If there was a silence that could stretch for millennia it would be this one. The one that spread its spindling arms weaving around us all and trapping us in its hold.
"Bullies?" Marcus finally spoke, his eyes analysing me in a way that made me want to fall into a magically appearing hole, that would take me to a realm away from all of humanity.
"I say it how it is, there's no point in lying. Accept it you're bullies."
"You have some confidence for being dressed like that," the boy I now knew as Felix spoke. It seemed everything for him was based on looks. A shallow miserable outlook on life if you ask me.
"What because I wear a headscarf I can't be confident? Shows how much you know. It must be crazy to think that outside of this bubble. This school which you treat like an empire, there are other people. Different people, with confidence, with dreams, with things to do. And places to go that you can't even dream of because your mind is so fixed on the here and now. What power, you have now," I let out a breath, my eyes shifting between the four of them, locking with their eyes to signify just how serious I was, "It will all be gone in a year or too. You really think in college they'll be this juvenile thing of a social hierarchy. No one in the real world cares and it's better for you to learn that now."
This time there was no silence, just voices, thunderous voices shouts and jeers, a crowd of people that just had so much to say.
"Show her!"
"Put her in her place!"
"Make her run off to where she came from,"
And a few slightly more whispery tones, from people who didn't want to be in the fray but wanted to show their support, "She's right you know,"
"Go, new girl!"
"You tell them."
There was so much commotion that the teachers had to come over. One of them began to separate the crowd and when they made it to the five of us at the centre of it all, their face broke into a smile which really confused me.
"Great, you guys have met," he spoke as though I had a clue what that was supposed to mean.
"I'm sorry sir, I don't quite understand," I spoke softly the energy bitterly leaving my voice, too exhausted from my previous spiel.
"Oh well, Zac here is the head of the student body and it's his job to show you around and make sure you're settled in."
The smile slipped from my face, skidding to the floor and shattering into a million pieces.
"Oh," was the only syllable I could conjure up.
"Felix, Cheery, Marcus, Ruby, you should be getting to class. I'm sure Mr Valentine is completely capable of showing Amina around the school, by himself," he offered me another one of those practice teachers' smiles the sort that was so common you didn't know how to differentiate between those and the real smiles. The actual joy a teacher was capable of and the saccharine smiles they were paid to give.
The left begrudgingly I must add, and Ruby gave me a death stare, whilst Cheery squeezed my shoulder in a comforting gesture, whispering, "Just tell me if he does anything. I'll rip him a new one," with a wink she left.
And there it was, me and Zac alone, who I had so astutely called Malfoy though I knew his surname was Valentine, now, I couldn't bring myself to shuck off the petty nickname I had given him. It was a thing I did, assign nicknames to people I didn't know the name of, it was a weird habit, not one that I would usually admit but here it seems like an explanation should be given.
He gave me a blistering look, that felt like he was turning me inside out so all my innards went splat on the floor, all my thoughts circling around me and then taunting me, "Let's get this over with then."
"You don't have to you know," I naively said as I followed him his strides were much longer than mine, and I practically had to sprint to keep up with him.
"Shows how clever you are," his tone was sardonic, a sort of cruel cadence, "I'm the head of the student body it's my job to show you around. As much as I don't want to, I'm not giving up my role for a stupid newbie."
"Stupid huh?" I bit my tongue though that didn't help me keep my mouth shut, "We'll see how stupid you think I am when-"
He suddenly stopped, and I almost crashed into him but stopped myself mere inches before we connected much to my relief. I steadied myself so I didn't trip over my own two feet. With a glower in his direction.
"What was that for?"
He turned a blaze in his eyes, sparking the green forest and burning it into the hues of orange that peeked up every time the sun dipped from the sky, "Listen here Amina," he spat my name like it was pure poison, coating his mouth in the foulest of tastes.
"I don't know who you think you are. But this is my school, I am the best student here, I am the head of the body, and I am the leader of the school ask anyone. I can destroy you if I want. And don't think just because I stopped Ruby from using that term that I in any way shape or form give a fuck about you."
