My Saviour

Life

A cold wind brushed against Sarah's skin as she got out of bed. Her eyes were tired from the lack of sleep from the night before. That's the time when the voices in her head get the loudest. When they're so loud that the only feeling that she can feel is pure sadness. Basically a typical night in her life.

Insecurities. Fear. Insults from her parents rushed through her head whenever it was time for some shut-eye. It felt for her as if at the start, and at the end of the day her trauma was being relived in her head as if her brain was taunting her for the way she felt.

She signed heavily and began to get ready for School. It was a new year, and she was back at sixth form for her last year, after having y12 stolen by Covid. She was hoping it would be a good year. The school was always her safe space from home, her escape. To be with her friends and be happy. To be her.

She had been stuck at home for 6 months due to Covid. No face-to-face contact with anyone her age since March and it was now September. Not even just cause of Covid, but because of her parents. They wouldn't let her go out on her own. They were very strict in that way. She couldn't wear what she wanted or do what she wanted. She couldn't say how she felt without being ridiculed, which obviously affected her in ways she never wanted to admit.

Sarah finished getting ready and heard her mother's steps approaching her room. The door burst open. She took one look at me and wasn't impressed.

" Are you going to school or to a fashion show? Why are you wearing so much makeup ?". She blared, not impressed by her daughter's look for today. In all fairness, Sarah always was quite timid with her makeup. Well, compared to how she would wear it if she didn't live at home. She'd love the big, extra looks. The beauty guru looks that wouldn't be appropriate to go down to the pub with, but who cares?. Instead, she had a little eyeliner and mascara to make her look alive.

"Mum I'm really not wearing much" she practically whispered, afraid of what her mother could possibly say. She began to scratch at her skin and lick her lips, drying them out. Whenever she got nervous they were her go-to mechanisms.

Her mother rolled her eyes."I didn't raise a whore. Where did I go wrong? Don't be late to school" she tapped Sarah's shoulder and walked out of her room. Sarah sighed and tried to settle her rapid heartbeat.

She grabbed her earphones and started playing an upbeat playlist to try and make herself feel better.

Time for school.

30 minutes later.

It felt good to be back. Sarah ran to the blue benches where she and her friends would meet every morning. She'd always be the first one there, but she didn't mind. She could enjoy her morning a little. Read a book, get some work done and prepare herself to be another person. To be her.

One by one her friends arrived and she felt like herself again. They'd been all chatting every single day during lockdown so it had felt like no time had passed, but for Sarah, it had felt like lifetimes. These girls were pretty much the family Sarah never had. They were there for her when she needed them, would listen to every trouble she had in the world and would cry with her over boys. They were the best quite simply.

Ring. Ring

The bell. That meant it was time for a long-winded assembly over how it's a new year and how the students have to be adults since it's their final year, and that these exams will determine their futures. Sarah and everyone else in year 13 already knew this and didn't need the additional stress, but they attended the assembly to pick up their timetables.

Timetables got picked up and Sarah rolled her eyes. The first lesson was maths. She hated maths with a burning passion. Luckily she had one of her best friends Zoey was there to help it be a lil more bearable.

"Come on Z. Let's go face Mr Smith" Sarah said, linking arms with a reluctant Zoey. She practically dragged her to class.

"Ugh why do you have to be such a good student?" she sticks a middle finger at Sarah, and she chuckles.

"Because I don't want our asses getting beat by our parents when they get a text about us not turning up" she smiled cheekily, with a tiny sense of seriousness.

Zoey nodded and sat down, and Sarah sat next to her. The girls kept chatting and ranting about their shared dislike for their parents, as the rest of the class filed in. Everyone chatted about their lockdown experiences but not many people really knew each other. Not many people got the chance to get to know each other in the previous school year.

Mr Smith decided to yell at the class to silence them, going on that covid is not an excuse for us to be slackers. Sarah thought to herself what a dickhead.

Sarah begins scanning the room and her eyes lie on a guy who's sat on the other side of the classroom to her. He had dirty blonde hair and blue-looking eyes. She had obviously seen him the previous year but hadn't realised how cute he was, and a little smile crept on her lips.

"Stop staring," Zoey muttered, causing Sarah to jump. "That's Jake remember? The cute, quiet and possibly gay guy you wanted to speak to last year"

Sarah smirked to herself. What is the harm right? What's the worst that can happen? "Well, I couldn't last year. I intend to this year"

Oh if Sarah knew what was coming.

She locked eyes with the quiet blonde and they smiled at each other, causing butterflies to produce in her stomach.

Sarah thought to herself. No falling in love.

M