Chapter two - Cleo

"Good morning, good morning." My mum sings through the crack in my bedroom door. "How did you sleep?"

"Yeah, alright." I groan, shifting onto my side to check the time. 5.30am. Time to get up.

"You look tired darling, you could skip training just this once you know." She sits on the edge of my bed and strokes down the side of my face. "It really won't matter on the odd occasion."

"No, I'm fine, I'm ok, really. I'm just nervous about going to a new school." I give her a smile that I know she sees straight through, but she plays along. 

"Well…" She puts her hands on either side of her thighs and pushes herself up with a tired groan. "I am going to make croissants for breakfast. I suggest getting a couple more hours in, but if you want to train that's fine too. Then get yourself ready and we'll have breakfast together with Dad before I drop you at school."

I nod, slipping out of bed and into my swimsuit and head downstairs, thankful that my parents put a gym and a pool in the basement.

I dip my hand into the warm water, disturbing the tranquility and watching as the ripples cause the reflection of the lights to dance across the ceiling. 

Tossing my towel onto one of the chairs, I take a deep breath and dive into the water, swimming lap after lap while submerged underwater. Focusing on each breath, each stroke, each underwater turn, until the sun comes up. The feel of the water flowing past me as I move is soothing in a way nothing else seems to be and it chases away every residue of stress left inside my body.

After an hour I get out and go back upstairs feeling revived and ready to face the day ahead. I can already hear my dad's voice coming from his bathroom and I can't help but smile at the sound of him singing along to some 80s classics. The only music that anyone should listen to, according to my dad at least. 

My mum catches my eye from her bedroom and rolls them dramatically as my dad makes some weird noises along to the guitar solo, if it's anything like when he sings in the kitchen, he'll be playing air guitar as though he's the lead in the band and I can't help but snicker at the thought.

"Fifteen minutes." My mum says, tapping the part of her wrist where her watch normally sits before going downstairs.

After a quick shower, I put on my new uniform, a dark blue blazer over a crisp white shirt and a blue tartan skirt that ends just above my knees. It's not horrendous as uniforms go.

After adding a light smattering of make-up, just enough to look presentable without drawing too much attention to myself, I stand in front of the mirror, trying and subsequently rejecting various hair styles, eventually settling on pulling it up into a plain ponytail and tugging a few strands loose around my face to soften the look.

You can do this! It's a new school, no one knows you, you can make friends. You will make friends!

I stare at my reflection in the mirror, giving myself a pep talk, pretending I'm fine, not scared to death of being the new student in an unknown and terrifying place, when in reality, I feel like jumping back under the covers and hiding until I leave for university. 

Except without finishing school, I won't get to university, so that's why I have to leave my bedroom in the next three minutes.

*

"Have a good day darling." My mum calls nervously as she pulls into the car park. She's not looking at me, her eyes are flitting between the students milling about and the graffiti that covers most of the buildings in front of us.

I can see she's torn between her desire to walk me to the office and her fear that if  she does, that that will make me a target for the other kids. Kids she's already terrified of me being around.

After we made the decision for me to transfer here, her two best friends, Lesley and Alison, spent the last month trying to change her mind, filling her head with horror stories of the behaviour in this school. 

Kids being tied up outside and left, being hung out of windows, fights involving many on one and even weapons, all while the teachers intentionally turn a blind eye. Because, according to Lesley and Alison, the teachers in this school are as scared of the offending students as the victims are. 

It was after this last revelation that my mum broached the subject of homeschooling, but neither of us would survive that and my dad managed to convince my mum that if the school really was as bad as all that, then it would have been closed down, as well as promising her he'll teach me all he knows about self defense.

I wasn't sure at first, I'm not a fighter by any means, but I must admit, being able to flip my giant marine of a father does make me feel super strong, like some sort of secret ninja.

"Mum, go to work, honestly, I'll be fine. I've got my phone, if anything happens, I'll call you." I try to reassure her as we watch a group of boys, in uniforms matching my own save for the skirt, stroll leisurely past the car before shouting to another group lounging against a wall with cigarettes hanging from their hands. 

Despite the swear words and insulting names they call one another, they all seem to be laughing and looking fairly relaxed, so, despite my initial twinge of fear that something was about to happen, it actually seems that's just how the kids here speak to one another. 

"See, it's not as bad as Lesley and Alison made out." I say cheerfully but my mum visibly winces at the crude language and pulls the handbrake on a little too hard, preparing herself to jump out and drag me back into the safety of the car at the first sign of trouble.

