Perfectly Broken

You’re going to be fine pumpkin ” her mum said hands tight on the steering wheel while constantly looking at Shannon “I promise okay?” “I know mum I’m just really..nervous” I said while biting my lips “I mean what if the people here don’t like me?or what if they’re snobby or rude?” “Then you remind yourself you earned a place at that school through your hard work. You have just as much right as anyone to be in that school,You worked hard for this…You’re going to be a fine pumpkin ,Everything will be fine I promise okay?” Her mum reached over and squeezed her hands Shannon looked outside the window as she approached the school “Yeah maybe I was just overthinking it” Her mum smiled “You’ve always been like that,worrying about the storm before the cloud even shows up” Shannon opened the car door to leave,but her mum reached out and stopped her holding her hands in her own “If it gets too much,call me okay?no matter the time,whatever happens in there, remind yourself you were enough before you earned this scholarship and you’ll be enough after it too okay?” “I love you pumpkin” Shannon giving her mum a kiss “I love you too mum” Walking into the school,Everyone walked in groups,designer bags swinging from their shoulders,and Shannon never felt out of place. “Just breathe”,she whispered to herself. “You earned this” She turned the corner too fast and bumped straight into someone and hitting the floor way faster than expected” “Whoa..can you watch where you’re going” a voice said sternly annoyed “I’m so sorry” she apologized continuously “I wasn’t looking” “Clearly” his face was clearly annoyed “These chicks are always so f*****g clumsy” he said as he tried walking away “Excuse me? These “chicks” Shannon repeated making air quotes with her hands “why are you so rude? I said I was sorry” “Relax” He held his hands up clearly amused now “it was a joke” “ well it wasn’t funny” Shannon responded irritated “Most people wouldn’t think so” he said smirking now “Well I’m not most people” she said while grabbing her books and bag from the floor “Yeah” he said slowly while watching her “I’m starting to see that” he whispered to himself while walking away “So much for the first day of school” Shannon whispered to herself while rolling her eyes. Shannon finally made it to her first class which was chemistry,she found a seat at the back near the window, she had barely settled in when the teacher came into the class and started lecture when Shannon noticed all her classmates pulling out an iPad from their bags and tapping through a digital textbook, Shannon glanced down at her notebook and pen feeling so out of place and inferior “Miss Hale?” The teacher called out “where’s your device?” The whole class turned towards her direction “oh um..I don’t have one” Shannon replied “That’s fine, head down to the bursary. They’ll get you sorted. Room 159 in the Administration building” the Teacher informed her “Okay thank you” Shannon replied as she gathered her things to leave the classroom Shannon finally got to the bursary and saw a young woman behind the desk typing aggressively Shannon nervously coughed “Good morning um I’m a new stud..” she couldn’t complete her sentence before she got interrupted “Name?” The bursar asked without bothering to look up front her computer “Shannon Hales” Shannon replied nervously “Year?” The bursar asked “11” Shannon replied The bursar stood up, left the room, came after a few minutes and handed over a black iPad and stylus pen to Shannon alongside an ID card “Everything’s loaded into the device your class schedule,textbooks,campus map and your school profile” the bursar said to Shannon while sliding a form towards her “sign here, Damages are the responsibility of your parents so take care of it really well” “Oh okay thank you” Shannon The bursar handed her another form “pick an extracurricular activity” Shannon scans through the list of options like debate club,drama club, volleyball,track etc. she ends up going with track. The bursar collected the form without bothering to look up to Shannon and handed her a card with her locker pin on it “This is your locker combination and number “ “Oh um..okay” Shannon replied nervously Shannon left the Administration office in search of her locker “Locker 214” she whispered to herself while squinting her eyes and checking for her locker “Oh found you” she said to herself breathing a sigh of relief “36..8..2” she whispered to herself as she put in the locker combination but the locker didn’t budge no matter how much she tried which led to her hitting it “f**k” she said out of frustration “Do you need help?” Malcolm asked looking concerned “Um yeah I think my locker’s cursed” Shannon said while laughing nervously He reached over and twisted underneath the lock sideways and it popped open “You just got to give it a jiggle sometimes” Malcolm chuckled nervously “Oh my God” Shannon laughed awkwardly Thank you so much, I don’t know if I should be concerned you were able to get into my locker so easily or extremely greatful” “Maybe a bit of both” He held out his hand for a handshake “I’m Malcolm” “Nice to meet you Malcolm” Shannon said returning his handshake “I’m Shannon” “I don’t think I’ve seen you around” Malcolm asks “Yeah I’m new” Shannon replies “Oh well welcome to Hawton college, although it doesn’t look like your locker gave you the best welcome” he said with a smirk Shannon laughed so hard “Yeah.. no it definitely didn’t” The bell interrupted their conversation “Well I have to go but I guess I’ll be seeing you around?” Malcom asks as he’s leaving “Yeah guess so” Shannon replied “Cool” Malcolm replies “see you around Shannon” he said with a smirk on his face Shannon watches as he disappears into the crowd. She put some books and her bag into her locker then shut her locker and tested the lock one more time just to be safe before leaving the hallway