Chapter One

A summer’s morning is what I love the most. The sun always rises, smiling down on everyone and everything, greeting everyone into their morning. Sometimes it annoys me when I’m sleeping, but today is different. Today is one of those days when nothing else matters but the thing that make you the happiest, that is what I’m feeling today. I have no idea why I’m feeling this though, it’s never a feeling I wake up to. My hair has a bad case of morning mess, the weather is ridiculous today, and I feel as if I’m forgetting something important, but it doesn’t matter. What matter is, is that I am, oddly, in a good mood today.

 

I slid out of bed and stroll into the kitchen, ignoring my little brother in the process. He’s ten years younger than me, yet he is somehow smarter than me. His name is Kyle, and what a pest he is. He thinks that he is little and he get all the glory of being a kid that he can do whatever he likes, which he cannot in my view. However, apparently to mum, he can for some reason, which bothers me. I feel so sorry for the people that are going to his classmates this year, that’ll be torture. He has this way to annoy people in so many ways imaginable. Like the other day, he thought it would be funny to somehow break my camera, and oddly, it was wet. I’m guessing he pushed it into the local pool or the bath tub, nut that’s not the point. My point is school will be torture for everyone, and not for him.

 

Speaking of school, today is where this great country of Australia let us people go back to the Hell. Well, at least for my state, it all depend which state you’re living in. I currently live on the east side of Australia, to be more specific, somewhere along the coast of Queensland. I live along the beach, actually right next door. I usually sit on the roof at night and look at the stars, if not that then just stare at the crashing waves off in the distance. I love the smell of the ocean as much as everyone; it’s such a lovely smell. I sometimes go out at night and sit on the sand, I get into trouble, but that’s because of our dog, Zeus. He never stops barking, so that’s the reason.

 

My brother starts to annoy me, “Hey, Opal! You’re stupid!”

“Oh really? Then tell me this, Kyle…” I take a seat next to him, smirking, “What’s a mouse?”

“Oh, that’s easy. It’s that thing next to the computer!”

“The thing next to the computer, eh?” My eye brow twitches, “Is that so?”

“Oh, enough Opal!” My mum interferes, storming in, “How dare you! He’s six, he doesn’t know any better!”

“Well, he should know better to not put cameras near water…” With her glare at me, I sigh, “I’m going; school starts in an hour anyway…” I hug her, “See you, mum!”

“Bye!”

 

Truth is, school doesn’t even start in an hour and a half, I just wanted to get out for a little. The summer sun is shining down on me despite it being seven in the morning. I have one of mum’s camera’s hanging from my neck; she said that if I take a photo with this one, it comes out the other end. At first, that didn’t sound too promising, but when I tried it out I saw what she meant. It was one of those old cameras that you have to fan out the photo taken to set the ink in place. It’s easier to use this one, that way I don’t have to wait until I get home and on my computer to get my photo. I showed some people in the neighbourhood, but they just laugh saying that I’m too old tech, and I need to get out more. Well, at least I’m different.

 

I stroll until a hand was on my shoulder. It shocked me, but as I turned around to see the offender, I realised that it was just my best friend, Alessandra. She’s from Italy, only moved here two years ago. Her accent is really thick, yet somehow you can understand her. When I first met her she was all shy, but once you get to know her, she actually lives up to her name. Her name means defender of mankind, and she does that well. One time, I was getting pick on and she stood up for me. That’s actually a first; no one has ever done that for me before. However, that’s not the reason, the reason she’s my best friend is because she never gives my stuff I loan her back. There’s this sane, a friend will give your loaned stuff back while a best friend will just sit there handing you a tissue or something, either way, she never does.

 

I sigh, walking next to her, “Hi…”

She laughs, “Ciao!” I hear her mother calling for her from behind, and immediately I was dragged. She waved, “Just run! I don’t want you to get into trouble, eh?”

“Umm…Why are we running?”

“Oh, I pissed my mama off somehow. As soon as we’re in school, the sooner she’ll stop chasing us!”

 I huff, “Can you just admit to your mum that you did something wrong and we can just walk?”

“Nah! Besides, I wanna get to the beach for just a glance before we get into Hell!” We ran into the school, and I heard her mum say something I didn’t understand. Alessandra happens to be the only one in her family who can speak English. However, she waved, “Bye mama!”

I sigh annoyed, “You know, you should stop annoying your mum, it’s getting on her nerves by the looks of things….”

“What are you? My dad?” We walk towards the hall for our school parade, “She needs a stir once in a while!”

“That’s just mean….”

“Whatever.” She looks over her right shoulder, raising a brow, “New boy, eh?”

 

I look back, and I was met with a nice sight. The new boy wasn’t like the other boys, sure he met some popular people, but I can tell he’s different. His brown hair blows with the wind, as his eyes are met with mine. Wait, why is he staring at me? I feel my cheeks blush as I look away, getting questions from Alessandra. However, with the corner of my eye, I can still see him stare at me. Why do I feel this way, it’s just another boy! It’s not like someone as nice as he looks is going to show up another time, yet again, I have never seen a boy like this one before.

 

The doors open, and I walked over to my form class, taking as seat. I never understood why we need this class; it’s not even a class! It’s just a place where we go in the morning so they can mark us off as present for the day. I sigh, slumping in my seat. I hope this year flies right by me like wind.