Smoke and Mirrors - Dark Side of the Moon

Not Out to Make Friends

Most of the rest of my day passed by pretty quickly. 

Maths was horrible. Physics was bearable. At lunch I sat with Juniper, Sascha and a couple of their other friends. They all passed my tattered timetable round, figuring out who shared what classes with me. One of them, a boy called Ezra, shared a lot of classes with me and was even in my tutor group too.

“You can sit next to me tomorrow morning in home room if you want? That way you can avoid any more uncomfortable situations like what happened in English” Ezra offered. “Hey!” Exclaimed a boy called Max, mock shoving Ezra’s arm “I sit next to you in home room” 

“Not any more” Ezra smirked, trying to get Max in a headlock, but he easily dodged it. 

“Did you see what happened?” I asked, cringing. “Sweetheart, everybody knows what happened. I’m not even in Mr Stone’s English class and I know what happened” Said a girl called Blaire, without looking up from her small compact mirror where she was studiously applying another layer of pink lipstick. Blaire looked like every Barbie doll I had ever seen. She was all long tanned legs, her bouncy honey blonde hair came down to her waist and her big baby blue eyes were almost too big for her pretty face. “Right, I've got to go see Mr Lockheart before lunch is over” Blaire announced as she hopped elegantly down from where she had been perched on the table. “Something about one of my test scores and me apparently not reaching my potential” She put on a deep voice as she imitated Mr Lockheart's droll tone. “I’ll catch you losers later” Blaire announced with a wink over her shoulder as she left. 

“Do you think she’s right, do you really think that everybody knows about what happened?” I asked the table at large and was greeted by a resounding chorus of agreement. Max nodded his head enthusiastically. “Yep, that’s definitely a yes” 

“The thing you've got to understand” Juniper said from her position, elbow deep in Sascha’s bag, looking for something to eat. “is that the school is pretty small and news travels fast, so with you being new and all everybody was going to be gossiping about you anyway. Plus everybody loves to gossip about the delinquents too, which just added fuel to the fire” She told me, eventually reemerging from the bag holding a breakfast bar triumphantly aloft.

“The delinquents?” I asked, confused. “That’s what everyone calls the kids from Orion house, Atlas and his cousins” 

“No they do not!” Max chimed in “You’re literally the only person who calls them that”. 

“Well that’s what they all are, so I stand by my statement” Juniper quipped, sticking her tongue out at Max.

After lunch I had art with Mrs Beauchamp, nobody I knew was in the same class, but Ezra had woodshop in the same building and offered to walk me there so that I didn’t get lost. 

“The art room is just down the hall through those double doors” Ezra indicated with his head, leaning on the doorframe to his class. Stood straight, Ezra was easily six foot tall and even leaning towered over my slight frame. His t-shirt hung loose, but the hint of well defined muscle was visible on his arms and in the way he moved. I wouldn’t be surprised if he played rugby, he had the build for it. 

Catching Ezra's eye, and conscious of the fact that I had been caught staring, I adverted my gaze and felt that familiar prickle on my skin as a blush crept up my neck as he smirked at me. “I’ll see you around new girl” He said, giving me a two fingered salute before disappearing into his class room. 

Walking towards the double doors that Ezra had indicated at, I had just extended my hand, about to grasp the handle, when a sound to my right drew my attention. Letting my hand drop to my side, I peered curiously at the small rectangular window that the sounds were coming from. I could hear people talking but couldn’t make out any of the words, the tone didn’t sound particularly friendly though. Looking around, I found an abandoned chair that I pulled over to the wall to help me get a better view from the window. The chair was rickety, probably why it was left out in the corridor, and it took me a moment to find my center of gravity. Once I had though, I could reach the window with ease and I began to slowly and carefully open the window a little wider to help me see and hear better. 

Outside I could see a tall boy. His shaggy hair fell into his glinting eyes and his mouth was set in a cruel sneer. He was backed by a similar looking but much smaller boy, a younger brother I would assume, and a girl who was watching with a bored disinterest, she might have been pretty, but there was something sharp about her that went deeper than her angular features that prevented her from being so. 