"Are you really sure? We can always try a couple private schools in other towns?" I shake my head and she sighs, her eyes flicking over me as though trying to memorise every detail of what I look like, as though I'm going to somehow change after today and it makes me chuckle. The sound of my laughter makes her relax somewhat and she nods decisively. "Ok, but if anyone gives you any trouble, don't even bother with the teachers, you just get to somewhere safe and ring me. I'll be here in a second, ok?"

"Ok, I promise. Now go, before you're late for work." I put on my 'I'm fine' face and step out of the car, giving a last wave to my mum as she reluctantly drives away.

"You fuckin' what?" The angry snarl snaps my attention back to the group of lads I noticed earlier. 

The three who were lounging against the wall smoking, have now discarded their cigarettes and are advancing on the other group, aggressively shoving them and, despite being outnumbered by almost double, seem intent on making the larger group retreat.

"Nothin', Luke... I didn't mean nothin'. Honest to God mate, I swear." The blonde boy in the middle pauses, a friendly smile creeping onto his face as he turns to the dark haired boy next to him, his mouth moving but I'm too far away to hear what he's saying. The dark haired boy nods, grinning as his eyes scan the group in front of him, reaching for his pocket he pulls out a packet of cigarettes and offers it to the larger group. 

I breathe out, a little chuckle of relief escaping now that whatever was happening has finished.

It's not really that bad, Lesley and Alison made it sound like the kids tear each other apart here, but apart from the foul language, it's no worse than it was at Carlton. 

My thoughts are interrupted by an 'oof' sound and I whip my head back to the group, just as one of the boys in the larger group is falling to the floor, the blonde, still smiling in that friendly way he was before, bends forward, picking up the cigarette that fell from the fallen boys mouth. 

He slips it behind his ear and turns to the rest of the group, eyeing them all individually as he lifts his left leg, bringing it back slowly before delivering a sharp kick to the fallen boys abdomen. 

As the boy cries out in pain, I watch open mouthed as, almost in slow motion, all hell breaks loose, fists are being thrown in all directions and grunts of pain can be heard but it doesn't seem to stop them. The bodies start ramming into one another, some slipping and falling, getting or being pulled back up, just to carry on. I wonder how they can tell who they're hitting. 

Perhaps they don't care?

Those other students who were milling around turn their heads to watch but no one seems as shocked or appalled as I feel at this moment and not one person appears to alert a teacher.

I'm frozen in place, unsure where to go to get help, even more unsure if my legs would obey me if I tried.

When all six of the larger group are on the ground, either on their knees or backs, the three victors drop their fists, staring down at them and even I can feel the challenge emanating from them, daring them to stand up again and face the same treatment.

Fortunately the boys stay put, dropping their heads and the blonde boy puts the cigarette into his mouth, the third boy in their group, a shorter lad with mousey brown hair, lights it for him without a word and they walk off laughing together, disappearing around a corner.

As soon as they're out of sight, the defeated group get to their feet, glaring at everyone who witnessed their shame. Bruises and bloodied scrapes already visible on their faces as they barge past anyone who doesn't move out of their way.

Instinctively, my hand grips my mobile ready to call my mother and beg her to turn around immediately so I can escape this hellhole.

I look at the students left, all relatively normal looking, all chatting with each other as though nothing happened. Even the birds have started singing again, although I'm not sure they stopped or I was just too focused on the fighting to hear them, but it gives the place a much more comfortable appearance and I force myself to take deep calming breaths.

You can do this, not everyone will be violent. And you're a ninja now, you don't need to be scared of anyone!

Pushing my phone into the pocket of my bag, I stare at the building in front of me. It's larger than my last school, but the buildings are similar. 

Plain red brick, albeit it covered in graffiti which both brightens up the place and makes it less welcoming. Large windows and a few sad looking bushes on half dead grass make a poor attempt at trying to break up the feel of cold, unfriendly construction.

A dozen or so students are still around outside chatting to their friends or smoking and teachers wander past without batting an eyelid. 

No one takes any notice of me.

No whispers. 

No nasty side looks.

No cruel comments or jokes.

No rumours.

Despite the fight moments ago, I feel relaxed in my anonymity.

This was such a good choice!

I follow the signs towards the main office where an overenthusiastic balding man in a grey suit jacket, who introduces himself as Mr Whiting, comes out with my timetable in his hand. 

