Smoke and Mirrors - Dark Side of the Moon

I groaned and dropped my hand out of my bed, groping around on the floor for my elusive beeping mobile phone. Finding it I opened one eye and peered groggily out from under the covers at the time on the far too bright display. 8:05. I groaned again and retreated back into the confines of my warm duvet. I had clearly pressed the snooze button one too many times, as I was supposed to be leaving out for school in twenty minutes. “Amaya! You're late, time to get up!” My uncle's gruff voice boomed up the stairs. With a heavy sigh, I gave in to the encroaching fact of daytime and kicked my covers off and made my way to the bathroom. I had just gotten out of the shower and was walking back to my room, tooth brush in my mouth, when my uncle called up again “Amaya! If you don’t leave through that door in the next ten minutes you’re going to be leaving through a window!” Rolling my eyes, I grabbed a simple white sweater and black jeans out of my wardrobe. Replacing my toothbrush to the bathroom on the way by, I made my way down stairs towards the smell of burning toast. “Do you not think that maybe brushing that birds nest you call hair might be a good idea?” My uncle commented, pushing a plate of blackened toast in my direction, as I pulled out a stool at the breakfast bar. “I’m getting round to it” “Do you want me to drop you off today?” My heart skipped a beat at my uncle’s suggestion and, if I were still half asleep before, I was wide awake now. “Absolutely, categorically, and without either doubt nor hesitation, that’s going to be a hard no from me. I’m not a toddler, I can find my own way there” “Alright” My uncle said, holding up his hands in surrender “it was just an idea. I thought you might be grateful since you manage to get lost on the way to the bathroom. For heaven’s sake Amaya, it’s not going to bite you, you’re meant to bite it” He sighed, exasperated, as I pushed the cremated bread round on my plate. “Well maybe if the bathroom managed to stay in the same postcode for three months I wouldn’t have so much trouble finding it” I quipped back at him, pushing the plate of untouched toast to one side and grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl instead. I hopped down from the stool, gave my uncle a fleeting kiss on his bearded face, shouldered my school satchel and made my way down the hall to the front door, placing an ear phone in my right ear as I went. My uncle did call something after me, but the front door had already clicked softly shut behind me and I didn’t catch it. I started trudging my way in the rough general direction I knew that the school was in. The village we had moved to was tiny, so I figured as long as I walked long enough I was bound to walk onto pretty much everything in no time as all. I briefly debated ditching, but after everything that had happened at my last school I had promised my uncle that I was going to turn over a new leaf and ditching on the very first day was probably not holding up my end of that deal. Plus, since we’d only just moved here I didn’t have a clue where to go or what to do in the meantime. The village itself was quite small, but compared to the city where we had lived before, it felt miniscule and confining. As we had drove here in the moving van, watching the endless blur of green that was the countryside pass by my window, my heart sank lower and lower with each passing mile. Before much time had passed I found myself stood out side the peeling greet gates of the school. The gates were still open but the courtyard was empty, so I figured I must have missed the first bell. I made my way toward the largest of a small cluster of buildings, assuming that this would be where the reception was. Opening the heavy door, I was immediately greeted by the universal smell of school corridor. The pea green walls clashed alarmingly with the threadbare blue carpet and were adorned with posters of celebrities advocating reading and framed examples of students work. It was oddly reassuring how, no matter where in the country you were, school was school. Taking a step towards the large reception desk, I cleared my throat to get the attention of the receptionist who was clackety clacking away at a keyboard when she still hasn’t noticed me after a long minute stood there. The receptionist blinked her long eyelashes rapidly behind her bright red cat eye glasses and peered at me expectantly. “My name's Amaya, Amaya Blackwell. I’m new”. Each time we moved I found myself offering those words more and more as an apology of sorts. The receptionist looked at me, then frowned at the large clock on the wall to the left. “You’re late” She said curtly. “You’ve already missed home room, you’re supposed to be in English with Mr Stone now”. She pressed a couple of keys on her keyboard, her perfectly manicured nails moving at lightening speed before she pushed herself away from the desk and toward a printer, where she retrieved two pieces of paper which she scooted back and handed to me, still warm. “Room 203, down that corridor and it’s the second door on the right after the third left. Try not to be late tomorrow” And with that she went back to clackety clacking away, our brief exchange clearly over. Stuffing the timetable and map that she had handed me into my bag, I started