I awoke the next morning to Katie's spare dress at the end of my bed.

Miss Jones had banned me from going running the previous day and I knew Katie must have slipped in to leave it for me before she went to Lacrosse practice. My mind had already started to move a mile a minute without the run. I gathered up the dress and an extra pair of socks, pushed my blankets off my legs and crossed to the bathroom. I changed into Katie's dress, somewhat pleased that it fit me, albeit a little bit on the shoulders. My shoes had been dried overnight so I simply put them back on.

My mind went to the night before as I lightly brushed my fingers over my dress to smooth it out. Even as I fell asleep, my mind had stayed on how I had felt with Katie. The way my stomach fluttered as though I had swallowed a million butterflies, how my heart seemed to speed up every time our fingers touched. I didn't understand what it had meant or why it had happened. It had never happened before, with anyone. It was an unknown.

I shook my head and my fingers through my hair, attempting to smooth it out but it still stuck out in different angles. My hairbrush was still in the dormitory so I would have to contend with trying to get it to flatten out until I could brush it. Miss Jones returned not long after I had stepped out of the bathroom and set about putting the bed to rights. She watched me fold down the corners and smooth the blanket exactly as the other beds had been.

"From the way you're dressed, I'm assuming I cannot talk you out of having another day here? Just in case?" she said.

"No. I don't like missing class, Besides, I'm fine." I knotted my hands in front of me to try and contain my energy.

"Hm, you seem alright I suppose, and your temperature was normal last night. If a little on the cold side."

"I'm a lizard."

She laughed. "If you say so. I need to wake the other fourth years, so you are welcome to accompany me to the dormitory to run a brush through your hair and collect whatever books you need."

Miss Jones turned to the cupboard beside the door and pulled out a set of keys on a hoop which she attached to her belt. I gathered up my bag along with the schoolwork I had completed the night before, tucking them inside and throwing my bag onto my shoulder. With the keys on her belt, I followed Miss Jones out of the door and back through the dark corridor.

We stepped out into the entranceway and I had to blink a few times to allow my eyes to adjust to the sunlight that streamed in through the stained glass window. The sunlight created a kaleidoscope of colour across the main staircase. Patches of red, green and yellow danced across the staircase, they seemed to ripple like water. It reminded me of the church we used to go to where I would spend the entire sermon watching the light dance through the glass rather than pay attention. My mind wandered too much for church.

That it didn't make all that much sense to me. It was a little contradictory.

I followed Miss Jones up the stairs, pulling my attention away from the colour that filled the entranceway. We walked down the hall and up the second set of stairs to the dormitory where Miss Jones started the arduous task of waking everyone up. In my few weeks at Maddox, I had learnt that no one liked being woken up in the morning and they would often spend two or three minutes complaining. Even Victoria despised the early morning wakeups.

With Miss Jones setting about waking everyone up, I walked down the length of the beds to my own and ran my brush through my hair. Since I hadn't combed it out after falling into the pool, my hair was pretty much made of knots and tangles and it took a lot of force to smooth it out. I secured it into a plait with the ribbon just as the other girls started to stir.

Victoria spotted me first, although she didn't seem all that impressed with me emptying my bag and then refilling it with the work I needed for the day. She appeared to be of the impression that I would leave after being pushed into a pool, but not even a near-death experience could stop me from doing something. A few weeks after I rode my cousin's bicycle into a wall, I got on Michael's bicycle and almost crashed into a tree. Mum banned me from ever getting on another one, but the near-death experience the first time didn't stop me doing it again.

Mother said I was too impulsive for my own good. She may have been right.

"Hurry up girls or you will miss the breakfast window," Miss Jones said.

"Yes, Miss Jones," the other girls replied. Victoria had already disappeared into the bathroom and she reappeared behind me within moments.

"What are you doing here?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Gathering my things for lessons. Do you need glasses?" I asked.

"Not that. Here. In school. You should have left."

"So that was what the stunt yesterday was about, why didn't you say so? It's not going to happen, Victoria. I'm staying until the summer whether you like it or not. To be honest, I didn't know you were so threatened by me."

"I'm not threatened! You don't belong here; we both know that. You will never be a Maddox girl."

"Here's a little piece of advice for you Victoria. Money doesn't make you special. It can be taken away in a heartbeat and I for one am waiting for the day when you finally realise that you're not as special as you think you are. Without money, you're the same as everyone else and it's about time you realised that."

I felt anger boil up inside me, the lack of a run getting to me quicker than usual, and I swung my bag onto my shoulder and walked the length of the hallway. Victoria's glare pierced through my back, but I ignore it. She must have been crazy if she thought knocking me into the pool would have been enough to send me home. Although I had no intention of ever stepping foot near the pool edge again, I certainly wasn't going to allow her to chase me out of the school. She would have to try harder than that.

My bag knocked against my hip as I jogged down the stairs, down the hallway and back down the main staircase. I passed through the hallway and into the dining room, trying to scope out Katie and Jo. Neither of them had appeared so I took a seat at one of the tables and poured a bowl of cereal, adding some milk and tucking in. Under the table, my knee bounced up and down repeatedly.

A pair of hands came down on my shoulder, pushing me forward and almost forcing me face-first into a bowl of cereal. The hands released my shoulders and Katie's boisterous laughter echoed through the room as she dropped down on the seat beside me.

