When Storm Clouds Hover

3: Izzy - Today's gonna be a good day

Rising before the school bell rang, had always seemed pointless to Izzy. Her morning routine took little effort and less time. Her olive skin needed no cover up and her hair fell naturally straight. Her lashes were thick and her eyebrows so prominent, she'd developed a love-hate relationship with them and refused to touch them.

Her friends on the other hand, each had a morning routine which started with an alarm way before the bell. Zara's ritual revolved around all thing's hair-straighteners, product, tongs, you-name-it. Tal enjoyed a yoga session in the study room before the day began. Whilst, for Em, it was all about make up. Still, all three girls were ready to leave for the dining hall long before Izzy, every day.

As Zara and Tal dashed out of the room, Izzy shouted. 'Save us a space in line?' Em sat at the end of her bed, scrolling through TikTok waiting for Izzy to dress. 'Hurry up, turtle,' she nagged. 'If we're late for breakfast, we'll miss the bus again. It was so embarrassing the last time we had to run for it.'

The 'bus' was the school's solution to transporting the older girls between Watford Girls, a small school of three hundred to their brother school, Watford Boys, where the seniors took their lessons and extracurriculars. The boys' school was almost three times the size of the girl's school and five kilometers apart. If a student was late to breakfast, they would invariably miss the bus. A teacher would then have to ferry them by car, an act of altruism that typically resulted in punishment and docking of house points.

Izzy had no intention of being late this morning. She looked forward to catching the bus every day, the girls were always singing and messing about. She hastily slipped her tartan skirt over her slim hips and strapped on a white lace bra. It was her favorite Agent Provocateur-a beautiful piece of lingerie that her mum had given her last Christmas. Finally, after months of longing and comparing herself to her roommates, her boobs had filled out, and the piece looked good on her.

'God, I'm so jealous of you,' said Em as she watched Izzy lean forward to jiggle her breasts into the cups.

'When did you fill out? I swear my breasts have shrunk over the holidays. I'm going to need a boob job.'

Izzy laughed. 'You should try eating something occasionally. It's called nourishment.'

Em grinned. 'And risk my thigh gap?'

Izzy rolled her eyes. Stretching past Em, she grabbed a crumpled shirt from the bottom of her locker and buttoned it as quick as she could. Flicking her towel over her shoulder, she hurried to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

When she got back to the dorm, Em had packed her school bag for the day. A quick check of the contents, and Izzy was satisfied she had everything she needed-her timetable, laptop, pencil case, and all her books for the day's lessons.

'Honestly, what would I do without you?' she wondered aloud.

'Probably starve or get run over,' Em shot back.

'Okay, shut your face!'

Before leaving the room, Izzy took a quick look at herself in the small mirror inside her locker door. Though puffy from sleep, she'd have to make do with her appearance. There wasn't time for anything else. On her way out the door, she whipped her long dark hair into a loose high pony and tied a ribbon around the band, pulling a few strands free to soften her face.

Brushing away her earlier misgivings about the year, Izzy decided today would be a good day. Everything was better since they'd started lessons at the boy's school. She tossed her bag over her shoulder and the two girls hurried out of their boarding house, and out into the crisp morning air. In the distance, a line of girls snaked its way towards the main school block, an imposing nineteenth century sandstone building, where the dining hall was. There was at least a hundred meters to cover.

'Run!' said Em.

The girls sprinted across immaculate lawns and launched themselves into the quadrangle. Tal and Zara had saved space up the front of the queue. Ignoring barbed stares from the girls behind, they pushed their way into line. Ever the astute duty mistress, Ms. Woodhouse, was pacing up the length of the line. All the girls fell into silence as she walked past them.

At that moment, a student, dressed in formal school uniform, complete with tie and blazer and carrying her school bag, walked past the line of girls.

Something must be going on.

The girls only wore formal uniform in the evenings or on special occasions. Izzy craned her neck to see who it was.

No one uttered a word as the girl headed towards the carpark. A woman, perhaps the girl's mother, followed closely behind her, looking grim. As she walked, the girl cast her eyes towards the pavement and bawled the sleeves of her cardigan in her fists. Her school hat was pulled down over her forehead masking her expression. Still, Izzy recognized her as Pascal Rossi, a year 12 student who lived in the Hawkesbury, where Izzy used to live.

Pascal was Dom's girlfriend. Her parents were friends with Izzy's parents, and the girls used to be in the same school lift-run before Izzy's family moved to the North Shore.

Though they knew each other outside of school, neither girl would consider themself a friend of the other and they didn't talk at school. This wasn't that unusual though, even Mia didn't speak much to Izzy when she was in her final year. These were the unwritten rules that marked out the hierarchy at Watford. Year 12's socialised with year 12's, and everyone else fell into rank below them.

Though Izzy did like her, Pascal was an unusually aloof person. She had that rare charisma that so often intimidated other girls and to most year 11's, she was someone to be jealous of, not friends with.

A while ago, there was a rumour going around the school that Pascal's Dad had been a drug dealer and had been to prison. Izzy's Mum told her it was true but that she was to keep it confidential because he was doing his best to reintegrate into society.

Izzy wondered if Pascal leaving school this morning was related. Perhaps her father had been arrested again?

The girls didn't wait long to find out, as they filed into the dining hall for breakfast, another even nastier rumour made its way down the line towards them.