walking down the corridor, trying to remember if it were the third door on the second left or the right. Eventually I found the right room and, taking a steadying breath, I knocked twice and let myself in. “Yes, can I help you?” The teacher, Mr Stone, asked, frowning as he tried and failed to place my face amongst the student body. “My name’s Amaya, Amaya Blackwell. I’m new” I offered my apology again. Mr Stone, a middle-aged greying man with a kind face, frowned briefly “Ah, yes. Righty o. Do you want to find yourself a seat – Alia?” “Amaya” I corrected him. “Right, right. Sorry. Do find a seat though and I’ll bring you a text book over in a moment” Mr Stone said as he rummaged around on his disorganized desk for the post it note informing him that he was going to have a new student in and, hopefully, of my name, which I was sure that he had already forgotten again. My momentary relief over the fact that Mr Stone hadn’t made me go through the humiliating ritual of introducing myself to the class at large evaporated as, looking out at a sea of unfamiliar faces that were all regarding me with open scrutiny, I quickly realised that there weren’t any empty desks. Shifting the strap of my satchel further up my shoulder nervously, I looked around the room, sucked in my bottom lip in a moment of indecision, then, mind made up, made my way towards my chosen desk. Tugging on the chair, I frowned as initially it didn’t budge. Trying again, I pulled harder. This time the chair came free, almost sending me flying as the feet of the boy in the seat adjacent came clattering to the floor. A hastily mumbled apology was half formed on my lips when the boy turned to look at me, freezing the words before they could tumble out. His eyes were dark and his lips were set in a hard thin line. If looks could kill I'd be six feet under by now. “It wasn’t stuck, it was occupied, you moron”. I gasped slightly, surprised at the amount of venom and sheer animosity in this strangers voice. It had been an honest mistake. I was just about to choose a different seat when Mr Stone appeared at my side, dropping a well thumbed text book onto the desk in front of me “There you are Amaya” He winked at me, clearly having found the post it note with my name on. He looked so pleased with himself that I didn’t bother telling him that he over pronounced the a, or that I really really wanted to sit somewhere else. “If you get stuck at all, I'm sure Atlas won't mind helping you out” Mr Stone smiled at me in what I'm sure was supposed to be a reassuring manner, and I did my best attempt at giving him one back. Taking my seat I was about to try apologizing again to the boy next to me, Atlas, but when I turned to toward him I could see that he had inched his chair as far from me as possible on the small desk and I could vaguely hear the music from his ear phones which were tucked into both his ears beneath his hood. “Hey!” Someone called from behind me, prodding me in the back with the but of their pencil. I turned to look at the two girls on the desk behind me. “Don’t mind prince charming over there” The one on the left said, indicating her head in Atlas’s direction. Her hair was white blonde, and stuck out in all directions, cut short apart from three long patterned colorful braids that fell over her shoulder, secured with bells and beads. "He's not the kind of boy you want to like you anyway" She told me, running the tip of her tongue over one pointed canine. "My names Juniper" She said, extending a heavily bangled hand for me to shake. "Amaya" I said, taking the hand. "This is Sascha. She doesn't say much, but that works out well for me since I've got plenty to say for the both of us" Juniper told me, indicating her head now in the direction of her somber friend next to her. "What class have you got after this?"  I fished around in my bag for my crumpled time table. I proffered the piece of paper to Juniper. Smoothing it out on her desk she sucked air in sharply through her teeth "Math's with Lockheart, that's a bummer. You're with me in Lakharni's for physics though". I spent the rest of the lesson listening as Juniper told me which teachers were tough but fair and which ones were just plain tough, and which classes you could goof off a bit in and which teachers were up for a laugh. She highlighted and doodled love hearts and flowers over the lessons we shared together and put storm clouds and lightening in the others. By the time the bell went, my chair was completely turned around so that I was sharing the desk behind me too and U had all but forgotten about my uncourteous deskmate, Atlas, until he roughly barged by me to get out the door. "What's his problem?" I asked aloud, not to anyone in particular, but Juniper was happy to answer as I was packing away my things into my satchel. "The whole family's odd if you ask me. They all live together on this massive estate, the cousins and aunts and uncles and everybody. They're all brilliant too, smart and athletic, but crazy competitive with one another. They always end up being doctors and lawyers and stuff. I figure they're all under a lot of pressure, that's no excuse to be an ass though". I touched my fingers to my quartz necklace absently as I stared at the space where Atlas's swiftly retreating back had been. It was all certainly a little bit odd