"Hey, Annie." A brown-haired girl muttered as she walked up to me. I recognised her as Amelia from 07 Saxophone, 05 drums, 02 piano and 01 singing. I chuckled and smiled at her.
"Hey Amelia, it's Allie, how are you?"
Amelia immediately looking sheepish and sighed.
"I am so sorry, I don't know why I keep calling you Annie!"
"It's fine!" I said calmly. Then an idea came into my head and I grinned at her.
"Hey, I know! Why don't you call me Annie as a nickname!"
Amelia stared at me in surprise and muttered, "but why, what reason could I have for calling you Annie?"
I smiled again and opened my mouth.
'The sun'll come out,
Tomorrow.
Bet your bottom dollars that tomorrow,
There'll be sun
Just thinking about,
Tomorrow.
Drags away the cobwebs and the sorrow,
Till there's none.
When I'm stuck in a day,
That's grey,
And lonely.
I just stick out my chin,
And grin,
And say,
Ohhhh,'
I paused and looked at Amelia, who was standing there shocked, and then I remembered that I was singing in a busy hallway. A group of Year 10 girls started clapping and I blushed. Then a year 9 girl clapped me on the back and I blushed again as Amelia said loudly.
"My gosh, that was awesome, Annie."
We both started laughing as a few other girls, Cindy Hargenson, Christine Mayweed, Janet Clithe and Margaret Clithe, walked over. I have at least one lesson with all of them.
"Hey Margie, Chris, J and Cind!"
"Hey!" They all said excitedly. They all started saying that I'm great at singing while I just stood there blushing.
"Thanks you guys, but we have to go! We have a piano exam remember!"
"Right." Chris muttered. She rolled her eyes. "How come we have to do an exam on the second Tuesday of our first term, it's still only, like, our 10th day here."
"9th actually," Margie muttered. Chris whacked her on the arm and we all laughed.
"Hey, no one said this school would be easy" Janet muttered and we all giggled as we wandered to class.
A few days later, I was walking down that same corridor again with Carla and Aggie when a tall women with long, curly black hair walked over with Ms Adams, who smirked at me.
"Bonjour, girls. Now, Carla, Argentina, I understand you have both told a bit of fibs to get into this school."
Aggie and Carla both looked at each other in fear and gripped hands.
"Uh oh..."
"Yep." Ms Adams muttered, smirking again and crossing her arms with a sense of triumph. She smiled at them both and then grabbed their shoulders. "It looks like your time in this magnifique school is up.
"No!" I yelled. I ran after them and grabbed Aggie's hand. Aggie looked nervous and Carla looked terrified, and I looked at Ms Adams with tears in my eyes. I couldn't believe that my best friends were being forced to leave when they both had family issues and felt safe here.
"Please," I whispered, "can't they just stay for one more night and leave tomorrow morning."
Ms Adams sighed and nodded.
"Very well. You shall have one day to say Au Revoir, but tomorrow morning you'll both be taken back to where you should be."
"Yes Miss," we all said sadly. Miss Adams walked off and I grabbed my friends' hands.
"Our dorm, now."
They both nodded and we ran down the corridor. When we got inside I sighed and dropped down onto my bed, hitting my head on the top bunk.
"OW!"
We all laughed and Carla suddenly started crying. After a few minutes, Aggie joined her and they both looked at me nervously.
"What are we going to do?"
"I can't go back to the orphanage!" Carla yelled. Aggie nodded.
"And I can't go back to my mums!"
"And you won't." I muttered. They both stared at me in confusion.
"Huh?"
"What?"
I grinned.
"You're not going back to the orphanage CC, and Ags you're not going back to your mums. You're both getting out of here, but in a different way to how Miss Adams wants it. We're going to run away."
There was silence, then..
"Oh my god that's such a great idea!"
"Yeah," Aggie agreed. I stared at them in surprise and then grabbed my bag. Aggie immediately sat down next to me, looking worried.
"Wait, but you don't have a reason to go on the run! Allie, you love this school…"
"So? I'm going with you guys, the three of us are basically outsiders in this school, we can run away together!"
The two of them sighed.
"Allie… you're meant to be here, not us. Are you really willing to give all this up? To leave, not just to go to your family but to never see them again. Are you seriously ready for that?"
I looked down and thought about my family, they may ignore me but I love them, I'd never want to never see them again. Plus the thought of never seeing Carlos and Parker again is too sad.
"Well…"
Carla sat opposite me and sighed again.
"Listen Allie, I'm so happy you'd do this for us, but you can't do this." Aggie sat next to her and reached over, they held hands and smiled.
