I stumbled out of bed and looked down to see my feet, covered in dirt. Shit.

I don't know where the dirt came from, but last time I checked, it didn't just randomly appear at the foot of your bed. And especially after a strange dream like that. Shit.

I massaged my temples as my head began to feel like it was being split open. My breathing quickened and I audibly gasped a few times at the pain of my brain pulling itself apart. Blood vessels in my head felt as though they were exploding over and over again. Shit.

I staggered down the hall and into the bathroom before turning the lights on, the intense white glow shocking my senses and causing the headache to worsen. Shit!

I let out a quiet sound, trying hard not to scream and wake anyone up. My head was being split open, I felt each atom burst repeatedly, and I could barely stand on my own two feet. Shit!

My stomach began to churn, and I felt the bile rise up my throat. I swallowed it back down. I would not let there be any disruption to the others. If they heard vomiting, they'd immediately get up. But my stomach had other ideas. SHIT!

I emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet and started to dry heave. This was not how I had hoped today would go. We were going to buy our Nangidon uniforms, eat unhealthy take away and get home in time for me to do research on this school. I wasn't supposed to wake up in a cold sweat, with dirt in my bed, have my skull torn to shreds, and vomit!

"Shit," I sighed aloud.

The pain in my head had mostly subsided to a small pang. Which in comparison, was heavenly. I used toilet paper to clean my mouth off before flushing last night's dinner – and probably breakfast too – down the toilet. I let out an agitated sigh and waited to see if I had woken anyone up.

Zak was still sound asleep, snoring lightly. Jade was half falling off the bed, but no less asleep. And there was no way Samara could have heard me from the other end of the house. I let out a sigh of relief and walked back to my bedroom.

It gave me time to think. What had happened to me in the dream must've had something to do with what I had just gone through. I mean, I had had migraines before, but nothing so painful before. And the dirt had to have gotten there somehow.

I climbed up the ladder to my bed once I got to my room and stripped the bed that I had made, literally hours beforehand. I managed to get away with using the sheet as a sack to carry the dirt in. I left and poured all of the dirt onto the ground. I somehow managed to wack most of the dirt off of the sheet, but there were still bits of dirt on the fabric. To get the rest off, I soaked it in soapy water for a few minutes.

I felt the panging in my head persist with an annoying thump every few seconds. I groaned out as it became increasingly noticeable, but nowhere near as bad as before.

I could remember the last time I had a migraine. Mum had been by my side with a bucket, vegemite toast and a cuppa tea. I couldn't keep most of it down, but once I got some medicine in me the headache subsided. I still didn't end up going to school the next day and spent the whole time in bed while my parents worked. The only times I left were to get some food. Specifically, salty foods.

But the night before was still one of my fonder memories of her. We got into way less fights whenever I was ill or unwell. As though whatever God there was, was granting me mercy of the already headache inducing arguments, let alone when I was in that state.

I pushed the thought aside when I realised my eyes were watering and twisted some of the water out of my sheet before putting it in the drier. I watched the inner turmoil of the drier for a few seconds more before deciding to have a quick shower. I had one last night, I know, but I had woken up in a cold sweat and wasn't going to let myself go out while sweaty.

The shower gave me more time to think. Perhaps I was still in the dream. But surely, I would've woken up. No, I was awake, and the dirt had appeared in my bed for a reason. Whether it was some stupid prank – although I doubted Jade had time for such antics – or something more, I couldn't be sure of.

I sighed, reaching to rub the soap on my legs when I finally noticed it. They looked fine. They looked, fine! I checked my wrist and saw that it was normal. Not even a red patch of skin to mark where I had hurt myself only days ago. No, I was imagining things. Scabs didn't miraculously disappear without a trace of ever being there. But it didn't matter how long I looked; I couldn't find any remnant of a wound.

"This isn't real," I whispered to myself. "You're gonna wake up any second now."

I began to breathe faster and slid to the ground before I could inevitably fall over. Why me? I asked myself. Why now? After everything that had happened I just – this was something I never expected to have to go through. I had never had dreams like that before, and I most certainly had never healed so quickly before. I don't even know if I can call it quick. It was more instantaneous than quick.

This wasn't natural, it wasn't anything I had heard of outside of myths and legends. Myths and legends that weren't supposed to be true. No, this had to be a dream. There is no logical explanation for it other than that.

I stopped the water and quickly dried myself off as best I could before scrambling to get my clothes on. I couldn't handle being in such a white room. Not after the globe.

I took my sheets and fixed my bed up before laying back down. But I couldn't sleep. I had too many questions going on inside my head, yelling over each other to do so. I sorted through my thoughts, but my usual tactic wasn't working. There were too many unknowns that I couldn't answer. My mind wouldn't calm.

