Tony had us painting benches of all things. I knew the things we were going to be asked to do would be tedious but this was in a whole new class of its own.

"Whats your name, huh?" Curls' asked the girl with the tight ponytail.

"My name's Kelly," she said, frustrated.

"And you, pretty one?"

"Alisha." Of course someone that gorgeous would have a gorgeous name to go with it. What didn't this girl have?

"No offence, but I don't really care about your name," he said to the strange quiet boy.

"Hey, you're that guy, Curtis," Alisha said to the familiar looking one.

"Yeah, thats me," he sighed, looking away with a glare. I watched them all communicate to themselves.

"Whats your name?" I asked the strange one, turning to look at him, zoning out of the others' conversations.

"Simon," he said softly. I smiled. I think I was going to like Simon. "Whats yours?"

"Yeah, what is your name? I bet its something nerdy like Elizabeth, or Amy," Curls' spoke up, interrupting us.

"If you must know, my name is Mara," I said to Curls. "Why, whats yours?"

"Nathan Young, world-wide proclaimed sex-god," he responded, standing up straight. I coughed.

"Yeah, right."

Wannabe Gangster didn't bother to tell us his name. I assumed it was because it was something embarrassing or maybe he just thought he was better than us. It was probably a mixture of the two.

We split up into groups. Simon, Gangster and I, Kelly and Nathan, and Alisha and Curtis. We all got right into it.

Not even five minutes into painting, shit was already going down.

"Oh, man! There's paint on my cap!" Gangster shouted, standing up and kicking the bucket of paint into the water. We were right on the edge of the lake and the white paint stained the walkway and the water. He stalked away shouting about bullshit and kicking a trolley, which he then had to move out of his way.

Alisha laughed, watching him go. Simon turned back to his painting in silence.

"Come on, this is a chance to network with other young offenders. We should be swappin' tips. Brainstormin'," I heard Nathan say. I quietly eavesdropped on their conversation. It wasn't like Simon and I were going to have a big chat anyway.

"What'd you do?" He tried again. Kelly sighed.

"This girl called me a slag, yeah? So I hit 'er," she explained.

"Was this on the Jeremy Kyle Show?" Nathan asked teasing ly. He stopped painting and looked at her. She glared.

"No, it was in Argos."

"You know what you should have done?" He asked. She looked up at him. "You should have got one of those pens they have and jabbed it in her eye."

She didn't reply. I chuckled at his sense of humour.

"What about you weird kid? No offence or anythin' but you look a bit like a panty-sniffer," Nathan said, looking at Simon and pretending to, well, sniff panties. Simon looked over at him.

"I'm not a panty-sniffer," he defended himself. I giggled into my arm, trying not to let Simon know that I was laughing at him getting bullied. "I'm not a pervert," he added, going back to painting the bench.

I heard a grunting noise and looked up to see Nathan pretending to wank his paintbrush. I grimaced and tried to ignore the strange noises coming out of his mouth. If someone sounded like that when they knocked one off, I think they should definitely get that checked.

"I tried to burn someone's house down," Simon quickly confessed, glaring at the curly-haired boy. I looked to Simon and frowned. What on Earth would cause this shy kid to want to burn someone's house down? Jesus. Nathan stopped his joking around and looked at me.

"What about you, huh? What did you do?"

"Me?" I asked.

"Who else would I be talking to?" He asked, grinning.

"I, uh, was peer pressured into shoplifting," I admitted shamefully. He looked at me with a teasing glint in his eyes.

"Well thats just plain embarrassing," he said. I sighed.

"What about you then?" I asked him. He laughed.

"Oh, I was, uh, I was done f'er eatin' some pick'n'mix," he said. I furrowed my brow.

"No way, I don't believe you," I said, going back to my painting.

"Believe what you want but its the truth," he shrugged. "What is goin' on with this weather?" He added, turning to look at the sky.

It was being covered in angry storm clouds, tendrils of smoke twisting down from the sky. I frowned, watching as they got blacker.

"How'd that happen?" Tony asked. He must have come back. "You've only been here, what, five minutes?" He asked. None of us replied.

Before we had a chance to, something huge and white crashed into the car behind him. We all ducked, a few of us letting out shrieks as we did so.

"Thats my car!" Tony shouted.

Nathan began to laugh. "Classic."

However, he wasn't laughing for long because another one landed right behind him in the water, spraying it all over him. It looked like snow? Hail! It was huge, balls of hail.

"Okay, so I'm a little bit freaked out," Nathan said, raising his hands to his head.

"What is that?" I asked, drawing everyone's attention to the storm. Not seconds later, another ball of hail landed in the dumpster next to Simon, who was filming everything. I screamed as more and more started to fall.

"Right, lets get everyone inside! Move, move!" Tony yelled, ushering us towards the Community Centre.

We all ran as fast as we could, Simon filming and the rest of us shouting and hollering as more and more almost boulder-sized clumps of hail crashed around us.

"Keep going!" Tony yelled. As if we were going to stop?! Jesus. Curtis was in front of the group. I felt my heart hammering as more hail started to come down. It was mixed with rain and other various types of debris.

