Chapter 4

The car finally pulls up in front of the school gates. I listen to the crunch of the gravel underneath the tyres, as we search for a parking space amongst the fleet of students, eagerly piling into the school building. I search through the faces of a few girls, huddled together giggling whilst clutching their text books. Of course, nobody here is familiar to me. I've lived in Wisconsin all my life, so I've never had contact with anyone outside of the state. No relatives, no friends in California whatsoever. So fitting into a place like this, will be more difficult than I thought.

Mum finally parks the car, near the front of the school, and turns around in her seat before I'm able to open the car door, gripping my arm with her hand. Her perfectly manicured nails are slightly digging into my skin, so I turn to her with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, Mum?"

"I meant what I said, Charlotte. This is your last chance. Don't make me regret giving you this opportunity." she hisses. I smile, wrapping my hands around her neck for a quick hug.

"When have I ever disappointed you?" I smirk. She rolls her eyes and leans back in her seat as I open the car door and let myself out, swinging my satchel over my shoulder. I slam the door shut and wave, as she pulls out of the parking space and makes her way out of the school parking lot.

"Lets do this." I whisper to myself, as I take a few confident strides towards the building, making sure to fix on my signature 'don't mess with me' glare as I pass a few curious girls, taking in my appearance, mumbling amongst themselves. I'm currently wearing a black v-neck and black skinny jeans. I manage to narrow my eyes in their direction, and they casually retreat again. I smirk to myself, proudly. Wusses.

Just at the entrance, I pass a group of guys hanging around by the bike racks. They're fooling around, yelling and swearing whilst throwing things at each other. Guys being guys, of course, oogling each cheerleader that strides past. One of them, makes eye contact and smirks, scanning me up and down appreciatively before opening his mouth to shout in my direction. "Hey baby! Did it hurt when you feel from heaven?" he hollers, with a wink. His friends chortle with laughter, and I groan, rolling my eyes.

"No. But it stung like a bitch, crawling up from hell." I respond with a fake smile. He blinks, his face now blank. I mentally high five myself, pushing open the double doors and entering the warmth. The school corridors are much wider than my old one. We weren't allowed to design our own lockers back in Lincoln-High, but here the lockers are laboriously coated in stickers and posters. Some gothic, some girly. I continue walking, taking in my surroundings before pulling my phone out and checking my timetable.

ENGLISH LITERATURE

ROOM 45A

MR DAVIDS

Gross. English is my absolute worst subject, which is ironic since I'm pretty good at speaking it.

Apple. Pear. Cherry. Carnival. Hand. Cherry. Shithead.

But I suck at analysing pieces of text as well as commenting on language and structure. Why will I ever need that in the future? If the text says "The sky was blue" then the sky was fucking blue! There's no need for analysing, or looking in depth. God, the things they make you do at school.

I finally find my room, and the door is wide open. I presume that I'm slightly late, seeing as I can hear a male voice clearly talking to the class inside. I hover by the door, knocking on it briefly. As I step inside, all heads turn to me. But I pretend not to care, fixing on a careless smirk. Mr Davids stops in mid sentence, slowly turning to me. I blink, my smirk slightly fading.