Surprisingly

"You're a fucking idiot." Marie informs me.

Well, it's not the first time I've been told that, but I find that if your plans work, they can't be that idiotic. Lunch had come as a welcome relief until we'd met up with Poppy and Maire, at which point Rosie immediately told them about what happened after English. Not like I expected her to keep it a secret.

"Well, that is my stage name." I snort. "So I got into a bit of a scrape, I'm the new guy, it'd be weird if I didn't cause some friction."

Marie slams her palm to her forehead, honestly, it's the most emotion I've seen from her since we got here. "Friction is one thing, getting caught up with Ty and Echo is another." She groans. Echo, huh? Unique name for a unique beauty. "Look, Ty's a bruiser, bit of a lughead but all he'll do it hit you. Echo... The stories about her are a lot scarier."

"Oh good, idle gossip, I'm sure this'll be reliable." Rosie sighs while rolling her eyes, but Marie doesn't acknowledge her scepticism.

"Listen, they say that Echo was kidnapped as a kid, but when the police found her, she was the only one there, covered in blood." Marie recounts.

Poppy gasps at the revelation, clearly hanging on Marie's words. "Oh my... Is that true?" She asks worriedly.

"I can't say for certain, but I've heard the same story from a lot of different people. It was before my time, I only got here a couple of years ago when my Mum became head." Marie explained.

It's not that I think Marie's lying or something, and that girl... She definitely had a dangerous look to her... But that stuff doesn't really happen, right? It's movie stuff.

"Like I thought, bullshit." Rosie decides, taking a sip from her water bottle. Now it's Marie's turn to roll her eyes.

"Whatever. You've gone quiet, don't believe me either?" Marie growls, turning her attention to me.

The sudden eyes gazing at me wake me from my thought process. "Oh, no, not that, I just can't believe a looker like you's been here for two years and hasn't had a boyfriend." I smirk. Okay, maybe not the right time to flirt, but it's my default reaction when cornered.

Marie looks away before muttering "Shut up." She thinks I didn't notice her blushing. She is very, very wrong. Sadly my victory is short lived as Rosie kicks me under the table, giving me a glare that could break mirrors.

"Am I interrupting anything?" A voice comes from behind me, causing us all to turn to face the new arrival. To my delight, it's Andi, the girl who helped me earlier. "Sorry, I just wanted to drop off some leaflets, the football team's recruiting, I didn't know if you wanted to have a look?"

She lays a few out on the table for us, I take a look but sadly it looks like it's girls only, I guess the guys one is full or something. Not that I mind, I'm not one for team games.

"I'll pass, sorry Andi, more of an inside girl." Marie states nonchalantly.

Andi smiles at her comment. "It's what we love about you, Marie. What about you two? I promise you'll have a ball!" She offers. Okay, the puns are growing on me. Poppy doesn't seem too bothered, but Rosie's eyes light up.

"I'm so in, when can I try out?" She asks excitedly. I know what's going through Rosie's mind, she always wanted to play when we lived in France but our school didn't have a girls' team. It's actually kinda cute how pepped-up she is.

"Awesome, I'll give you my number." Andi replies, sending her contact details from her watch. I hear people used to have to write this stuff down and hand it to people. Sounds fake to me. "There we go, give me a text when you've run it past your parents and we'll set it up!" She explains.

I'm suddenly insanely jealous of Rosie. "Hey, what do I have to join to get your number?" I grin at Andi.

"The queue." She answers instantly, giving me a sly wink. Damn, this girl's quick. She waves goodbye to everyone and makes her exit.

"You can pick up your jaw any time now." Rosie scowls at me. I can. I just choose not to.

Poppy decides that this is the funniest thing in the world and bursts out laughing. Marie cuts in to explain. "Don't bother, Andi's an enigma, the guys call her the abyss, since she's where romantic hopes go to die. A hundred guys have asked her out, all shot down, she's just not into it." She interjects.

Funny, a hundred and one is my lucky number.

*

Our last lessons aren't interesting enough for me to bother describing, I had IT... Not exactly a challenge at the best of time.

I begin to leave the school, navigating the labyrinth of hallways like a pro... Or at least a pro who's following the crowd. Finally, we're out into the open, the grey sky hanging over like a really depressing painting... Damn, the weather here's awful.

"We need to talk." A booming voice comes from behind me. A voice I've heard little of, but I know means trouble as I turn to face him.

"Ty, my man, good to see you, I was just thinking, do you like cupcakes? I was gonna bring-" I begin before he grabs the scruff of my neck and pulls me around the corner.

Well, I lived a full life, I'm sure my siblings will remember me for at least a few days. Ty pushes me forward, stumbling towards another familiar figure.

"That's enough Ty, no need to rough up our guest." Echo proclaims evilly. "Do you know why you're here?"

Okay, this is clearly a dangerous situation, I should choose my response carefully. "If it's about those cupcakes, I admit, that's a lie, I can't bake." I answer. Okay, really should've been more careful than that.

Echo looks at me as if I've just vomited. "What? You... Shut the fuck up, is this you?" She demands, pulling up a video on her phone. Oh God. Not that. Anything but that. The video in question went around my last school like wildfire.

School choir, we had an acoustic-electric guitar hooked up to make sure it could be heard and I... I was the one to play it. Thing being my Mama is a big time pianist, I kinda felt like I had to prove I was just as good... Look, I was just a kid, I was dumb, so I decided to go full rock star, went into a full solo and smashed the thing on stage... Needless to say I was not allowed back.

"Yes... Look I was tiny, it was dumb, I'm sorry for breaking the guitar, okay? What's it to you? Are you the rhythm police or something?" I explain in an exasperated tone.

"You still play?" She asks me. Not exactly the line of questioning I was thinking of, but sure, I'll go with it.

"Would you hand me a guitar after that?" I respond. Maybe sarcasm was the wrong approach.

Echo briefly tilts her heard to acknowledge my point, before nodding to Ty, who picks up a case from behind them and shoves it into my arms. "Sheet music's inside, our rehearsal's the day after tomorrow, Music Room 4, be ready." She orders me.

Wait, am I being recruited into a band? I always imagined it'd be a lot less... Terrifying. "I mean, sure, usually people introduce themselves by saying their names, but this works too." My mouth is going to be the end of me, should've just nodded.

"I'm Echo, that's Ty. Introductions done. Don't be late." Echo answers, unimpressed with my joke. She begins to leave, Ty takes a moment to stare me down before he follows suit. Well, I didn't die, that's a win in my book. This has been a Hell of a year...

Shit, it's still the first day!