The Day I Met Merridew

Chapter One: Daydreaming

The sound of ticking rung throughout the four corners of the otherwise silent room. As heads lugged away from desks, a short middle aged man hurdled many topics covering survival and life skills. As the gentle scraping of paper, etched into peoples nerves, many hands impatiently tapped their pens onto their desks.

It was a Friday. An afternoon. The smell of tension rose in the air like the sun at dawn. And yet... A hopeless girl couldn't help but watch the clouds pass, just wondering why she existed when her life was so unfulfilled and forlorn. She slouched down further, resting her silky hand on to the side of her face. The teachers voice was so monotone that anyone's mind would wonder, despite their intensity of interest. 

After a while the class grew silent. The hopeless girl looked up to see what was the matter. Later sulking in a mute manner, resting her head back down after giving up trying to catch a glimpse. 

Isn't it strange how some people have the most amazing luck, and others seem to live in deceit. Just hoping that the smallest thing exciting will happen in their dull, insignificant lives. The world continues turning, but for those people the world will always be just a gloomy place they rest their feet upon.  

The mild sprinkle of raindrops speckled around outside and she listened to the pitter-patter of the rain against the window. Slowly sinking into a shallow trance...

"Err... Hallo?" A well-pronounced voice applied. The girl looked up slowly, revealing a tall red headed boy in very smart attire. The boy smoothed out his sleek white shirt and looked back up at the girl. She stared at him, confused. Her thoughts seemed to scatter about somehow. 

"This is Jack Merridew, he will be joining our class for the rest of the semester." The monotone voiced teacher acclaimed. Many of the students turned, giving subtle giggles and sneers. Jack turned to them, but abruptly faced back to the girl.

"I'm sorry, did I catch your name." He spoke. His voice seemed to echo around the room and for some reason she couldn't reply. Nonetheless, the girl opened her mouth and began to anyway. 

"Well..Well, you see," she stopped for a moment. Jack looked at her puzzled and she mirrored that confusion. Why couldn't she speak? Why couldn't she think properly?

"Well, while you figure that one out I'll sit right here. Is that okay? You don't have to answer right away you know." Jack chatted. A smooth, warm grin stretched across his face and suddenly the girl was able to speak again. 

"Yep, sure, its okay. And its Summer by the way."Summer spoke exuberantly. 

Jack leaned his arm onto the table, placing his head onto it perfectly. "But, its winter." 

"Ha, ha. Not like I've heard that one before." Summer groaned, rolling her eyes. Her smile fell from her face, gazing back towards the window and turning away from Jack. And for the last few minutes of the lesson they sat in silence. It was like she put that incident away into a folder of the past, that not even a small happy moment could brighten up her life again.