☽Ⓛ❈Ⓒ☾

I look at my reflection and sigh heavily.

To quote Mia Thermopolis, this is as good as it's gonna get.

I have to say, the green blazer actually compliments my skin tone quite nicely. My dad was Black and from Guyana and my mum was white English, making me a mix of Black and white.

I tuck my shirt into my rolled skirt and straighten my tie.

What kind of sixth form makes the students still wear a uniform?

Fuck it, let's get this over with.

I sling my bag over my shoulder and go downstairs. I've already had breakfast. I changed into my uniform after I'd eaten because I was scared I would spill something on it for my first day.

With three siblings under ten years old, this house is a mad house.

My foster mum is rushing about, trying to make sure their lunch boxes are packed. The three of them are still at the breakfast table, eating their toast.

"Allie! Thank God. Please could you take the kids up to clean their teeth? I need to finish sorting out lunch and I have to go in five minutes," she begs me, looking beyond stressed.

"Of course," I reply.

I put my bag down and approach the table.

"Alright, guys, teeth time. Come on."

I corral the little angels upstairs and we have a mass teeth-cleaning. Once they're done, I take them all back down again.

My siblings are five, seven and eight, which luckily means they can do a lot of things themselves, just with supervision.

Their lunches are ready when we come down and I make sure they've all got their shoes on. I put their lunch boxes into their backpacks and give them to my siblings to put on their backs.

"Right, have a great first day at school, darlings," Mum says as she kisses them all on their heads. "Don't be scared, it's going to be lots of fun. Allie will pick you up at half three, okay?"

She turns to me and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Have fun, sweetheart, I hope it goes well."

"Thanks, Mum."

"See you tonight, darlings! Have fun!" She calls and then she's gone.

Leaving me, a seventeen year old, with three children.

Great.

"Come on, munchkins. Let's go to school," I tell them.

I grab my bag, open the door and herd them out. I lock the front door behind us and take the youngest's hand. Rory is the youngest and quietest out of the three.

Fiona and Jack are much more excitable, but still sweet kids. My foster dad leaves for work at six in the morning, meaning it's up to my mum and I to get the kids ready.

We walk the eight blocks to their primary school and I drop them off. After making sure they're settled with their form tutors, I walk the next six blocks to the secondary school.

There are hundreds of students flooding in through the gates, all wearing the same uniform as me.

My mum warned me that, although it's a good school education-wise, it has a reputation for being quite rough. I try not to be too judgemental, but a lot of kids are smoking outside the school on the street and they look hard as fuck.

I straighten my shoulders and keep my head high. My old school wasn't a private one, it was a city, state school.

I can handle this.

I feel relieved when my phone buzzes with a text.

My mum's friend lives around here and has a daughter my age. When we moved here last week, she asked her friend to get her daughter to meet me on my first day of school.

I imagine it's going to be a bit awkward, but I'd rather have someone assigned to me on my first day instead of blundering around, clueless and alone.

I follow the signs to the student reception. I have to go through metal detectors on the way in and I'll admit, that alarms me slightly.

A girl is leant against the wall. She has her hair up in two pigtails and it is dyed deep purple at the ends. She glance up as I approach her. She looks me up and down and smiles.

"Alison, right?"

I grimace. "Please, call me Allie. Are you Stephanie?"

She grins and nods her head, making her pigtails bounce.

"Yep, nice to meet you."

I smile back. Thank God, she seems nice.

"Let's get to form, you're in the same one as me," she says and leads me down the corridor. "So, you'll be given a map, but I'll stick with you and show you around. Luckily, we're both taking drama and photography."

"That's good. Thank you so much, by the way, for saying yes to this. I really didn't want to get lost on my first day."

She laughs and brushes me off. "It's no bother, don't worry. It's a huge school, so it's really easy to get lost. I'll stay with you."

She's not kidding about it being a huge school. There's hundreds of people in our year and it feels like more when everyone is crammed into the hallways.

We get to our form room and she shows me my locker. The key is waiting in it for me.

We take our seats and a middle-aged woman comes in. She says good morning and takes the register. Afterwards, she announces that it is numeracy morning and puts some calculations on the board for the class to complete.

We're in sixth form, yet they still make us do Maths in the morning.

What the fuck.

The teacher comes to the back and hands me my welcome pack. It includes my timetable, a school map and a list of the school policies and rules.

I check my timetable. Photography and History first, so I put the rest of the books away in my locker.

'Photography is really good here, we have a really nice teacher. History is blegh from what I hear, Miss Connelly is a right bitch when she wants to be.'

Stephanie chatters on as she leads us to our class. She tells me about each of the teachers that we have and I try to remember it all.

When we get to the photography room, she asks the teacher to move, so that I can sit next to her. We sit on the back row and she introduces me to her best friend, Millie.

The first two lessons pass by easily. Not too many people stare, which is good.

At break time, Steph leads us over to their 'spot'. It turns out to be a brick wall behind one of the Maths buildings.

I get to meet Stephanie's other friend, Raquel. They're both as welcoming as Steph and I start to relax a little. Maybe this won't be so bad.

My eyes widen as I see two students pressed up against the wall, going at it like they're one step away from fucking each other. Steph notices my expression and laughs.

'Yeah, don't mind them. Some of the kids are fuelled by hormones, here.'

'My mum said this school has a bit of a reputation,' I say experimentally, just throwing it out there.

The three girls share a look and grimace.

'Yeah, it's a bit rough. Students get expelled every year. It's mostly for bringing weapons to school or fighting,' Raquel answers.

'Why do they need to bring weapons to school?'

Millie glances around nervously and leans closer to me.

'There's a few gangs around this area, and some of students are part of them. You can tell which ones because they have tattoos on their neck that show which gang they're a member of,' she explains.

Steph adds on, 'Yeah, and as with most gangs, they're rivals. There's a lot of fights over territories and stuff and it tends to leak into school and cause fights between students.'

'Wow, that's...interesting,' I comment and the girls chuckle.

'To say the least. It's not really a problem because the students in gangs tend to stay away from each other. We stay out of it, obviously. Millie used to date one of the runners and it got messy, didn't it?' Steph says pointedly and Millie rolls her eyes.

'He got a bit possessive, that's all,' she mutters and Steph scoffs.

'It wasn't good. He was controlling what parties she went to, wouldn't let her go unless he was there, it was bad.'

Millie defends herself. 'Well, I ended things, alright? I'm fine, now.'

The bell rings and we go back inside for third period; Art.

There's only one seat available, but it's at the back, so I don't mind. Raquel and Millie are two rows in front of me.

There's no one on the seat next to me, but the teacher showed me the seating plan and apparently a boy named Dante Romano sits there.

Sexy name, if you ask me.

As Dante is a no-show, I spread my things out onto his part of the desk. The teacher starts explaining some technique and I take notes.

The door swings open and ricochets off the wall. Everyone looks up and the teacher sighs with irritation.

"Sit down, get your book out and pray that I don't kick you out of this lesson, Mr Romano," the teacher snaps and turns back to the board.

So, this is the infamous Dante Romano.

Holy shitballs, he lives up to his hot name. He's in the same uniform as everyone else, but somehow he makes it look so good.

He has tousled black hair, piercing grey eyes and a jaw that could cut you. His full lips are curled into a scowl. His skin is almond brown and totally flawless.

Dante strides to the back of the classroom and stops right next to me. He gives me a hard look. His eyes flick to his side of the table, where my textbook is, then to his stool, which my bag is on.

"Move your shit," he orders.

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