We bounded up the steps, hurrying to get out of the weather. Curtis tried to yank open the doors but couldn't.

"Its locked!" He yelled before anyone could try and open it. I looked around manically, as if the key would just suddenly appear. It sort of did because Tony was at the door in seconds, key in hand and eyes trained on the lock.

"Open the door!" I yelled, jumping on the balls of my feet nervously. Goddamnit, what was taking him so long?!

"Open the fucking door!" Alisha screeched, frantically pushing. Tony whipped around, finger raised accusatorially.

"Don't you speak to me like that!" He yelled back to her after dropping the keys. Damnit, I'll do it myself. I leant down to pick the keys up but before I could get very far, I felt a burning zapping feeling fall over me and a flash of blue light flashed around me.

I was pushed back and time seemed to slow down as I flew through the air. In the distance, I could hear Alisha and the others shouting and screaming. What was happening? What the hell was going on? I could feel a current pulsing through me, the pain a dull ache in the back of my mind. My whole body felt like it was buzzing and vibrating.

Just as soon as it happened, the feeling was gone again and I was on the floor, sprawled about with the others. I let out a groan and squeezed my eyes open, the bright light of the afternoon making me flinch.

"What the fuck just happened?" I asked, hearing my scratchy voice. I frowned. Jesus christ, I sound like shit. I blinked a few times and sat up, clearing my vision. Bits of ice continued to fall around us but they weren't huge. Not like before anyway.

"I feel really weird," Kelly said. I looked over to her. She looked pale. In fact, we all did.

"That would probably, uh, be the lightning," I responded, breathing heavily.

"We should be dead..." I heard Simon's small voice say next to me. I swallowed thickly. Everyone else was sitting up now, assessing their situations.

"You alright?" I asked Simon, placing a hand on his shoulder momentarily. He looked at me quickly and nodded.

"A little assurance would be nice. You know, "you're fine. Lookin' good,"" Nathan said, looking at Tony, who merely glared at him.

"Wanker," Tony muttered out, also sitting up. Nathan looked to us before looking back, obviously horrified.

"Did he just call me a wanker?... Hey, hello?"

Tony glanced at each of us, quickly taking in our appearance.

"Is everyone alright?" He asked, sighing.

"We could have died, you dick," Alisha glared, moving her foot back and forth. I frowned.

"We're okay, thank you," I said to him. He nodded and sniffed.

"Are you alright? You're acting like a freak," Kelly mentioned, looking at him oddly. His head snapped to the side and he groaned.

"Look, maybe we should call it a day..." Tony suggested, struggling to his feet. I nodded, agreeing.

To be honest, all I really wanted at that moment was to crawl into my bed and read a good book. Nothing was more calming in my opinion.

After a few minutes of stumbling around, we all headed to the locker room to change. I hid around the lockers again to change, feeling more comfortable in the privacy. I was the first one changed so I took my bag and waited outside for Tony so he could sign us out.

A few minutes later Simon appeared, who was followed by Nathan.

"Are you alright?" I asked him, watching as he moved to the vending machine.

"Aw, thats so cute. Do you have a little crush on me? Well, I'm flattered, really," he grinned mockingly.

"Fuck off then you twat. I was only being nice," I hissed back, folding my hands over my chest and glaring at him. His grin only widened.

"Sure... Look, you're secret's safe with me but you shouldn't be embarrassed. Who wouldn't want a piece of this?" He asked, gesturing to his body. I scoffed and shook my head.

"Can we just go? Where's the probation worker?" I heard Curtis ask. Oh, hey, thats where I know him from. He was that athletic guy who was caught selling drugs or something. Every article I read had a different take on it. In one, he was done for selling drugs. In another, for taking steroids.

"I think there is something wrong with him. It was like he was having a spasm," Simon spoke up, looking up from his phone.

"Yeah, I agree. There is definitely something up with him," I added, giving him a small smile.

"He was probably just fakin' it, trying to get some compensation. Cheap bastard," Nathan said, turning back to the vending machine. Was he actually going to buy something or was he just staring at the stuff?

"I don't think he was faking it," Simon said.

"Oh, yeah, and you'd know all about being... mental," Nathan said softly, stepping forward. "Wanker," he added, snapping his head to the side to imitate a mental patient.

"Leave him alone," I said, shaking my head.

"Do you have a crush on him too now? Sorry, but I don't see the three of us gettin' it on together," he clicked his tongue. "Sorry."

"I wouldn't have sex with you if you were the last man on Earth," I hissed, balling my fists up. He chuckled.

Alisha walked out of the change room, make up re-done and slutty clothes clinging to her skin.

"Are we waiting for something?"

"Probation worker," Curtis replied, looking her up and down with a smirk.

"Fuck it, I'm not waiting around for that dickhead," she said, turning around and walking towards the door, shaking her hips as she went.

The rest of them followed. However, I stayed for another second, wondering whether or not I should wait. Deciding against it, I walked down the hall, looking back to see Kelly followed me.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, slowing down to let her walk beside me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said distractedly. I smiled grimly and walked out the doors and into the afternoon light, still feeling a little shaken.

Updated on the 15th of February, 2016.