Kiss Me Slowly

One: School Sweet School

The day was sunny with no clouds in the sky. Cars drove through the streets, spluttering grey smoke around the clumps of Scottish houses. Around the city, green trees were scattered in clumps, green trees that surrounded the very campus of Strathallan International School, with its high walls and towering buildings, with dark red bricks, sloping windows, and bright open glass and wide doors-- a mix of modern and old. The soccer field stretched from fence to fence, one of the biggest fields in the city. The grass was green and freshly cut, the cleats of young soccer players having not yet punctured them.  

Birds chirped in the trees, a fox ran across the field from tree to tree, disappearing into the forest. The golf course lay freshly cut, the smell of grass, sun, and mildew mixing with the smell of freshly bloomed flowers.  

However, the silence and calm this Monday morning would be short-lived. Soon, a car drove through the slow-moving gates, a sleek grey car that must have belonged to an important member of staff. The car passed swiftly through the iron gates and entered as the guard waved him off with a smile and hand to his heart. Many cars followed; soon, the parking lot was filled with sleek BMWs, Porsches, and Audis, cars of the important, cars of the wealthy. Out of them stepped teachers with tight clothes and glasses resting on their serious faces, and teachers with bright clothes and a smile as they greeted their friends.  

Soon, the school buses rolled in. Out of them climbed students, uniforms neatly pressed with jewelry hanging from girls' ears, necks, and wrists, their arms holding bags from Cath Kidston or Juicy Couture. Following the vehicles came black cars, washed and waxed, with gleaming windows. Out of those came boys with shortly cropped hair, neat blazers, and ties from the uniforms fresh from the cleaners. Girls stepped out of the cars as their drivers waved them off and stood in front of the high school, Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags in the crook of their arms, typing away at their new iPhones and Blackberries.  

And, throughout all those cars, came a small, blue Toyota, rolling onto the lot. It stood out from the greys and the blacks as colourful, original... and not as wealthy, although anybody in the school that knew the girl sitting in that car, couldn't care less how much Cartier, or Juicy Couture she owned.  

Her blond hair shone in reflection to the sun. Sometimes, it shined so bright people swore they saw streaks of gold and diamonds shining in it. It flowed down her wide shoulders and onto her chest as she sat back and waited for the moment her father let her out of the car for her senior year, for unlike others, their car didn't come with a driver. The seats under her thighs had that new car smell--they'd recently gone shopping for a second one so her parents didn't have to pay for the ridiculously expensive school transport.  

The girl's back faced the light as she pulled open the door with her orange-coloured nails and waved her father goodbye. Her face turned and she put up her hand to shield her eyes from the blaring Scottish sun. Her features came to light: chubby cheeks flushed from the heat, and hazel eyes, stood in the shadow of her hand.  

A cloud suddenly appeared and floated in front of the sun, covering the source of light. She let her hand down and smiled. Another year had come. Her last year.

The moment she stepped into the school, Katia was greeted with an elbow to the face and a girl hanging from her neck. 

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I missed you so much, girl! We're seniors!" 

Alice whooped and Katia laughed at her best friend's idiocy peeling her off her collar. She nursed her throbbing eye. 

"Couldn't you greet me with something a little more considerate than an elbow?" 

After two months of lying by the beach in Italy and going to visit her family in England, she'd been fearing her return to school. 

Her mom had told her, "A little school after so much of doing nothing won't hurt."