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Chapter 1

  “Anna. ANNA!”

  Anna shook her head and looked at the social worker, who was staring at her in disbelief. The social worker went back to talking to the principal. The principal seemed perfectly nice, well rounded and talkative. However, Anna still clung to her uniform, which she had been given a few days before. Looking around the room Anna saw the merits and the teacher certificate on the walls, announcing that the principal really was qualified.

  Looking back at the animated conversation, Anna found herself wondering what this school would be like. An all girl school was something new for her, but going to a high school was new for Anna anyway. She hadn’t been to a school for quite some time.

  But the thing Anna wasn’t happy about was the boarding. She didn’t want to have to meet anyone but to be by her self; but boarding was nevertheless essential for Anna, as had no home anymore.

  The conversation finally ended and the principal came up to Anna with a cheery smile, which hid her anxiety. “Well, let’s go see your new room shall we?”

  Anna followed the two cheery adults down the dreary corridor, even though there were bright posters stuck diagonally all over the walls advertising sport, music and any activity you could think of. Anna looked at them all in turn, and although they brightened up the place, the building still felt oppressive.

  Scuffling along the wet pavement to the boarding house, she heard snippets of the adults' conversation.

  “The poor thing.”

  “She’s lucky to be with us.”

  Anna ignored them, blocking out the noise; she didn’t want to hear it. As she entered the building, her shoes made squelching sounds which echoed in the hall.

  “This is the main hall,” the Principal announced turning to Anna. “And to your right is the dining room, where you will eat all your meals.”

  The Principal then turned back to the social worker. She seemed to have forgotten about Anna, as she started moving up the stairway chatting away.

  Walking up the well worn red carpet stair well, Anna saw how grand the building would have been before teenage girls had raided the place and made it their own.

  Entering one of the dorms, Anna found her few valuables had already been placed on what she assumed was her bed. The principal suddenly pulled Anna back to reality with a big smile on a glistening face.

  “Well, what do you think?” she asked.

  Anna looked around the spacious room, there were two bunk beds and a bathroom attached. She had hoped for a room to herself, even though she knew the possibility of that was very slim.

  She looked back at the Principal with dull green eyes, silent. The principal smiled, for some reason taking her silence as a yes. “I knew you would like it!” she said, turning back to the social worker. The social worker smiled back, before turning to Anna.

  “Well this is where I will be leaving you for now,” she said, bending to Anna’s eye height. “If there are any problems at all let someone know, OK?”

  Anna nodded sullenly. “I mean it.” The social worker and the principal left, leaving Anna alone in the room. The room now seemed to loom over her. It was just her now. She went to her new bed and sat down. Light blue covers, a neutral colour.

  Moving her possessions to the side, she lay down on the bed, kicking off her wet shoes. Turning her back to everything, she moved her face to the once white wall, which was now grey with age. Waiting for sleep to overcome her, her wish was finally granted and her eyes closed gently.

  Chapter 2

  Opening her eyes, Anna could hear giggles and laughter behind her. She didn’t turn around, she knew it would be her roommates. Pretending to be asleep, she lay there listening to their conversations of about how wonderful their holidays were. They seemed to go forever. Finally, the girls left the room leaving Anna alone again. She rolled over and saw the clock on the wall; she was already late for dinner. She quickly jumped of bed, making her head feel dizzy. She put on her now dry shoes and retied her hazel hair in a ponytail.

  She headed down the corridor to the staircase where she could hear the girls chatting away and the sound of plates clinking and the wonderful smell of food. Creeping down the stairwell, she wished that no one would look at her, but of course that was impossible. She headed to the buffet table, grabbed a plate, and started piling it with food. She hadn’t had a proper home cooked meal for a long time. After making sure she had enough food she sat down at a lone table. No one noticed her eat because they were too busy catching up with friends that they had not seen since the holiday had started. The noise was nearly unbearable.

  When Anna had cleaned her plate of food, she put it in the tray disposal and quickly went up the staircase to her room. She had a shower, washing the mud and muck off her and got dressed in the pajamas that the school had provided, a light blue colour with the schools logo embroidered on the breast pocket. Anna brushed her teeth and hair, and finally fell into her warm bed pulling the covers safe over her.

  Opening the door to the bedroom, three girls came in talking loudly till one with dark brown hair pointed at Anna, “Shh...” she said and the rest of the girls nodded.

  “How can she sleep for that long?” a girl with black hair past her shoulders said, looking at Anna, “I mean she was sleeping when we left her here. The only difference is now she's wearing something else.”

  “I don’t know.” The girl with dark brown hair shrugged. “But better not wake her up. She must have had a hard day”

  The third girl jumped on her bed. “Well I’m tired, I don’t know about you girls but I think I may follow her lead,” she said, pointing to the sleeping Anna.

  The girl with black hair laughed and nodded as she got her things out of her bag. Anna’s three new roommates got ready for bed and quietly talked about what they were going to do tomorrow. Finally, the lights silently shut off and all three girls fell asleep one by one.

  Chapter 3

  Anna opened her eyes at the sound of the other girls talking. “Licenta get up!” Anna heard one of them say.

  “Five more minutes…” Licenta mumbled, but it was so muffled it sounded more like ‘filth moff minu…’

  “Should we pour water on her head?” asked Marsha hopefully

  “I said five more minutes” Licenta said, more loudly this time, before putting the pillow over her head.

  “We’re going to be late for breakfast. Its bacon…” said Aerial teasingly.

  “Bacon,” Licenta jumped up. “BACON!!!!” Licenta shot into the bathroom with her clothes to get changed.

  “Well that worked,” Marsha said smiling. “Pity we didn’t get to pour water on her again.”

  A shout came through the bathroom door. “I HEARD THAT! I STILL HAVEN’T FORGIVEN YOU FOR THE LAST TIME!”

  Anna turned around, eyes still adjusting to the bright morning light. She saw the three girls talking, grabbing their stuff and running out of the room to get breakfast.

  Yawning she got out of bed, putting her feet on the cold ground. Shuddering as the cold ran through her body, she got up, picked her clothes from her bag and went to the bathroom. Changing her clothes and brushing her hair, she looked at herself in the mirror. Pale white skin, dark straight brown hair with dull green eyes looking back. Nothing had really changed.

  Stepping out of the bathroom, she put her pajamas on her bed and went downstairs.

  The school bell rang throughout the school. She was going to have to skip breakfast.

  Anna ran with her backpack bouncing on her back. It was her first day and she was already late. So which class was first again? Anna opened her timetable, English. Great, the one subject with a lot of talking.

  Slowing down as she came to what she hoped was the right corridor, she found the door and knocked. Opening the door slo
wly she came in meekly handing her note to her teachers waiting hand.

  Reading over the note, the teacher nodded. “You may sit behind Aerial.” She pointed to an empty seat behind a girl with dark brown wavy hair who was smiling at her.

  Anna swiftly moved to her desk, hoping that girls would just stop staring at her. Aerial turned around to face her. “Hey, I’m Aerial as you just heard. What’s your name?” she asked in a cheery manner.

  Anna looked at her. Ariel looked polite and nice but Anna couldn’t answer the question. Aerial turned back around in her seat looking confused.

  “Attention class,” the teacher announced to the chattering students as she stood in front of the black board. The noise quickly quietened down. “Today we will be learning about the simple rules of grammar.”

  The class moaned, but the teacher waved the complaints away. “Yes, yes, we've learnt it before, but we will be revising for the first weeks. Now please open your book and read pages fifteen to sixteen.”

  Taking her book out of her dark blue bag, Anna opened it to page fifteen and started to read about nouns and pronouns. Trying to concentrate on the simple grammar Anna saw a black haired girl out of the corner of her eye. She recognized the girl as one of her roommates. Her roommate leant over to Aerial and asked “What was that about?”

  “I have no idea,” Aerial said shrugging, “She’s probably just shy.” Licenta shrugged and went back to reading her book.

  Anna looked back at her book, finishing the first page just as the teacher announced, “I have written your work on the board. You are to answer the questions about the grammar you just read. Please do it in full sentences.”

  Anna sighed and looked at the questions and got started. Half way through her work the bell rang, signaling that English was over.

  As the students were packing up their things the teacher called out over the noise. “Any work you have not finished please do for homework”

  Gathering her books in her bag, Anna made her way to the door. She was happy the teacher had not made her answer questions aloud but just as she thought she was getting away, a girl with a look of continuous spite on her face came up to her.

  “So what’s your name?” the girl asked, as she shadowed over Anna.

  Anna wasn’t scared, but she didn’t want to start a fight. She said nothing.

  “What’s the problem? Cat got your tongue?” The words that came out of the girl’s mouth were like poison to Anna.

  “Hey, leave her alone Tessa.” Licenta appeared at the door with Aerial at her side.

  “Or you will do what?” Tessa rebutted, staring at Licenta like an angered viper.

  Licenta raised her eyebrow, as if she was daring the other girl to find out. Tessa decided otherwise. She stormed off, she didn’t need the new meat anyway.

  Licenta and Aerial turned back to Anna, but all they could see was her heels as she ran down the corridor and away.