After a far too quick explanation of where everything is, he offers to escort me to his classroom, which is where he says I will start the day. I accept, grateful that at least I won't get lost straight away in the identical looking hallways. 

I try to memorise the route we take, but it's almost impossible since he chats non stop as we walk. This time the students we pass do stop and stare at me, no doubt wondering why I'm walking the halls with a teacher and I worry I've made a mistake in accepting his help. 

During his rambling, and after arguing back and forth fairly incoherently with himself, he tells me he will assign me a 'buddy' for my first week, to guide me around the school and help me settle in.

As soon as we enter the classroom he scans the tables, his eyes resting on a small group of girls towards the back.

These are my people!

I smile, immediately identifying the quiet, studious looks of concentration as they sit with books out, already prepared for the lesson to start.

"Aurora, can I borrow you for a sec?" He clicks his fingers towards the group and a red haired girl snaps her head up. The other three girls turn to see why she's being summoned, their eyes landing on me and I feel a hot blush creeping over my cheeks under their scrutiny. 

"Aurora, this is Cleo Randle, she's new today and I thought you could help her acclimatise this week. You know the drill, show her where her classes are, where to eat, make sure she doesn't get lost or lonely." He says as soon as she stops beside us, the look he gives her seems to convey something that I don't understand, but she clearly does, and she nods in acknowledgement of their unspoken message.

"Sure, Sir." The girl gives me a genuine, friendly smile and I warm to her, immediately hoping I may have found a potential friend.

"Thank you Aurora, I'll let you take her and sit down. If you need anything at all Cleo, don't be afraid to ask, my door's always open, except when it's locked." He laughs at his own joke, turning to his desk and fiddling with his already perfectly organised paperwork, which I take to mean he's dismissing me.

"Come on, I'll introduce you." Aurora says, grabbing another chair to pull up at her table, even though there are three empty ones already there and the class seems to all be here already.

She pats the new chair that she places opposite her own, next to a pretty black haired girl and I wonder why she doesn't want me sitting in the empty seat beside hers. 

Maybe her smile isn't as genuine as I thought? Maybe she's only pretending to be friendly for the teacher?

"Rae, Jenny, Priya." She points at the three girls individually, they all smile at me and say hi. 

They seem friendly and I try to ignore the nagging voice in my head that's questioning everything, their tone, their movements but my eyes keep flashing to the empty seats at the table and wondering why they're being kept empty when everyone's already in class.

"Hi." I give a little wave with my greeting and then cringe at the gesture, but Aurora is already opening her mouth to speak again.

"So, where have you moved from? And how come you've changed schools when we've got what… six months left?" Aurora counts the months on her fingers then leans on her hand as she waits for my answer.

"Uh… my dad's in the Navy, so we move a lot." That's not entirely a lie, my dad is in the Navy, but it's not why I moved this time, we haven't even moved house, just schools. I'm here for a fresh start, but how do you explain that to someone you've just met?

"Is that hard? I bet it's hard?" The black haired one directly beside me who I think is called Jenny asks.

"You get used to it." I give her a half smile and just as the other dark haired one opens her mouth, Mr Whiting clears his throat and starts the lesson.

The four girls open their books, making notes as he talks and I follow suit, telling myself they've done nothing wrong, so I need to stop questioning their motives. 

About fifteen minutes in, the door opens and my whole body tenses as the three boys from the fight earlier stroll in, chatting together as though they don't care that they're late and Mr Whiting doesn't even acknowledge them.

What sort of school is this? Maybe Lesley and Alison were onto something when they said the teachers are scared of the students, because what sort of teachers allow kids to just wander in halfway through a lesson?

As I'm pondering this, they head towards our table and irrationally I'm sure it's my fault. As though by staring at the fight, I've violated some social code that I should know, but I don't, because I've grown up going to soft schools where the only sort of violence was during a rugby scrum. 

I'm horror-struck, frozen to my seat with legs that feel like jelly, all the while hoping my brain will come up with some fantastic way to get out of trouble with the three terrifying individuals who slide into the empty seats around our table. 

They don't even glance in my direction which somehow makes it worse, if I could form coherent sentences I'd beg for their forgiveness, explain I don't know what I've done wrong, but I can't, so I sit silently, just about managing to glance at the girls to gauge their reactions, expecting them to look as uncomfortable as I feel. But when the one with the dark hair sits beside Aurora, she grins, leans over and kisses him. A lingering kiss that no one but me seems to gawk at, my mouth falling open in shock.

