12

The social studies classroom was strange. The tables were lined in rows, all connected. But instead of notepads and pencil cases, there was row upon row of laptops. At my old school, the only technological lesson we had was ICT and that was run on clunky, old computers that were probably older than the staff.
The helpless feeling of being the new student was coming back, I stood awkwardly at the front of the class while the students filed in. The teacher was nowhere to be seen.
The seats were being taken quickly and I feared I'd be sat next to a complete stranger, Felix had turned out to be great but I couldn't deal with another hour of trying to make friends.
I heard an impatient sigh and turned my head, Aurel was sat at her desk watching me with a frown. She huffed in exasperation and got up, grating her metal chair against the floor noisily, attracting the glares of many students. I gulped as she made her way towards me, I had to admit she scared me in a way that even Cal or Skye didn't.
Suddenly she was right in front of me, her frown even deeper up close. Pain shot up my arm as she roughly grabbed it and yanked me after her, guiding me back to where she was sat.
"Stop looking so helpless, it won't get you anywhere." I knew she was still furious with me but I was touched that she was helping me. We were back at her seat.
"Isn't someone sitting here?" I didn't want to steal someone's seat, annoying someone on my first day wasn't an option if I wanted to live in peace.
"She can move." She was curt, pushing me onto the seat before I could move. She sat down next to me, sighing again. She busied herself with turning on her computer and fiddling with her black handbag, clearly stopping all chances of a conversation. I reached into my bag, looking for the papers Daisy had given me the night before, remembering it had my computer login written down. I was disturbed by a soft cough, someone trying to be heard.
A girl was stood behind my chair, her hands on the back. She was looking at me with annoyance, her eyebrows were furrowed. She coughed again, causing Aurel to turn her head and glare at her.
"Yes?" I was starting to understand that Aurel was not a patient person.
"This is Kendra's seat." She was sullen, almost a match for Aurel. Almost, but not quite. Aurel raised her eyebrows.
"And?"
"Well, she's sat in it." She waved a hand, indicating to me.
"Well, Kendra should get here earlier then." Aurel turned back to her laptop, ending the conversation. The girl huffed as she walked off to find seats.
Aurel didn't speak to me again.

It was about halfway through the lesson, when they came in. I had settled in and we were discussing the difference between crime and deviance. Our teacher was a soft spoken elderly man with a grey moustache and a tubby belly. He was writing some examples of crime when three abrupt raps on the door interrupted us. Before he got a chance to open the door, our headmistress entered, followed by 2 police officers.
"Her name is Thea," Aurel's deep voice was low in my ear, closer than I expected. I could feel her breath tickling my hair.
Thea looked around, her eyes were searching our faces as they were at breakfast. They landed on Aurel and I and she smiled.
"Ah. I'm sorry to disturb you, Arthur, but these gentlemen would like to talk to a few students. Don't let us disrupt your lesson please, carry on as if we are not here," she had a calming voice, yet it was full of authority. Our teacher, or Arthur, looked flustered at the arrival of police officers. I guess at Ambrose we called our teachers by their first name, much unlike my old school, where formality was important.
"Yes, sure! Okay class," he continued to ask questions and tried to pick the discussion up but everyone was slightly withdrawn as we watched Thea make her way through the class. As I suspected, she stopped in front of Aurel and I, kneeling down to be eye level.
"Girls, these officers would like to talk to you, would you mind coming outside?"
To my surprise, Aurel started to chuckle, attracting more attention.
"With all due respect, Thea, I'd prefer to stay in here. I'm sure whoever dropped my name into this would want to hear how they got on with framing me." Despite her bravado and apparent amusement, there was a bitter edge to her voice. I suspected that she hated being outside of the group just as much as I did, although we were battling with different groups. Thea nodded, as if a police interview about a murder was perfectly acceptable to have in a classroom full of students.
"Very well, Aurel. I trust your judgement." She nodded again, looking at Aurel with something close to concern in her eyes. She stood up to her full height and gracefully walked out of the class, seemingly unaware of the students' suspicious stares.
"A-alright class, get back to work. Let's leave Miss. Laurence and Miss. Archer to it." Arthur was still flustered, very obviously unsure of how to snatch the attention of the class back. Eyes reluctantly moved from us to the board, although some kept straying back.  One of the police officers pulled up a chair and took out her notebook, while the other one crouched down like Thea had done, hovering on the balls of his feet so he was eye level.
"So, Miss... Laurence?" The police officer seemed nervous, it wasn't only myself that was struck by Aurel's appearance. She raised her eyebrows, in boredom or exasperation, I wasn't sure.
"Yes."
"And Miss. Archer?" He didn't look at me, keeping his wide eyes fixed on Aurel's face.
"Yes. Excuse me but, how are we involved in th-"
"Leave the questions to me ma'am." He finally looked at me, hostility in his eyes. We, or I at least, had already been convicted without trial. I returned his stare, trying to match his hostility in my glare.
