Call Of The Deep

Chapter One

Settling In

“Hey! Indigo! It’s my birthday and I wondered if you could come to my party. Can you swim? ‘Cause my party’s a swimming one. Think you can go?” called Jessie hopefully to me.

“Doubt it. My parents say I’m allergic to chlorine! And salt water! They’re crackers!” I replied over the hum of voices in the playground to a disappointed Jessie. I did try my best to make it into a joke because I did want to have some friends by the end of the year; I was not doing well even for the first week of my new secondary school. ‘Ugh. I’m such a freak.’ I thought to myself.

“Hey, hey, hey! Look what the tide brought in! Someone who’s allergic to chlorine and salt water! Seems like someone can’t swim!”A sixth-former chortled.

“Cut it out! I don’t think that’s true, it’s just my parents! Any way I’m the one who should be laughing – you’re the shortest person I’ve ever seen for your age. And now I notice you’ve also got the biggest mouth!” I retorted back feeling quite proud for stamping down on that big bully. His friends started saying things like: ‘Ooh!’ and ‘you got told!’ and ‘fourteen year old new girl getting to you?’ some friends, I’ll say! The second time I had been teased that day. (The first time I was teased because I tripped in the corridor sending all my books flying.) Only a week and four days into my new high school and I was already getting strange looks! Finally, lunch was over and it was back to class where discipline was definite. Grabbing my trainers from my locker I trudged off to the changing rooms for P.E.

“My name is Mrs Ecar. I am going to be your P.E. teacher this year. Our first warm up shall be bulldog.” Explained my new hell inflictor for the year. Bulldog. Although I was great at bulldog I was always scared I would trip or slip on the Astroturf. I knew that nothing that bad could happen but to make everything worse I was always embarrassed because people stared at me when I ran, like I am not supposed to be able to run, like I did not belong.

“Young lady at the back, I asked you a question!” Mrs Ecar fumed. I had been daydreaming but now as all the curious eyes stared in my direction I felt my face going red.

“Sorry Mrs Ecar. I suppose I must have been daydreaming. Please would you ask me again?”I finally replied trying to be as polite as possible under the pressure of the spotlight.

“Do you wish to be bulldog?!” Mrs Ecar repeated. I simply replied: ‘No thank you Mrs Ecar’. And that was that. I thought... There were only four people left running – including me – when I tripped over on a stray twig and went flying into the air only to fall and badly gash my knee. At first I did not notice everyone crowding round me trying to get a look but then it sank in. I had not only been injured but had been knocked out for around 10 seconds. Red blood was oozing out of my knee so rapidly that the Astroturf was already stained! I tried to wipe the blood with my hands from my knee but to everyone’s astonishment my gash disappeared! Fortunately Mrs Ecar had not managed to jog over there in time to see my healing act. I heard many muffled gasps as even more people started to jump to try to catch a peek at my vanished gash. Relief filled me from head to toe when Mrs Ecar finally arrived to drive the crowd away. My prayers were answered when she sent me with Jessie to the school nurse to recover.

“What a fall! How did you manage to heal that gash? I mean if you’ve got a special ointment or something can I have some because I’m always having accidents!” Jessie babbled.

“It wasn’t that bad a gash, or very big because I just wiped away the blood, I didn’t heal it. I wonder what the school nurse will say...” I trailed off starting to immerse into my own thoughts while Jessie babbled about all the fun I would miss at her party. Nurse Josie sent Jessie back to P.E. and then turned to me and asked in her kind, somewhat scary, silky voice: