Strawberry

Minty

Oh God! My name is Minty. It's the worst name to have especially when you're studying at school. I have to move Secondary Schools again! It's not too bad because I make friends very quickly. I'm in Secondary School and I'm going to join Year 9 this year. We have to go shopping again. We're forever moving from flat to flat and it's awful. My Mum is in heaven with the Gods. At least that's what Dad tells me. It's just been me and him recently. My Mum had been fighting cancer for 6 years but she lost the battle when I was in Year 6. I pray for her everyday.

We're going shopping now for the new school uniform. I have no idea how it looks like but I hope it looks good. Dad says he's planning to stay here for a long time because he has a good job. He'd better not waste £300 on Uniform for nothing! I'm in Secondary School but my new school is called St Robin' s Catholic High School. I'm Catholic so of course I would get in.

"Can we have the St Robin' s Catholic High School uniform?" Dad asked the lady at the shop. She showed us the photos and it was hate at first sight. The uniform was green. Dark green! Like mint leaves! I was going to get so badly teased.

"Has your mother or father taken your measurements?" The lady asked us. I tried not to react when she said Mum. I heard Dad quietly whisper that Mum was gone and I was still hurting inside. She apologised immediately but I didn't want her sympathy. I didn't want anyone's sympathy. We finally bought the uniform in a rush and went back home. Tomorrow is my new day at a new school where I probably won't be staying for too long even though Dad says we will.

I'm on my way to school. I don't look special or anything. I just have black, long, thin hair up to my waist and a pair of blue eyes. The buses in London look different to the ones in Wales. Me and Dad have been all around the UK. Sometimes I find it tough to keep up.

I finally reached school. Everyone was staring at me because I'm new. I was late because I was stuck in this dreadful traffic. I rushed to room 503 which was all the way upstairs. My feet were aching so badly because I was running. I finally reached there and opened the door. The teacher introduced himself as Mr Woods and gave a huge speech while everyone was staring at me. I was used to this by now. I suddenly noticed a girl who wasn't staring at me. She had a pink and gold notebook and was fully engaged in it. She didn't lift her head up even once to look at me. Her hair was red and her eyes were bright green like emeralds. Woah! She looked totally different from the others. For the first time ever it was me who did the staring. I stared at her beautiful eyes and her gorgeous hair. She had a set of Strawberry earrings to match her hair and her lips were very red but you could tell they were naturally like that. Her red hair was short and up to her shoulders. She looked much taller than the other kids. If she wasn't wearing uniform she would easily pass as an 18 year old. There were strawberries in the corner for people to eat and she seemed to match it quite well.

"Are you staring at Strawberry, Miss Landstone?" Mr Woods asked me.
"The strawberries in the corner?"
Mr Woods started laughing for no reason. What was funny about me asking him?
"Sir you got your grammar wrong. It's STRAWBERRIES!" I corrected him.
"I didn't make a mistake Minty. I really meant it. Were you staring at the girl on table 4? Her name is Strawberry."
I blushed like crazy. I already made a fool of myself on the first day. Strawberry didn't even look at me even now. She was entirely focused on her book. Mr Woods told me to sit next to Strawberry. I sat next to her and I could smell this amazing smell from her. I very discreetly tried to take a look at what she was drawing. I was shocked. She was drawing me...

It was scary seeing the way she drew me. She couldn't colour it but she shaded it with her pencil. She got every feature of my face correct. The eyes, the nose, the lips and even the face shape perfect. It looked so 3D. She must be specialised in Art or something because her drawing was good enough be in a museum. She drew it in such little time but the details were amazing.

She turned her head slightly and caught me looking. "Do you like it? My drawing." Liking it was an understatement, I loved it.
"How did you manage to do that in such little time? You didn't even look at me!"
"Yes I did. I saw you through the window when you were running. You had an interesting face so I decided to draw it because I was bored. This school is boring. Everyone is boring." She replied. She didn't have any friends because she was alone at the table. I was here now so it was fine for her.
"Do you not have anyone to talk to at break or lunch?" I asked her.
"No I don't. I'm too interesting for them." She replied. I liked her already. She was so cool. "Strawberry, are you specialised in Art?" I asked.
"No. I just drew something in my spare time." I was stunned.
"Do you want to be friends?" I asked her. She looked happy, shocked, surprised and emotional all at the same time. Only she could pull that off. It was as if she had never had any friends before. She nodded with all those expressions on her face at the same time. I gave her a hug and it felt weird, as if she had never hugged anyone before.

We both heard the bell ring, it was first period. Of course we were separated but we met outside our classroom for break. We went to the hall inside because it was cold and we sat down. "So Strawberry, is that what I call you?" I asked her.
"You can call me Rose. My sister and my parents call me that. It's my middle name. I'm Strawberry Rose Green." She replied.
"Woah! That's like three things put together. A fruit, a flower and a colour. That's so cool!" I said.
"Well my biological mother's name was Violet Rose but they don't know about my father. Harry's and Lilly's surname is Green. That's how it happened."
"Biological? Who are Harry and Lilly? Oh God! I hope I don't sound too nosy. I'm so sorry!" I said.
"Harry and Lilly are my adoptive parents. Their daughter is Grace who's in Year 10. Violet and my father are my biological parents. They were both so in love but my Mother passed away a few hours after giving birth to me. It's complicated. I consider all four of them as my parents!"
"Well that's one thing we have in common. My Mum lost her battle with cancer after 6 years when I was 11." I said. I held her hand. It felt as if we were both going to cry. We had each other.
"I don't know why I'm opening up to you so much. I feel like you understand somehow." She said.
"You're opening up to me because you want a friend and you have one now. We aren't just friends Rose! We're best friends. BFFs till the very end!"

The rest of the day carried on. I don't want to be popular anymore. It's like what Mum used to say, a piece of gold is more precious than a 100 pieces of rubbish.