and the girl realised this must be a teacher who was waiting for her, the new girl. The woman wore a plain violet short dress and was holding a folder in one hand and a pager in the other. She had soft yellow skin, bright hazel eyes and dark blue hair tied back into a ponytail. Golden, Izzy thought. Huh, I’ve never seen a golden sparkle before.
“Ah, hello there,” she said cheerfully as Izzy came to a stop in front of her. “You must be the new girl. Izzy Moonbow, right?”
Izzy opened her mouth to speak, only to realise there was a large lump in her throat preventing her from talking. Unable to use her voice to respond, she simply nodded.
The woman smiled at her kindly. “Nervous, huh? Understandable on your first day. I’m sure it’ll pass. Oh, silly me. I got carried away again & forgot to introduce myself. I’m Beautiful Heart, school principal.”
Before Beautiful Heart could say anything else, the pager in her hand went off. She looked down at it, startled.
“Oh I’m late,” she cried out. “I completely forgot I’m supposed to give a speech to the new first years. Terribly sorry to cut this short Izzy, but I gotta dash.”
With that parting remark, Beautiful Heart spun round and ran into the building, pushing the door open with her shoulder. Izzy just stood there, extremely confused.Well that was weird, Izzy thought to herself. Realising class was probably about to start Izzy quickly followed Beautiful Heart in.
Once inside, Izzy found herself in the school’s entrance hall. To her right was a cafeteria which seemed shockingly small given the number of students there must be at a school this large. To her left was reception which was currently unattended. In front of her were two ramps, one leading down to a slightly lower level while the other led up to the second floor. To the left of the ramps was a hallway. Izzy quickly pulled out her timetable. It said her first class was geography in room 14, a place she realised she didn’t know the location of. And having been homeschooled up to this point in her life, she was clueless as to the layout of a school building. Gingerly, Izzy started forward.
I HATE THIS SCHOOL! a girl thought to herself. She had magenta hair tied back into a braid that stopped just above her waist along with emerald green eyes and apricot orange skin. She was wearing an orange hoodie, dark blue jeans and a bright red bag with dark red highlights. I’ve been attending this school for years and coming to it hasn’t gotten any easier, the girl thought as she looked around at all the students glaring at her.
“HEY! STARSCOUT!” a voice yelled out behind her. Knowing what was about to happen, the girl ducked her head and a soccer ball flew over her. She straightened up and looked over her shoulder back at the jock who tried to hit her.
“Nice try, buddy” she called back.
“Fuck you” the jock responded.
The girl rolled her eyes.
Meanwhile Izzy was walking down the opposite end of the same hallway. A lot of the students were staring at her.
“Look at her,” one girl said, pointing at Izzy. “She must be a new girl.”
“Uh, and look at her bag,” the girl’s friend responded. “She must be dirt poor.”
Izzy held her shoulder straps tightly, looking nervous and trying to appear small.
“You know, this school really has gone downhill since Beautiful Heart became principal” another girl said to her friend.
The friend nodded. “Yeah. She’ll let anyone attend, even if they really don’t deserve it.”
Izzy sped up slightly. Just block them out, Izzy. Just block them out, she thought, though a small voice at the back of her head was telling her that Maretime Bay wasn’t any different than Bridlewood after all.
Suddenly Izzy was distracted by a soccer ball rolling down the hall.What in the… Izzy thought as she watched the ball roll past her. All of a sudden Izzy felt herself collide with someone else. She let out a cry of surprise as she started to fall backwards before the person she walked into wrapped their arms around her and pulled her into them.
“Ah. I’m so sorry!” Izzy cried out, her eyes closed tight.
“Wait, you’re… apologising?” said a female voice, sounding confused. Izzy opened her eyes, only to find them looking into a pair of emerald green ones.
“Um, yes? Why wouldn’t I?” Izzy said, now confused herself.
The girl let her go, allowing Izzy to step back back and get a proper look at her. Lavender,Izzy thought.
The girl looked Izzy up and down. “You’re new here.”
Izzy stared at the girl. “You didn’t answer my question” she simply said.
The girl smiled slightly. “Didn’t actually think you wanted the answer. You’re the first person to apologise for walking into me. Then again, you’re probably also the first person who didn’t crash into me on purpose.”
Izzy was surprised. “You mean people do that all the time?”
The girl nodded. “Yep. I’m Maretime Bay’s resident hated girl.”
Izzy could relate. Everyone in Bridlewood despised her.
While the two had been talking they failed to notice that every other student had left the hallway. Suddenly the bell went off.
“Ah!” Izzy shouted. “I’m late. And I don’t even know where my classroom is.”
The girl raised her hand to get Izzy’s attention. “Hey, calm down. Where are you supposed to be right now?”
Izzy took a second to calm down before answering. “Geography, room 14.”
The girl smiled- a full smile this time. “Hey, me too. Come on, I’m show you”.
The girl turned and walked back the way she came. Izzy stared for a second, then quickly ran to catch up. Falling into step beside the girl, Izzy hesitated before speaking up.
“Hey, new friend. My name’s Izzy.”
The girl turned to look at her surprised, but then the surprised look morphed into a smile- a warm, genuine smile, something Izzy had never seen before. Or at least, not in relation to her.
“I’m Sunny.”