"Okay, that was funny. Next time I'll succeed in getting cereal all over your face," she said, still laughing.

"You are so annoying!" I shoved her lightly in the side. She moved slightly and then bumped her shoulder into mine, grinning.

"You love me really."

"Stop lying to yourself." I shook my head and looked down at the bowl of cereal, suppressing a smile.

"The uniform fits alright, albeit a little loose around the shoulders. Mum always said I had broad, manly shoulders. She might have been right."

"It's fine. Better than a soaking wet one anyway."

"Feel free to unpick my name from it and keep it, having three is way better than two. Trust me."

She smiled and then stretched across me to grab a piece of toast from the rack. Her hands brushed mind ever so slightly and a small shock sensation travelled from my fingertips and up my arm. My heart beat a little faster in my chest as I tucked my hand into my lap, knotting it in the fabric of the dress. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down. Katie didn't appear to notice; she was too busy flicking crumbs at Jo.

I put it down to a case of static shock, something Michael and I used to do a lot. We would oftentimes shock each other for the fun of it until Mum told us to stop because she kept getting shocked as well. There was no other explanation for it, nothing that I could think of that would explain the sudden shock or my increased heart rate. Everything had an explanation, and this certainly felt like the best one.

We finished breakfast with Katie spending the rest of it flicking Jo with crumbs to see if she could get them behind the little goal she had created with her fingers. I laughed along with them, watching Jo get pelted in the eye with a crumb on more than one occasion, but the event from before played on the back of my mind. It was like the previous day, the way I felt just sitting beside her was so strange and unusual.

It had no explanation.

When the end of breakfast bell rang, we gathered up our bags and headed out of the dining hall. I could hear Victoria's shrill voice and feel her eyes sending daggers into the back of my uniform, but I ignored her. She had heard what I had to say on the matter, and I didn't intend to give her any more time if I could help it. I hoped that the longer I ignored her, the less likely she would try to do something again. Victoria seemed like the type to get bored easily or at least that was what I was counting on.

"You have history now, right?" Katie asked.

"Uh-huh," I said.

"Excellent. I need to have a word with Miss Collins about this test." She turned to Jo. "I'll see you in sewing."

"Don't take too long, you'll get a tardy mark."

"I know."

Jo headed through the side down and down the hallway to sewing. Katie and I went up the stairs and towards the staircase that led to the dormitory but pausing just shy of the doorway to the stairs to enter another room. Every classroom in Maddox was identical. The same rows of desks, the same chalkboard, everything the same except for the teacher that occupied it. My last school had very few classrooms and they were all different sizes.

We would have given everything for classrooms like these, or even the same recourses Maddox had.

"Miss Wilson? You're not supposed to be in my classroom until this afternoon if I remember correctly," Miss Collins said.

"I have a question about the test." Miss Collins nodded. "Will there be anything on Greek myths or is it all just the normal history?"

"Just what we have done in lessons, no myths."

"Just one small question?"

"I'm afraid not. You'll be fine, Katie, it's just to see where you are."

"I'll never be as good as this one." The knocked into my side. "I'll see you at break."

She smiled at me and disappeared out into the hall for her lesson. I slipped into my seat and pulled my notebook, pen and ink from my bag. My leg bounced up and down under the table. Not getting the opportunity to go for a run that morning meant I was a little more restless than usual. Every slight noise caught my attention and I tapped my fingers on the desk in front of me to keep myself busy. Had I gone for a run, I never would have spoken out to Victoria.

The other girls filed the room with Victoria deciding to sit directly behind me despite her usually sitting on the other side of the room. I ignored her and continued to drum my fingers on the desk. It had always been an annoying habit of mine and the run in the morning usually helped to quell it. The longer I stayed cooped up in the classroom, the worse it would get and our lessons lasted an hour.

Miss Collins started the lesson, diving straight into the American revolution to wrap up the final part of our module before we moved on. She ignored the slight tap my fingers made against the wood of the table. I turned my attention to writing notes in my book to see if that helped to quell the tapping and the restless energy. It worked to some extent, but my left hand continued to drum on the table as it held down my book to keep it from slipping. Nothing would be able to stop the drumming. I needed to go for a run.

Behind me, Victoria moved slightly. Normally, I wouldn't have noticed such a thing as someone moving but anything and everything could distract me. Michael had said I resembled a dog who spotted a squirrel.

"Yes, Victoria?" Miss Collins asked. I turned around to see Victoria waving her arm in the air as though she really needed to go to the bathroom.

"I cannot concentrate. Felicity is tapping her fingers and it is really distracting," she said.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it. I didn't get to go for my run this morning, so I have a lot of restless energy and I need to get rid of it. The tapping, I can't help.

"Restless energy I understand, but you need to find something a little quieter to keep your mind busy. I can't have you disturbing my lesson. Victoria, you are welcome to change seats if it becomes too distracting, but I suggest Felicity finds a new way to channel her energy, like on her work."

"Yes, Miss Collins," we chorused.

Miss Collins turned her attention back to the chalkboard and I flattened my hand against the book to stop my fingers from moving. Instead, I moved my leg. It wasn't as noisy. No one else had seemed all that bothered with my fingers drumming on the table, not even the girls sat either side of me. I knew it had nothing to do with the drumming and more to do with Victoria wanting to get me into trouble. It hadn't had the desired effect.

She would have to try harder than that to get me to leave. 

~~~

First Published - June 29th, 2020