Wayward

Chapter 1: Inked In

Prologue

I'm really not anything special...

"No no no!"I muttered.

I scribbled the last statement out. I smacked me head against the desk a few times.

"Stupid-brain, no-ideas" I said between smacks.

"Why is writing so hard..." I muttered to myself, whilst rubbing my recently bruised forehead.

I shook myself off, and stared writing again, I loved the feeling of my fountain pen flowing across the paper. I smiled and drifted into writing mode.

~~~

I woke up with my cheek pressed against my desk, and spilled ink all over my hands.

"Ew... what the hell happened last night." I said while un-sticking a paper from my face.

I looked at what i had written.

"Three words, go me!" I said with false joy.

I stood up and stretched, my slight frame creaking and popping like a child with bubble wrap, and then flexed my long fingers popping my knuckles in the process. I bit my lip anxiously.

"Hey Casey! Jordan! Can you help me clean up this mess please!" I shouted out the door.

Both my parents walked in and gave me a questioning look, I bowed my head and moved shyly to the side, exposing my now ink stained desk. They raised eyebrows and shook heads, but still silently helped me clean my desk.

"How was work?" I asked awkwardly.

"Fine thanks." Jordan said coldly, obviously upset at me.

I suppressed a mischievous smile as a walked out the door with an armful of blackened rags and two parents eyeballing my back. I heard them muttering to each other from the hallway, but I didn't mind, I tossed the dirty rags in the washing basket and left the house, my school bag now slung across my shoulder. I whistled a solemn tune as i kicked stones up the pot-holed street, It was a dull day, seemingly reflecting my emotions. Without even glancing up i could already sense the nosey neighbors across the road peering through their curtains at me. I'm not really at all interesting to look at, i'm a white-blond, pale, lanky teen with dull eyes and bitten nail beds. Making a split second decision to scare the neighbors, I flicked my hair over my eyes and glared up at their windows. I smiled slyly and kept walking.

Just as I reached school the sun decided to peek through the ashen clouds, I decided i didn't like the noise of screaming and shouting so I plugged in my headphones and attempted to drown out the noise by turning the volume to max. I kept walking through the somewhat zoo-like schoolyard when I heard someone shouting my name, I ignored it the first few times but I got annoyed so I turned around and grinned, It was my friends.

"Esther! Hey! Are you Deaf?!" My purple haired friend asked.

I scowled at her "Whatever you say weirdo..."

I felt an elbow in my side "Oh what a nice greeting, thank you so much dude." Darion said sarcastically.

"I swear to god you guys will be the death of me." I said with a grin on my face.

I rested my elbow on Iris' shoulder, she used to hate it when I did that but now she's just learned to cope.

"What's on your hands! Ew! Get your arm off my shoulder!" Iris Squealed

"Oh... I had a little accident, with some ink..." I said hastily wiping my hands on my jeans.

" Oh right! Did you ask your folks about me staying over?" Darion asked me, Nervously slicking back his black hair.

"Yeah Casey said it was cool, and they both hope your parents cope okay with the... Divorce and everything..." I said sympathetically.

"Can you not call your parents by their first names, its weird..." Iris whined.

"Yeah dude, just because they're your foster parents doesn't mean you can't call them Dad an-" Darion started, but I cut him off with a punch In the arm.

"I told you not to talk about my parents in public" I hissed at him "Everyone already hates me enough because of my real parents, they don't need to know whats wrong with my new ones!"

They both looked at me solemnly

"Sorry Esther..." They said in perfect unison.

The bell rang, as if on Que. We all walked over to Chemistry in silence, while hundreds of reckless teens rushed around us, elbowing their way through the crowd like proud chickens. All shouting and laughing among themselves.

Even though It happened over 3 years ago, most of the other students still kept their distance from me as if they were afraid that i'd leap out at them at any moment, which meant it was easy for me to intimidate my way through the corridors. Despite that, we reached chemistry class 10 seconds before the bell rang, marking the start of all classes. The teacher; Mr Cole, glared at us when we walked in and collapsed in the three desks at the back of the room. A timid looking girl jumped out of her seat when she saw me, and moved a few rows forward. Darion and Iris snickered and high fived me.

"Alright! Quiet down people, we have a super fun theory lesson ahead of us today!" Sir said, his voice dripping with false enjoyment.

There was an annoyed groan that echoed throughout the large classroom. Mr Cole acted like he hadn't heard us and pulled the projector screen down. He started a power point and told us to start writing, I got about five sentences done, before i started doodling all over my arm. The class appeared to get louder by the second. This made me nervous. I cracked my knuckles and glanced up at Sir. Why isn't he settling the class?

I covered my ears, everyone was practically screaming now. Iris nudged me and looked at me with two concerned blue eyes. I felt sick. I stood up and hobbled to the door, If the teacher was telling me to sit down, I couldn't hear because the noise was deafening, I clutched my stomach and my head and started to run to the bathroom. I ran inside and heard the door slam behind me, I slumped my shoulders and rested my hands on the wash basin, I looked in the mirror, my face was drenched in sweat and tears, the noise was too much for me. I screamed out for it to stop. This used up my energy, I collapsed on the floor. My vision was going hazy. I heard someone enter the bathroom,

Just before I passed out I saw Darion kneeling over me, the voices still making an ear wrenching din.

Then everything went black.

~~~