"Me and Carla will run away tonight, and we'll keep in contact by letters and texting."
I groaned.
"Fine. It's time for you to get out of this place and into the world. You leave at 11 tonight."
—
At 11pm, my alarm went off and I quickly woke up Aggie and Carla.
"Guys, GUYS!" I whispered. Aggie groaned and turned over. I tickled her on the back of her neck and she giggled. I laughed. "It's time to get a move on girls,"
Carla groaned and got up, she quickly pulled Aggie out of bed and threw her purple suitcase on top of hers. Aggie followed suit and they began to pack the rest of their belongings. I turned away while they got dressed and then I checked the hallway.
"All clear!"
I sighed and reached over with both my hands.
"Let's do this,"
They both nodded and each took one of my outstretched hands. I tightened my grip and we crept down the hallway, trying to be silent. Carla tripped over and I groaned.
"Shhh," Aggie whispered as we heard a light flicker on. I panicked and ran towards an empty cupboard, I only realised once I was in it that my friends weren't behind me. I leapt forwards and grabbed their wrists, dragging them into the cupboard just as a black figure walked around the corner.
I didn't get a good look at them, but they were wearing black jeans, a black coat, a black plain T-shirt and even black sunglasses and a black hood.
Aggie gasped and I clamped my hand across her mouth as the person turned. The person sighed and then walked off.
After a few minutes, we crept out of the cupboard. I grabbed Aggie, who was frozen in shock, and lead her down the stairs. After a few minutes, she spoke.
"I CAN'T B-"
"Shhhh,"
Aggie flushed and looked down.
"Sorry, I completely forgot. I can't believe we just narrowly escaped being caught."
"Yeah," agreed Carla. She grinned at me and wrapped her arm around my shoulders.
"Thanks for helping us Als,"
"Anytime," I muttered, taking her hand. Aggie reached out and I took her hand. We heard a thud and Aggie screamed, so I dragged them both down the rest of the stairs and out of the side gate.
"Quick!"
We said goodbye and hugged, by the end of it we were all crying. I threw my arms around Aggie and Carla one more time and laughed sadly.
"Thank you for being my first proper best friends, and for being my only real friends in this place."
They both grinned back at me.
"No problem, Allison."
I laughed.
"Oh my god do NOT call me Allison!" We looked back at the gates and hugged again, and as they turned away ang their hands slipped out of mine, I sighed.
"Seriously, thank you for everything. Keep in contact, and good luck. I love you guys!"
"Love you, bye!" was the response I got. I heard muttering and discussions from the school, so I hurried inside.
I ran into Isobel from my piano, singing and songwriting classes, and Annabel and stared at them in confusion.
"what's going on??"
Isobel smiled at me and I realised with shock that Carla was right, I did get on with everyone except a few people. I sighed and looked at Annabel, but to my surprise she was grinning at me.
"I have no idea what's going on," she said. Isobel suddenly reached out a hand to stop her.
"Shh, listen," she whispered. The three of us stood in silence and listened. I gasped as I realised what Isobel was talking about, and we ran up the stairs to join the crowd of girls. It was clearer now, and it sent a chill down my spine to hear it.
Music as floating down the corridor, but not any music, a creepy tune that you could find in a horror movie. It was hypnotic, and I felt my mind cloud with fog. I had just about enough senses to look around, and I saw that everyone else was the same, they had a distant look in their mind and were listening eagerly. A girl in front of me, Juiletta, shook her head violently and gasped.
"What on earth-GIRLS! Go to bed now, as Head of Year I should investigate this I think. Wish me luck," the last part was whispered to Isobel, who nodded and stared dreamily into the distance. My mind was almost completely foggy now, but I kept trying to fight it. I remember hearing a creepy, electronic voice singing softly down the corridor.
"Goooo tooo beeed, young first yearsss. Goooo toooo sleeeep, and wake up bright and earlyyyy tomorrow. There's a surpriiiissee."
Then, I woke up in bed at 5:45am, over 2 hours before breakfast, and when I tried to go to sleep I was forced to get up by an invisible force. Without even realising what I was doing, I got ready for school and walked clumsily out into the corridor, where everyone from last night was standing. Ms Adams walked around the corridor and smirked, then clicked her fingers. Immediately everyone was normal again, questing what had happened and how. Then Ms Adams clapped her hands, and when everyone was silent, she sighed.
"Girls, I have a very important announcement. Three girls in Year 7, Carla Cameron, Argentina France and Juiletta Casita, have gone missing. We do not know their locations, or whether they are okay. But we are determined to find them."