When the golden hue of sunrise crept into my bedroom through the window, I was still awake. But I was too tired from the night before to move. I watched as the yellow faded and was replaced by daylight. Daylight that seemed to beckon to me, asking for me to finally get up.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in before dropping to the ground with a thud. My breathing was still shaky, and I didn't want to face anyone, but I had to get up.

I walked out into the dining room and saw Jade in the kitchen with a bowl, milk, and some cereal. She looked up and when she saw me, she gave me a confused look.

"Since when do you get up on time?" She asked, not really joking.

I shrugged and hummed in response, unable to think of a snarky remark.

"Are you okay?" She asked, getting genuinely worried.

"Yeah," I replied half-heartedly. "I woke up with a migraine and had trouble getting back to sleep." Not technically a lie.

Jade rolled her eyes. "Does your head hate you or something?"

I snorted. "Probably."

Jade took her bowl of cereal to the table, and I began to make my own. I didn't have the energy to make eggs like I usually did. My knack for cooking had been inherited from Mum, much like my appearance and tendency to get terrible migraines. But she wasn't one for bonding over similarities. We once tried to cook together, but it ended in an argument when I accidentally hit her after oil spat at my hand.

I shook my head and brought my cereal over to the table and Jade audibly fake gasped.

"But it's omelette day," she teased.

Before I could counter Samara walked in and started fussing about in the kitchen to make some coffee and toast. Her brunette hair was in a tangled mess and her slippers dragged across the ground. It was a strange contrast to her usual well-kept look, and I almost thought it was someone else without her glasses.

She poured her coffee into a cup with milk before taking her toast to the table. She sat down next to us, and the silence was thick with awkward tension that I'm not entirely sure she was aware of.

"Now remember, I'm taking you guys to the uniform shop today," she explained. "Zak's clothes from last year still fit him, but you guys have never been to Nangidon. School starts in two days, and you'll have to wear masks."

Jade groaned. She understood full well that they were necessary, but Jade wasn't too pleased with having to cover her face.

"I've asked the school what home room you guys are in," she took a sip of her coffee. "Flora, you're in home room ten-four. And Jade, you're in twelve-eight."

I nodded silently. We had home room at our old school as well, but it also counted as Bible Study. But, seeing as Nangidon was a public school I highly doubted we'd be doing the same thing.

Zak soon joined us, and we all finished our breakfasts. After that we went our separate ways and got changed. I still wore long pants, not wanting to have to explain my unearthly healing. Once I finished getting ready, I walked out and met Zak in the living room. He wore a white shirt, khaki shorts, and a big smile.

His white teeth stood out against his darker skin tone and big brown doe eyes. His smile was just as welcoming as his personality had always been. It was amazing how friendly he looked. I myself had always intimidated most of my classmates. Although, I did end up beating half of them up by the end of year eight.

One of the guys I had beaten up was someone named Jace. He'd put his hand way too low on my back – and I mean so low I probably shouldn't even be saying back – and so I slammed his head into the table. He came out of that with a blood-nose, a concussion, and a broken ankle. The teacher had to literally pull me off of him to stop me. I ended up getting detention and grounded for that stunt. I could still remember the argument I had with Mum and Dad about that.

"Flora, I can't believe you!" Dad exclaimed. "Beating up a classmate!? What has gotten into you lately!?"

"But Dad–" I started.

"No!" Mum shouted. "There are no buts! This kid is in the hospital with a concussion! You disrupted the class!"

I scoffed. "Of course, you guys are worried about the other kid," my eyes started to water. "What about me!? Did you ever consider that maybe he deserved it!?"

"No Flora! We didn't!" Dad yelled with his nostrils flaring. "You wanna know why!? Because no one deserves that! God, why can't you be more like Jade!?"

"Because maybe I don't want to be a stuck-up bitch!" I screamed, tears threatening to spill.

"Don't swear at us young lady!" Mum's eyes seemed to get darker. "You are grounded for two weeks! No visiting your friends or anything else! You go to school, you come home, you do your homework and then you are done for the day!"

"But Mum," I started, "that's totally unfair!"

"Do you want to lose your door too!?" Dad shouted, ending the argument.

I shook my head. I couldn't believe that my parents were really taking his side! He had basically assaulted me, and I defended myself and that made me the bad guy!

After standing there in shocked silence for a while, a tear finally cascaded down my cheek and ran up the stairs screaming at them: "I hate you!" and slamming my door shut.

