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Jan. 11th, 2014 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brooke_sandhuThank goodness she had Ruby from karate with her on the bus. Brooke finds herself unusually nervous.
"I wish I was in your class, could you not have been born a bit earlier?" she complains quietly.
"You'll be fine, you're in Jail, you lucky thing." Ruby says.
"Jail?"
"8JL. Miss Lane's class. She's awesome." Ruby says. "Hope I get her next year. She's well strict, but she's cool."
When they get to school, Ruby has to shoot off to look after another new student in her class.
"You're just down corridor two on the second floor. Good luck!" She gives Brooke a quick squeeze hug and dashes off.
Brooke looks around for the stairs. There's a huge number of kids rushing around, and for a moment she feels totally lost. Then she spots a boy she recognised from the tour, and heads over.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for 8JL?"
The boy grins at her with a dazzling smile. Brooke considers he could seriously sell toothpaste.
"I'm going up there, you new?"
"Yeah, I'm Brooke." Brooke follows the boy upstairs. "Just transferred."
"I'm Dylan. That's cool. You into sports then?"
"Isn't everyone?" Brooke asks, slightly bewildered. This is a sports academy, after all.
"Course not, most of us are just in the catchment area, you know?" Dylan swings the door open to a very noisy class of thirty two kids. "Welcome to Jail."
"Thanks." Brooke grins. Dylan grins back. The other teens are starting to notice her, but one group in particular is staring. One of the group comes over and takes Dylan's hand with a pointed look at her.
"Hey babe." Dylan kisses the other girl on the cheek. "This is Brooke, Brooke this is Amber."
"Hi Amber." Brooke smiles, trying to be friendly, but part of her is already taking in the classroom. This is survival time, and she needs to think fast.
"You can try and sit there." Amber says, pointing to a desk that's been squeezed in the front row between two others. On one side is a girl with hair in tight plaits, who is covering her ears and staring at a text book despite it being the first day of term. On the other side is a boy, aloof from the others, with - what was that word Fry used to correct her for 'funny looking?' - dysmorphic facial features. His eyes are small, and wide set, behind thick glasses. He smiles and waves at her enthusiastically.
"You can sit next to me." he offers. "This seat is free."
"Thanks." Brooke goes to the desk, because although this is the last place she would have chosen, it's very clear that the groups occupy their own usual spots.
"Jackdaw's got a girlfriend!" one of the boy groups yells out as she sits down, to general laughter. Jackdaw goes a bit pink but ignores them.
Brooke looks over at the girl on the other side, who has ignored her entirely.
"Hi, I'm Brooke." she tries.
The girl uncovers her ears for a moment and looks at her with an expression of dread.
"Neaveh. You're not some expelled troublemaker are you? Because it's difficult enough to learn in here."
Before Brooke can answer, Miss Lane walks into the room. Automatically, Brooke stands up, having been thoroughly trained into this at Holby High. However, since she is the only one that does so, this is met with a lot of sniggering from behind.
"All right, that's enough." Miss Lane says, leaning back on the edge of the desk. "We should totally reinstate standing for teachers, 'Stand up and shut up'. I like it. Sit down, kid."
Brooke sits down, feeling like a complete idiot.
"Okay, a recap for those of you who are new. I am Miss Lane. You will call me Miss Lane. You will do your homework. You will come to class on time. You will not use your phone in my class. You will not be an arse."
She looks at Brooke with a straight face, who looks back with one similar.
"Right, register."
Brooke pays attention, listening to the names and matching roughly with locations in the room. She may have got the seating part wrong, but the rest is critical.
Two groups at the back, most likely highest on the teenage social hierarchy. One all boys. One all girls, made up of Chanel, Chantelle, Siobhan and Sian. Matching hairbands, make up perfect, clearly a clique. Group of three girls all in frilled shirts quite near the back. Mixed group in the middle made up of Amber and her friends, already changed into PE kit, several in the same team as her, judging by the colour on their kit - similar to houses at her old school. Second middle group, all girls, three out of five in hijabs. Two musical instruments visible. One wearing a wrist splint, likely plays netball. Second new kid is with them. Third middle group containing Dylan, exclusively male. Front rows small groups, one mixed and incorporating Jackdaw part of the time. Group immediately behind Neaveh all male, does not appear to include her; she is alone. Other side of Naeveh is the other new kid, Isla.
"Naeveh, perhaps you could look after Brooklyn and Isla today please?" Miss Lane asks, at the end. "And all three new people, come and see me at lunch time, so we can discuss whatever social catastrophe has caused to you transfer schools in the middle of the academic year."