When they break away he leans back in his chair, leaving his muscular arm on the back of her chair and she shifts in her seat to sit closer to him. Taking her hand in his, he links their fingers together, wincing slightly which draws her attention to his reddened knuckles.

She frowns at him and he shrugs, whispering something in her ear that makes her sigh and shake her head. 

"Shane's in the shit." The mousey brown haired boy sniggers quietly into my ear, as though we know each other and I feel my head turn towards his voice without really thinking about it. 

My mouth is still hanging open dumbly and all semblance of self preservation flies out of the window when I accidentally make eye contact with the blonde boy who threw the first punch.

He raises an eyebrow at me, but I can't seem to move and eventually his curious gaze turns into an irritated scowl. 

"What?" He snaps, with so much aggression I slam my mouth shut, ducking my head so fast I bite my tongue and let out a sharp squeal of pain that makes him bark out a laugh.

"Luke." Aurora's voice is low but the irritation is clear. "It's her first day, be nice."

"She was the one staring at me." He hisses at her and she rolls her eyes, baffling me further. Instead of arguing with her further, his scowl morphs into a grin and he slides his chair closer to me. "Fine, if that's what you want, I'll be nice. I'll be more than fucking nice. Bill, switch seats with me."

A waft of cigarette smoke and aftershave flows over me as he slides into the chair beside mine, resting his arm behind me so his fingers stroke against my back. 

The knuckles on his other hand are scarred which makes me think the incident this morning wasn't a rare occurrence and as I look up, I can see the edge of a tattoo peeking out from his collar.

"Well hi there darling, what are you doing later?" His voice has lost all of the aggression and instead holds a flirtatious tone that seems far too compelling to belong to a boy I saw fighting less than an hour ago.

"That is not what I meant. Come on, at least let her get through her first day before you try it on." Aurora rolls her eyes at him and he grins back. Then he gives me a wink before pushing his sleeves up and displaying an array of tattoos all over his forearms.

It's fascinating, I've never seen anyone my age with tattoos before and I can't take my eyes off the patterns weaving their way over his smooth tanned skin. Restraining myself from reaching out to touch them, I follow them with my eyes, all the way up until they disappear under his clothes. The dark patterns still remain visible beneath his white shirt which is straining against his very, very defined muscles.

When he starts to laugh, I look up at his face and blush a deep red, realising I've been staring at his body for the last few minutes.

"Oh Rory, I really don't think she wants to get through the day first." He says, his wide grin showing off a dimple in his left cheek. "She's eye fucking me right here in the classroom. Aren't you, darling?"

"No." I exclaim in horror, keeping my voice quiet and glancing at Mr Whiting, praying he'll intervene and wondering why he doesn't seem to care that there are conversations going on that aren't lesson related. 

My last school was especially strict in that regard but he's just carrying on with the lesson and forcing me to endure this… whatever this is.

"No? Don't tell lies, darling, you haven't taken your eyes off me since I walked in. What do you think about coming to mine after school? I'll give you a proper welcome." He shifts his chair even closer to me and I tense up, feeling as though I've stumbled into the same sort of trouble I just left at my old school. My mouth quivers as I try to think of something to say, anything at all would be great, but my mind is blank.

"Luke." Aurora takes one look at my face and glares at him.

"Hey, I can't help that all the women want a piece of this." He gestures up and down over his body and the dark haired boy beside Aurora snorts out a laugh, chucking a pen at him, which he catches mid-air and starts copying the notes off the board, a smug grin on his face and thankfully all thought of flirting with me seemingly forgotten.

As I quietly edge my chair away from the terrifying boy beside me, the dark haired boy leans down and whispers something to Aurora that makes her cheeks redden and the corners of her mouth twitch upwards. 

She looks up at him from under her lashes and he laughs quietly, kissing the tip of her nose in a gesture that is surprisingly intimate and gentle, especially from a guy who looks like he'd be at home in a biker bar. 

Picking up her pen and handing it to her, he looks over her shoulder as she makes notes, rubbing her back and pressing the occasional kiss to the side of her neck. She must feel me staring at them because she looks up and frowns slightly.

"Are you ok?" She whispers and I nod. Giving me a quick smile, she goes back to her work and I force myself to do the same. 

When the lesson finishes, they all stand up and Aurora introduces me to the dark haired boy who, it turns out, is her boyfriend, Shane, and the other two are his friends Luke and Billy. 

