Ariana Chambers - The New Girl

Just as she says this, two girls and a boy come clattering through the front doors, laughing loudly. I can tell instantly from looking at them that they’re popular kids. One of the girls has white-blonde hair falling down to her shoulders in loose curls, the other has poker-straight brown hair fashionably pulled back into a ponytail. They both look as if they’ve just sashayed off a catwalk. They’re even managing to make their kilts look cool. The boy has one of those film-star faces, all chiselled cheekbones and gleaming teeth. I guess he must be the boyfriend of one of the girls – the blonde one’s, probably. The brown-haired girl looks way too haughty to have a boyfriend. She reminds me of the Evil Queen in Snow White . They all glance over at me curiously and I pretend to look for something in my bag.

‘Ah! Izzy, Vivien, Stephen!’ the receptionist calls. ‘Would you take Nessa here upstairs with you? She’s starting in your form today.’

There’s a moment’s silence. All I can hear is a pounding in my head.

‘Sure,’ the blonde girl finally replies. Her voice is crisp and polished. I look up from my bag. They’re all still staring at me. None of them are smiling.

‘Thank you, Izzy,’ the receptionist trills before turning back to her work.

I trudge over to them.

‘Hi, I’m Nessa,’ I mumble.

‘Yes, we got that,’ the girl with dark hair – she must be Vivien – says curtly. They start walking off down the corridor. I trail after them, feeling red-hot with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. They could at least be trying to make conversation. When we get to a stairwell at the end of the corridor the blonde girl Izzy looks back over her shoulder at me. I smile at her, but she turns away, and I feel a sudden chill run right through me. It’s really strange – like I’m shivering on the inside of my body.

I follow them up two flights of stairs and past a row of doors to the end of a corridor. They still don’t say anything to me, just open the door and go through. I check the sign on the door just to make sure they haven’t brought me to the wrong place for a prank, but the sign says Mr Matthews, 8MA .

As it’s still so early, there’s only a handful of other students in the form room when I go in. Mr Matthews is sat behind his desk marking a pile of books. He’s old and stick thin, with crazy wiry white hair springing from his head. I go and stand by his desk, but he’s so engrossed in his marking that he doesn’t notice me. I cough and he still doesn’t look up. My face starts to burn.

‘New girl, sir,’ Stephen shouts suddenly, causing Mr Matthews to jump. He looks at me at last and frowns.

‘New girl?’

I nod. ‘Yes, sir. Nessa Reid.’

Mr Matthews’s pale blue eyes light up. ‘Of course! Clara Hamilton’s niece.’ He stands up and promptly knocks his pile of books over. ‘Welcome, welcome,’ he says as he tries to put it back together. ‘I used to know your mother, Celeste. I taught her, actually – many moons ago. You look so like her it’s uncanny.’ His smile fades and he shakes his head. ‘I was so sorry when I heard – you know – when she died.’

I nod and look away.

‘OK, we need to find someone to take care of you until you’ve found your feet,’ Mr Matthews says. ‘We don’t want you ending up going for lunch in the gymnasium now, do we?’ He laughs heartily at his own joke and scans the classroom. Please, please, please don’t say Izzy, Stephen or Vivien , I silently beg.

‘Izzy!’ Mr Matthews says. ‘Can you take Nessa under your wing for the next few days – show her where everything is? Make her feel welcome.’

I reluctantly turn round to look at her. I’m expecting a glare, but to my surprise, Izzy is smiling.

‘Of course, sir.’ Izzy beckons to me. ‘Come and sit here, Nessa. I’ll make sure you’re OK.’

I hear someone to the left of me cough. It’s the kind of pointed cough that’s trying to say something. I turn and see a girl with dark skin and curly dark brown hair hunched over her desk, her face buried behind a book.

I pick up my bag and head over to Izzy. She’s still smiling at me. But I’m not sure I like it. For some reason it reminds me of the smile the big bad wolf gave Little Red Riding Hood – right before he tried to gobble her up.

My morning hanging out with Izzy, Vivien and Stephen turns out to be totally weird and really exhausting. Everywhere they go, the other students either stare at them in awe or suck up to them like they’re mega-famous celebrities. And because Izzy is still being creepily super-friendly to me, the other students have all been treating me the same way. I feel like a singer who’s just found overnight stardom after years of singing songs into her hairbrush in her bedroom. It all feels kind of surreal given how unfriendly they were to me first thing this morning. I’d thought that as soon as registration was over and we were away from Mr Matthews, they’d go straight back to blanking me. But if anything, it’s been the opposite. Izzy made Vivien sit with Stephen in every single lesson this morning so that I could sit next to her. And Vivien didn’t even seem to really mind. She hasn’t been as super-smiley to me as Izzy has, but scowling just seems to be her default setting.

Izzy told me to meet them in the canteen for lunch, but as soon as the bell goes, I head to the toilets. I need some time on my own to process everything that’s happened this morning. I lock the cubicle door, shut the toilet lid and sit down. I’ve never had loads of friends at school and I’ve definitely never been part of the ‘cool group’, so I don’t know how to handle this. My friendship with Ellie has always been enough for me. I take my phone out of my blazer pocket I’m glad to see a new text message from her.

How’s it going? I MISS YOU!!! xxxx

As I read it I feel a sharp pain again, as if a giant fist is clenching my stomach. I press reply.

It’s been really weird – I seem to have been adopted by the populars and I can’t work out why!! I MISS YOU TOO!!! xxxx

The door to the toilets bangs open and someone goes into the cubicle next to mine. I take a deep breath and put my phone back in my pocket., Although it’s been unnerving hanging out with Izzy, Vivien and Stephen, I guess it’s better than having to drift around all day on my own. I pick up my bag and head off for lunch.

Even though the canteen’s really crowded, it’s easy to spot Izzy’s white-blonde hair. They’re sitting at a table at the back with a girl who’s from our form. She has very short hair and huge glasses. She looks really sweet and shy and this instantly makes me feel better. I think I’ll feel way more relaxed if I can chat to her. But as I get closer to the table I get hit by a sudden and completely random feeling of fear. Izzy’s leaning in close to the girl, looking like she’s whispering a secret in her ear. But whatever she’s saying can’t be nice – the girl looks really upset.

‘It looks like your mum just put a bowl on your head and started cutting,’ I hear Vivien say to her just as I reach the table.

‘Couldn’t you afford to get a proper haircut?’ Izzy says.

‘Maybe I should shave it all off with my dad’s clippers,’ Stephen adds, sneering. ‘It couldn’t look any worse.’

I’m frozen to the spot. There’s no way I want to sit with them now if this is how they treat people, but I don’t want to leave the girl on her own with them either. But before I can decide what to do, Izzy spots me.