Chapter 1
May 9th
“Jean if you don’t hurry up you’re going to be late for your first day back at school” that’s my mum, I swear if it wasn’t for her I probably wouldn’t even make it out the door in the mornings let alone go to school, “I’ll be down in a minuet” I shout down the stairs knowing full well that it’s going to take me at least another ten just to get dressed and fix my hair, on my way out of my room I grab my bag which hasn’t been touched since last term, one last check in the mirror fix my collar and tie and I’m good to go, I practically jump down the stairs and swing round the banister and into the kitchen grab the toast that my mum has put out on the table for me slip my shoes on and give her a hug before heading for the door, “I’m off” I call before shutting the door behind me as I walk down the street I stop momentarily and check my phone, I have two messages from Marco the first message reads *hey Jean you up yet* that was sent at ten past eight so the answer was no I was not awake but Marco probably knew that already, I read the second text *oh btw I was wondering if you wanted to come round mine after school* *sure* I reply but why couldn’t he just wait to ask me, then I remembered that he would probably be too busy studying until we got to school, because we have the only teacher in the whole city that gives out pop quizzes on the first day back each term and hands out detentions to anyone who fails, still I’ll wing it like I always do as I approach the top of the hill I wave at Marco who is standing under a large cherry tree reading what looks like a maths book, he glances up at me and calls out “long time no see Jean” I chuckle slightly before speaking, “it’s been two weeks Marco you didn’t missed me that much did you” I say with a hint or sarcasm in my voice although I knew deep down that he did, you see the thing about Marco is that he doesn’t have many friends…actually he hasn’t got any besides me, and whenever I ask him about it he just says that it doesn’t matter to him and they wouldn’t understand him anyway, then he…he just smiles I’ve never really understood what he meant by that but I know that it’s more than that, I just can’t bring myself to ask because he always looks so despondent like well almost like he thinks I’m trying to get shot of him, but it’s not like that I…I just worry, because his friendship means a lot to me…Marco means a lot to me we have been friends since we were just little kids and his parents are never around much, and for a while it was just him and his little sister but she passed away a few years back after an illness, she was only seven he still blames himself for what happened and ever since he has been on his own, “earth to Jean” Marco was now stood only centimetres away from me waving in front of my face, “hmm sorry I guess I spaced out for a minuet there” I said still trying to compose myself, but Marco was just staring at me with one eyebrow raised slightly before dismissing it and turning to start walking to school, I quickly followed as expected the conversation for the rest of way was almost all one sided with Marco only looking up from his book to answer me about twice, the rest was just the occasional yeah and oh really in-between mutterings about trig and algebra.