They give me a quick hello before announcing their desperate need to smoke and striding quickly towards the door, Shane grabs the band holding Aurora's hair in a tight bun and drags it away, chuckling to himself at her half-hearted grumblings as he hurries after his friends. 

The other students almost fall over each other as they scurry out of their way, confirming my suspicion that this morning was by no means a one off and those boys are not the sort to be messed with.

So how is Aurora dating one of them? She looks so nice and normal? Not the sort of girl who'd be into thugs? Maybe she's not as studious as she appears?

"Come on, I've got Chemistry with you next." Aurora says, passing me my timetable and breaking me out of my thoughts. Jenny, Priya and Rae tell us they'll see us later, before leaving together and Aurora grabs her bag, carefully sliding her books into what looks like a very well organised bag.

"Rory." A high pitched voice squeals from behind us and then a blonde girl, who's adapted her uniform so it looks like she's auditioning to be the sexy schoolgirl model, is hurrying over to us and wrapping her arms around Aurora. "Sorry we didn't make it for new year, Stacey's mum and dad paid for us all to go to Ibiza for the week."

"Luke said you did, was it good?" Aurora smiles again at this girl, who doesn't even acknowledge me, before two others who are dressed similarly join her and Aurora steps back to include me. "This is Cleo, she's new today. Cleo, this is Poppy, Ruby and Stacey."

"Hi." The three girls say in unison. The greeting is surprisingly friendly despite their resting bitch face expressions befitting the best of the Queen Bees of most teen films. 

"Yeah, it was so much fun, I met the most beautiful guy. Ahmed. He was the DJ and we spent all week in his room…" Poppy continues before I get a chance to say hi back. Then suddenly she stops, her face paling and she stares at Aurora as though she's said something terrible. "Uh… I didn't cheat on Alex, we ended things after the Snow Ball. Not that we were really a thing, it was a bit of fun but just didn't feel right to be anything serious, you know? Please don't hate me."

"You're fine Poppy, it's ok, Alex already told me, I'm glad you had fun, have you got a picture of him?" Poppy's grin returns and despite the groans of her two friends, she holds up her phone where a picture of a guy wearing a lot of gold jewellery, a backwards baseball cap and bright green sunglasses obliterating the view of the majority of his face, is smirking at the camera, his hand gripping his chin with his first finger pointing skywards.

Even though it's impossible to tell, Aurora tells her he's "really fit" and joins in the discussion with the other two girls about their holiday. I stand there watching the interaction with confused awe and suddenly, I wonder what I've stumbled into. Every school I've ever been to had clear friendship groups that didn't intermingle, so how is it in this school, the bitches, the geeks and the thugs all seem to be the best of friends? 

As I'm standing there, a cute, friendly boy shuffles over and stands near Ruby, without saying a word. I'm expecting her to say something nasty, but when she notices him, she grins moulding her body against his and he looks like he's just won the lottery.

"Does this school just not do cliques?" I end up blurting out after they leave the room. Aurora frowns like she doesn't understand what I'm talking about and I flail my arms in the direction of the three girls that just left. "Those girl's, I don't know how to say this without coming across as a bitch but, they're like the mean girls, right? The ones that make up rumours and shame you for sleeping with someone even though they're doing it too? Except she's apparently seeing that guy who looks really sweet. And then your boyfriend and his friends… well, they're clearly the bad boys, right? And you, you're…?"

I pause, wondering if calling my new potential friend a geek would ruin everything, but she just grins at me.

"I think the word you're looking for is freak, nerd or maybe boffin?" She laughs and I relax a little. "Oh the names I've been called over the years. Yeah, it was weird for me too at first, when Shane and I first got together I thought it was a prank. I'm not joking, I hated all of them and if they spared me a second thought, I'm sure the feeling would have been mutual. But now, I couldn't imagine not being friends with them all. I promise, they're not as scary as they look."

"Ok?" I say but it's clear from my tone that I don't believe her. 

I saw them fighting this morning, so what she's said still doesn't make sense to me. She doesn't go into anymore detail, instead she links her arm through mine and starts to maneuver me out of the room.

"Hey, do you like quiz shows? Everyone's coming to mine tonight to watch one, you're welcome to join. We'll get pizza too and you can get to know everyone a little better. The guys won't seem as scary when you see them huddled together, stuffing their faces and trying to work out the answers before we do." 

"Uh… ok, yeah that'll be great." She turns that beaming smile onto me and we walk down the halls towards our next class.