Chapter 1: New Student in the House
I walked down the pavement with my 11-year-old twin sisters. Aaliyah had her black Afro hair tied up high that resembled full trees. Meanwhile, Ayla’s hair was in cute space buns.
We were on our way to our local Tesco before school since we felt like getting a few sweets before school. I inhaled the chilly air that felt like ice rushing down my throat and prickled like needles through my fingers. Even though it was early and I already felt exhaustion pulling me down, I smiled brightly as I was humming randomly to myself.
Until Aaliyah interrupted my rhythmic train with her loud, annoying moan.
“Urgh already wanna go home! Why did the weekend have to end so quickly?” Aaliyah huffed out a sigh as she started slumping like a turtle.
“Don’t worry okay Lia, hopefully this week will go fast,” Ayla said, patting her back as she started giggling.
“Me too. But at least I can show my friends my new earrings!” she said, fiddling with the diamond studs that we all bought last weekend when we went clothes shopping.
“Are you excited to show your friends yours Harmony?” Ayla asked, briefly glancing back at me.
“I already sent them a picture on Saturday because I was too happy with them to wait! Till Monday,” I said, giggling slightly as we walked under several branches, webbed together. Some pigeons were perched, cooing loudly as it echoed throughout the sky. We quickly pulled over our heads in case the birds wanted to randomly take a dump.
Ayla raised her head and started imitating the birds while hopping around which me and Aaliyah started laughing at. Meanwhile, I quickly tugged my blazer sleeve under my puffer coat as it was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable.
Once we got to the main road, we got our sweets and snacks from Tesco before then waiting at the bus stop. My jumbo box braids hung like vines tickling my cheeks as I got out my phone, and texted my best friend Zena.
Me: Hey bestie!!! r u at skl yet?
Bestie❤️🌍: Nearly, where you tho?
Me: At the bus stop with my sisters.
Bestie❤️🌍: Haha ok I’ll see u in a bit x
Me: Okay in a bit x
Zena and I have been best friends for as long as I can remember. We knew each other because my mum was best friends with her older cousin. We did everything together from going to the park, shopping and eating and hanging out. We were always there for each other through thick and thin, and nothing could separate us.
I lightly swung my legs and after what felt like an eternity, we saw the red bus coming quickly towards us. We all got our travel zip cards out, and then got on as people jumped off. We rushed upstairs and sat around the middle.
I got my phone out as we started moving. More students started storming upstairs, shouting away as they filled the top deck. The noise vibrated sorely into my ears,and an empty glass bottle rolled across the floor, clashing everywhere while we were on our way to our secondary school, Willow Hill, in South London.
“Hey Harmony, are we gonna get Morley’s after school today?” Aaliyah asked.
“Yeah, of course.” I giggled and then grabbed a packet of Doritos from my bag. I then munched on some with the noise blaring in the background.
“Okay good, because I feel like, after today, I’m going to need it.” Aaliyah sighed in relief as she slouched in the colourful seats.
“I can’t wait to get the chips though,” Ayla said leaning on the bar and sighing, with her eyes gently glossed over as she stared towards the window. One of our favourite things to do after school is for me, my friends, and sisters to go there and get some chicken and chips.
I quickly put on some lip gloss, made my eyelashes flutter boldly with mascara over my brown eyes that pooled like chocolate. I sprayed perfume before we got ready to get off the bus. When we reached our school, Aaliyah and Ayla went to join their friends while I went to find my own. I marched through the path that ran through the school until I heard my name ring in my ears.
“Harmony!”
I looked, and I saw my friends sitting near where I was. Zena and Melody were waving their arms frantically towards me.
“Hey!” I shouted, running up to them and squeezed my friends into a big hug. I then sat down in the vacant space next to Melody, whose thick, black curly hair rippled down her back in a low ponytail.
There were five of us sitting in a ring on the soft, bristled grass that felt like feathers. Zena and Melody were my best friends and my other friends consisted of Mason who was like my big brother, and Liam who was the most childish.
“What took you so long?” Mason asked. He was a few inches taller than me, with chocolate brown hair brushed to the side and blue eyes.
“We kinda left home a bit late,” I said with a sheepish smile and giggled nervously. “But we still managed to get the bus on time so it’s all good.”
“Never mind, come on, we gotta rush to our tutor groups before we end up late,” Zena said, getting up and pulling me alongside her. She grabbed her purple Adidas bag off the floor and swung it onto her arms. The others followed as we began walking. All around, we could hear our classmates chatting excitedly about what they did on the weekend. Me and Melody then joined the little crowd outside outside our form room,
My friends and I crowded outside the classrooms with our different tutor groups. I was in the same one as Melody, while the others were all in different ones.
We got to our tutor room and sat at our designated seats while waiting for our tutor Ms Marian to come after she had to quickly leave to get something. I slipped out my phone and then began watching some funny cat videos. I started laughing and continued scrolling until I came across a video of someone showing off their ice cream and waffles. My eyes started widening as I licked my lips all round as the inside of my mouth began salivating.
“Hey Melody, come over here!” I called out. She then rushed over as she bunched up right next to me. She slung her arm round mine and then leaned over me.
“What’s up?”
“I just saved this place that maybe we can go to one day,” I said, and turned the screen towards her. Her dark eyes were glued to it but her hand sunk deeper down my shoulder. I looked at her, looked at her hand, narrowed my eyes like a suspicious cat with a‘Do you mind?’ face.
“Mm that looks good you know,” she finally said, lightly patting my back as she straightened up. “We should show the others either during break or lunch!”
“Oh for sure!” I said. Then Ms Marian walked in so Melody quickly squeezed my hand and rushed back to her seat, while I slipped my phone back into my pocket.
When registration was over, me and Melody went to Maths because we were in the same class together. When it was 8:50, we took the long route to Maths together because we were in the same class and we didn’t want to be there too early. We linked arms and squeezed through the swarm of short year sevens that looked like babies.
When we arrived, I sat next to her and my maths friend Shaniece as we waited for Mr Morris, our maths teacher, to show up. He was really nice, and he was one of my favourites. He was very good at teaching, and even though he was strict, he could take a joke sometimes. So even though I didn’t like maths that much, he made it more bearable.
“Good morning!” Mr Morris said cheerfully as he sauntered into the classroom. He had some grey hair with a bald spot on top that shined like a bowling ball.
“Today, we’ll be doing some equations in algebra,” he announced.
I groaned as my head hit the table. I despised algebra. It was so boring and so useless.
Once he gave out the sheets, Melody nudged me slightly. She was now wearing her glasses and was looking at the back of the class. I turned around, and the sight before me made my eyes widened in surprise.