"So, ladies. It has been reported by students that the two of you were running into the forest last night, where we found the victim." He reached his arm back to his colleague, who handed him a set of pictures. He placed them in front of us.
"We also have these." He waved his hand over them, indicating that we were to look at them. Upon closer inspection, the pictures were in fact CCTV shots, the first of a blurry Aurel running into the woods, the second of me stumbling behind. The last was a still of us leaving the woods, Aurel was facing into the trees with her lips curled, looking predatory.
"And what do these prove, sir?" Aurel's smooth voice interjected, while I was lost for words. The officer turned his head involuntarily at the sound of her voice, the appeal.
"I, uh-" he too was lost for words.
"Well, it shows you were in the woods, doesn't it?" The other officer, a young woman with short blonde hair, snapped sarcastically. So not everyone was drawn in by Aurel's charm.
"Yes, but there is no picture of us killing a girl. A girl who seemed to have been attacked by animals, if you ask me. I suggest you speak to Nate's pack," she smiled disdainfully. We stared at her in bewilderment, until she pointed elegantly to a group of boys sat diagonally in front of us. The tallest raised his head in interest, I'm presuming he heard his name and he is in fact Nate. Aurel waved at him, smiling in amusement.
"Don't go dragging us into your drama, Aurel. I've got too much on my plate as it is." He smiled back wearily.
"Ah, but it is not my drama, Nate. I'm sure there's room on your plate." They were conversing in sweet tones, almost completely civil. But there was something behind their tones that hinted at bigger issues.
The rest of the pack turned around to glare at us. They looked related, but they also didn't. It wasn't appearance, it was something in their movement. The way all of their eyes held hostility and how their mouths were pulled down at the edges. Aside from Nate, there were two other boys. Nate had tanned skin, with dark wavy hair that made him resemble a surfer. He had friendly eyes, despite the obvious tension they danced in amusement as he spoke. The boy next to him wasn't as tall as him, he had olive toned skin and a straight nose. His facial structure was chiselled out of Grecian stone, he was one of the statues in museums that showed the history of the gods. On Nate's other side was a smaller boy, closer to my age than Nate's. He had smooth dark skin and long black hair braided tightly and pulled up into a bun. Like Nate, there was something humorous in his face, he never quite managed to frown as the Grecian boy did.
I was pulled out of my observation by the police woman coughing impatiently.
"We have no time for your rivalry and group names, this a murder investigation." She stared hardly at Aurel, as if she were trying to see into her mind and find all the answers, that Aurel didn't have.
"Animal attack." Aurel was just as curt, giving away nothing with her poker face. I remembered the howls of the animals in the woods last night and shuddered involuntarily. Both officers looked at me, blinking as if they had just remembered I was there.
"Do you have anything to add to this, Miss. Archer?"
"Animal attack." I mimicked Aurel's tone, although I didn't sound half as powerful as she had. The woman sighed and stood up, scraping her chair. I glanced around, suddenly aware that the whole class was watching us. Arthur was slumped in his chair after clearly giving up with the struggle for attention.
"Well, I see there's nothing else we can gleam from this. Come on, Rob." She and the police officer, Rob, strode out. Rob turned to have one last look at Aurel before closing the door gently behind him.
"Show's over, everyone." Aurel chuckled again to herself, her bravado returning. The class once again turned their heads from us to the board and Arthur sprung up to continue his lecture. We had five minutes left of class, I saw no point starting the lesson now. I'd find notes somewhere.
"Why did you call them a pack?" I turned my attention to Aurel, who had been rubbing her temples. She snapped her eyes open and looked at me as if for the first time. I wondered what she saw.
"That's a question for another day. Or you could ask them yourself," her faint smile turned mischievous as she looked past me to Nate. I felt a wave of jealousy wash over me.
"Okay, well, you seem to know more than what you told the police. Why would you hold information from the police?" She made a disgusted noise.
"Why would you trust the police?"
"Why are you answering my questions with more questions?" It was frustrating, I wanted an answer.
"Why are you?" Her voice had become softer, her eyes staring intensely into mine.
"Do you really think it was an animal attack?" I let the question hang in the air, she didn't bother replying. The silence stretched out until the bell rang and we gathered our equipment together. I looked up through my hair to glance at Aurel, who was staring at me. The frustration had returned to her eyes. I quickly looked down again, my cheeks were heating up pretty quickly.
I heard her chair scrape again as she stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. J stayed seated, trying to cool myself down. Pink cheeks did not match my otherwise pale complexion and pale blonde hair. I flinched as I felt a soft breath tickle my neck, moving my hair slightly. Aurel's deep, melodic laugh was right next to my ear, and to my embarrassment, I heard my breath hitch.
"If it wasn't animals, what were you running from last night?"