 

  Chapter 4

  Anna ran away from the commotion, the people, and the questions. Walking quickly down the corridor she found herself outside on a lawn. Many people were sitting out here, chatting and eating, while waiting for the next bell to go. Anna found a tree with lots of shade and she sat underneath it. She put her bag next to her, and sighed.

  She had known school was going to be different and that at sometime someone was going to ask her to talk. That didn’t mean she had been looking forward to it though.

  Anna opened her bag and picked up the school diary she had been given. Opening it she flipped through the pages idly and found her timetable. What’s next? she thought. Looking at the timetable for Monday she came down to the next period. Ahhh, science.

  Putting her diary back into her bag she looked around her. Everyone was so happy, with their friends talking about what they did on the holidays or anything else that popped into their minds. She wished she could join them, but she knew she couldn't.

  The wind blew through the trees making them dance from side to side. Just when everything was starting to become peaceful and safe the school bell rang, breaking the silence and any peace Anna had grasped on to. Anna grabbed her bag and headed to her next classroom.

  The room was full with girls chatting excitedly. Words were shouted across the room and many times you would hear the stereotypical, ‘Oh my God?! Really?!”

  Anna sat at a desk near the back of the room trying to ignore all the conversations, but she couldn’t help overhearing some parts of them. Then the door opened and salvation for Anna arrived, in the form of the science teacher.

  The girls went back to their seats and finally became silent. “Well, I see you all have had a good holiday,” the teacher said in a cheery voice. She was a woman of about average size with red hair that had been braided into a single plait down her back making her seem younger then she was.

  The teacher continued talking about how her holidays were. Anna watched some of the other students talk as though the teacher had not noticed the noise. Looking to the front of the room Anna saw that the teacher had started to write some chemistry equations on the blackboard. Taking out her book, she started to copy them down. A note appeared on her desk. Looking to her right where it had appeared she saw a friendly face smiling at her. The girl she was sitting next to had short brown hair and light brown eyes.

  Anna opened the note,

  Hey! My name is Arwen

  You must be new. What’s your name?

  Anna looked at the words for a second, then wrote back.

  My name is Anna

  Cool. Finding the school good so far?

  I guess so…

  Good answer :D

  Well if you need any help, ask me or any of my friends.

  Aerial, Licenta, Marsha would love to help you around

  I think I met Aerial before

  Really?

  Yes, she is in my English class.

  Oh… So you are the girl who didn’t talk to her.

  Why didn’t you speak?

  Anna looked at the piece of paper that had been graffitied all over by their conversation. She slowly wrote.

  I can’t

  Chapter 5

  The dark, looming door opened and a woman was thrown through. Her ragged clothes were the only thing cushioning her fall. Her emerald eyes looked fearfully at the door she had been tossed through, she remembered the leering faces of the ‘heroic’ men. The men who were supposed to be praised for what they did to her.

  Her name was called out, “Rosalyn.”

  A man came from the shadows, he had dark brown hair and blue eyes, his thin face was covered with soot. His normally proud stature now feeble from the lack of nutrition.

  Rosalyn’s smile was nearly invisible in the darkness, but it seemed to light the small area in which they were caged.

  “Come out children,” said the man as he looked into the shadows.

  Two small children, one the age of ten and one the age of seven, came from the darkness. Muck was smeared across their faces, their light brown hair untidy and knotted. The girl of ten ran to her mother crying, holding out her arms to be picked up and hugged.

  The little boy of seven looked around him, as if unsure. This had been the only place he had ever known, and this was his day to day life. He ran to his father who had arms open for him and he hugged the warmth.

  The family smiled, and they were happy. They were together and that was all they needed.

  Just to be together….

  Together…

  Startled, Anna woke up from her dream. Tears streamed down her face, as she slowly lay down again. She could taste the salt in her mouth as the tears kept flowing. She closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep again and to try to stop the tears. Remembering.

 

  Chapter 6

  It was two weeks later and, to Marsha’s great happiness, it was Valentines Day.

  “Is it possible to get any more flowers?” Licenta complained, as she came into the
room with a bunch of roses. She threw it at Marsha who happily caught it and put it with the others.

  “You’re only complaining because you didn’t get any,” Marsha said, sticking her tongue out

  “True, and?” Licenta replied, picking up a dark red rose that had fallen on the ground

  Marsha shook her head and went back to decorating the room with her flowers; there was no point in arguing with Licenta.

  Anna watched Marsha with amazement. There were so many flowers! She didn’t know if she had seen such a number before. It had surprised her how many admirers Marsha had, and how they all showed their affection.

  Thinking of this she felt a pang of loneliness.

  “So where are you going to put all these flowers?” Licenta asked, looking at Marsha trying to fit them on her desk without making something else fall off.