The first lesson takes place in their form room, and is PSE. They talk about goals, aspirations, new year's resolutions. Brooke keeps quiet as much as possible, wondering whether this is directed at her, and for once makes as much effort to be well behaved as possible. She makes her poster, and writes 'Karate instructor' in the middle.
"That's well cool." Jackdaw says, looking over.
"Thanks." Brooke smiles at him. Miss Lane, who is circulating, nods in approval at her poster, and continues on her way. At the back of the class, one of the groups of boys has got loud, and settles with a death stare.
At break, she wonders where to go, when a pretty petite girl comes over. Brooke thinks back to the register, checks location in her mind, and performs her party trick. Frilled shirt group, the one in the middle.
"Hi... Esther?"
"Hi, I love your bag." Esther says, looking vaguely impressed. "Listen, they stuck you in a really awful spot, do you want to move desks and sit with us?"
"Is there space?" Brooke asks.
"You can move your desk over, nobody will mind." Esther says. "You can lift that, right? All that muscle?"
"True, but won't Miss Lane mind?"
"Who cares?" Esther asks. "Listen, people sit in roughly the same spot for each class, even in different rooms, so if you're not careful you'll get stuck between the nerd and the retard the whole time."
Brooke nods. The prospect of sitting with the trio of girls, who all strike her as fashionable and probably sporty, sounds much better socially. But as she starts to lift her desk up, she notices Jackdaw's ears are red, and he's looking away. Naeveh was ignoring her anyway, but is studying her book extra carefully.
She puts the desk back down and turns back to Esther.
"Thanks, but I'll stay here." she says, looking Esther straight in the eye.
"Excuse me?" Esther raises an eyebrow. "I know you've worked out how things are in here, why would you want to stay there?"
Oh she's good. You've approached me to join an apparently quite exclusive group. Despite me wearing the uniform exactly as instructed and not conforming to the physical characteristics of your group. That means only one thing. You know of me, you know I'm trouble and you want in.
"Newsflash, new kid not overwhelmed by Esther Nightingale." Naeveh remarks, smiling for the first time but not looking up from her book.
"Mind your own business, Never." Esther says, in the same sweet tone, before looking back at Brooke.
"Suit yourself." she shrugs. "I would have thought you'd be worried about not fitting in having been at private school, and us having a common enemy, but whatever."
Great, she does know me. Where do I know her from?
As Esther leaves Brooke sits back down.
"Hockey sticks at dawn!" Jackdaw grins.
"How did you know I played hockey?" Brooke asks.
"I didn't. I do though. On ice."
"I wish I was in your class, could you not have been born a bit earlier?" she complains quietly.
"You'll be fine, you're in Jail, you lucky thing." Ruby says.
"Jail?"
"8JL. Miss Lane's class. She's awesome." Ruby says. "Hope I get her next year. She's well strict, but she's cool."
When they get to school, Ruby has to shoot off to look after another new student in her class.
"You're just down corridor two on the second floor. Good luck!" She gives Brooke a quick squeeze hug and dashes off.
Brooke looks around for the stairs. There's a huge number of kids rushing around, and for a moment she feels totally lost. Then she spots a boy she recognised from the tour, and heads over.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for 8JL?"
The boy grins at her with a dazzling smile. Brooke considers he could seriously sell toothpaste.
"I'm going up there, you new?"
"Yeah, I'm Brooke." Brooke follows the boy upstairs. "Just transferred."
"I'm Dylan. That's cool. You into sports then?"
"Isn't everyone?" Brooke asks, slightly bewildered. This is a sports academy, after all.
"Course not, most of us are just in the catchment area, you know?" Dylan swings the door open to a very noisy class of thirty two kids. "Welcome to Jail."
"Thanks." Brooke grins. Dylan grins back. The other teens are starting to notice her, but one group in particular is staring. One of the group comes over and takes Dylan's hand with a pointed look at her.
"Hey babe." Dylan kisses the other girl on the cheek. "This is Brooke, Brooke this is Amber."
"Hi Amber." Brooke smiles, trying to be friendly, but part of her is already taking in the classroom. This is survival time, and she needs to think fast.
"You can try and sit there." Amber says, pointing to a desk that's been squeezed in the front row between two others. On one side is a girl with hair in tight plaits, who is covering her ears and staring at a text book despite it being the first day of term. On the other side is a boy, aloof from the others, with - what was that word Fry used to correct her for 'funny looking?' - dysmorphic facial features. His eyes are small, and wide set, behind thick glasses. He smiles and waves at her enthusiastically.
"You can sit next to me." he offers. "This seat is free."
"Thanks." Brooke goes to the desk, because although this is the last place she would have chosen, it's very clear that the groups occupy their own usual spots.
"Jackdaw's got a girlfriend!" one of the boy groups yells out as she sits down, to general laughter. Jackdaw goes a bit pink but ignores them.
