Seekers of Fire

Chapter 2 - The New Girl

What's taking her so long? Drake sighed. Recess was going to be over in ten minutes and his best friend was nowhere to be seen. The artificial grass area was already full of multiple social groups. Some big, some small, but all happily chatting away.

He sat down in his usual spot on the grass, aware of Amelia's missing presence and feeling slightly paranoid of the people around him who might take a glance at him and wonder why he was sitting all alone. Most of his friends in his year level were out on the school oval playing soccer or footy. He used to enjoy playing sport with them but after the last time... no, he could not risk that again – the memories of his injured friend being sent to the hospital still haunted him. Although no one blamed him for what happened, he knew it was his fault.

"Sorry I'm late," Amelia said as she sat down in front of him with an apple in hand.

"About time! I was starting to feel awkward sitting here by myself." When she did not retaliate at his comment, he realised that something was wrong. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I got kept back in English. Had to do fifty lines of 'I will not sleep during class' before the teacher let me go," she replied.

Her expression warned him not to crack any jokes about lines, or English, for that matter. "That sucks. How did you manage to sleep in class?"

"I wasn't even sleeping!"

"Okay, take it easy." Drake frowned. Why was she so moody all of a sudden? Does she really hate English that much?

Amelia took a bite out of her apple, and her intense amber eyes caught his gaze for a second before dropping to the ground. "Sorry."

Drake bit his lip. He had always considered himself good with people, but he always felt uncomfortable when faced with a girl whose emotions changed every few seconds. Well, isn't that ironic? A sheepish smile made its way onto his face. He knew exactly what it felt like. What it felt like to have ­his emotions get the better of him, and he hoped it would never happen again.

"It's okay." He scooted next to her and placed an arm around her shoulders gently. "Mondays suck."

"No kidding." A smile returned to her face. "I think being sleep deprived is starting to get to me. Stupid nightmares."

"Nightmares?" Drake had been having nightmares of his own too lately. He could not remember them very well, but he was sure they were always the same ever since they started.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Amelia rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Drake felt a little awkward at the sudden gesture, but he guessed it was his fault for putting his arm around her in the first place. He sometimes could not help but notice how comfortable she seemed to be around him. Even though they were best friends, Amelia never struck him as the kind of girl who liked physical contact very much. He had noticed how she liked to keep her distance from the other teenagers in her year level, and once glared at a guy who tried to flirt with her a few months back.

He looked around the area out of habit, briefly scanning the people in his area to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. He always liked to be aware of his social surroundings. That was when something caught his eye. There were a group of girls – year ten girls – who were strolling along the edge of the artificial grass just outside the canteen. They were a popular group of girls, and he knew all three from his English class.

Except there were four of them now and Stephanie Payne, the 'Queen Bee' of the clique, was happily chatting away with a girl he did not recognise. Drake instantly felt the need to find out more about the mysterious girl. Friend or foe, he knew everyone well in his year level, and he intended to keep it that way.