“Corvus, come on. I’m bored, and we’re going to get into trouble if we’re late to class” The girl sighed, jutting one hip and inspecting her nails. “Just hang on Nova” The tall boy, Corvus, snapped. “You were just about to tell me why I should listen to the likes of you” He continued, talking to someone that I couldn’t see. “You’re pathetic. You don’t run. You’re not smart. You can’t fight” Corvus had advanced on whoever he was talking to with every statement, until he too was almost out of sight for me. “You’re weak” He spat the last word out, as though it tasted bad on his tongue, and followed it up with a sharp shove. The younger boy kept his gaze on the ground, clearly uncomfortable with what was happening , the girl continued inspecting her nails neither bothered nor interested in proceedings. “It’s a good thing your father will probably die before he gets to see the disappointment that you'll be”. 

This was plenty enough for me. I couldn’t hear Corvus any more, I could only hear the sound of my blood rushing in my ears as my heartbeat picked up pace. I jumped down from the chair and marched determinedly toward the doors. Pushing them wide open, I continued on my furious march round the corner, which would bring me to where the small group was. My fists were clenched at my sides and my teeth were set. I didn’t know quite what I'd do when I got there, but I knew I had to do something.

I can’t stand a bully. 

“Hey!” I called out as I rounded the corner, but I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight before me.

It was Atlas, the boy whose legs had been on my chair. 

He was leaning casually against the brick wall directly below where the window that I had been spying from was. He didn’t look particularly in distress or bothered by Corvus's words. In fact, if anything, his posture and expression mirrored that of the girl Nova's bored disinterest in what was going on. Until he licked eyes with me of course. His eyes immediately darkened and his brow furrowed. Discarding the thin rolled up cigarette he had been smoking, he let out a long exhale, not taking his eyes from me. 

“Friend of yours At?” Corvus asked, the trade mark sneer I was beginning to associate with him plastered over his face. Atlas blinked slowly and looked at Corvus without turning his head from me “I’ve never seen her before” He shrugged, turning his back on me. 

My erratic heartbeat was still pounding in my ears and my fists trembled. Nova looked up from her nails, now mildly interested it what was going on. Even the young boy sneaked a look up at my face. 

“I-I heard what you said” I stammered “You better leave him alone”. At this Corvus threw his head back and roared with laughter, but it was a sound with no mirth to it. “The little mouse has come to your defense At, isn’t that sweet?” Atlas rubbed the bridge of his nose and muttered through gritted teeth “Will you just get lost!” 

“No! I won’t leave you alone with them” I cried. “This is nothing to do with you!” Atlas growled, turning on his heel and advancing on me now. Every atom of him oozed hostility at me, but I'd heard what Corvus had been saying and I didn’t care what Atlas thought of me, I wouldn’t go whilst they were still here. 

“Hey, Maya, is everything alright?” I turned at the sound of Ezra’s concerned voice. I saw him stop similar to how I had as he came round the corner and took in the scene before him. “I saw you storm past, I wanted to make sure everything was alright” Ezra said, a notable amount of more tension in his voice than before. Corvus strode towards us and draped his arms around Atlas’s stiff shoulders “No problems wonder boy, just a little family dispute that your friend seems to have gotten the wrong end of”

Family? 

Then I remembered what Juniper had said, about the weirdly competitive cousins. 

Corvus grinned at me, showing a row of dazzling white teeth and making me think of every shark documentary I had ever seen. He was dangerous. “I’ll catch you later little mouse” He sneered at me before turning and leaving with the girl and the younger boy. 

Once they were out of ear shot Atlas took a threatening step towards me “You just can’t leave well enough alone can you” He was close enough that I could feel his minty breath stirring some of the loose tendrils of hair at the side of my face. 

“Hey, back off. She was just trying to help” Ezra spoke up in my defense. 

Atlas looked at me, his cold stern stare seeming to bore straight through to my very soul. Whatever he saw there though he obviously found wanting, as he grunted and stormed off in the same direction as his cousins had gone. 

Draping his arm round my slight shoulders Ezra chuckled shaking his head “Well, you’re just out to make friends today, aren’t you? C'mon, let’s get you back inside”.