The curse was sharp, piercing through me, as I stared my mouth slightly open, "Ok rude." I shook my head, disappointment lacing my every word, "Well, I'm not here looking for trouble, I was literally hiding from it. You guys found me and insulted me. I ran away and you found me again. So it's not me that's the problem. I'm not coming from your damn crown I'm just here to get my GCSEs and then dip. You're the one making this difficult and I said before I've seen better. You can't destroy what's already been destroyed."
He regarded me carefully mulling over my words, and he began walking again I had to walk faster to keep up, and soon he began to talk again, "I assure you, anything I do to you can be so much worse than whatever you have been through."
And I laughed.
A loud bark of a sound, made me look completely unhinged.
Deranged and full of spite.
"Oh, you have no idea. Try me, see how hard it will be to break me. I have built myself up. You think you're so big and bad, and so very intimidating. Try having to move cities because you were bullied so much. Move so far no one has even heard your name. From the big city to this fine town, that's smaller than my old county was. Try having so many people hate you that you are forced to leave. Try having the only person that has ever cared about you leave because it was all too much. Try me. Zac."
Another long stretch of silence, "So you've been through it then? And that what? Makes you special."
"Listening isn't one of your biggest talents, when have I ever said I'm special? I'm not. The whole point of me being here is that I am no one to you. You don't even know my last name. You don't even know what subjects I'm taking. You know nothing. Other than what you see," and then with as much conviction as I could muster, "What I let you see."
"You're not letting me do anything. For all, I know you could be lying trying to barter for my sympathy,"
"Woah. You think too highly of yourself why the hell would I want your sympathy that's like asking for change from a magpie your never going to get some."
His face scrunched a little at my rather odd analogy, "I've seen it before. Girls making up wild stories to get sympathy from guys,"
"That's a loaded statement, kind of misogynistic, no?"
"No, it's not. It's an observation. Facts can't be misogynistic."
"Surprised you even know what that means," I muttered as we turned the bend and actually entered one of the buildings.
He was distracted, his eyes darting around as he offhandedly told me what each section of the building was.
Here was the Science block, and the PE hall, we exited the building, and he showed me the music hall, and practice rooms. And then all that was left was the main classrooms for Maths and English, with the elected subjects at the top of the building. There were a few kids bustling around, small tiny little things, Year 7s perhaps, that were rushing around with bags bigger than them.
It was adorable, and I smiled at as many of them as I could, especially because Zac seemed to be hell-bent on scaring the living daylights out of them.
Know your place, his every look screamed.
"That's it," he suddenly announced. He turned as though he was going to leave me in a random hall before marching back over, I didn't expect it at all but he grabbed my wrist.
"What? Let go of me," he just stared at me for a long moment, and it was like I was drowning, his look was so piercing like he was looking into my soul, "I said let go."
And then he spoke in a softer tone that I never thought possible to come from those lips that were permanently curled into the cruellest of smirks, "What happened to you, Amina? Why aren't you afraid of me? Everyone else is afraid of me."
He spoke as though I wasn't there like he was talking to himself more than me.
"What happened to me, is none of your business Zac. And to answer your question there's only one thing I fear."
"Let me guess, fear itself."
"No. I fear Allah, and as long as I only fear him. You can't do anything to scare me, Zac. So go ahead try and break me, see how long it takes before you realise that it's so much harder to break something when it has been rebuilt time and time again. You think I'm testing you? You're testing me and I assure you you don't want to find out what happens when you test me."
His grip tightened to the point of pain, "Is that a threat Midget?"
"A threat of course not. Don't delude yourself to think you are that important to be threatened."
He release my arm a gruff sound emanating from him, a sort of grunt that signified he was done.
"Well it was lovely meeting you, Valentine, hope you have a horrible day."
He didn't say a word, and maybe I was the deluded one because that felt awfully close to a win.