Brooke looks over at the girl on the other side, who has ignored her entirely.
"Hi, I'm Brooke." she tries.
The girl uncovers her ears for a moment and looks at her with an expression of dread.
"Neaveh. You're not some expelled troublemaker are you? Because it's difficult enough to learn in here."
Before Brooke can answer, Miss Lane walks into the room. Automatically, Brooke stands up, having been thoroughly trained into this at Holby High. However, since she is the only one that does so, this is met with a lot of sniggering from behind.
"All right, that's enough." Miss Lane says, leaning back on the edge of the desk. "We should totally reinstate standing for teachers, 'Stand up and shut up'. I like it. Sit down, kid."
Brooke sits down, feeling like a complete idiot.
"Okay, a recap for those of you who are new. I am Miss Lane. You will call me Miss Lane. You will do your homework. You will come to class on time. You will not use your phone in my class. You will not be an arse."
She looks at Brooke with a straight face, who looks back with one similar.
"Right, register."
Brooke pays attention, listening to the names and matching roughly with locations in the room. She may have got the seating part wrong, but the rest is critical.
Two groups at the back, most likely highest on the teenage social hierarchy. One all boys. One all girls, made up of Chanel, Chantelle, Siobhan and Sian. Matching hairbands, make up perfect, clearly a clique. Group of three girls all in frilled shirts quite near the back. Mixed group in the middle made up of Amber and her friends, already changed into PE kit, several in the same team as her, judging by the colour on their kit - similar to houses at her old school. Second middle group, all girls, three out of five in hijabs. Two musical instruments visible. One wearing a wrist splint, likely plays netball. Second new kid is with them. Third middle group containing Dylan, exclusively male. Front rows small groups, one mixed and incorporating Jackdaw part of the time. Group immediately behind Neaveh all male, does not appear to include her; she is alone. Other side of Naeveh is the other new kid, Isla.
"Naeveh, perhaps you could look after Brooklyn and Isla today please?" Miss Lane asks, at the end. "And all three new people, come and see me at lunch time, so we can discuss whatever social catastrophe has caused to you transfer schools in the middle of the academic year."
The first lesson takes place in their form room, and is PSE. They talk about goals, aspirations, new year's resolutions. Brooke keeps quiet as much as possible, wondering whether this is directed at her, and for once makes as much effort to be well behaved as possible. She makes her poster, and writes 'Karate instructor' in the middle.
"That's well cool." Jackdaw says, looking over.
"Thanks." Brooke smiles at him. Miss Lane, who is circulating, nods in approval at her poster, and continues on her way. At the back of the class, one of the groups of boys has got loud, and settles with a death stare.
At break, she wonders where to go, when a pretty petite girl comes over. Brooke thinks back to the register, checks location in her mind, and performs her party trick. Frilled shirt group, the one in the middle.
"Hi... Esther?"
"Hi, I love your bag." Esther says, looking vaguely impressed. "Listen, they stuck you in a really awful spot, do you want to move desks and sit with us?"
"Is there space?" Brooke asks.
"You can move your desk over, nobody will mind." Esther says. "You can lift that, right? All that muscle?"
"True, but won't Miss Lane mind?"
"Who cares?" Esther asks. "Listen, people sit in roughly the same spot for each class, even in different rooms, so if you're not careful you'll get stuck between the nerd and the retard the whole time."
Brooke nods. The prospect of sitting with the trio of girls, who all strike her as fashionable and probably sporty, sounds much better socially. But as she starts to lift her desk up, she notices Jackdaw's ears are red, and he's looking away. Naeveh was ignoring her anyway, but is studying her book extra carefully.
She puts the desk back down and turns back to Esther.
"Thanks, but I'll stay here." she says, looking Esther straight in the eye.
"Excuse me?" Esther raises an eyebrow. "I know you've worked out how things are in here, why would you want to stay there?"
Oh she's good. You've approached me to join an apparently quite exclusive group. Despite me wearing the uniform exactly as instructed and not conforming to the physical characteristics of your group. That means only one thing. You know of me, you know I'm trouble and you want in.
"Newsflash, new kid not overwhelmed by Esther Nightingale." Naeveh remarks, smiling for the first time but not looking up from her book.
"Mind your own business, Never." Esther says, in the same sweet tone, before looking back at Brooke.
"Suit yourself." she shrugs. "I would have thought you'd be worried about not fitting in having been at private school, and us having a common enemy, but whatever."
Great, she does know me. Where do I know her from?
As Esther leaves Brooke sits back down.
"Hockey sticks at dawn!" Jackdaw grins.
"How did you know I played hockey?" Brooke asks.
"I didn't. I do though. On ice."