We had gotten into so many arguments like that that I think they gave up on trying to tell me they were angry and disappointed. I could always just tell by looking in their eyes though. Sometimes I regret not just telling them why I had gotten into so many fights, but I'd always just assumed they'd get angrier for making a scene. Maybe I was wrong, but I don't think so.

Jade came skipping out in a nice summer dress and pulled me from my thoughts. She had put her long brunette hair into a bun, and Zak and I gave each other weird looks.

"It took her that long to put on a dress and tie her hair up?" Zak asked.

"It seems so," I retorted.

"I'm sorry if what I was planning to wear is too hot for this weather," Jade remarked.

I arched an eyebrow. "Then plan better next time."

Jade opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Samara came out looking well dressed. Her hair was short, so it didn't need to be tied up and she wore a blouse and pants. Her smile was just as warm as her sons.

"Alrighty," she said, adjusting her watch, "time to pick up your uniforms girlies."

I snorted at the nickname, and we hopped in the car. The drive to the shops wasn't long. As I said, seems as though everywhere you turn there's a nearby shop. Honestly, sometimes it amazes me how close-knit a lot of Perth is.

Samara pulled the car into a parking space in front of the uniform shop, and I peeked out to see a group of people waiting outside, all with masks on. We of course also had ours on, but I still hadn't quite expected to see so many people there at once, even with masks. And unfortunately, we'd have to wear them for the first week of school.

"Look," Samara started, "I know this doesn't seem great, but in comparison to a lot of countries we're doing pretty good."

I knew that much. And I also knew that we still didn't have a vaccine yet. I know there's a British one that's going around the world, but we haven't gotten any yet and I think the government is holding off on buying foreign cures. But either way, we wouldn't be wearing masks for much longer.

We got out of the car and walked over to the shop. Samara went up to the lady sitting at the table they'd placed outside only recently and introduced herself. The lady looked at her paper before nodding and told us to sanitise or hands before going inside. Samara smiled and that's what we did.

Inside there were uniforms for a multitude of schools. Some private, some public, even some of terrible colour choices. Who makes a uniform green and red? Were they trying to celebrate Christmas all year round?

Samara brought us over to the back of the shop next to the changing cubes...? There I saw a gold and white uniform with a possum on its symbol and the schools name underneath. The school uniforms were polo shirts, a sport shirt which just replaced the white with black, a jacket, some shorts, some pants, and some skirts. They were all roughly the same colour scheme though.

"Alright, so try finding something around the same size as your old uniforms and see if you need to get a size bigger," Samara instructed.

I knew full well that I wouldn't need a new uniform. I hadn't done much growing, and I was shorter than some of the year sevens last year. Probably still would be this year. But, for Samara's benefit – and so that I didn't have to just stand around – I took something my size and went into the change rooms.

Once in one of the rooms, I closed the curtains and took my mask off. The uniform was a little baggy around the armpits and waist, but if I tucked the shirt in it didn't look so bad. It wasn't what I was used to, but it wasn't terrible.

I walked out with my mask on to talk to Samara about it and bumped into someone I never thought I'd see again on my way out.

"Sorry," I started, "I wasn't looking where I was–" I stared in shock for a moment, "Enzo!?"

"Feisty Fickle!?" He replied.

Yes, this was Enzo Gilroy. The teddy murderer. And also, the guy who couldn't take a hint.

"Wait," he looked at what I was wearing. "You're going to Nangidon?"

"Yeah, why?" I asked, not understanding why it mattered.

I heard a faint, muffled chuckle. "Looks like the universe is trying to bring us together little flower."

The realisation struck me, and I hated it. "No."

"Yes," he said in a sing songy voice.

"Why does God hate me?" I whined out.

"Now I thought you didn't believe in God," Enzo was smiling under his mask. I didn't need to see it to know.

"How about, I show you the school when we get there," Enzo offered. "I happen to know it very well for someone that's only been there for half a year."

I scoffed. "Thanks, but I think I trust my cousin more."

I left without another word and went to talk about the uniforms with Samara. I saw Jade had already sorted hers out and she had a big grin on her face. Terrance, I thought. Clearly, she now knew she could hang out with her long-term boyfriend. Now I would have to endure all of her optimistic episodes.

"What size is that?" Samara asked.

I blushed in embarrassment. I was always the small friend and always had to get extra small clothes.

"Double x two," I admitted, and Jade snorted. I gave her a glare and Zak tried not to laugh.

"Oh," Samara seemed shocked. "Well, if it fits it fits."

I crossed my arms against my chest, and we went up to the counter to pay. The man's eyes crinkled at the corners, signalling to me that he was smiling, and he gave us the uniforms in a bag. Soon after, we were in the car driving back to Samara's house.